Toronto engulfed by wildfire smoke as US cities threatened
Monitor ranks Toronto as having the worst air quality on earth, surpassing Kinshasa, DR Congo, and New Delhi, India. By AFP and Reuters Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 Toronto’s air quality has ranked the worst among all major cities in the world as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario blankets the skies and spreads into the northeastern United States, triggering multiple health warnings and evacuations. Wildfires continued burning through sparsely populated areas hundreds of miles from Toronto, Canada’s largest city, on Wednesday, sending smoke over a wide area, although cities in the area are not being threatened. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Environment Canada reported an Air Quality Health Index reading of 10+, classified as “very high risk”, for Toronto. Forecasts suggested that hazardous conditions could persist through Thursday night. IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, ranked Toronto as having the worst air quality across the globe, surpassing the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa and India’s New Delhi. “The biggest contributor to Toronto’s spike in air pollution right now is wildfires, though the higher-than-average temperatures are also playing a role,” Armen Araradian of IQAir told the AFP news agency. While this year’s wildfire season in Canada has been fairly muted compared with recent years, there are more than 800 active fires nationwide. A video that went viral on social media showed a Canadian National train surrounded by fire near Armstrong, Ontario. Canadian National employees in the area and residents of Armstrong were evacuated on Monday night, the railroad operator said in a statement. It suspended rail operations near Armstrong as a precaution. Smoke from the wildfires also worsened air quality across the border in the US, with the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire particularly affected. Advertisement Authorities in New York City have issued an alert over unhealthy air quality, urging residents to reduce strenuous outdoor activity and take extra breaks if they are outside on Wednesday and Thursday. The National Weather Service said smoke could linger until the end of the week. “We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for New York City. We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for the Great Lakes and upstate, and New England yet either,” Dan Westervelt, Lamont associate research professor at Columbia University, told the Reuters news agency. More than 80,000 people are expected to attend the FIFA World Cup final at an open-air stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, with another 50,000 planning to watch the game from New York City’s Central Park, where skies appeared hazy. New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged people, especially those with health conditions, to exercise caution. A person puts on a mask as reflected in a souvenir shop mirror, as wildfire smoke from northwestern Ontario fills the sky, in Toronto on Wednesday [Carlos Osorio/Reuters] The Canadian government has said that wildfire season began more slowly this year than in 2023 or 2025 – the two worst seasons for wildfires – but warned that fires were likely, due to warmer-than-usual temperatures across the country. It said some 835 active fires were burning across the country on Wednesday, with 112 considered out of control, and most in the central provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. They have burned 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) so far. Greg Evans, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto, said the city had been simultaneously hit with severe heat and wildfire smoke. “I expect that this will occur more frequently over the coming decades, so cities and residents need to prepare for this in the future,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran launches strikes on Gulf, even as FM visits Qatar
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Iranian FM Araghchi visits Qatar to pay respects following the death of the Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin al Thani
South Korea’s international adoptees seek justice, not homecoming
Seoul, South Korea – In 2023, Marie Wang began digging into her past for the first time. Growing up in Denmark, she had always known she had been adopted from South Korea in the early 1990s. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list And for decades, she believed the story contained in her adoption records: her birth mother, a university student, had been forced by circumstances to give up her baby. But as South Korean adoptees around the world uncovered a pattern of fabricated records and irregularities in their original country’s overseas adoption system, Wang decided to request her own file. What she found upended everything she thought she knew. “It said my birth mother believed I was dead, and that it was the doctor at the birth clinic who facilitated my adoption,” Wang told Al Jazeera. “I think Korea Social Service [KSS], my adoption agency, sent me that document by accident because they’ve refused to provide any additional information since. Every time I ask, they say privacy laws prevent them from releasing anything.” Wang is among a growing number of overseas adoptees who have discovered evidence