Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga addresses delegates after President William Ruto signed the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Amendment Bill 2024, backed by the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 9, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Kenya’s long-time opposition leader dies, World Bank doubles down on agriculture, US revokes visas of Charlie Kirk critics, & more
80: Kenya’s long-time opposition leader Raila Odinga, who unsuccessfully ran for president five times but served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013, died of a heart attack in the Indian city of Kochi on Wednesday, at the age of 80. Though Odinga was generally out of power, his populist ideals and combative style gave him an outsized influence on the East African country.
$9 billion: At the World Bank/IMF annual meetings this week, the Bank pledged to double its annual investment in agriculture and farming to $9 billion. The program, called AgriConnect, will help fund the 500 million smallholder farmers globally who produce 80% of the food consumed, aiming to create more jobs and financing opportunities for the sector.
250,000: El Fasher, Sudan, has been declared “uninhabitable” after 549 days under siege by RSF forces. Ninety percent of homes are destroyed, food and water are nearly gone, and acute malnutrition affects children and mothers. Constant bombardment, hospital attacks, and communication blackouts have left 250,000 civilians trapped and barely surviving inside the paramilitary force’s blockade of the city.
6: The US has revoked the visas of at least six foreigners who “celebrated” the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on “far-left radicals.” The move follows expanded social media vetting by immigration officials and mass visa cancellations. Trump also posthumously awarded Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday.
3.5 million: In a desperate bid to end France’s short-term political chaos, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said he will delay President Emmanuel Macron’s signature pension reform, a move he says will benefit 3.5 million people. Lecornu hopes that the move will bring Socialist Party deputies onside, ensuring that he lives to fight another day.
US President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order on gold card visa in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on September 19, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Trump admin introduces visa fee, Ransomware flies through European airports, Drone strike in Sudan kills 78, US bombs third boat from Venezuela
$100,000: The Trump administration introduced a $100,000 one-time fee for those who wish to obtain a H-1B visa. The initial announcement sparked upheaval among major US firms, as it appeared to suggest that there would be an annual $100,000 fee for the visa. The White House clarified that it would be a one-off payment, and wouldn’t apply to existing visaholders. The majority of H-1B visaholders are Indian nationals.
140: A ransomware attack that struck several major European airports on Friday continues to sow chaos, with Brussels Airport asking airlines to cancel 140 of the 276 scheduled outbound flights on Monday. The source of the attack remains unclear.
78: A drone strike on a mosque in El Fasher, in North Darfur, on Friday killed 78 people, per a local medic. The rebel Rapid Support Forces have been blamed for the attack, though they deny responsibility. Drones have expanded the scope of Sudan’s civil war, putting more and more civilians at risk – read more here.
3: A pattern is beginning to emerge, as the US military – for the third time in recent weeks – bombed a boat that was reportedly carrying drugs from Venezuela. The attack killed three people on board. US President Donald Trump has argued that the move is legal, since drug cartels in his view are foreign terrorist organizations.
The Trump admin can do more to help Sudan, says Sen. Warner
In this clip from GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Senator Mark Warner explains why he’s taken on Sudan’s brutal civil war as a personal and political priority—and why the US, under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, has failed to act. “More people die every day in Sudan than in Gaza and Ukraine combined,” Warner says, calling the conflict a humanitarian catastrophe hiding in plain sight.
Warner argues that neither side in Sudan’s civil war deserves US backing—“both teams are bad”—but that Trump, in particular, has a unique opportunity to pressure Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop funding the violence. “It would be a huge policy win,” he says. Yet, despite bipartisan concern, Warner says there’s been no serious focus on the crisis. As US aid gets clawed back and global attention stays elsewhere, Warner warns the price isn’t just moral—it’s geopolitical. “When we don’t step up, China fills the void—for pennies on the dollar.”
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Delegates affiliated to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) react during a meeting for the planned signing, later postponed, of a political charter that would provide for a "Government of Peace and Unity" to govern the territories the force controls in Nairobi, Kenya, February 18, 2025.
RSF's bid for parallel power in Sudan
On Tuesday, Rapid Support Forces leaders and allies, who have been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023, convened to finalize what they call the "Sudan Founding Charter for establishing a peace and unity government." The document would create a separate government in the significant swath of Sudan they control.
The timing isn't random. The RSF, having lost ground to the Sudanese Armed Forces in recent months, is desperate to legitimize its control over the territory it still holds. The proposal appears to have the backing of the United Arab Emirates – which bankrolls the RSF militarily and financially – and at least the tacit backing of Kenya, given the location of the event. However, The Sudanese government has responded by calling for "a decisive international stance" against the RSF’s proposal.
Why it matters: Sudan is at risk of becoming the next Libya – a fractured state with competing governments and foreign backers pulling the strings. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis rages on. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more, and things may take a turn for the worse now that the Trump administration's foreign aid freeze has shuttered US-funded soup kitchens that feed some 800,000 people.Rapper Macklemore performs during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Macklemore cancels Dubai concert, takes stand against UAE’s role in Sudan war
American rapper Macklemore has called off an upcoming October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates’ role in the war in Sudan. The UN has accused the UAE of providing the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese Army, with weapons to such a degree that without their alleged involvement, the conflict driving the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis would already be over.
While the UAE has repeatedly denied arming the RSF, UN experts reported “credible” evidence they have sent weapons several times a week from northern Chad. To read our full explainer of why the UAE, and other countries like Russia and Iran, are fueling the war, click here.
