TODAY

Taiwan’s Lai pledges to defend national sovereignty after Beijing holds live-fire drills around island.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to achieve the “reunification” of China and Taiwan, calling Beijing’s long-held goal “unstoppable.”

In a New Year’s address delivered a day after China’s military wrapped up war games around Taiwan, Xi on Wednesday invoked the “bond of blood and kinship” between Chinese people on each side of the Taiwan Strait.

“The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable,” Xi said.

Xi also hailed the institution in 2025 of an annual “Taiwan Recovery Day”, marking the end of imperial Japan’s rule of the island at the end of World War II.

Xi’s speech came on the heels of two days of live-fire drills simulating a blockade of the island, in what officials called a “stern warning” against “separatist” and “external interference” forces.

The drills were the largest ever held around Taiwan in terms of geographical area.

The war games, codenamed “Justice Mission 2025”, came just days after the United States approved its largest-ever arms package to Taiwan, valued at $11.1bn.

China views self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory and has long pledged to bring the island under its control, using force if necessary.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party maintains that the island is a de facto independent country, though it has not formally declared independence.

In his New Year’s Day address on Thursday, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te pledged to “firmly” uphold national sovereignty and boost the island’s defences.

“In the face of China’s escalating expansionist ambitions, the international community is closely watching whether the people of Taiwan have the determination to defend themselves,” Lai said.

While Taiwan elects its leaders and has its own military, passport and currency, the island is officially recognised by just 11 countries and Vatican City.

China insists that countries do not officially recognise Taipei in order to maintain diplomatic ties with Beijing.

Although the US does not officially recognise Taiwan, Washington is committed to helping the island to defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.

While Washington is Taipei’s principal supplier of arms, the law does not stipulate any obligation to directly intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese blockade or invasion.

Opinion polls suggest a large majority of Taiwanese favour the status quo, with much smaller proportions supporting imminent moves towards formal independence or unification.

In his speech on Wednesday, Xi also hailed China’s innovation in industries including artificial intelligence and space.

“We sought to energise high-quality development through innovation. We integrated science and technology deeply with industries, and made a stream of new innovations,” he said.

“Many large AI models have been competing in a race to the top, and breakthroughs have been achieved in the research and development of our own chips. All this has turned China into one of the economies with the fastest-growing innovation capabilities.”

Happy New Year to all our readers!

Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.

This week’s second caption reads:

The Diefenbunker is a decommissioned military bunker (now a museum) built as an emergency shelter for the government of Canada. The facility, located in Carp (near Ottawa, Ontario), was built at the height of the Cold War and opened in 1961 by the Canadian Forces.

Also, a reminder:

Prime Directives!

• If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you. 
• If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
• No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like. 
• Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.  
• So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on. 
• Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.

It all began more than a decade ago. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were the pillars of a coalition created to fight the Houthis who had taken control in Yemen.

Over the years, that mission failed. Then the UAE set out to pursue its own long-term interests by supporting and arming a group called the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the south of Yemen.

But Riyadh stepped in to disrupt what it saw as a national security threat after the STC seized control of areas close to its borders.

The UAE was given 24 hours’ notice to withdraw – an ultimatum it agreed to.

So what does all this mean for the future of Yemen?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Abdul-aziz Al Ghashian – Senior non-resident fellow at Gulf International Forum

Alkharder Sulaiman – Southern Transitional Council spokesman

Andreas Krieg – Associate professor at the School of Security Studies, King’s College London

New Year’s Eve celebrations are unfolding across the world as countries move into 2026 one time zone at a time.

The first major cities to mark the new year welcomed midnight with fireworks over their waterfronts, and large crowds gathered at public viewing points.

As the night continues, countries across the Americas will close out the global transition with events stretching from Rio de Janeiro’s beaches to Times Square in New York City and beyond.

This gallery shows how people are marking the start of 2026 around the world.

The United States Department of the Treasury has issued a new round of sanctions aimed at isolating Venezuela’s oil industry, as part of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the South American country.

The sanctions announced on Wednesday target four companies and their associated oil tankers, which are allegedly involved in transporting Venezuelan oil.

Trump has claimed that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro leads a so-called “narco-terrorist” government that seeks to destabilise the US, a charge repeated in the latest sanctions announcements.

“Maduro’s regime increasingly depends on a shadow fleet of worldwide vessels to facilitate sanctionable activity, including sanctions evasion, and to generate revenue for its destabilizing operations,” the Treasury said on Wednesday.

Petroleum is Venezuela’s primary export, but the Trump administration has sought to cut the country off from its international markets.

Wednesday’s notice accuses four tankers – the Nord Star, the Rosalind, the Valiant and the Della – of helping Venezuela’s oil sector to circumvent existing sanctions, thereby providing the “financial resources that fuel Maduro’s illegitimate narco-terrorist regime”.

“President Trump has been clear: We will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“The Treasury Department will continue to implement President Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro’s regime.”

Claims on Venezuelan oil

The sanctions come a day after Washington imposed sanctions on a separate Venezuelan company it says assembled drones designed by Iran.

In recent months, the Trump administration has cited several motives for ratcheting up pressure against Venezuela, ranging from immigration to Maduro’s contested election in 2024.

Trump, for instance, has framed the pressure campaign as a means of stemming the trade of illegal drugs, despite Venezuela exporting virtually none of the administration’s main target, fentanyl.

Critics have also accused Washington of seeking to topple Maduro’s government to take control of the country’s vast oil reserves.

Trump officials have fuelled those suspicions with remarks seeming to assert ownership over Venezuela’s oil.

On December 17, a day after Trump announced a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, his top adviser, Stephen Miller, claimed that the US “created the oil industry in Venezuela”.

