The Houthis from the Yemeni Ansar Allah rebel movement have confirmed their readiness to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, to international shipping in response to the policies of US President Donald Trump in the region, one of the movement’s leaders, who holds the position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Houthi-formed government, Hussein al-Ezzi, has stated.

"If Sanaa decides to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, neither people nor jinn will be able to open it. Therefore, Trump and those who appease him should immediately put an end to all actions and policies that hinder peace and show the necessary respect for the rights of our people and our country," he wrote on his page on social media X.

On April 2, Deputy Minister of Information in the Houthi government, Mohammed Mansour warned that the Yemeni rebel movement Ansar Allah (Houthis) may close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa not only in the event of an escalation against Iran, but also to safeguard the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. Accordimg to him, such a scenario would inevitably lead to an energy crisis with oil prices rising as high as $200 per barrel.

A ‘mystery disease’ is behind several deaths in Burundi, and not for the first time.

They experienced fever, vomiting, bloody urine, jaundice and anemia, and so far, no one knows why.

Five people have died in Burundi and another 35 fell ill, but exactly what illness spread through a northern portion of the East African country remains to be determined.

The first cases of the “mystery disease” were reported in late March in Burundi’s Mpanda district, according to an article published Thursday in The British Medical Journal, or BMJ.

Dozens of people who ended up with the undiagnosed illness experienced symptoms including diarrhea, fever, vomiting, bloody urine, fatigue, and abdominal pain, the report said. The most severe cases involved jaundice and anemia.

They were tested for Ebola, Marburg virus and Rift Valley fever, according to the World Health Organization, which is supporting the country’s health ministry in its investigation.

Patients were also tested for yellow fever and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and still no diagnosis. Samples were then sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in case a national lab there could provide answers.

In his article for BMJ, journalist Rob Reddick wrote of speculation from tropical disease experts, ranging from bacterial infections and viruses to a severe gastrointestinal disease.

But at this stage, the illness remains a mystery – and it’s not the first in Burundi’s history.

Reddick said the country dealt with some kind of outbreak three years ago, the cause of which is unknown to this day. Experts cited in BMJ said these #medical mysteries may never be solved, but in many cases, it’s a well-known bacteria, #virus, or other disease-causing pathogen that presents in an unfamiliar way.

#Russian strikes on Odesa kill 2 ahead of #Orthodox Easter ceasefire. “The ceasefire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.

He said that while artillery fire had paused in the sector where his brigade was working, at the junction of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian forces continued to use drones to strike Ukrainian positions.

He said Ukrainian forces were responding with “silence to silence and fire to fire.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised Saturday to abide by the ceasefire, describing it as an opportunity to build on peace initiatives. But he warned there would be a swift military response to any violations.

“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in an online post on Saturday.

But he added: “We all understand who we are dealing with. Ukraine will adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind.”

Ukraine earlier proposed to Russia a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday described Putin’s move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands -- a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.
Deaths in Odesa ahead of ceasefire

Hours before the ceasefire was due to begin, Russian drone strikes killed at least two people in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight into Saturday, local authorities reported.

A further two people were wounded in the attack on the Black Sea port city, when drones hit a residential area, damaging apartment buildings, houses and a kindergarten.

According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia targeted Ukraine with 160 drones overnight, of which 133 were shot down or intercepted, hours before a proposed Easter ceasefire was due to come into force.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across Russia and occupied Crimea.
Prisoners exchanged

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that a prisoner swap Saturday brought home 175 of its soldiers.

Zelenskyy confirmed Saturday’s exchange, saying that 175 service members and seven civilians were returned.

“Most had been held in captivity since 2022. And finally, they are home,” he wrote on X.

At the exchange site in northern Ukraine, Svitlana Pohosyan waited for her son’s return. Asked about the ceasefire, she said: “I want to believe it. God willing, may it be so. We will believe and hope that everything will be fine, that a ceasefire will come on such a holy day, and that there will be peace -- peace in Ukraine and peace in the whole world.”

“My celebration will come when my son returns,” she added. “I will hold him in my arms -- and that will be the greatest celebration for me. And for every mother, every family.”

Periodic prisoner exchanges have been one of the few positive outcomes of otherwise fruitless monthslong U.S.-brokered negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks have delivered no progress on key issues preventing an end to Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, now in its fifth year.

Separately, seven residents of Russia’s Kursk region returned from Ukraine Saturday after they were captured by the Ukrainian army, Russian state media reported. They were greeted at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border by Russia’s human rights ombudswoman, Tatyana Moskalkova.

According to Moskalkova, the returnees were the last of those who were taken to Ukraine from the Kursk region after the Ukrainian army took control of parts of the region in 2024.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

Derek Gatopoulos And Elise Morton, The Associated Press

Morton reported from London.

G7 meets on the Iran war as #Rubio tries to sell U.S. strategy to skeptical allies insulted by Trump

#US sanctions on #Rwanda’s military force APR basketball team have forced them to withdraw from the #Basketball Africa League amid political tensions.

