Pope warns against 'losing humanity' to AI machines

By Hugh Schofield, PARIS France 

Pope Leo XIV has issued a warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) at the start of his four-day visit to France.

The pontiff cautioned against "losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines" in wide-ranging remarks to Church and state officials at the Élysée Palace, following an hour of talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

Leo made a similar warning earlier this year when he spoke of the need for AI to be "disarmed" in the first major teaching document of his papacy.

In his May appeal, he mentioned the slave trade in relation to AI, suggesting that the world was in danger of normalising the exploitation of people once again.

The highpoint of Leo's visit to France is set to be a giant Mass attended by more than half a million people in Paris on Saturday, for which an altar has been built on the Place de la Concorde and a large area around the Champs-Élysées sealed off by police.

Large crowds are expected throughout the trip, reflecting an enthusiasm that the Church attributes to growing spirituality among the French and other Europeans.

He was greeted at Orly airport early on Friday by Macron, with the pair expected to deliver a speech later in the day in Metz.

Crowds were meanwhile gathering along a route to the Notre Dame, where the pontiff will later be driven in his popemobile.

The president will not be at any of the Pope's Masses, largely to avoid breaching France's strict separation of state and religion.

On Friday, Macron hailed Pope Leo's visit to France as a "great honour", stressing that French secularism "in no way negates religion".

Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Dangote to build $660m petroleum pipeline

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia 

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said he is helping to fund a new $660 million refined petroleum product pipeline between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Under the deal announced by Ethiopian Investment Holdings on Thursday, the project will see a 120km link built to connect Damerjog port to a distribution facility in Dewele.

Landlocked Ethiopia relies heavily on Djibouti's port for imports, including petroleum products.

The pipeline is expected to begin operations within 18 months with the project including storage facilities on both ends of the connection.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, said it "will reduce logistics costs and delays” and strengthen energy security along the corridor.

The project comes as Dangote Group expands its infrastructure and manufacturing businesses across Africa.

It is building a $4 billion fertiliser pipeline and power plant, plus a polypropylene packaging facility in Ethiopia.

Dangote is also due to break ground next week on a new 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Lamu, Kenya.

South Sudan President opens political dialogue ahead of December elections

JUBA, South Sudan 

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has opened an inter-party dialogue in the capital, Juba, just days after dissolving the country’s transitional unity government.

The talks come as the government prepares for general elections scheduled for December 22, which would be the country’s first national vote since independence in 2011.

Kiir says the dialogue should help political parties agree on a path towards peaceful and credible elections, and has warned against using the process to delay or alter the electoral roadmap.

But the process is facing opposition.

Major opposition groups, including those linked to former First Vice President Riek Machar, have rejected the government’s approach. 

Machar was removed from the government when Kiir dissolved the transitional administration on September 22.

Critics have questioned whether credible elections can be held in just three months, amid concerns over security, political space and the absence of a permanent constitution.

For Kiir, however, the message is clear: the transition is ending, and the country is moving towards the December vote.

Netanyahu defends Israeli military action as delegates walk out before UN speech

NEW YORK, United States 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fiercely defended his country's military campaigns in Iran, Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

After dozens of delegates walked out in protest as he took to the stage, Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting: "We're going to win. We have no other choice."

In response to the walkout, he said: "If there are any other moral cowards who haven't left the hall, please do so now."

The Israeli leader also rejected accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Hours earlier, in a recorded message Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN that Israeli policies - in particular the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank - threatened "the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland".

He also said it jeopardised the two-state solution, which is an internationally backed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Abbas said that Palestinians were being subjected to "killing, destruction, starvation and attempts at displacement, as well as a genocidal war" in Gaza by the Israeli military.

The Palestinian leader was addressing the annual gathering via a video link because he had been denied a US visa.

Netanyahu, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, launched scathing attacks on nations and leaders who have criticised him.

"They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism - some colonialism. And who's accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God's sake, they invented the term," he said.

He went on to label Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "tyrant", accusing him of supporting the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Erdogan told the UN on Tuesday that the injustices faced by those in Gaza and the West Bank "deeply offends the conscience of humanity".

Tanzania paid 32 million dollars to host AFCON 2027

By Our Correspondent DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania 

Tanzanian government has paid US$32 million (equivalent to approximately 74 billion Tanzanian Shillings)  for the right to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the government said.

The information was revealed to the press on Thursday September 24, 2026, by the Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Paul Makonda, in Dar es Salaam as part of government’s major investment in the sports sector.

He explained that apart from the US$32 million hosting fee, the government is currently talking to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to pay US$12 million (approximately 30 billion Tanzanian Shillings) to aquire broadcasting rights of the tournament.