He suggested that the oil was stolen from the US when Venezuela nationalised its petroleum industry, starting in 1976.

That process accelerated after the 1998 election of socialist President Hugo Chavez, who reasserted state control over Venezuela’s oil sector, ultimately leading to the seizure of foreign assets in 2007.

That “tyrannical expropriation” scheme, Miller alleged, “was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property”.

Still, one major US oil company, Chevron, continues to operate in the country.

Trump has echoed Miller’s claims, writing online that the US “will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets”.

He added that all of those assets “must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY”.

Military build-up in the Caribbean

In recent months, the Trump administration has tightened its focus on Venezuela’s oil industry, taking a series of military actions against tankers.

On December 10, the administration seized its first tanker, the Skipper, followed by a second seizure 10 days later.

The US military has reportedly been pursuing a third tanker as it crosses the Atlantic Ocean.

The attacks on the oil tankers come several months after the US began surging aircraft, warships and other military assets to the Caribbean region along Venezuela’s coast.

Since September 2, the US military has conducted dozens of bombing campaigns against alleged drug-smuggling boats in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, in what rights groups call extrajudicial killings.

More than 100 people have been killed, and the administration has offered scant legal justification for the attacks.

On Monday, Trump told reporters that the US had struck a “dock area” in Venezuela he claimed was used to load the alleged drug boats.

The dock bombing is believed to be the first of its kind on Venezuelan soil, though Trump has long threatened to begin attacking land-based targets.

While the administration has not officially revealed which agency was behind the dock strike, US media has widely reported it was conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

A picture has emerged that looks to show Iran’s Mohajer-6 drone has entered service, at least on a limited level, with the Venezuelan military. The Mohajer-6 can perform surveillance and reconnaissance missions and be armed with small guided munitions. The appearance of the image followed the announcement of new U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, directly related, in part, to the local assembly of Mohajer-6s in the latter country.

The image in question, seen below, began circulating on social media late yesterday, and is said to have been taken at the Venezuelan Air Force’s El Libertador Air Base (Base Aerea El Libertador in Spanish and often abbreviated as BAEL) in the context of an exercise. TWZ has not been immediately able to independently confirm where or when the picture was taken. El Libertador is situated relatively close to Venezuela’s Caribbean coastline, as well as the capital, Caracas. It is also notably home to the country’s remaining fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighters, which you can read more about here.

However, as mentioned, the U.S. government offered a separate confirmation of at least the presence of Mohajer-6s in Venezuela in its sanctions announcement yesterday.

“Venezuela-based Empresa Aeronautica Nacional SA (EANSA) maintains and oversees the assembly of QAI’s [Iran’s Qods Aviation Industries] Mohajer-series UAVs in Venezuela and has directly negotiated with QAI, contributing to QAI’s sale of millions of dollars’ worth of Mohajer-6 UAVs to Venezuela,” according to a press release from the U.S. Treasury Department. “The Mohajer-6, a combat UAV with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, is manufactured by QAI. EANSA was also involved in the assembly of aircraft that QAI sold to Venezuela.”

It is also well documented that Venezuela has been working to acquire Mohajer-6s since at least 2020, though there has not previously been any evidence of the drones actually being in the country. Venezuelan authorities have shown models of Mohajer-6s at official events in the past, including at EANSA’s facilities. Iran has also exported Mohajer-6s to several other countries, including Russia, which has employed them in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

A small mockup of a #Iran|ian UCAV Mohajer-6 was spotted during a speech by the #Venezuela|n President Maduro. The speech was about the future production of multiple-purpose drones. There is thoughts and now speculation that the #IRGC affiliated EP-FAB and EP-FAA flights took… pic.twitter.com/JOhIqK9YJy

— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) November 20, 2020

Iran first unveiled the Mohajer-6 in 2016, and serial production is said to have begun in 2018. The drone has a high-mounted main wing, with a span of nearly 33 feet (10 meters), and a twin-boom tail configuration. The drone is just over 18 and a half feet (5.67 meters) long overall and is powered by a small internal combustion engine driving a single pusher propeller. It has fixed tricycle landing gear and takes off and lands like a traditional aircraft. It has a maximum takeoff weight of around 1,320 pounds (600 kilograms) and an endurance of 12 hours, according to the U.S. Army’s Operational Environment Data Integration Network (ODIN) training portal.

Mohajer-6s can be controlled by operators on the ground via line-of-sight links or fly along a preset route using a built-in autopilot. The drones are understood to carry a mix of electro-optical and infrared cameras to perform their surveillance and reconnaissance and strike missions, as well as to help with basic navigation. Small guided munitions can be carried on up to four pylons under each wing. Iranian media reports have also raised the possibility of the drones being capable of carrying electronic warfare packages.

Exactly how Venezuela’s Mohajer-6 might be configured is unknown. However, circa 2022, pictures also emerged that were said to show Iranian Qaem munitions, which are small guided glide bombs, on display in Venezuela. Qaem is one of the munitions that Iran has integrated onto the Mohajer-6.

Venezuela’s pursuit of the Mohajer-6 is also just one part of a larger push on the country’s part to bolster its drone arsenal, which traces back to the early 2010s and has been carried out with significant assistance from Iran. The Venezuelan armed forces have previously shown examples of another drone, referred to variously as the Arpia or ANSU-100, which was also referenced in the U.S. government’s newly announced sanctions yesterday. This design is a locally-produced derivative of the smaller Iranian Mohajer-2, which is primarily intended for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Venezuelan authorities have shown examples with underwing munitions, or mockups thereof, but whether this reflects a real capability is unclear. Venezuela has also acquired other weapon systems from Iran, including anti-ship cruise missiles and fast attack boats.

