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Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in the Iranian capital Tehran, according to Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hamas on Wednesday, a major escalation that deepens fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.

Haniyeh is the second leader of an Iran-backed militant group reported to have been assassinated in recent days. His death represents a significant blow to Hamas, eliminating its most public figure who headed up the group's political operations while living overseas.

In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of targeting Haniyeh and his bodyguard in a 'strike' on where he was staying in Tehran, following his participation in Tuesday's inauguration of the new Iranian president.

Israel's military said it does not respond to reports in foreign media, though senior officials have previously vowed to eliminate Hamas and its leadership in response to the group's October 7 attack on Israel. It later said it was 'conducting a situational assessment.'

In contrast, Israel did confirm it carried out a strike in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday that killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander, who it blamed for a deadly attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The assassination of Fu'ad Shukr was the most serious Israeli escalation since confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 8.

It is not clear precisely when Haniyeh, a key interlocutor with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on the ongoing hostage and ceasefire talks in Gaza, was killed. The new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian was sworn in on Tuesday and Hamas released pictures the same day of Haniyeh meeting Iranian officials in Tehran.

State run media IRNA said the strike happened at around 2 a.m. local time involving an 'airborne guided projectile.' State-affiliated Fars said he was staying in one of the special residences for veterans in north Tehran.

The killing comes at an especially fraught time for the Middle East, with escalating confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah threatening to expand into a wider regional war and as Hamas continues to battle Israel's military in Gaza amid an unfolding and catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas' Political Bureau, said Haniyeh's death would 'not pass in vain,' while senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called it a 'grave escalation.'

Impact on hostage talks?

The White House said it has seen the reports of Haniyeh's death but declined to immediately comment further, according to a spokesperson. While traveling in the Philippines, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he does not think war in the Middle East is inevitable, but if Israel were to be attacked the US would help defend it.

Haniyeh would be the second Hamas senior leader to be killed since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza. In January, the group said its deputy head of the political bureau Saleh Al Arouri was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Arouri was considered one of the founding members of the Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

However, the group has been able to weather the death of other key leaders before, including slaying of its co-founders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi who were killed weeks apart in 2004.

CNN Political and Foreign Policy Analyst Barak Ravid said the Israeli government sees Haniyeh as one of those responsible for Hamas' October 7 attacks and while he is not militarily significant, his death 'will have significant influence' on the ongoing hostage and ceasefire negotiations.

'This assassination is, in a way, just a matter of when, not a matter of if,' Ravid said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite wing of the Iranian military, said Haniyeh's death was under investigation and results will be announced later Wednesday, according to Iranian state media.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Haniyeh's killing calling it 'a cowardly act and a dangerous development,' according to the WAFA news agency on Wednesday.

'His Excellency called on the masses and forces of our people to unite, be patient and steadfast in the face of the Israeli occupation,' WAFA reported.

Deaths of two Iran-backed leaders

The reported deaths of Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah's Shukr in Beirut — two leaders of different Iran-backed militant groups — in just a few days are significant in both their timing and location.

Brigadier General (Res.) Assaf Orion, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies said the two reported deaths 'increase the likelihood of an axis response, adding Iran and other proxy attacks to the menu.'

Iran has spent years investing in regional proxy groups, informally known as the 'Axis of Resistance' — an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance — supplying them with money, weapons, and training as Tehran has sought to broaden its influence across the Middle East.

Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza has brought that longstanding shadow war with Iran out into the open — and inflamed opinion globally.

Though Israel has not commented on Heniyah's death, it has vowed to eliminate Hamas leadership and has a history of carrying out assassinations in Iran as well as against Iranian targets.

In April, Iran accused Israel of bombing its embassy complex in Syria killing at least seven officials including Mohammed Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and senior commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi. In response, Iran launched an unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack at Israel.

Earlier this month, Israel targeted Hamas' military chief Mohammed Deif in a strike on a designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza which killed at least 90 Palestinians. An elusive and powerful figure, Deif is understood to be one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attacks though it remains unclear whether he is dead.

Who is Ismail Haniyeh?

Haniyeh, 62, was born in a refugee camp near Gaza City, and joined Hamas in the late 1980s during the First Intifada, or uprising.

As Hamas grew in power, Haniyeh rose through the ranks — being appointed part of a secret 'collective leadership' in 2004. By 2017 he had become chief of the group — and was named a 'specially designated global terrorist' by the United States soon after.

Over the years, he has participated in peace talks with former US President Jimmy Carter, and met with other world leaders including the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and Chinese diplomat Wang Kejian earlier this year.

In April, Israeli airstrikes killed three of Haniyeh's sons and four of his grandchildren, according to Hamas.

At the time, Haniyeh — who was based in Qatar — insisted their deaths would not affect ongoing ceasefire and hostage talks.

'Whoever thinks that by targeting my kids during the negotiation talks and before a deal is agreed upon that it will force Hamas to back down on its demands, is delusional,' he said.