He explained that apart from the funds the government has invested  heavily in construction of stadiums and road infrastructures, as strategic investments to promote Tanzania to the world, promote tourism, and create employment opportunities for the youths. 

"We have paid 32 million dollars equivalent to approximately 74 billion Tanzanian Shillings. This is just hosting fee. But we are also talking to CAF, we are required to pay 12 million dollars for advertising rights." He revealed. 

The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as AFCON 2027 will be the 36th edition of the African football tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as a biennial tournament. 

It will be hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from 19 June to 17 July 2027.

This edition of the tournament will be the first to be hosted by three countries, and the first in five decades to be organised in the CECAFA region, since it was hosted by Ethiopia in 1976.

The event is part of the Africa Cup of Nations' 70th anniversary. It will also be the last one to be held in odd-numbered years, as CAF announced in December 2025 that AFCON would become a Quadrennial tournament from 2028 onwards.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 25/9/2026

 

US judge blocks Trump’s White House ban on CNN, MS NOW, and Politico

WASHINGTON, United States 

A United States judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s ban on three news outlets from the White House, ordering his administration to immediately restore their access pending a later court hearing.

Issuing a temporary restraining order early on Thursday, US District Judge Timothy J Kelly said CNN, MS NOW and Politico were likely to prevail in their legal challenge to Trump’s ban on several grounds, including that it violated their due process rights.

Kelly said the outlets had made a convincing case that they were stripped of their credentials without due process and were likely to suffer “irreparable harm” in the absence of the temporary order.

Kelly, who was nominated by Trump during his first term in 2017, also found there was a public interest in blocking the ban “given the importance of the free press”.

Rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that the outlets had been barred to protect national security, Kelly said the government’s argument lacked “factual support”.

“Defendants offer no declarations or other support – classified or unclassified – explaining how any of the reporting they identified in their letters to Plaintiffs damaged the national security,” Kelly said in the ruling.

Kelly ruled that the Trump administration should “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the outlets’ access to the White House.

Kelly imposed the injunction for 14 days, pending further proceedings.

Theodore Boutrous, the lawyer representing the outlets, welcomed the ruling as a vindication of the “freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law”.

“We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action,” Boutrous said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who has launched a slew of attacks on the media as president, on Friday announced that he had barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from covering the White House, citing their reporting of unspecified “fake news”.

Trump later claimed in a news conference that the outlets produced “negative news” and sought to “diminish” his administration and the Republican Party.

CNN, Politico and MS NOW on Monday announced they had jointly filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban, arguing it violated their free speech and due process rights.

Iran's president tells Trump it will never 'bend the knee'

NEW YORK, United States 

President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran will never "bend the knee" after almost seven months of war with the US and Israel, but is ready for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Responding to US President Donald Trump's threat to "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if a deal is not reached soon, he told the UN General Assembly: "The resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying."

Pezeshkian also insisted any deal would have to include an end to the US blockade stopping Iranian ships from using a key Gulf waterway.

"It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access," he said.

There was no immediate comment from the US, whose delegation walked out of the chamber at the start of Pezeshkian's address.

"The US president described us as terrorists. We have been the victims of terrorism," Iran's president told the UN in New York.

He then held up a photo of the country's late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on his residence when the US and Israel launched a joint attack in late February.

He also presented pictures of some of the more than 175 civilians, two thirds of them children, who Iranian authorities say were killed in missile strikes on a primary school in Minab and a sports complex in Lamerd that day. The US has denied striking Lamerd and said it is still investigating what happened in Minab.

"Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed on our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength," Pezeshkian said.

Also on Wednesday, an attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz killed an Indian sailor, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported, citing Omani and Indian authorities.

The attack was condemned by India's foreign ministry, which called for unimpeded passage through the Strait to be restored.

In February, Iran retaliated for the massive US-Israeli air campaign by launching deadly missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states which host US military bases.

It also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, by attacking commercial vessels in the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The US responded by imposing a blockade of Iranian ports and ships in April.

ICC convicts former CAR militia commander of crimes against humanity

THE HAGUE , Netherlands 

Judges at the International Criminal Court convicted rebel commander Mahamat Said Abdel Kani on Wednesday of crimes against humanity for abusing and torturing prisoners at a detention facility in the Central African Republic.

Said, wearing blue jeans and a sweater, remained expressionless for most of the hourlong hearing in The Hague as presiding Judge Miatta Maria Samba described the inhumane conditions detainees endured at the prison in the capital, Bangui.

During the trial, witnesses described cramped cells with walls marked by “bullet holes and blood” and said they were whipped “until they soiled themselves”, Samba said. Other victims testified that they were confined in a windowless room under the floorboards of Said’s office.

The charges stemmed from fighting more than a decade ago between the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels, who seized power from then-President François Bozizé, and a mainly Christian militia called the anti-Balaka.