In general, the Mohajer-6 offers the Venezuelan military a new means for conducting aerial surveillance and reconnaissance, and likely armed attacks, with an appreciable endurance. The drones could help patrol the country’s Caribbean coast and inland borders, and potentially offer a way to immediately strike targets of opportunity. In an actual conflict, they could also help bolster the country’s limited traditional tactical aviation capabilities.

“Between 2009-16, Venezuelan drones were used mainly for surveillance and patrol. Since 2022, with the development of the ANSU-100, the focus has shifted: the drones not only observe, they can attack,” according to a detailed report earlier this year from the Miami Herald on Venezuelan drone developments, in general. “Analysts describe this as an ‘Iranization’ of Venezuela’s military doctrine, seeking to compensate for conventional shortcomings through armed drones and what are called ‘loitering’ munitions, or suicide drones. These are expendable unmanned aerial weapons with a built-in warhead that can hover over a target area before crashing and exploding on a target.”

It is possible Mohajer-6s, as well as ANSU-100s, could be employed as longer-range kamikaze drones, and in significant volumes where they could be particularly effective in overwhelming defenders. At the same time, doing so on any real level would require a steady pipeline of new drones, and come at a commensurate cost. Venezuela is also known to be pursuing a purpose-built long-range kamikaze drone, the Zamora V-1. The V-1’s design is at least heavily inspired by Iran’s delta-winged Shahed series, if it is not just a direct clone or derivative. This reflects a global trend in the fielding of Shahed-type drones, with and without Iranian assistance, including now in the United States. Shahed has become something of a household name, in no small part because of Russia’s extensive use of a growing number of variants and derivatives of them in the conflict in Ukraine.

When it comes to Mohajer-6s, how many Venezuela currently has is unknown, and the capability of that force to perform any mission set at present is unclear.

In general, the Venezuelan government is certainly in a position now where having any kind of increased aerial surveillance coverage, both internally and offshore, and more flexibility to respond to threats kinetically, would be a major boon. Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump disclosed a first-of-its-kind covert attack on a target inside Venezuela, which was later reported to have been carried out somewhere along that country’s coast by a CIA drone, as you can read more about here.

There also continues to be the prospect of more overt U.S. military action against Venezuela amid a massive ongoing buildup in the region, ostensibly tied to expanded counter-drug operations, which TWZ has been tracking very closely. Especially with their ability to operate across longer distances via autopilot, armed Venezuelan Mohajer-6s (or ones turned into kamikaze drones) would present a potential threat to American forces in and around the Caribbean. Even if the danger they pose is very limited, it is still one that U.S. commanders would have to take into account, along with other threats that TWZ has highlighted previously.

The Venezuelan military’s efforts to acquire Mohajer-6s also underscore its general interest in expanding its drone capabilities, which could further grow into a more complex deterrent as time goes on. The delivery of large numbers of Shahed-type drones, in particular, would create major complications for American forces at sea and on land. The Shahed-136’s range is at least around 1,000 miles, more than enough to get to Puerto Rico, as well as other U.S. operating locations around the Caribbean. Iran has also claimed that the drones can fly out to 1,500 miles, which would put areas of southern Florida in reach. Large numbers of U.S. aircraft and other assets are currently sitting largely out in the open in sites in the region. For years now, TWZ has been highlighting the risks that kind of posture creates, especially to drone attacks. Uncrewed aerial systems also present very real and still growing threats to ships.

The video below includes a montage of clips from Iranian state media showing Shahed-136s being employed during an exercise.

Баражуючий іранський боєприпас «Shahed 136»

Otherwise, American authorities make no secret of the fact that they are engaged in a steadily escalating pressure campaign targeting the country’s dictatorial President Nicolas Maduro and his regime. Earlier this month, this effort expanded to include a maritime blockade targeting the Venezuelan oil sector, which has included seizing oil tankers.

All of this may well have provided new impetus in Venezuela to get even a limited number of Mohajer-6s in actual service. With the appearance of the picture said to show one of the drones at El Libertador, more details may now begin to emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

New telecommunications cable damage discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.

Finnish authorities have seized a vessel suspected of intentionally severing undersea telecommunications cables amid fears of Russian sabotage in the Gulf of Finland.

The seized cargo vessel Fitburg was en route from the Russian port of St Petersburg ⁠to Israel at the time of the incident on Wednesday, Finnish Border Guard officials said at a news conference in Helsinki.

The Fitburg was dragging its anchor in ‌the sea and was directed to Finnish territorial waters, the police and Border Guard said.

Helsinki police opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.

The Fitburg’s 14 crew members were from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and were all detained by Finnish police, investigators said. The ship sailed under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement.

Part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland is bordered by Estonia, Finland and Russia. The area has been hit by a string of similar incidents in recent years.

The undersea cable belongs to telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure for Finland.

The company said in a statement the cable damage has “not affected the functionality of Elisa’s services in any way”, noting services have been rerouted. Earlier, Elisa said it had detected a fault in its cable and reported it to Finnish authorities.

NATO has boosted its presence in the Baltic with frigates, aircraft and naval drones in recent years.

“We remain in contact with the Finnish authorities through exchange of information via the NATO shipping centre located at our Allied Maritime Command in Northwood, UK,” an official at the military alliance said.

A deliberate act?

Estonia’s Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs said a second telecoms cable connecting ‌the country to Finland also suffered an outage on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether the incidents are related.

“I’m concerned about the reported damage. … Hopefully it was not a deliberate act, but the investigation will clarify,” Estonian President Alar Karis said on X.

Energy and communications infrastructure, including underwater cables and pipelines, have been damaged in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many security analysts and political leaders have viewed cable sabotage as part of a “hybrid war” carried out by Russia against NATO countries and their allies.