suggesting their adoptions were built on fabricated information. “My adoptive parents would never have adopted me if they’d known I had been separated from my family simply because everyone believed I was dead,” she said. Now 33, Wang has never returned to South Korea. A photo of Mia Lee Hansen that was included in her adoption file [Courtesy of Mia Lee Hansen] Mia Lee Hansen’s story follows a strikingly similar pattern. Also adopted to Denmark through KSS, Hansen spent years believing the account in her adoption papers until a visit to South Korea in 2011. Advertisement “My adoptive parents and I met with a representative from KSS, who told us my files had somehow been fabricated,” she told Al Jazeera. “They said these kinds of errors happened because record-keeping wasn’t very good back then.” Receiving little help from the agency, Hansen turned to commercial DNA testing in 2020. Months later she matched with a cousin in the United States. In 2022, she reunited with her birth family in South Korea. “My father thought it was a joke when he got the phone call telling him I was alive,” she said. “Everyone believed I had died.” According to one of her siblings, when Hansen was born prematurely in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1987, doctors told her mother she had not survived. “My grandmother returned the next day because she wanted to give me a proper funeral,” Hansen said. “Instead, hospital staff became angry and told her to leave.” Her adoption file offers conflicting explanations for why she was given up, including poverty and her sex. Even the hospital listed differs from the one where her family says she was born. “When you’re adopted, you experience one separation after another,” Hansen said. “You’re separated from your birth mother and moved to the other side of the world. People think babies are too young to remember, but the body remembers.” Overdue recognition For years, overseas adoptees and advocacy groups accused South Korea’s adoption agencies and government of enabling fraudulent overseas adoptions. But last year marked a turning point. In a public statement, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung offered a “heartfelt apology and words of comfort” to overseas adoptees and their birth and adoptive families, saying he felt “heavy-hearted” thinking about the “anxiety, pain and confusion” many had endured after being sent abroad as children. His apology followed findings by South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which concluded last year that the government had played a central role in facilitating overseas adoptions through widespread human rights violations. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung addresses the media in Seoul, on June 19, 2026 [Jung Yeon-je/AFP] After a nearly three-year investigation into 367 cases, the commission uncovered fabricated records, identity tampering, fraudulent registrations portraying children as abandoned orphans, and failures to obtain legal consent from birth parents. Its conclusions echoed a landmark 2024 investigation by The Associated Press news agency and TV documentary series PBS Frontline, which found South Korea’s government, adoption agencies and Western partners had helped send about 200,000 children overseas despite mounting evidence that many had been separated from their families through deception or coercion. Advertisement The investigation also found adoption agencies paid hospitals and orphanages for newborns and young children. South Korea’s overseas adoption programme began after the 1950-53 Korean War as a welfare initiative for war orphans. As the country’s economy developed during the 1970s and 80s, however, international adoptions accelerated dramatically, earning South Korea the reputation of being the world’s leading “baby-exporting” nation. The government has since begun confronting that history. Following Lee’s apology, South Korea formally joined the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, transferring responsibility for overseas adoptions from private agencies to the state. It has also pledged to end intercountry adoptions by 2029. Yet many adoptees say the government’s actions have not been accompanied by accountability. Advocates say tens of thousands of overseas adoptees remain without answers because many lack the documentation needed to pursue their cases. That tension was in the background of this year’s Overseas Korean Adoptees Gathering (OKAG). The annual conference, organised by the governmental Overseas Koreans Agency, brings adoptees from around the world to South Korea to reconnect with their birth country. Anne Kim Loesch, who lives in Luxembourg, returned this year as one of the programme’s community leaders. “I’ve always wondered what my birth mother looks like,” Loesch told Al Jazeera. “When I see parents with their children, they resemble each other. I wonder whether I look like her. Is she tall? Is she small like me?” The gathering has also become one of the few places where adoptees feel fully understood. “My closest friends back home aren’t adopted,” she said. “They care about me, but they can’t fully understand what we’ve lived through. Among adoptees, we don’t have to explain.” Anne-Kim-Loesch attends the
My Twitter, not X
