Light News (LN)

  As the conflict destroys local production, Sudanese patients are forced to rely on expensive, smuggled medicines. On a modest bed inside his war-battered home in the Khartoum North neighbourhood of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Murtada Mohieddin, a diabetic patient in his early 50s, carefully counts his remaining doses of insulin. His search for medicine has transformed into a harrowing battle – not just to find the treatment he needs to survive his diabetes, but to ensure the medicine is not expired or ruined. “Sometimes the insulin is spoiled,” Mohieddin tells Al Jazeera, inspecting his limited supply. “You wouldn’t know if it is ruined or expired. You can check the expiration date, but it could still be damaged from poor storage.” More than three years of civil war have crippled Sudan’s healthcare infrastructure: hospitals, health centres and pharmaceutical factories have been shut and vital medical supply chains and storage across the country have been disrupted. The war, w...

  Prime Minister Robert Abela wrote on social media that his "thoughts are with the people affected by the explosion that occurred this morning." A powerful explosion at a fireworks factory in Malta on Monday injured two, sending a massive plume of smoke and debris into the air, police said. The blast and subsequent explosions at the Ta' Lourdes fireworks factory on the north side of the Mediterranean island shook buildings and shattered glass, according to videos posted by local newspapers the Times of Malta and Malta Today. A first blast occurred at about 6:35 am and was followed by a second powerful one, according to witnesses who spoke to the papers. Two men who suffered minor injuries had been working in nearby fields when the explosions happened, police said on social media. No workers were at the factory at the time, they said. Other small explosions went off even hours after the first ones, according to the Times of Malta. Edward Mercieca, who lives nearby, told t...

  After coming to power in April, PM Peter Magyar had given Sulyok a deadline of Sunday to leave office. Hungarian Prime Minister  Peter Magyar  has promised to amend the constitution to remove the president and other officials appointed under populist former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Magyar on Monday called President Tamas Sulyok Orban’s “puppet” and said he should resign from the position, but the president has repeatedly rejected the prime minister’s requests that he stand down. Magyar and his Tizsa party won an overwhelming victory in elections in April. With a two-thirds majority in parliament, they can make sweeping changes to the political system Orban built over his 16 years in power. Magyar had given Sulyok a deadline of this past Sunday to leave office or face being removed by constitutional means. While holding a mostly ceremonial role, Hungary’s president is responsible for signing legislation into law and has the power to send bills passed by parliament to...

  Kuwait, which hosts US forces, says its defence systems intercepted missiles and drones amid sirens sounding across the country. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ⁠says it launched a retaliatory strike on a base used by US forces that it claims was used for an attack on an Iranian communications tower, as Kuwait condemned Iranian attacks on its territory. “Following the aggression of the US army on a communication tower on Sirik Island in Hormozgan Province an hour ago, the IRGC Aerospace Force fighters targeted the airbase where the aggression originated, and the predicted targets were destroyed,” the IRGC said in a statement cited by the semi-official Fars news agency on Monday. It did not say where the base was located. Kuwait condemns Iranian attacks Air defences in Kuwait intercepted missiles and drones as sirens sounded across the country, the state news agency KUNA reported. In a statement, Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Iranian attacks on its...

  Russia has reportedly built up a flotilla of old oil tankers of opaque ownership to get around sanctions imposed by the European Union over Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. France and its allies detained a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in the Atlantic over the weekend, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. The Tagor was detained on Sunday morning in international waters with the help of the United Kingdom and other partners, he said in a social media post. "It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years," he said. Since September, France has boarded three other ships believed to belong to Russia's so-called shadow fleet. In October last year, French forces seized the Benin-flagged tanker Boracay off the Atlantic coast and Macron later said a probe had been opened to determine whether the vessel had been used as a lau...

  Impeachment committee to hold first meeting next week as President Cyril Ramaphosa challenges findings in court. South Africa’s parliament is set to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Cyril Ramaphosa over the  “Farmgate” scandal , marking a new phase in a political crisis that continues to shadow his presidency . The Democratic Alliance (DA) party said on Thursday that the  committee  tasked with examining the allegations will hold its first meeting on Monday, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which revived the process. Ramaphosa has denied wrongdoing in the scandal, which centres on the theft of large sums of cash hidden inside furniture at his private farm in 2020. The case has raised persistent questions over the origin of the money and why it was concealed. “The good thing is that Parliament seems to be moving forward,” said DA parliamentary leader George Michalakis. The 31-member committee will begin by electing a chairperson. “The DA’s...