On Christmas Day 2024, the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S cut five cables in the Gulf of Finland after dragging its anchor on the seabed for 90km (56 miles).

In October, Helsinki’s District Court ruled it did not have jurisdiction to hear a case against the ship’s three senior officers. It said it was up to the vessel’s flag state or the defendants’ home countries – Georgia and India – to try them

Finnish prosecutors have appealed the ruling.

Bulgaria is saying goodbye to the lev and officially adopting the euro, but some citizens worry that shops will round up when changing currencies, making everything more expensive. Al Jazeera’s Aksel Zaimovic explains their concerns.

Finnish authorities have seized a Turkish-owned cargo vessel suspected of damaging an undersea telecommunications cable running from Helsinki to Talinn, Estonia. This marks the first incident involving suspected sabotage of critical undersea infrastructure in the region since the creation of a NATO task force nearly a year ago to defend those cables, a NATO official told us.

The situation began early Wednesday local time after the Finnish Elisa telecommunications company “detected a fault in its telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Tallinn,” according to the Finnish Border Guard. The cable runs for about 40 miles between the two nations under the strategically important Gulf of Finland, which is bordered by Russia, Finland and Estonia and leads to the Baltic Sea. The damage occurred somewhere in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), officials claim.

“Elisa reported the matter to the Border Guard’s command center. The Border Guard immediately began investigating the damage to the critical underwater infrastructure.”

The Border Guard’s offshore patrol vessel Turva and a helicopter found the suspect ship, a St. Vincent Grenadines-flagged general cargo vessel named Fitburg, inside Finland’s exclusive economic zone, officials explained. The vessel is “suspected of causing the damage to the cable through its operations,” the Border Guard added.

The vessel was enroute from St. Petersburg, Russia to Haifa, Israel, according to the MarineTraffic ship tracking site.

“The vessel’s anchor chain was found to be in the sea,” the Border Guard noted, adding that it “asked the vessel to stop and raise the anchor chain.” 

The Fitburg was then ordered to move to Finnish territorial waters, where Finnish authorities “took possession of the vessel as a joint operation.”

“Finnish authorities have inspected the vessel suspected of causing the cable damage in the Gulf of Finland,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb stated on X. “Finland has prepared for various security challenges and we respond to them in the manner required by the situation.”

Responsibility for the case has since been transferred from the Gulf of Finland Coast Guard to the Helsinki Police Department. 

“The police have been in contact with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Prosecutor General has issued a relevant indictment,” the Border Guard stated. “The police are currently investigating the events under the criminal charges of suspected aggravated damage, suspected attempted aggravated damage and suspected aggravated interference with telecommunications.”

The Fitburg is owned and operated by the Turkish Albros Shipping & Trading company, according to BalticShipping.com. We reached out to the company for more details about the incident and will update this story with any pertinent details provided.

As of Wednesday evening local time, Finnish authorities had yet to offer a motive for the cable damage and did not assign any blame beyond the ship itself. However, the damage occurred amid growing concerns about Russian hybrid warfare against NATO nations. That is just below the threshold of armed conflict and comes at a time of mounting tensions between Moscow and the alliance as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Almost exactly a year ago, Finnish authorities seized the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S, accusing it of dragging its anchor on the sea floor to break an underwater cable running from Finland to Estonia. The ship was later found to be full of spy equipment. You can see the Eagle S being seized in the following video.

Police in Finland say Eagle S crew detained as Estlink-2 cable damage probe continues

That incident and a spate of others led NATO to stand up Baltic Sentry on Jan. 14. It is an effort “to deter any future attempts by a state or non-state actor to damage critical undersea infrastructure there,” according to NATO in a statement at the time.

Baltic Sentry has deployed warships and aircraft from several nations to help deter sabotage incidents. In addition, a U.K.-led 10-member consortium of northern European nations called the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) reactivated an AI-based system to track suspicious ships in these waters.

A NATO official we spoke with on Wednesday declined to comment on the specifics of today’s telecommunications cable break. However, he did reiterate that Baltic Sentry was created to keep incidents like this from happening

“Since Baltic Sentry began in early 2025, and before this current incident, still under investigation, there have been zero incidents of maligned damage to sea cables in the Baltic Sea,” a NATO official told us Wednesday morning. 

“Baltic Sentry plays a role in our deterrence efforts along with expedient responses when suspicious incidents occur,” the official added. “In this case, NATO is supporting Finland with analysis and information exchange from our NATO shipping center to assist Finland with their response.”

“These incidents are more broadly actioned beyond just regional navies and militaries,” the NATO official noted. “As in the case of the current incident, this is a national and local police investigation led by national authorities.”

There is still much we don’t know about this incident. However, regardless of whether this was intentional or not, the episode again highlights the precarious nature of important undersea cables.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

“Bienvenue a Bamako!” The fixer, the minder and the men linked to the Malian government were waiting for us at the airport in Bamako. Polite, smiling – and watchful.

It was late December, and we had just taken an Air Burkina flight from Dakar, Senegal across the Sahel, where a storm of political upheaval and armed violence has unsettled the region in recent years.

Mali sits at the centre of a reckoning. After two military coups in 2020 and 2021, the country severed ties with its former colonial ruler, France, expelled French forces, pushed out the United Nations peacekeeping mission, and redrew its alliances

Alongside Burkina Faso and Niger, now also ruled by military governments backed by Russian mercenaries, it formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in September 2023. Together, the regional grouping withdrew from the wider Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, accusing it of serving foreign interests rather than African ones.

This month, leaders from the three countries converged in Bamako for the Confederal Summit of Heads of State of the AES, the second such meeting since the alliance was formed. And we were there to cover it.