Nothing much stays with me from the first days of Twitter, which was publicly launched 20 years ago, on July 15, 2006. I had discovered the internet back in 1995 and early on, I started thinking about how to get my voice heard by the world. I created a couple of websites through Angelfire and 8m, but there was no real ecosystem to nurture the idea. It’s like opening a shop to sell a certain product in a remote area – somewhere nobody really knows, at a time when there’s no interest – compared with opening that same shop in a mall, or on a street full of other vendors. MySpace was another opening, but the idea was not yet ripe. Facebook came with a spark – and then we got Twitter. “It’s like having your own breaking news platform, you’ll set your own agenda,” I remember one of my colleagues at the BBC, where I used to work, saying at the time. It didn’t take me long to sign up. I cannot recall whether I tweeted immediately or not, yet what happened afterwards helped frame my future as an international journalist. Twitter’s first defining moment for me was 2009’s Green Revolution in Iran, when I and others followed how the platform shaped the discourse in a way that differed completely from traditional media. We were not new to citizen journalism; a few years earlier, Salam Pax emerged as the first ever famous war blogger, presenting his distinctive view of the US-led invasion of Iraq through his individual blog. A few years later, tens of thousands of Salams have appeared – and I’m one of them. Advertisement Going through my early timeline, I see that I was tweeting randomly – an earthquake in Japan, an election in Lebanon, an explosion in Somalia, and so on. Then came the Arab Spring. Just as with many in the world, this was the moment that shaped my Twitter presence, and as I got involved in the coverage, I became well-positioned to post and attract followers. My coverage of the Libyan revolution in March 2011 introduced me to many people and gave me a better understanding of what was happening. I was based in Sallum, a village on the Egyptian side of the Libyan border, without a connection of my own. I fed a colleague back in Cairo a sentence at a time over a crackling Thuraya satellite phone, and he typed my words into the account that I could not reach. Its password lived on my friend’s head until days later, when I finally got my hands on a satellite dish. Trips to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Somalia – all of it made Twitter part and parcel of my journalistic journey, and it also helped me build a parallel path writing for international outlets including Al-Monitor and The Sunday Times. Yet still, there was something else that changed my direction. Until 2013, I was a journalist covering stories without specialisation – I used to report from Iran, like I do today, yet it was not my career the way it currently is. But then I became a bureau chief in Tehran and my knowledge began growing – and here, Twitter gave me another layer, widening my network day after day. Personally, that specialisation gave the platform its finest hour for me. I broke developments out of Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers before the news agencies had finished their first draft, filing in Arabic and English within minutes of each other and announcing the agreement itself while other newsrooms were still working on their bulletins. The war against ISIL (ISIS) followed, then a January 2020 morning near Baghdad airport when my sources told me the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy chief of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were in a convoy hit by a US air strike – and I was among the first to say so. Twitter was never only a wire service for other people’s wars. I’ve “met” heads of state and celebrities on this platform – and for a moment we felt equals. I have made my scoops there, and I have made my hugest gaffes there, too. You act and you interact and you see the result immediately, backlash or praise. It’s like a daily journal, one that outlives you. I know of many, some friends, some colleagues, some people I only happened to follow, who left our world while their accounts are still there – for us, and for me – to return to for the memory or to get a piece of information. Advertisement It was also where, on the 100th anniversary of World War I, that I told the story of my great-grandfather, Ali Hashem, who went to the war and never returned; and of my grandfather Hussein, who was three when his father was summoned to the Ottoman army and never saw him again. It was where colleagues at Al Jazeera, stationed in the north of Palestine, went looking for my family’s village on my behalf, for a cemetery nearly in ruins, for a great-grandmother’s grave that has never been found. It became, eventually, the subject of my own academic work too, a master’s thesis on Twiplomacy, examining how a platform built for gossip and jokes quietly rewired the choreography of nations, with Iran’s nuclear diplomacy as my case study. In the summer of 2023 – sensing where things were headed, as new owner Elon Musk decided to change Twitter’s name to X, and to tragically, if I may so, kill the famous and lovely blue bird that accompanied the journey many made with the platform, including myself – I posted five words. “Someone buy Twitter and save the bird.” Alas, nobody did, and the bird disappeared from the icon, and the name went with it, replaced by a single letter that still sits wrong in my mouth. In Arabic or in English, the
How US-Iran escalation will test Iraq’s balancing act
