Gen Assimi Goïta: Mali coup leader wins backing to be president for next five years
He has not yet commented on the recommendation, but the conference was seen as an attempt to legitimise his bid to remain in power. Over the weekend, an opposition leader, Mohamed Salia Touré, told the AFP news agency that suppressing the multi-party system would be a "historic error".The conference also recommended suspending anything to do with elections until there was peace in the country, according to a document seen by AFP.The military government has been trying to quell jihadist violence unleashed by groups linked with the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda.
Since taking power, the junta leader has formed an alliance with coup leaders in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, pivoting the region towards Russia after drastically reducing ties with former colonial power France.Gen Goïta has also withdrawn Mali from the regional block Ecowas over its demands to restore diplomatic rule. Burkina Faso and Niger have also left the grouping.He first staged a coup in August 2020 overthrowing then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta after huge anti-government protests over his rule and his handling of the jihadist insurgency.Gen Goïta handed power to an interim government that was to oversee the transition to elections within 18 months.He had sought to lead that government, but Ecowas insisted on a civilian leader.Unhappy with the performance of the civilian transitional arrangement, he seized power again in May 2021.He was a colonel at the time, but became a five-star general last year.
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ITV News
3 hours ago
- ITV News
Donald Trump threatens to revoke comedian Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship
President Donald Trump has reignited a decades-long feud with comedian Rosie O'Donnell by saying he is considering revoking her US citizenship. Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: 'Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. 'She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!' The White House has not confirmed what prompted the president's threat – but O'Donnell drew attention last weekend after she posted a video to TikTok slamming the Trump administration's response to the Texas floods. She claimed the president 'gut(ted) all of the early warning systems and the weathering‑forecast abilities of the government,' stymying the federal response. Steve Vladeck, professor at Georgetown Law and Supreme Court analyst for ITV News' North American partner CNN, said on Saturday that Trump's threat of 'coercive expatriation' was 'patently unconstitutional'.'For good reasons, it is difficult to denaturalise a US citizen and even harder to expatriate one,' Mr Vladeck wrote in April. 'Congress has provided for only a handful of circumstances in which the executive branch is empowered to pursue such a move; and the Supreme Court has recognised meaningful constitutional limits (and an entitlement to meaningful judicial review) even in those cases.'American-born O'Donnell moved to Ireland shortly before Trump's inauguration in January, telling CNN in April that the Republican's re-election prompted the move.'I knew after reading Project 2025 that if Trump got in, it was time for me and my non-binary child to leave the country,' she said. 'I have no regrets. Not a day has gone by that I thought it was the wrong decision. I was welcomed with open arms.' Responding to the president's post on Saturday, O'Donnell wrote on Instagram: 'You want to revoke my citizenship? go ahead and try, king joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. i'm not yours to silence. i never was.'On Sunday, the comedian went further, telling Ireland's RTÉ Radio 1 that Trump is 'a danger to the world. I mean that's the bottom line'.'I am very proud to be opposed to every single thing he says and does and represents. I think he's a racist and he's misogynistic and he's sexist,' O'Donnell about Trump's threat to remove her citizenship, O'Donnell added, 'I know he can't do that, but the Supreme Court has given him unbridled powers, and who knows what he can and can't do.''He shouldn't be allowed to be doing what he is to immigrants in the United States without due process, but he's doing it anyway,' she said. 'This is not America. This is not democracy.'Trump and O'Donnell have clashed since at least 2006, after O'Donell — then a co-host of 'The View' — called Trump a 'snake-oil salesman on Little House On The Prairie,' and said he went bankrupt, which Trump his part, Trump has called O'Donnell 'a real loser,' 'crude, rude, obnoxious, and dumb,' and 'a pig' over the years.
Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
ISIS slaves lift lid on ‘true face' of Syria's ex-jihadi Al Qaeda-linked leader… & warn West shouldn't trust him
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TWO former slaves have issued a stark warning to the West about Syria's new 'reformer' president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Yazidi women Fatima & Nada - who were kidnapped by ISIS, and whose names we have changed to protect their identities - have pleaded with Western leaders not to trust the former jihadi warlord. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 17 Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa pictured in May Credit: Reuters 17 President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Damascus on July 5 Credit: AFP 17 Ahmed al-Sharaa, pictured in 2016 at an undisclosed location, was previously known by his moniker Abu Mohammad al-Jolani 17 A fighter from al-Sharaa's terror group al-Nusra in Syria in 2016 Credit: AFP And both of them claimed to have met al-Sharaa while they were enslaved - who was then known by his moniker Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Nada - who was snatched by ISIS and forced into slavery- told The Sun: 'He is dangerous - he is very dangerous.' Meanwhile, Fatima - who had at least 60 members of her family killed by the death cult - said: 'Many of them now who were [al-Qaeda or ISIS] are now claiming to be moderate. "I don't believe him.' READ MORE ON ISIS WISH YOU WERE FEAR Taliban launches Afghan TOURISM campaign with sick spoof 'execution' vid President al-Sharaa now positions himself as an outward looking moderate, renouncing his jihadism and swapping his combat fatigues for a suit after deposing dictator Bashar al-Assad. But questions remain over his history and his grip on power - with disturbing reports of ISIS-esque atrocities being committed in Syria by groups linked to his regime. Fatima and Nada accused the then al-Jolani and his terror group Jabhat al-Nusra of being 'no different' than ISIS. Both are speaking out as they still feel the agony of what was done to them by the jihadi groups - along with their fellow Yazidis. While both were happy to provide historic pictures of themselves, they declined to be pictured or named as of today - fearing reprisals from jihadis still on the loose. The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking minority group who were brutalised by ISIS - with around 5,000 killed while more than 10,000 were enslaved and trafficked. How Shamima Begum camps are fermenting twisted next generation of ISIS as kids make 'cutthroat' gesture & hurl firebombs Both Fatima & Nada lost family members - with many still missing - and both were tortured, abused and forced into slavery by ISIS. With al-Sharaa's personal history steeped in jihadism - as well as their claims to have seen him meeting with ISIS emirs in 2015 - they fear what his ascension will mean for Syria and the Middle East. 17 Nada with her husband - who remains missing after being the Yazidi genocide 17 Fatima pictured with her family before they were taken by ISIS Both slaves - now freed - bravely gave their testimony to Brit squaddie turned documentarian Alan Duncan. Duncan fought against ISIS with the Kurdish Peshmerga - but now uses his camera to expose the crimes of ISIS and other jihadi groups, particularly working on the plight of the Yazidis. He has previously reported on testimony against Shamima Begum - and investigated the camps in northern Syria currently holding ISIS fighters. Both women have spoken out as last week Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with al-Sharaa - pledging nearly £100m in humanitarian aid to Syria. And this week the US has reportedly decided to delist his current group - Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the successor to the brutal al-Nusra - as a terrorist organisation. One of the former slaves, who we are naming only as Nada - explained how she met al-Jolani in 2015 while she was being held captive in Syria. 'HE CAME TO PRAY' She said she was "owned" at the time by an ISIS emir. Nada alleged she saw al-Jolani twice during her captivity in Syria, where the emir would bring him to his house to pray before the two would hold "meetings". The meetings would involve al-Jolani and around 10 militant commanders who would arrive at the compound. She described that al-Jolani was treated as a guest of honour, being seen with a level of respect usually reserved for figures like ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. Nada said: 'In 100-years I won't forget a face. I saw him twice. We were face-to-face.' 17 The then al-Qaeda operative al-Jolani 17 Al-Jolani was an associate of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 17 A wanted poster released for al-Jolani by the FBI in 2017 - the bounty was lifted from his head in 2024 Credit: FBI 17 Trump meets with Ahmed al-Sharaa Credit: AFP 17 Ahmed Al-Sharaa was a member of Al Qaeda and spent five years in American jails before being dispatched to set up the al-Nusra terror group in Syria Credit: AFP Nada described how she was asked to bring food to them - but the ISIS members described him as a "big man" and said he was "special". She did not know the subject of the meetings, with the slaves of course not being present during the apparent talks. She warned Western politicians 'not to believe' that al-Jolani was reformed - warning he could 'kill many people again'. She went on: 'Trump, the British, the Europeans, they can't see him. He is still dangerous. I am sad and angry.' She said she remains convinced that he still has jihadist sympathies, 'he still has it here (in his head)'. 