The summit was a ribbon-cutting moment. Leaders of the three countries inaugurated a new Sahel Investment and Development Bank meant to finance infrastructure projects without reliance on Western lenders; a new television channel built around a shared narrative and presented as giving voice to the people of the Sahel; and a joint military force intended to operate across borders against armed groups. It was a moment to celebrate achievements more than to sign new agreements.

But the reason behind the urgency of those announcements lay beyond the summit hall.

In this layered terrain of fracture and identity, armed groups have found room not only to manoeuvre, but to grow. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, has expanded from rural Mali, launching attacks across the region and reaching the coast of Benin, exploiting weak state presence and long-unresolved grievances.

As our plane descended toward Bamako, I looked out at an endless stretch of earth, wondering how much of it was now under the control of al-Qaeda affiliates.

From the airport, our minders drove us fast through the city. Motorbikes swerved around us, street hawkers peddled their wares, and Malian pop blared from speakers. At first, this did not feel like a capital under siege. Yet since September, armed groups have been operating a blockade around Bamako, choking off fuel and goods, the military government said.

We drove past petrol stations where long queues stretched into the night. Life continued even as fuel grew scarce. People sat patiently, waiting their turn. Anger seemed to have given way to indifference, while rumours swirled that the authorities had struck quiet deals with the very fighters they claimed to be fighting, simply to keep the city moving.

‘To become one country, to hold each other’s hand’

Our minders drove us on to the Sahel Alliance Square, a newly created public space built to celebrate the union of the three countries and its people.

On the way, Malian forces sped past, perhaps toward a front line that feels ever closer, as gunmen linked to JNIM have set up checkpoints disrupting trade routes to the capital in recent months. In September 2024, they also carried out coordinated attacks inside Bamako, hitting a military police school housing elite units, nearby neighbourhoods, and the military airport on the city’s outskirts. And yet, Bamako carries on, as if the war were taking place in a faraway land.

At Sahel Alliance Square, a few hundred young people gathered and cheered as the Malian forces went by, drawn by loud music, trivia questions on stage and the MC’s promise of small prizes.

The questions were simple: Name the AES countries? Name the leaders?

A microphone was handed to the children. The alliance leaders’ names were drilled in: Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger. Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. Assimi Goita of Mali. Repeated again and again until they stuck.

Correct answers won a prize: a T-shirt stamped with the faces of the alliance leaders.

Moussa Niare, 12 years old and a resident of Bamako, clutched a shirt bearing the faces of the three military leaders.

“They’ve gathered together to become one country, to hold each other’s hand, and to fight a common enemy,” he told us with buoyant confidence, as the government’s attempt to sell the new alliance to the public appeared to be cultivating loyalty among the young.

France out, Russia in

While Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger went through separate political transitions, the paths that brought them into a shared alliance followed a similar pattern.

Between 2020 and 2023, each country saw its democratically elected leadership removed by the military, the takeovers framed as necessary corrections.

In Mali, Colonel Goita seized power after months of protest and amid claims that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had failed to curb corruption or halt the advance of armed groups.

In Burkina Faso, the army ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore in early 2022 as insecurity worsened; later that year, Captain Traore emerged from a counter-coup, promising a more decisive response to the rebellion.

In Niger, soldiers led by General Tchiani detained President Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023, accusing his government of failing to safeguard national security and of leaning too heavily on foreign partners.

What began as separate seizures of power have since become a shared political project, now expressed through a formal alliance. The gathering in Bamako was to give shape to their union.

One of the key conclusions of the AES summit was the announced launch of a joint military battalion aimed at fighting armed groups across the Sahel.

This follows months of escalating violence, as regional armies assisted by Russian mercenaries push back against armed groups who have been launching attacks for over a decade.

Under the previous civilian governments, former colonial ruler France had a strong diplomatic and military presence. French troops, whose presence in the region dates back to independence, are now being pushed out, as military rulers recast sovereignty as both a political and security imperative. The last troops left Mali in 2022, but at its peak, France had more than 5,000 soldiers deployed there. When they withdrew, the country became a symbol of strategic failure for France’s Emmanuel Macron.

But even before that, French diplomacy appeared tone deaf, and patronising at best, failing to grasp the aspirations of its former colonies. The common regional currency, the CFA franc, still anchored to the French treasury, has become a powerful symbol of that resentment.

Now, French state television and radio have been banned in Mali. In what was once the heart of Francophone West Africa, French media has become shorthand for interference. What was lost was not only influence, but credibility. France was no longer seen as guaranteeing stability, but as producing instability.

Across the Sahel and beyond, anti-French sentiment is surging, often expressed in French itself – the language of the coloniser is now also the language of resistance.

‘Like a marriage of reason’

At the end of the summit, Mali’s Goita was preparing to hand over the AES’s rotating leadership to Traore of Burkina Faso.

Young, charismatic, and the new rock star of Pan-Africanism, Traore, in particular, has captured young audiences with help from a loose ecosystem of pro-Russian messaging and Africanist influencers. Across social media platforms, short videos circulate relentlessly: speeches clipped for virality, images of defiance, and slogans reduced to shareable fragments.

Meanwhile, in Burkina Faso, journalists and civil society actors who have criticised the military rules have been sent to the front line under a conscription policy introduced by Traore. Human rights groups outspoken about alleged extrajudicial killings say they have been silenced or sidelined. But much of it is dismissed as collateral, the price, supporters argue, of sovereignty finally reclaimed.

Before the ceremony, we met Mali’s finance minister. At first, he was confident, rehearsed, assured. But when pressed about financing for the ambitious infrastructure projects the three governments have laid out for the Sahel, his composure faltered and his words stuttered. This was a government official unaccustomed to being questioned. The microphone was removed. Later, away from the camera, he told me, “The IMF won’t release loans until Mali has ironed out its relations with France.”