At the White House on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump was warm and effusive towards Iraq’s visiting prime minister, the 40-year-old Ali al-Zaidi, describing him as “young”, “handsome” and as someone he wanted to work with. They shook hands warmly. Later in the day came the caveat, when US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned Iraq to disarm Iran-aligned armed groups in the country. As the war between the US and Iran intensifies again, analysts say al-Zaidi’s Washington meetings summed up how Iraq could find itself caught in a bind, balancing two critical relationships it cannot afford to jeopardise — with the United States and Iran. What is Iraq’s PM doing in the US? Trump and al-Zaidi pledged to deepen economic ties and boost Iraq’s oil output during their White House meeting. A well-informed source told Al Jazeera that meetings of Iraqi officials with US administration officials and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also been planned. According to the source, who asked not to be named, Iraq is seeking to secure an IMF loan of up to $8bn. Tuesday’s meeting came after Trump threw his support behind al-Zaidi, a businessman with no political experience, and publicly opposed Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the prime ministerial role earlier this year. Al-Maliki, a divisive figure seen as having close ties to Iran, subsequently dropped out of contention in April. The Iraqi government had previously said it expected several oil and gas agreements to be signed during al-Zaidi’s visit to the US, with Trump also promising a slew of deals during the Oval Office meeting. Advertisement He called al-Zaidi “a fantastic champion, a new champion”. “Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil and because of other things, but because of their oil, and we’re going to be doing a lot of deals,” Trump said. The meeting also came as the US prepares to reduce its military presence in Iraq. Both al-Zaidi and Trump said the remaining US forces in Iraq, believed to number fewer than 2,000, would completely withdraw from Iraq by September 30. That is the same date al-Zaidi pledged that armed factions active across Iraq would disarm. But later in the day, Hegseth met al-Zaidi. In a post on X shortly after the meeting, Hegseth said Iraq “must assert its sovereignty and disarm the Iran-aligned militias” that he blamed for frequent attacks on US forces amid the US-Israel war on Iran. It was a taste of the pressures that could amplify for Iraq in the weeks to come, say analysts. What did Kataib Hezbollah say? Kataib Hezbollah is part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance”, a loose coalition of groups including Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. It is also one of the largest groups within the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), founded in 2014 to stop lightning advances by ISIL (ISIS) at the time. On Tuesday, the group made it clear that it was ready to join the war against the US if needed. “If a war is launched against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the participation of the resistance forces will be immediate and certain. This decision is rooted in our ideology and is not open to negotiation,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a Kataib Hezbollah official, said, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. Iraq’s balancing act Ignoring the Trump administration’s demands won’t be easy for Iraq. It relies on US companies to modernise its oil and gas companies. Yet there’s a limit beyond which Iraq cannot afford to bend before the US. “Baghdad is courting Washington, but it will not tolerate its territory being used as a launching pad for attacks against Iran,” Inna Rudolf, a senior fellow at the Centre for Statecraft & National Security at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera. “While keen to revive and deepen ties with the United States, successive Iraqi governments have been careful to preserve a functional relationship with Iran, one grounded in long historical, religious, commercial and social ties.” About 60 percent of Iraq’s population is Shia Muslim, and Iran has cultivated deep ties with many Shia political parties, religious networks and armed groups in the country. Those connections, alongside economic and security links, give Tehran considerable influence in Iraqi politics. Advertisement For the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an official reception was held at Najaf International Airport in Iraq, followed by public processions in the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala. While Iraq rejects the use of its territory for strikes on Iran, Rudolf added that Iran-aligned paramilitaries and political networks remain influential inside Iraqi state institutions and parliament. “That creates a dual‑tracking relationship: formal state diplomacy seeks stable, pragmatic engagement with Tehran, while parts of the political and security landscape maintain autonomous channels of influence.” Rudolf continued: “The result is a managed interdependence: cooperation on trade, energy and cross‑border social ties coexists with mistrust, domestic contestation, and the persistent risk that armed resistance factions could act independently of Baghdad’s preferences.” How would an escalation between the US and Iran affect Iraq? Rudolf added that an escalation would pose