'It is hard to change that,' she told The Sun. Nada was held prisoner for two years by ISIS along with her children working as slaves, and she described being 'hurt' every day. Her husband is still missing and she revealed young children in her extended family were forced to serve in the so-called "Cubs of the Caliphate" - ISIS's equivalent of the Hitler Youth. The family was subject to forced conversations while living with ISIS - with the jihadis threatening to kill her children if she didn't obey them. 'IF THEY LIKED US - THEY WOULD BUY US' Fatima also explained how her whole family was captured by ISIS - with many of them being killed, including her 5 uncles, her grandmother, and her husband & cousins. She said at least 60 members of her extended family ended up being wiped out by the jihadi death cult. And she claims she ended up being held alongside the sister-in-law of human rights activist Nadia Murad, a Nobel prize-winning former Yazidi slave who was kidnapped when she was 19 and worked with Amal Clooney to draw attention to the genocide. Those who survived were taken and the women ended up being sold at a slave market in Mosul, Iraq - with people from all over the world who were working with ISIS. She even revealed her son in a photo taken of the ISIS 'caliphate cub' - saying her boy was then trained to be a suicide bomber. Fatima was eventually sold to a senior ISIS emir who was being hunted by the Americans. And she also says she saw al-Jolani twice in 2015. 17 PIcture showing Yazidi women held captive by ISIS 17 Fatima's son - pictured far left - who was forced in the 'Cubs of the Caliphate' 17 Nada's young cousin - pictured bottom second left - also with the 'cubs' 17 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C) meets with Amal Clooney and Nobel prize winning Yazidi activist Nadia Murad Credit: Getty The genocide of the Yazidis By Henry Holloway, Deputy Foreign Editor FEW people suffered more under the vicious boot of ISIS than the Yazidis. Thousands of women and girls from the Kurdish minority group were forced into sexual slavery by the vicious terror group. And the terrorists simply killed all the group's men they could get their blood-stained hands on. It is estimated at least 5,000 Yazidis were killed, at least 10,000 kidnapped, and some 500,000 were forced to leave their homes. The United Nations recognises the barbarity as nothing short of genocide. ISIS first attacked the Yazidis during their bloody rise to power in 2014, butchering their way through their communities in northern Iraq. Massacres were widespread - with victims being gunned down, beheaded or even buried alive. Disturbing accounts detail atrocities such as a mother being forced to eat pieces of her own baby, or women being burned alive for refusing to have sex with ISIS fighters. Mass graves are still being discovered from this period - with 30 more bodies discovered this month in Hamadan. But those who weren't killed were forced into slavery by ISIS. Yazidi women and children were bought, sold and subjected to forced conversation to ISIS's warped version of Islam. They were turned into slaves - sold, raped and abused, Yazidi women who were pregnant were given forced abortions - and then raped by ISIS fighters so they could give birth to "Muslim babies". ISIS considered Yazidis "devil worshippers" because of their religious beliefs. The survivors are still reeling from the horrors inflicted upon them by ISIS - and they want justice. Germany has managed to convict ISIS fighters of genocide for their crimes against the Yazidis - and meanwhile, probes are also being carried out by the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Britain however - for whatever reason - appears to not be pursuing ISIS fighters for their complicity in the crimes against the Yazidis. It is estimated some 2,700 Yazidis remain missing across the Middle East. Many families remain desperate that loved ones they lost may one day return to them - just like the incredible case of slave Fawzia, who was rescued from Gaza in 2024. She said: 'We were told a very important person was coming so we had to clean and prepare for him.' The then slave even cooked for the warlord - with it being the duty of the slaves to serve and prepare food for the emirs and their guests. She explained there is no way the then al-Jolani would not have known there were slaves present. And that Murad's sister-in-law was also present when they met the warlord. All the slaves had to line up to greet him and the other emirs when they arrived at the house by car. And she claimed that slaves were even sold at these meetings, with her emir offering them to his guests. 