The spokesperson, irritated by my questions, took me aside. As he adjusted the collar of my suit, slowly and patronisingly, he said he sometimes thought about putting journalists in jail “just for fun”.

He did not question the organisation I worked for. He questioned my French passport; my allegiance. I told him my allegiance was to the truth. He smiled, as if that answer confirmed his suspicions.

In the worldview of Mali’s military government – men shaped by years on the front line, living with a permanent sense of threat – journalists and critics are part of the problem. Creating safety was the challenge. The alliance, the spokesperson explained, was the solution to what they could not find within regional body, ECOWAS.

The half-century-old West African institution is a bloc that the three countries had once helped shape. Now, the AES leaders say its ageing, democratically elected presidents have grown detached, more invested in maintaining one another in office than in confronting the region’s crises. In response, they are promoting the AES as an alternative.

As the Sahel alliance grows, it’s also building new infrastructure.

At its new television channel in Bamako, preparations were under way. The ON AIR sign glowed. State-of-the-art cameras sat on tripods like polished weapons.

The channel’s director, Salif Sanogo, told me it would be “a tool to fight disinformation,” a way to counter Western, and more specifically French, narratives and “give voice to the people of the Sahel, by the people of the Sahel”.

The cameras had been bought abroad. The installation was overseen by a French production company. The irony went unremarked.

To defend the alliance, he offered a metaphor. “It’s like a marriage of reason,” he said. “It’s easier to make decisions when you’re married to three. When you’re married to 15, it’s a mess.” He was referring to the 15 member states of ECOWAS.

‘We will survive this, too’

Two years into the AES alliance, they have moved faster than the legacy regional bloc they left behind. A joint military force now binds their borders together, presented as a matter of survival rather than ambition. A mutual defence pact recasts coups and external pressure as shared threats, not national failures. A common Sahel investment and development bank, meant to finance roads, energy, and mineral extraction without recourse to Western lenders, offers sovereignty, they say, without conditions. A common currency is under discussion.

A shared news channel is intended to project a single narrative outward, even as space for independent media contracts at home. And after withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, they have proposed a Sahel penal court, one that would try serious crimes and human rights violations on their own terms. Justice brought home, or justice brought under control, depending on who you ask.

What is taking shape is not just an alliance, but an alternative architecture, built quickly, deliberately, and in full view of its critics.

Where ECOWAS built norms slowly, through elections, mediation, and consensus, AES is building structure. Where ECOWAS insists on patience, AES insists on speed.

To supporters, this is overdue self-determination, dignity restored after decades of dependency. To critics, it is power concentrated in uniforms, accountability postponed, repression dressed up as emancipation.

From the summit stage as he took over the alliance’s leadership, Traore redrew the enemy: Not al-Qaeda. Not ISIL. Not even France. But their African neighbours, cast as the enemy within. He warned of what he called a “black winter”, a speech that held the room and travelled far beyond it, drawing millions of viewers online.

“Why are we, Black people, trying to cultivate hatred among ourselves,” he asked, “and through hypocrisy calling ourselves brothers? We have only two choices: either we put an end to imperialism once and for all, or we remain slaves until we disappear.”

Away from the summit’s “black winter”, under a sunlit sky in Bamako, life moved on with a quieter rhythm. Music drifted through public squares and streets, carrying a familiarity that cut across the tension of speeches and slogans. It was Amadou and Mariam, Mali’s most internationally known musical duo, whose songs once carried the country’s everyday joys far beyond its borders. Amadou died suddenly this year. But the melody lingers.

Its lyrics hold the secret of the largest alliance of all. Not one forged by treaties or uniforms, but by people, across Mali and the Sahel, in all their diversity.

“Sabali”, Mariam sings.

“Forbearance.

“We have survived worse. We will survive this, too.”

Saudi Arabia’s strike on Mukalla port has triggered tensions with its partner in the Arab coalition in Yemen and its Gulf Arab neighbour, the United Arab Emirates.

The coalition spokesman, Major-General Turki al-Maliki, said two ships entered the port of Mukalla, carrying more than 80 vehicles and containers of weapons and ammunition destined for the Southern Transitional Council (STC), without informing Saudi Arabia or the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

There are serious differences between the two allies in Yemen, and now it is at its peak and perhaps a turning point that would impact Yemen.

The Yemeni government has lost control of events following a military escalation between Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Hadramout governorate, where Mukalla lies, in December.

The Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) is divided into two factions, each loyal to one party in this conflict. The difference had been simmering for years away from the spotlight until it exploded publicly over the past few days.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are key members of the Arab military coalition in Yemen, formed to confront the Houthis, who took full control of the capital, Sanaa, by force in 2015 and later imposed their own government.

This conflict of interest between Saudi Arabia and the UAE has been escalating gradually since the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) formed in 2017 as a separatist political and military force seeking an independent state in the south – South Yemen – an independent state between 1967 and 1990.

Earlier in December, the STC forces crossed red lines by controlling all southern governorates, including Hadramout and al-Mahra governorates. That did not go down well in Saudi Arabia, which considered the move a threat to its national security.

Hadramout also represents economic depth for Yemen with its oil and gas resources and related infrastructure, and also has a vital border crossing with Saudi Arabia, making it part of the equation for border security and trade.

The latest public fallout between Saudi Arabia and the UAE will cast a dark shadow over the situation in Yemen politically, economically, and militarily. The Yemeni political circles were divided into two camps, with the government members each following one of the external parties to the conflict – Saudi and Emirati.