immediate, multi‑dimensional risks for Iraq. “First, it could produce direct security spillovers: Iran‑aligned factions that resist disarmament or security‑sector reform might strike from Iraqi soil at regional targets, inviting reprisals that violate sovereignty and endanger civilians — every strike would invite retaliation, and every retaliation wounds an already fragile settlement.” She added that Iraq’s politics were already divided, and this kind of crisis would make those divisions worse. Government coalitions could break apart, making it harder to pass reforms. Additionally, economic and humanitarian fallout could follow, leading to disrupted trade and energy links, stalled investment and reconstruction, and new displacement, Rudolf said. “Finally, Iraq’s diplomatic space would shrink: rather than mediating, Baghdad could be coerced into becoming a theatre for proxy contestation, making balanced relations and credible security reform far harder. “The real danger is not necessarily all‑out war but a thousand small escalations that hollow out Iraq’s sovereignty.” Adblock test
July 15, 10 years on: Turkiye’s will, Turkiye’s victory
The night of July 15, 2016, began like any other evening—but ended as a turning point in Turkiye’s modern history. It was a night of betrayal and defiance, fear and courage, but above all, a night when the strong will of the people determined the course of a nation. The night of July 15 was etched in our nation’s collective memory as one of the longest nights but also one of the greatest epics in Turkiye’s glorious history. It has been 10 years since the nefarious coup attempt of July 15 carried out by the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which was foiled by our beloved nation’s honourable, courageous and heroic stance. It was the Turkish nation itself that proved decisive in repelling the existential threat of July 15 – a nation that recognises no power above its own will, and that demonstrated its readiness to lay down its life in defence of its state and democratic achievements. The Turkish nation and government turned this threat into a victory. The steadfastness of its institutions and the collective will of its people transformed the darkest night into a defining moment of national resilience. Far from faltering, Turkiye emerged from that not weaker, but stronger — ushering in a new era marked by strategic empowerment. In the aftermath of the FETO-led failed coup, Turkiye embarked on a new era of transformation powered by its strong past. Turkiye has significantly expanded its diplomatic footprint, global reach and influence since July 15. As a result of its deepening and widening comprehensive policies, Turkiye has spawned the third-largest diplomatic network globally, with 264 missions. Advertisement This expansion is not merely a statistic, but a reflection of Turkiye’s determination to shape, not just observe, global events, prioritising regional peace and security through peaceful resolution and mediation, and regional ownership. As our Foreign Minister HE Hakan Fidan underscored several times, dialogue and diplomacy are needed now more than ever. This region can — and will — take ownership of its own challenges and resolve them together. Today, Turkiye conducts a diplomacy that thinks globally but acts locally in every corner of the world by availing of several complementary political, economic, humanitarian, and cultural tools. Turkiye navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and the disastrous earthquake of 2023 successfully. The nation’s economy has defied global trends, growing steadily and retaining its place among the world’s 20 largest economies. Exports reached a record $273bn in 2025. This figure is expected to be over $400bn in 2026. With a population of 85 million, Turkiye has a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita that has exceeded $19,000. Turkiye has witnessed an increase in tourists from all parts of the world, as it was and will remain one of the favorite travel destinations, hosting nearly 64 million tourists in 2025. With this number, Turkiye has become the fourth-most-visited country around the world. Turkiye has also become a leading humanitarian power, ranking first globally in humanitarian aid as a percentage of GDP, and is recognised as the world’s most generous nation based on per capita spending. Together with its diplomatic activism and economic dynamism, Turkiye has strengthened its national defence capabilities with unprecedented speed and success. Turkiye’s defence industry has become a global leader with a research and development budget nearing $3bn, over 80 percent domestic production, and a project portfolio exceeding $100bn. At the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) 2025, Turkiye unveiled 26 new defence products. Among the highlights was the debut of Tayfun Block 4, Turkiye’s first domestically produced hypersonic ballistic missile, alongside the steel dome intensified air defence concept. Most recently, at the SAHA 2026 Defence and Aerospace Exhibition held in Istanbul, Yildirimhan – the first intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Ministry of National Defence – was unveiled. Iconic platforms such as the Akinci and Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu, the fifth-generation fighter jet KAAN, and the supersonic trainer Hurjet are no longer just national milestones—they are strategic assets reshaping regional dynamics. Advertisement The growing prominence of UAVs has transformed modern warfare. In this domain, Turkish UAVs have not only demonstrated their efficacy in various Turkish military operations, but have also attracted international attention, leading to exports to several countries. Turkiye accounts for 65 percent of the global UAV export market and is home to the world’s biggest drone manufacturer. As recently stated by HE Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of the Republic of Turkiye, “from the depths of seas to the vastness of space, Turkiye is a country capable of developing and producing its own software, platforms and systems bearing its unique signature at every level”. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Turkiye and Qatar have consistently shown this. Throughout the critical juncture and uncertainty of the 15th of July, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was the first leader to express solidarity with the Turkish people and government by holding a phone call with HE President Erdogan. It was a bold and principled stance, as nobody could have guessed how events would unfold. Furthermore, HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, was among the first foreign officials to visit Turkiye in the aftermath of the night. The Turkish nation will always remember the brotherly State of Qatar’s firm stance, its unequivocal support for Turkiye’s elected government, and Qatari people’s deep empathy with the Turkish people. In fact, this spirit of fraternity continued and continues to shape the brotherly bilateral relations between our countries. In the wake of the earthquakes that struck Turkiye in 2023, Qatar was among the first nations to mobilise emergency aid and humanitarian relief. Likewise, during the US-Israel war with Iran, HE President Erdogan expressed our country’s condemnation of any kind of attack that violates Qatar’s sovereignty, and reiterated that Turkiye stands strongly by brotherly Qatar. Today, Turkiye–Qatar relations are stronger than ever. There is a strategic partnership that was institutionalised through the establishment of the Supreme Strategic Committee
Outspoken Moroccan rapper Mehdi El Youbi arrested in Casablanca
Activists say Moroccan authorities are intensifying repression of critical voices and the Gen Z protest movement. Published On 14 Jul 202614 Jul 2026 Politically outspoken Moroccan artist, rapper, and filmmaker Mehdi El Youbi has been arrested in Casablanca, days after being barred from returning to France, where he has been based since 2017. El Youbi, better known by his stage name Mehdi Black Wind, was detained on Monday night after being questioned by Morocco’s National Brigade of Judicial Police in Casablanca, according to a statement from a group of his friends and supporters. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “After a day of questioning, his family were informed at around 9pm that he had been taken into police custody and was due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday”, the statement said. “According to the latest information, his arrest is believed to be linked to his artistic views and posts on social media.” El Youbi, born in 1992, is widely known in Morocco and across North Africa for his rap songs heavily influenced by US hip-hop. He rose to prominence in the early 2010s, at the same time as the Arab Spring, with songs that caught the attention of the authorities for their politically engaged lyrics. “When I return home, I’m afraid of being arrested or banned from the country,” El Youbi told French music magazine Mosaique Magazine in December 2025. “Many people try to depoliticise art or sport, but I believe that every committed artist, every activist, or anyone who takes risks lives between boldness and fear.” El Youbi is “the best rapper in North Africa and it’s not close”, Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi said on X. Mehdi El Youbi was arrested in Morocco, days after being barred from returning to Marseille, France, where he’s been based since 2017. [Courtesy of supporters of Mehdi El Youbi] Omar Radi, a Moroccan investigative journalist and human rights activist who was previously jailed in Morocco for criticising a judge, told Al Jazeera that El Youbi is “the most outspoken and politically direct Moroccan rapper”. Advertisement “There is a deliberate attempt to stamp out any possibility of criticism of the government or police methods, whether within civil society and the press, or in artistic circles or amongst football supporters,” Radi said. El Youbi’s detention comes a day after the arrest of Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet, which was condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and two weeks after Zineb Kharroubi, a leading figure in the Gen Z 212 activist movement, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of “incitement to commit crimes or offences by electronic means”. A supporter of El Youbi said that these developments reflect “intensified repression linked to the Gen Z movement”, referring to the youth-led protest movement that emerged last year in Morocco demanding better health services and education reforms. El Youbi is due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday morning. His supporters said they were concerned that he may have to appear without a lawyer, as lawyers in Morocco are currently on strike. Adblock test (Why?)