'If they liked us - they would buy us, it was like a market for women and kids,' she said. She said she recognised his laugh and his smile, adding: 'It was him, for sure. "Not 100%, 200%.' Much like Nada, she feels deep hurt that the perpetrators and enablers of the crimes against the Yazidis have never been held accountable. AL-SHARAA OR AL-JOLANI? Born in Saudi Araba, al-Sharaa was a member of al-Qaeda fighting against the US in Iraq, spending five years in American jails, before being dispatched to set up the al-Nusra terror group in Syria by eventual ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Sharaa met with the al-Baghdadi while both were being held by the US - and the two were allies during the formative years of the group that would become ISIS. Leading al-Nusra, he ended up with a bounty of £8million on his head from the US and was on a list of most wanted terrorists by the FBI. ISIS and al-Nusra were opposing forces - with al-Nusra resisting a merger in 2013 and also breaking its ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. ISIS was known for its obsence levels of violence which it paraded in cinematic videos online, but al-Jolani's al-Nusra also carried out atrocities such as torture and public executions, according to Amnesty International. But there are reports of the two groups cooperating amid the carnage in Syria in the mid-2010s. It was reported by The Guardian in 2014 that ISIS and al-Nusra leaders were holding meetings about how to combat US-led strikes. And Al Arabiya reported that Nusra members were pressuring the leadership to reconcile with ISIS also in 2014. By the middle of 2015- al-Qaeda had essentially declared war on ISIS. Al-Sharaa, born in Riyadh and now aged 42, has repeatedly claimed to have renounced his jihadi roots and is presenting himself as a reformer for Syria. He led the HTS to depose brutal dictator Basher al-Assad - leaving him fleeing into the arms of his pal Vladimir Putin and now sitting in exile in Moscow. But while Assad is gone and hopes are growing for a new Syria, fears remain that al-Sharaa has a fragile grip on the groups that put him into power. What is happening to the Alawites in Syria? BENEATH the veil of high-powered meetings with the West, disturbing reports of massacres, kidnap and enslavement is sweeping Syria. This is particularly targeting a religious minority called Alawites - with chilling echoes of the horrors inflicted on the Yazidis by ISIS. According to a Reuters investigation, at least 1,500 Alawites were killed during three days of massacres from March 7 to 9 - with evidence of involvement from Syria's new leaders. The new government is led by a now-dissolved Islamist faction, formerly known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which was previously al-Qaeda's Syria branch, known as the Nusra Front. Reuters found that the spate of violence came in response to a rebellion organised by former officers loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad. And it revealed a chain of command leading from the attackers directly to men who serve alongside Syria's new leaders in Damascus led by al-Sharaa. The investigation uncovered 40 sites of killings, rampages and looting against the Alawites. Many in Syria resent the religious minority - who enjoyed a high level of influence inside the military and government during Assad's iron-fist two-decade rule. Some of the attackers responding to the March uprising had lists of names of men to target - including former members of Assad militias. Families with those surnames would later appear on lists of the dead handwritten by village elders. Survivors told Reuters how the bodies of loved ones were mutilated. Horrifying footage showed fighters humiliating Alawite me - forcing them to crawl and howl like dogs. Among the dead were entire families, including women, children, the elderly and disabled people in dozens of Alawite villages and neighbourhoods. In one case, an entire Alawite town was destroyed overnight with its hundreds of residents replaced by Sunnis. And at least a dozen factions under the new government's command took part in the killings, according to Reuters. Nearly half of them have been under sanctions for human rights abuses, including killings, kidnapping, and sexual assaults. The units involved in the killings included: The government's General Security Service, its main law-enforcement body back in the days when HTS ran Idlib and now part of the Interior Ministry E x-HTS units like the elite Unit 400 fighting force and the Othman Brigade Sunni militias that had just joined the government's ranks, including the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade and Hamza division, which were both sanctioned by the European Union for their role in the deaths President al-Sharaa has ordered an investigation into the violence and set up 'civil peace' mediations. An official in the new government, Ahmed al-Shami, said: "The Alawite sect is not on any list, black, red or green. "It's not criminalized and it's not targeted for retaliation. The Alawites faced injustice just like the rest of the Syrian people in general. 