The clearest outcome of the differences would be seen in the eight-member PLC, an internationally recognised body, which is already divided into camps loyal to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

One camp is headed by Rashad al-Alimi, the PLC president, and includes Sultan al-Arada, Abdullah al-Alimi Bawazir, and Othman Hussein Mujalli. The second is led by the head of the STC force, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, and includes Abdul Rahman al-Mahrami (also known as Abu Zaraa), Tariq Mohammed Saleh, and Faraj Salmin al-Bahsani.

The leaders of both camps issued two different statements regarding the calls made by al-Alimi for the UAE to withdraw from Yemen following the Saudi strike on the ships carrying weapons to the STC. One was in favour of the UAE’s exit from Yemen, and the other was against — showing they are representing the interests of regional players and at the same time confirming that Yemen is a venue for a proxy war.

Within the Yemeni political landscape, the quick developments and successive events are pushing Yemen into a new phase of an internal war among political and military components that make up the legitimate government, with new internal fighting among many armed factions.

It is also taking the focus away from the Houthi rebellion in the north, which controlled Sanaa and the most populous provinces in Yemen.

The main goal for the legitimate Yemeni government and the Saudi-led Arab coalition was to confront the Houthis’ takeover. Now, the country is on the brink of collapse and a new phase of turmoil after more than a decade of armed conflict, which could help the Houthis to expand their influence beyond their current areas of control.

The latest event will weaken the Saudi-led coalition further and cast doubt over its cohesion and ability to achieve its declared joint goals for Yemen.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

In 2025, Israel carried out thousands of attacks in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, with at least 10,600 attacks recorded across multiple countries including Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Yemen and Qatar.

A ‘great leap forward’

But Schwartz told Al Jazeera that the trend towards government data consolidation has continued in the decades since, under both Democratic leaders and Republicans.

“Surveillance is bipartisan, unfortunately,” he said.

With Trump’s second term, however, the process hit warp speed. Schwartz argues that the Trump administration’s actions violate laws like the Privacy Act, marking a “dangerous” shift away from Nixon-era protections.

“The number-one problem with the federal government in the last year when it comes to surveillance is the demolition of the Watergate-era safeguards that were intended to keep databases separated,” he said.

Schwartz noted that Trump’s consolidation efforts have been coupled with a lack of transparency about how the new, integrated data systems are being used.

“Just as the current administration has done a great leap forward on surveillance and invading privacy, so it also has been a less transparent government in terms of the public understanding what it is doing,” Schwartz said.

Already, on March 20, Trump signed an executive order that called on government agencies to take “all necessary steps” for the dissolution of what he called “data silos”.

Shortly afterwards, in April, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inked a deal with the IRS to exchange personal information, including the names and addresses of taxpayers.

The memo was seen as an effort to turn private taxpayer data into a tool to carry out Trump’s goal of deporting immigrants.

A federal court in November paused the agencies’ data-sharing agreement. But other efforts continue.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of giving DOGE access to sensitive Social Security data. And just this month, the Trump administration pressured states to share information about the recipients of food assistance, or else face a loss of funding.

While immigrants appear to be one of the main targets of the data consolidation project, Venzke said that Americans of all stripes should not be surprised if their personal information is weaponised down the line.

“There is no reason that it will be limited to undocumented people. They are taking a system that’s traditionally limited to non-citizens and vastly expanding it to include all sorts of information on US citizens,” Venzke said.

“That was unthinkable just five years ago, but we’re seeing it happen now, and consequently, its potential abuses are widespread.”

Robbers stole items worth up to $105bn from safe-deposit boxes held at a German retail bank in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia state, during the Christmas holiday, German police said on Tuesday.

The German news agency dpa reported that it may rank among the biggest thefts in the country’s history.

What happened and what was stolen?

The thieves broke into a branch of Sparkasse bank in the city of Gelsenkirchen, in North Rhine-Westphalia state, from an adjacent parking garage, according to the police, at some point when businesses were closed for the Christmas holiday.

The German state is home to museums and Gothic architecture. Its capital, Dusseldorf, is known for its shopping boulevard and the Rheinturm telecommunications tower.

Using a large drill, the thieves bore through a thick concrete wall of the bank and gained access to an underground vault room. Then, they forced open some 3,000 safe deposit boxes, before making off with cash, gold and jewellery.

A police spokesperson likened the break-in to the movie, Ocean’s Eleven, and described it as “very professionally executed”, according to the AFP news agency.

“A great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” the spokesperson told the agency.

The bank said “more than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes were broken into by unknown perpetrators.”

Police say they were alerted to the robbery when a fire alarm went off on Monday, but have not confirmed exactly when the robbery took place.

How much are the stolen items worth?

Investigators estimate the total value of the stolen items to be anything between 10 and 90 million euros ($11.8m and $105.7m), according to police spokesperson Thomas Nowaczyk.

Police said the average insured value of each deposit box was more than 10,000 euros ($11,700). However, officers said several victims have reported that the contents of their boxes were worth significantly more than the insured amounts.

What do we know about the robbers?

No arrests have been made, and the thieves remain at large.

Security camera footage showed a black Audi RS 6 leaving the bank’s parking garage during the early hours of Monday, with masked people inside.

The police said the car’s licence plate had been stolen earlier in the city of Hanover, about 200km (124 miles) northeast of Gelsenkirchen, where the robbery took place.

How have bank customers reacted?

On Tuesday, angry customers rallied outside the bank branch, demanding answers about the robbery from the bank.

The police spokesperson told AFP that the bank branch remained closed for security reasons after threats were made against bank employees.

“We’re still on site, keeping an eye on things,” AFP quoted the police spokesperson as saying, adding “the situation has calmed down considerably.”

How has the bank responded?