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Three weeks ago, the political commentariat was writing off Georgia and talking of narrow pathways for Joe Biden to hold the White House. Georgia was a desert. Tuesday evening, an Atlanta crowd greeted Kamala Harris like she backed up a truck full of sweet tea to that desert.

It's probably too early — nine days since the president's withdrawal and the vice-president's ascension — to know if sentiment in Georgia had shifted enough to justify jubilation. But the crowd in Atlanta treated the new presumptive presidential nominee as a reason to celebrate after months of her quieter campaigning in the city as the vice-presidential nominee.

'As many of you know, before I was elected vice-president … I was an elected attorney general and an elected district attorney,' Harris said after taking the stand. 'Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type, and I have been dealing with people like him my entire career.'

This elicited chants of: 'Lock him up!'

Harris addressed a crowd of 10,000 who filled the Georgia State Convocation Center, with people waiting outside for a seat. She touted her prosecution record and referenced Trump's criminal convictions and the findings of fraud in his businesses.

'As an attorney general, I held big Wall Street banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was found guilty of fraud,' Harris said. 'In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day, including on the issue of immigration.'

Harris spoke of walking underground tunnels at the California border and prosecuting traffickers, and pledged to bring back the border security bill that was tanked in Congress by Republicans to preserve the issue in the campaign.

Referencing a Migos song — popular as an Atlanta group — she said: 'He does not walk it as he talks it.'

Ahead of Harris's appearance on Tuesday, several Atlanta voices made the case for her. Mayor Andre Dickens noted that this was the vice-president's 15th time visiting the state since 2021. Harris has been in Atlanta so often that she may as well have rented a condo in Buckhead to save money.

Harris is expected back in the state next week, and will debut her running mate on a seven-stop swing state tour, according to details confirmed by her campaign. Politico reported Harris will hold the first rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Harris said she as of today has not yet picked the candidate yet.

For the last two years, Harris has been Joe Biden's chief campaign surrogate in Georgia, making deliberate connections with campaign organizers and Black community leaders, a weapon in the Democratic arsenal that Republicans have not been able to match.

'Georgia is on everybody's mind,' said Raphael Warnock, the senator and reverend, to a boisterous crowd. 'And there's a reason. Because of what you did in 2020, 2021, everybody knows that the road to the White House goes through Georgia.'

Donald Trump has been on his heels in recent polls, which show ground captured in the rust belt. The former president announced that he would refrain from committing to a debate against Harris until after the Democratic national convention, which the senator Jon Ossoff characterized as cowardice.

'I know about having an opponent who's too scared to debate,' Ossoff said, harkening back to his winning 2020 campaign against then senator David Perdue, in which he spent 90 minutes debating an empty chair. 'The candidate who is dodging debates is the candidate who is losing.'

Stacey Abrams took the stage at 5.33pm to thunderous chants of 'Stacey!', which Abrams immediately turned around into a chant for 'Kamala!'

'We are the ones who put our boots on the ground,' said the former gubernatorial candidate and voting rights advocate. She preached the virtues of a progressive presidency on infrastructure development in the Black community, on job creation and on the climate. She pointedly noted that Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, who defeated her two years ago, took credit for new investment in solar panel manufacturing in Georgia even as the federal government has been spurring those investments.

'They started with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden believing in the environment,' she said.

Now that Harris has replaced Biden as the presumptive nominee, the question is whether there is time to capitalize on the administration's connections in a state that may still be difficult to win for Democrats.

'When we get deep into those communities, when we are hitting apartment complexes in the hood, when we're places we don't usually go, I'll know its real,' said state representative Imani Barnes, a Democrat representing a sprawling suburban district in DeKalb county near Atlanta.

Barnes' constituents range from CDC scientists to some of the poorest immigrant communities in the state, and she can see how campaigns have to change the language on flyers to reach some voters. 'That's how we know a campaign is making a difference.'

Previous appearances in Georgia by Biden and Harris have been closely vetted campaign events filled with a curated selection of activists, advocates and party leaders. Though the guest speakers on Tuesday were a selection of federal officials and local leaders — with Geoff Duncan, the former Republican lieutenant governor, stalking the edges of the press pit — that selectivity was less evident.

'Georgia saved the whole nation,' Warnock said. 'I have a feeling that Georgia is going to save the nation one more time.'

In her speech, Harris sought not only to attack her opponent but to refocus on top voter issues in Georgia, such as the economy.

'Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,' she said. 'When our middle class is strong, America is strong. To keep our middle class strong, families need relief from the high cost of living so that they have a chance not to get by but to get ahead.'

She said she would go after price gouging and hidden fees by banks and other companies, and take on corporate landlords to cap unfair rent increases, and to cap prescription drug costs.

'There are signs Donald Trump is feeling' the competition, she says.

'You may have noticed he pulled out of the debate.'

She repeated the assertion made by her campaign in recent days that Trump is 'just plain weird'.

'I do hope Trump will agree to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes — if you got something to say, say it to my face,' she said as the crowd exploded.