Canadian alpine skier Alexis Guimond aims to showcase best work at Paralympics

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the austere cleric who ruled Iran for more than three decades and reshaped the balance of power across the Middle East through confrontation with the West and the projection of militant Shiite influence, has died. He was 86.

The undisputed leader of postrevolutionary Iran and spiritual leader of millions of Shiite Muslims, Khamenei developed the nation’s nuclear program and built a once-powerful network of regional militant groups that Israel has been systematically dismantling for more than a year. His resistance to the U.S. and Israel resonated widely in the Middle East, even as it gradually fell out of step with large parts of Iran’s population, many of whom despised living under his firebrand form of theocratic governance and wanted to escape the country’s global isolation.

After taking power in 1989, despite domestic and foreign pressure, Khamenei built Iran into a formidable military and political power. His predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had left the nation bankrupt and humiliated, following an eight-year war with neighboring Iraq, one of the deadliest global conflicts of the past century.

“When Khomeini died, the Islamic Republic was a dumpster fire,” said Afshon Ostovar, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. “Khamenei, through guile and persistence, was able to achieve something pretty miraculous. He turned Iran into a regional power that controlled a pretty wide geography.”

An instrument for Khamenei’s expansion was a network of armed groups in the Middle East that fought at Iran’s behest, pinning down foes and providing Tehran with strategic space to prevent direct enemy attacks. At the height of Iran’s expansion, it controlled a land corridor running from Tehran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, through which it could transport arms and personnel.

Khamenei’s fortunes changed with what first appeared to be a victory: the attack led by Hamas, its Palestinian ally, on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The deadliest single assault ever on Israel, it was heralded by Tehran as a testament to the strength of the alliance it had built from scratch, and brandished Khamenei’s self-styled status as a flag bearer for the Palestinian people.

#Pentagon chief Hegseth says officers will stop attending Ivy League programs.

The U.S. Defense Department will stop sending officers on professional courses and graduate programs at Ivy League colleges, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Friday, declaring the schools had become “anti-American.”

The ban will come into effect from the academic year 2026-27, he said in a video posted to X.

The Trump administration is cracking down on universities over a range of issues, including diversity programs, transgender policies and pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“For decades, the Ivy League and similar institutions have gorged themselves on a trust fund of American taxpayer dollars, only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain,” Hegseth said.

“I’m ordering the complete and immediate cancellation of all Department of War attendance at institutions like Princeton, Columbia, MIT, Brown, Yale and many others starting next academic year,” he added.

#WASHINGTON, February 13. #US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he planned to discuss with the Hungarian and #Slovak authorities halting their imports of Russian energy resources.

"Well, we'll have those conversations with them. We'll talk to them about what needs to happen," he told reporters before flying to Europe to attend the Munich Security Conference.

"Yeah, I'm not going to get into what we're going to say in those meetings. But more than anything else, these are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, work very closely with us," Rubio added.

#PanAfrican food and flag raising kick off Black History Month at #UPEI.

A long line of students moved through McMillan Hall at the W.A. Murphy Student Centre, filling plates with fried plantains, jerk chicken, rice and peas, and samosas prepared by local vendors, Boonoonoonoos and Out of Africa. The meal followed a Pan-African flag raising outside the Kelley Memorial Building.

Erica Kyalo, external vice-president with the UPEI Student Union, says a growing Black community on campus and beyond is helping build a stronger sense of belonging.

“We do feel that every space is a space for us to be welcome and feel included,” Kyalo said.

Prince Edward Island’s Black population more than doubled between the last two censuses, rising from about 825 people in 2016 to 1,815 in 2021, according to Statistics Canada. That number is expected to be bigger now.

It means more chances to gather and celebrate, says Reequal Smith, programs and events co-ordinator with the Black Cultural Society of Prince Edward Island, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

“It’s a breath of fresh air to be honest,” she said. “To see the numbers growing tremendously, you feel that, oh my goodness, I can have someone that I probably could be able to relate to, or they’ll know the stories that I’m speaking of or hey, we might even be from the same country.”

Smith added some people are still unaware of the Black community’s deep roots on the Island.

In a statement issued Monday, P.E.I. Premier Bloyce Thompson wrote that the Bog, a former west-end Charlottetown neighbourhood, was established around 1810 by freed Black slaves brought to the Island by Loyalists in the 18th century. Home to 200 residents, he wrote that most worked in domestic or labour-intensive jobs.

“Sometimes people are not knowledgeable that the Black community exists or that it has grown over the years, but it does,” Smith said.

Kyalo said awareness can lead to curiosity, and cultural understanding can spread one conversation, one event and one plate at a time.

“It’s very encouraging to see the community wanting to learn more about our culture,” she said.

“And also, getting excited to try our foods that are very, I would say, exquisite,” she added, laughing.

The reception is just the start of several Black History Month events planned on campus. A movie screening is scheduled for Feb. 9, in the Duffy Science Centre with the film still to be determined.

A cultural showcase is also set for Feb. 23, providing students the opportunity to display art such as poetry, dancing, singing or a presentation. The UPEI Student Union is also looking for vendors to sell goods during the event, with a dedicated space for baked goods, crafts, clothing and more.