The bank is writing to notify all customers affected by the robbery. It also set up a customer hotline for those affected.

It said it is also working with insurers to determine how compensation claims will be handled.

“We are shocked,” said bank press spokesman Frank Krallmann. “We are standing by our customers and hope that the perpetrators will be caught.”

Which other significant heists have happened recently?

October 2025: The Louvre, France

In late October, a gang of robbers broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris and stole eight Napoleonic pieces of jewellery in less than seven minutes. The thieves made off on motorcycles laden with eight items dating back to the Napoleonic era, dropping a ninth on their way out.

The stolen items of jewellery were estimated to be worth $102m.

So far, French authorities have arrested eight suspects over the Louvre heist.

The first four suspects, three men and a woman, were arrested, formally investigated and charged.

The last four suspects taken into custody are two men aged 38 and 39, and two women aged 31 and 40, from the Paris area. They are being investigated as possible accomplices. The names of the suspects arrested have not been made public.

September 2025: Museum of Natural History, France

On September 30, a 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of stealing six gold nuggets from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The gold nuggets were worth about 1.5 million euros ($1.76m).

The woman was arrested while trying to dispose of melted gold – it is unclear who melted it or how. The museum’s alarms and security system had been disabled in a cyberattack, but it is also unclear whether the thieves were also behind that cyberattack or whether the theft was opportunistic.

March 2024: Los Angeles cash site, United States

Thieves stole at least $30m in cash from a GardaWorld facility in Los Angeles over the Easter weekend.

GardaWorld is a global security company which provides services such as facilities management, property management and cash handling.

Local media called the heist one of the biggest cash heists in LA history. There has not been a public announcement indicating that the burglars have been caught.

The operation follows a series of clashes and attacks linked to ISIL, which is feared to be making a resurgence.

Turkiye’s government says it has detained more than 100 ISIL (ISIS) suspects in nationwide raids, as the group shows signs of intensified regional activity after a period of relative dormancy.

Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the Wednesday morning arrests in a social media post, saying Turkish authorities rounded up 125 suspects across 25 provinces, including Ankara.

The operation is the third of its kind in less than a week during the holiday season, and follows a deadly shootout on Tuesday between Turkish police and suspected ISIL members in the northwestern city of Yalova.

“Those who seek to harm our brotherhood, our unity, our togetherness … will only face the might of our state and the unity of our nation,” wrote Yerlikaya.

Tuesday’s clash killed three Turkish police and six suspected ISIL members, all Turkish nationals. A day later, Turkish security forces arrested 357 suspected ISIL members in a coordinated crackdown.

‘Intensifying’ anti-ISIL operations

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul earlier this week, said Turkish forces have “intensified their operations” against ISIL sleeper cells during the holiday period, a time when the group has previously staged attacks in the country.

In 2017, when the group still held large swaths of neighbouring Syria and Iraq before being vanquished on the battlefield, ISIL attacked an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations, killing 39 people. Istanbul prosecutor’s office said Turkish police had received intelligence that operatives were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular” this holiday season.

On top of maintaining sleeper cells in Turkiye, ISIL is still active in Syria, with which Turkiye shares a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border, and has carried out a spate of attacks there since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad last year.

The United States military has waged extensive strikes against ISIL in central and northeastern Syria this month, killing or capturing about 25 fighters from the group over the past two weeks, according to the US Central Command.

Those operations followed the killing of two American soldiers and an interpreter in an attack in the Syrian city of Palmyra by what the US said was an ISIL gunman.

Bangladesh bade farewell to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in a state funeral that drew vast crowds mourning a towering political figure whose leadership shaped the nation for decades.

Zia, the first woman to serve as prime minister in the South Asian nation of 170 million people, died on Tuesday aged 80. Flags flew at half-mast across the country on Wednesday as thousands of security personnel lined Dhaka’s streets while her flag-draped coffin travelled through the capital.

Massive crowds gathered outside Bangladesh’s parliament building for the funeral prayers. People from Dhaka and beyond streamed towards Manik Mia Avenue, where the parliament building is located, since early morning to pay their last respects.

Retired government official Minhaz Uddin, 70, came despite never having voted for her. “I came here with my grandson, just to say goodbye to a veteran politician whose contributions will always be remembered,” he said, watching from behind a barbed wire barricade.

Zia entered politics following her husband’s death and rose to prominence opposing a military ruler who was ultimately ousted in a 1990 mass uprising. She first became prime minister in 1991 after a landslide victory when parliamentary democracy was introduced, and remained leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party until her death.

Known for her calm demeanour, Zia maintained a strong political rivalry with her archrival Sheikh Hasina, who led the Bangladesh Awami League party and ruled for 15 years before being ousted in a 2024 mass uprising.

Security was extensive, with authorities deploying approximately 10,000 personnel, including soldiers, to maintain order. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus’s interim government announced three days of mourning and declared Wednesday a public holiday to honour the three-time prime minister’s legacy.

Another year of football is over and it’s time to start looking ahead to 2026.

The Premier League will reach its conclusion in May, with Arsenal looking to win their first title in over two decades – but can the Gunners see the job through this time?

Will an English club be crowned champions of Europe? Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham are all looking to reach the last 16.

Could Chelsea‘s hold over the Women’s Super League be set to end? Manchester City, now under the guidance of Andree Jeglertz, lead the way in an enthralling title race.

The World Cup, expanded to 48 teams and complete with a round of 32 for the first time, is bigger than ever before – but who will come out on top?

The winners of the Women’s Champions League, Ballon d’Or and Scottish Premiership will also be known.

So now it’s over to you, the BBC Sport audience… Here is your chance to predict who will win the biggest of trophies, both domestically and globally, in 2026.