The convocation center at Georgia State University is a state-owned building. Election law requires the facility to offer its use on the same terms to the Trump campaign. Hence, Trump will appear here Saturday, offering a mark to compare their relative fortunes even as he refuses to accept debate

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Residents of Ngoma Village, Cyangungu Cell, Kamembe Sector, Rusizi District, are particularly grateful for the initiative.

They have expressed their appreciation to the local leadership, and assured that they will take excellent care of their new homes.

In July 2024, the newly built houses, constructed with fired bricks and cement, were finished and furnished with essential items before being handed over to the residents.

Alphonsine Muteteri is one of the beneficiaries who shared her joy: 'On my first night in the new home, I slept so comfortably that I didn’t even notice that it was already morning. I no longer experience the cold and discomfort I was used to,' she said.

She added that the dilapidated structure she was accustomed to and the unconducive living conditions contributed negatively to her performance in her daily chores as a local farmer.

Jeanne Matagata, who lives with her husband and 3 children, also expressed her gratitude.

'I used to live in a house so poor that it felt like a pit. Now, thanks to the government for setting up good places for us to live. Our lives have improved significantly,' she said.

Anne Marie Dukuzumuremyi, the Deputy Mayor of Rusizi District in charge of social affairs, urged the new homeowners to maintain their new homes carefully and ensure hygiene at all times.

Rusizi district has announced the completion of modern homes for 150 vulnerable individuals in the fiscal year 2023/2024.

Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/building-happiness-new-modern-homes-in-rusizi-for-vulnerable-families

The delegation comprises representatives of all 15 member states that make up the Peace and Security Council of the AU.

In a statement, AU said the council is undertaking the field mission as part of its mandate to promote peace, security and stability in Africa. The mission is also part of combined efforts to promote the implementation of the AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to put an end to warfare in Africa by the Year 2030.

Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique has been grappling with a security crisis since late 2017. An insurgency, primarily driven by the extremist group Ansar al-Sunna, has led to widespread violence, displacement, and economic disruption in the region.

AU said the security delegation will camp in Maputo for three days to gather first-hand information regarding the security, social and humanitarian situation prevailing in Cabo Delgado.

The delegation has also been tasked with assessing the progress made in combating the insurgency and evaluating the impact of the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), considering its planned withdrawal.

'By undertaking the field mission, the PSC is also expressing AU solidarity with the people and government of Mozambique and reaffirming the AU commitment to continue supporting them in their relentless efforts to eradicate terrorism and violent extremism. This will help to restore durable peace, security stability and development in the country, which will tremendously benefit not only Cabo Delgado Province but also the Southern Africa region and the African Continent as a whole,' AU said.

The council also seeks to draw lessons from Mozambique’s experience and best practices, including in the implementation of disarmament demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs and disaster preparedness and management.

'The first-hand information to be gathered during the PSC field mission will be critically necessary as it will help to adopt evidence-based and well-informed decisions in supporting efforts of the government of Mozambique to restore durable peace, security, stability and development in the Cabo Delgado Province,' AU added.

The insurgency in Cabo Delgado began in October 2017 with Ansar al-Sunna expressing discontent over lack of economic benefits from natural gas in the region, allegations of government corruption and marginalization of local communities.

However, over the years that followed the rebellion escalated with the militia employing violent tactics, including attacks on civilians and security forces and destruction of property.

The Mozambique government struggled to contain the militia forcing it to seek military support from Rwanda and Southern Africa Development and Defense Advisory Council (SADDC) forces.

Currently, Rwanda has more than 2,500 troops in Mozambique. The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) has indicated that the security situation in the country continues to improve.

The delegation comprises representatives of all 15 member states that make up the Peace and Security Council of the AU.

Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/au-delegation-arrives-in-mozambique-for-cabo-delgado-security-assessment

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The East African Community (EAC) on Monday called on its eight member states to educate their citizens on how to protect themselves and prevent the spread of mpox (monkeypox), an infectious disease caused by the mpox virus.

The alert follows reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) that Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), both members of the EAC, are experiencing an outbreak of the viral disease mpox, the EAC said in a statement issued from its headquarters in Arusha. The statement said Burundi had confirmed three cases of mpox in the western region of the country, verified by national laboratories and the WHO. Since 2022, the DRC has reported more than 21,000 cases of mpox and more than 1,000 deaths, according to the WHO.

Burundi borders the DRC, Rwanda and Tanzania, while the DRC borders five EAC member states — Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan. Kenya and Somalia are also members of the EAC.

Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, the EAC deputy secretary-general in charge of infrastructure, productive, social and political sectors, said it was crucial to take preventive measures to minimise the spread of the disease. 'EAC member states must provide the necessary information on the disease and take preventive measures,' he said.

The mpox virus spreads from animals to humans and is spread between people through close contact, contaminated objects and respiratory droplets. Symptoms of mpox include skin rash or lesions, fever, severe headache, muscle aches, back pain, general body weakness and swollen lymph nodes, typically lasting two to four weeks.

While most cases are mild, severe cases and deaths can occur, the statement said.

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