LIVE: Trump says ‘strikes on Iran will continue until I say enough’
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Iran’s bridges, power plants possible targets, Trump said as IRGC says it attacked US forces in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan. Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Spain fans erupt as team reaches World Cup final
NewsFeed Fans erupted in celebration after Spain beat France 2-0 in the semifinals, securing their place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final. Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iraqi PM heads to US seeking balance between security and economy
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is travelling to the United States for talks with President Donald Trump, in what will be his first foreign trip since taking office in May. During this week’s meetings, al-Zaidi is expected to sign agreements in energy and trade while also boosting investment with US companies. Iraqi government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi told reporters on Sunday the visit to Washington, DC, will mark a shift in the countries’ relations “from a framework of crisis management to a strategic economic partnership”. The focus, he said, would not be about striking a “temporary” agreement but about establishing “a durable, long-term partnership that serves the shared interests of both countries”. Al-Aboudi said oil would be “a top priority” during the visit as the Iraqi government seeks to increase production and find alternative export hubs to lessen the consequences of any future closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq was one of the countries badly hit by the shutting down of the critical waterway in recent months due to the US-Israel war on Iran, as about 90 percent of its 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) of exports passes through it. Al-Aboudi said Iraq’s proposal to establish an energy and development fund with the US would be on the table to finance any projects that would be agreed upon, especially in the energy sector. Al-Zaidi had previously said the fund would initially be structured in oil exports of 500,000 bpd with the goal of increasing to as much as two million bpd. Advertisement The prime minister has also said Iraq seeks to increase oil production to seven million bpd over the next three years, up from its current output of about 4.5 million bpd. “Iraq is in need of such kind of cooperation, especially with a partner like the United States to enhance and strengthen its capacity, particularly in the energy, oil, gas, electricity, and petrochemicals sectors,” said Abdulrahman Almashhadani, an Iraqi economic expert and professor. “However, the critical question remains whether Iraq can provide a safe and stable environment that would encourage US companies to come to Iraq,” he said. “This issue is sensitive and unresolved; it largely depends on the government’s ability to deliver on its commitments to restrict weapons to state control.” Large delegation Sources told Al Jazeera the Iraqi delegation to the US comprises more than 70 people, including key ministers, the head of the central bank, the national security adviser, lawmakers and businessmen. A well-informed source said meetings with US administration officials and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also been planned. According to the source, who asked not to be named, Iraq is seeking to secure an IMF loan of up to $8bn. A separate well-informed source told Al Jazeera that the disarming of pro-Iran Iraqi armed factions and restricting weapons under state authority, as well as Baghdad’s relationship with Tehran, are expected to be among the issues the US side will raise during the visit. In his first speech in parliament as prime minister, al-Zaidi had promised that the state would have control over weapons in a country where paramilitary groups, including many supported by Iran, have been powerful since the 2003 US-led war on Iraq. Some armed factions said they would abide by the prime minister’s declaration, but others – particularly the powerful ones that launched missiles and drones at US facilities during the war on Iran – rejected it. In a statement released hours before al-Zaidi’s trip to Washington, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups in the region, including Iraq, rejected the prime minister’s visit and its outcomes. “We will not give a blank cheque for all government policies. We warn against replacing military occupation with an economic occupation that is even more dangerous,” the statement said. “The option of defending Iraq and its legitimate interests will remain on the table,” it added. Al-Zaidi has said his government is eager to implement a 2024 deal made with the US-led coalition’s military mission in Iraq to end its presence as combat forces by the end of September. Advertisement Some of the factions that rejected the prime minister’s disarmament statement said they would wait to see what happens on September 30 and then act accordingly. Ehsan al-Shammary, a professor of international studies at Baghdad University, said the economic initiatives and the backing that al-Zaidi is seeking from Trump during Monday’s talks would inevitably be overshadowed by the issue of Iran’s influence in Iraq. Ultimately, he added, it is the issue that will determine the success or failure of a “very important” visit that could “redefine” bilateral relations and “give it a push”. “Al-Zaidi has little room for manoeuvre. He should choose either to align with the United States or move closer to Iran,” said al-Shammary. “I do not believe Washington is willing to accept a divided sphere of influence in Iraq alongside Tehran. That is why the prime minister’s task appears to be almost impossible.” Adblock test (Why?)