'The sect needs safety. It's our duty as a government which we will work on.' But the massacre of Alawites is continuing, Reuters found. Beneath the surface of high-powered meetings with the West, there are disturbing reports of massacres, kidnap and enslavement in Syria. And this is particularly targeting the Alawite group - with chilling reminders of the horrors inflicted on the Yazidis by ISIS. At least 1,5000 Alawites are reported to have been killed across Syria - and there have been reports of dozens of women being subject to rape, forced marriage of kidnapping. Much of this violence is carried out by the factions under the control of al-Sharaa's government, reported a detailed investigation by Reuters. Al-Sharaa himself has condemned the violence - and has seemingly vowed to punish those responsible. Amnesty International have called on al-Sharaa to publish a full and transparent investigation into the massacres. The United Nations is expected to publish a report saying they have found no "active links" between al-Sharaa's government and his former allies al-Qaeda. Duncan formerly served with the Queen's Own Highlanders and Royal Irish Regiment. He then fought alongside the Kurdish Peshmergas as a sniper to battle against ISIS. And after the war was over, he decided to use his camera as his new weapon in exposing the depravity of the jihadi cult's crimes. His most famous story was the rescue of Naveen Rasho - a Yazidi woman who was held as a slave by ISIS in Syria, which is available to watch on Vimeo. One of Naveen's captors - an ISIS bride known as Nadine K - has since been jailed in Germany for her role in the genocide. 17 Duncan is now a filmmaker who documents the crimes of ISIS 17 He served alongside the Kurdish Peshmergas as a sniper to battle against ISIS Credit: Collect
NBC News
18 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump threatens to take away Rosie O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship
President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to take away comedian Rosie O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship, something that he cannot legally do, reigniting a decadeslong feud between the pair. 'Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Saturday. Constitutionally, the U.S. president doesn't have legally have the power to 'take away' one's citizenship, as Trump is threatening to do. The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States. O'Donnell was born in Commack, New York, according to IMDb. Trump's post on Saturday comes as his administration has sought to revoke birthright citizenship from the children of parents who are not U.S. citizens, but that has stalled in court. The president has also threatened to 'look' at whether New York City's Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is in the U.S. illegally. There is no evidence that Mamdani is in the U.S. illegally. Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, became a naturalized citizen in 2018. In a post on Instagram later Saturday, O'Donnell responded to Trump's Truth Social post, writing, 'hey donald — you're rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours.' 'You call me a threat to humanity — but I'm everything you fear: a loud woman a queer woman a mother who tells the truth an american who got out of the country b4 u set it ablaze,' O'Donnell added. The Instagram caption did not mention Jeffrey Epstein — the disgraced financier who died in 2019 after allegations of sex trafficking — but the photo O'Donnell posted alongside her caption was one of Trump with his arm around Epstein. The Trump administration faced criticism from conservative media figures this week after claiming that an 'exhaustive review' of files related to Epstein turned up no 'incriminating client list' belonging to Epstein. In her caption, O'Donnell also addressed Trump's threats to revoke her citizenship, comparing him to the fictional King Joffrey from the popular book series and HBO show 'Game of Thrones.' 'You want to revoke my citizenship?' O'Donnell wrote. 'Go ahead and try, king joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. i'm not yours to silence i never was.' Trump's latest attacks against O'Donnell came after she revealed in a March 2025 TikTok post that she had moved to Ireland in January, saying, 'When it's safe for all citizens to have equal rights there, in America, that's when we'll consider coming back.' In that same video, O'Donnell also said she was in the process of getting her Irish citizenship, as she has Irish grandparents. The U.S. allows dual citizenship. In March, during a visit to the White House from Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Trump addressed O'Donnell's move to Ireland. The U.S. president asked Martin, 'Why in the world would you let Rosie O'Donnell move to Ireland? I think she's going to lower your happiness levels.' Trump and O'Donnell have lobbed insults at each other for almost two decades, beginning in 2006 when O'Donnell, then a co-host of 'The View,' was critical of Trump's decisions regarding a Miss USA winner. The two exchanged jabs for years after that, but the spat drew headlines again when Trump ran for president in 2015. He invoked O'Donnell's name on the debate stage in 2015, when he was asked about his use of the terms 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs' and 'disgusting animals' to describe some women.