Macklemore’s decision comes after the rapper publicly declared his support last spring for Palestinians by dropping a song called “Hind’s Hall” about the Columbia University building student protesters took over and briefly “renamed” after Hind Rajab, a young girl killed in Gaza by Israeli forces.
Addressing his fellow artists, Macklemore says he’s not judging those who choose to perform in the UAE but asks: “If we used our platforms to mobilize collective liberation, what could we accomplish?” It’s worth noting, however, that the rapper performed at the Saudi Arabia-owned LIV Golf tournament in June. The Saudis are suspected of supporting the Sudanese Army, which is also accused of committing war crimes.
Residents wait to collect food in containers from a soup kitchen in Omdurman, Sudan March 11, 2024. Nearly five million people in the country are close to famine as Sudan's civil war passes the one-year mark.
Long-feared famine arrives in Sudan
Famine has officially hit Sudan’s Darfur region in Zamzam, a displacement camp with a population of roughly 500,000, as the civil war in the country continues to wreak havoc on the civilian population.
Zamzam is near the city of Al Fasher, home to 1.8 million people and the last significant holdout in Darfur against the RSF, with both sides of the conflict accused of blocking aid deliveries and using hunger as a weapon.
The top global authority on hunger crises, the Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said, “The scale of devastation brought by the escalating violence in Al Fasher is profound and harrowing.”
This is just the third time a famine classification has been made since the system was set up 20 years ago. It means that at least 20% of the population suffers extreme food shortages, 30% of children are acutely malnourished, and two people in every 10,000 die daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
On Tuesday, Sudan’s government conditionally accepted an invitation to attend US-sponsored peace talks in Geneva. The effectiveness of the talks is highly uncertain in a region prone to failed cease-fire conversations.
Sudanese families wait outside a hospital while doctors and medical staff strike to protest late salaries, bringing the struggling health sector in the city of Port Sudan to almost a complete halt as thousands of displaced Sudanese flooded the city due to the raging war in Khartoum, Sudan, August 20, 2023.
Sudan’s paramilitaries shut key city’s last hospital
In more terrible news for civilians in Sudan, fighting in the country’s civil war has forced the closure of el-Fasher’s last open hospital. This city is the final stronghold of government forces fighting the RSF, a paramilitary group. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering in the city.
On Saturday, RSF fighters reportedly opened fire, looted drugs and medical equipment, assaulted hospital staff, and stole an ambulance. The hospital had repeatedly come under RSF fire over the past two weeks.
The civil war has killed at least 15,000 people since April 2023, and nearly nine million have been displaced. The RSF is a collection of what was once the Janjaweed militia groups, which have committed atrocities in Darfur. Both the RSF and government forces have been accused of crimes against civilians during this conflict.
Doctors, with support from Médecins Sans Frontières, a medical relief organization, will try to shift hospital operations to a rundown Saudi-built hospital further from the frontlines, but that building doesn’t yet have electricity, fuel, or water. An MSF spokesperson says trapped and injured civilians in the city will not receive basic care for at least a week.
Iran-Israel crisis: Dangers still high with little room for diplomacy
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
Does the Iran-Israel crisis offer a unique opportunity for diplomacy?
I don't think so. They certainly give an opportunity for a bunch of countries to reengage with Israel. We're seeing that with Jordan, with Saudi Arabia, and to show the Iranians that they are still considered to be the big concern as an enemy in the region, a disrupter. But that's very different from saying we're going to see a breakthrough in relations. You're not resetting deterrence. Iran is going to continue to lead the axis of resistance and provide weapons and intelligence and engage in strikes against targets across the region. Israel will still hit Iranians that are operating there. So going forward, I think the dangers are still pretty high.
Is Germany's Scholz meeting with Xi in Beijing indicating a shift in Europe-China trade tensions?
Not really. Here, the fact that Scholz has a large number of German CEOs in tow means that, yes, he's concerned that the Chinese are providing support to Russia, maybe even increasingly dual-use military support to Russia in the war in Ukraine. He's concerned about Chinese industrial policy that's undermining, the interests of Americans and Europeans economically. But ultimately he is very reliant on investment and trade with China, and he's going to continue to support that. He is not fully aligned with his government on this issue, not his advisors, not his foreign minister, and certainly not the other parties in the coalition. But it is Scholz's perspective. And as a consequence, it is going to be a pretty friendly trip.
Why is Sudan's year-long conflict gone largely unnoticed?
Well, we write about it a fair amount, but I mean, the fact that it is in a part of the world that doesn't have economic implications. So you blow up Ukraine, and Russia is in a fight, and energy prices and food and fertilizer prices go up. Major conflict in Sudan. A lot of people suffer, a lot of people die, but the rest of the world has no impact economically. Also, most of the refugees, people fleeing, fleeing to neighboring African countries, they're not coming over to Mexico, the United States or to Poland and to Germany. And that just doesn't lead to a lot of attention. Final point is that there aren't a lot of journalists on the ground from the West in Sudan. And so not a lot of people are actually covering this. So for all of those reasons, not getting a lot of attention, but we'll keep talking about it.
- Why Olaf Scholz smells like toast ›
- Enter Olaf — can he keep Germany’s traffic light blinking? ›
- The Graphic Truth: Crisis on top of crisis in Sudan ›
- Biden’s Iran dilemma ›
- Iran attacks Israel ›
- Iran strikes Israel. How will Netanyahu respond? ›
- Israel attacks Iran - GZERO Media ›
- Hamas leader assassinated in Iran - GZERO Media ›