In Bangui, Marius Olivier Trésor Poussinga, who was tortured at the detention centre, told The Associated Press the verdict is an “international recognition” of Said’s crimes.

“Today, I can sleep easier because the court has acknowledged my suffering”, Poussinga said.

The country's justice minister, Arnaud Djoubaye Abazène, welcomed the verdict. “Justice cannot be reversed in the Central African Republic”, Abazène said. “No victim will be left behind, and justice will be delivered at every level”, he added.

Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, called the conviction a “significant milestone in the fight against impunity”, but warned that the country still faces serious challenges.

“The verdict is also a stark reminder of the ongoing abuses in the country, and the need for increased support for both international and domestic justice efforts to end the accountability gap that helps fuel recurring cycles of violence”, he said in a statement.

The verdict is likely the end of the road for justice at the ICC for victims in the Central African Republic.

In 2022, then-chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced he was closing the court's 15-year investigation into crimes in the country, citing limited resources. Khan was removed from his post in July over allegations of sexual misconduct.

In other cases, two senior anti-Balaka leaders were convicted in July 2025 on multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba was acquitted on appeal in 2018, while charges against a former Central African Republic government minister were dropped in 2023.

A specially created court in the Central African Republic has prosecuted other defendants. The Special Criminal Court was established to try war crimes and other human rights abuses committed during the coups and violence that the country has experienced since 2003.

Earlier this year, the court began proceedings against former President François Bozizé on charges of crimes against humanity. The trial is being held in absentia because Bozizé is living in exile in Guinea-Bissau.

Backed by the United Nations and staffed with international judges, the court issued its first verdict in 2022. It has since indicted more than 30 people, nearly all of whom are in custody.

Among them is Edmond Beina, who was also wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. His trial at the Special Criminal Court is ongoing, after it fended off an attempt by the ICC to extradite him to The Hague.

Despite its successes, the Special Criminal Court faces possible closure after the Trump administration withdrew US funding last year.

Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa, warned that closing the court would be catastrophic for justice in the Central African Republic.

“Despite the authorities’ efforts, national courts still lack the resources and capacity to assume the mandate the ICC has been carrying out”, he said.

Supporters are urging the United Nations and the European Union to help extend the court’s mandate and provide funding.

Said pleaded not guilty when the proceedings began in 2021. His sentence, which could be as long as life in prison, will be decided at a later date.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 24/9/2026

 

South Sudan President dissolves govt as controversy engulfs December poll

By Our Correspondent, JUBA South Sudan 

South Sudan President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional government on Tuesday, hours after signing amendments to election laws that removed requirements to complete a permanent constitution and national census before a vote.

South Sudan's opposition leader and former vice-president Riek Machar (R) sits in the dock with his former deputy chief of staff during the third session of his trial at Freedom Hall in Juba, on September 24, 2025

Heavy security was deployed in South Sudan on Tuesday as the president prepared to dissolve the government for the first-ever election, with analysts warning that last-minute legal changes give him total control over the transition.

South Sudan achieved independence in 2011 but soon after plunged into a five-year civil war and remains one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world.

Elections are due on December 22, having twice been postponed, but the government has failed to implement almost any of the preconditions set out in a 2018 peace agreement.

No voters have been registered, rival armies have not been unified and the long-awaited constitution has never materialised.

President Salva Kiir will dissolve the government at midnight (2200 GMT), his office said on Tuesday, in line with the agreed elections timetable, and appoint a new transitional government to oversee the vote.

But it comes a day after changes to the National Elections Act that allowed Kiir to stay in power while removing all vice-presidents, appointed under the 2018 peace deal, during the election period.

The amendments also allow for the vote to go ahead despite the lack of constitution or census.

Analysts warned that the changes offered Kiir unfettered control.

"Kiir will be the only person in power, without vice-presidents, without the executive, without the parliament," said Michael Wani, a lawyer and former member of the constitution drafting committee.

Independent analyst Machot Amuom said there was a lot of "ambiguity" in the legal changes.

"The new law gives the president full powers... He can decide even not to go for elections for another year or another two years," Amuom said.

Our Correspondent said there was an increased military presence in the capital, Juba, on Tuesday.

"I have seen many soldiers present along the roads. This is not the normal thing in Juba, and I don't know what is happening. So I decided to close my shop," one vendor, who asked for anonymity, told our correspondent.

The Internal Security Bureau issued a directive, ordering "all forces to be in uniforms and be on high alert for (3) days" from September 22.

Tensions remain high between rival political groups, with opposition leader Riek Machar currently jailed on treason charges.

In that context, international observers fear the election could tip the country back into full-blown conflict.

EAST AFRICA NEWSPAPERS 23/9/2026