MEXICO CITY – Four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge in the capital of western Mexico’s Sinaloa state on Monday, part of a surge of cartel violence that killed nearly 20 people in less than a day, authorities said.

A bloody war for control between two factions of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel has turned the city of Culiacan into an epicenter of cartel violence since the conflict exploded last year between the two groups: Los Chapitos and La Mayiza.

Dead bodies appear scattered across Culiacán on a daily basis, homes are riddled with bullets, businesses shutter and schools regularly close down during waves of violence. Masked young men on motorcycles watch over the main avenues of the city.

On Monday, Sinaloa state prosecutors said that four bodies were found dangling from the freeway bridge leading out of the city, their heads in a nearby plastic bag.

On the same highway Monday, officials said they found 16 more male victims with gunshot wounds, packed into a white van, one of whom was decapitated. Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions, though the note’s contents were not immediately disclosed.

Feliciano Castro, Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the violent killings on Monday and said authorities needed to examine their strategy for tackling organized crime with the “magnitude” of the violence seen.

“Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,” Castro said.

Most in the western Mexico state, however, say authorities have lost control of the violence levels.

A bloody power struggle erupted in September last year between two rival factions, pushing the city to a standstill.

The war for territorial control was triggered by the dramatic kidnapping of the leader of one of the groups by a son of notorious capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who then delivered him to U.S. authorities via a private plane.

Since then, intense fighting between the heavily armed factions has become the new normal for civilians in Culiacan, a city which for years avoided the worst of Mexico’s violence in large part because the Sinaloa Cartel maintained such complete control.

AP

Lamenting the situation underway in Israeli cities following the impact of retaliatory strikes by Iran, Israeli Channel 12 was particularly alarmed by the situation in Tel Aviv, “the city that never rests.” It indicated that the city was forced to a standstill by Iran’s missiles.

“Known for its constant bustle and noise, it suddenly appeared deserted,” the channel revealed, explaining how everyone is packing their bags to leave.

The Israeli channel pointed to the fortified rooms, which have become scarce, and the empty shops, adding that even when the municipality decided to open parking lots for free, no one benefited, because the “city is simply fleeing from itself.”

Even the eldest settlers in Tel Aviv can’t recall a similar situation, as most apartments in old buildings lack any shelter within the building itself or fortified rooms.

Majority of settlers left Tel Aviv

The Israeli channel quoted Rekhes, who lives in an apartment on HaYarkon Street with his wife and left the city in search of a fortified shelter, as saying, “The majority of the residents have left the city.”

Channel 12 reported that “those who were undecided between staying or leaving were finally persuaded to leave after a direct hit on one of the city’s upscale towers last Friday.”

Another settler described a prevalent feeling among the settlers that the Iranians are primarily targeting Tel Aviv, thus the need to leave the city.

Israeli media reported on Monday that the destruction in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood of Tel Aviv was reminiscent of devastated areas after an earthquake.

Israeli media reported that El Al Airlines has received 25,000 requests for flights abroad from Tel Aviv since yesterday, to escape Iranian missiles.

AL MAYADEEN

Senior Israeli political analyst Dana Weiss, speaking on Channel 12, said the joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran had failed to deliver a “decisive blow,” leaving the outcome of the escalation still uncertain. Weiss emphasized that the central question now is how to end the confrontation without being dragged into a protracted war.

In her report aired Sunday evening, Weiss stated, “Even if some objectives were achieved, it is clear to all parties that the situation is far from over.” She highlighted that the main challenge ahead is devising an exit strategy from the current escalation, particularly as the Israeli regime seeks to avoid a drawn-out war of attrition, a scenario both the political and military establishments are eager to prevent.

According to Weiss, managing the next phase depends not only on the Israeli occupation’s internal assessments but also on Iran’s response and the international community’s stance. She noted that the occupying regime has a limited window of several days to address the growing missile threat. Should talks fail to materialize, she added, international actors may push for an imposed ceasefire between the two sides.

Mounting concern within ‘Israel’

Weiss’s remarks reflect mounting concern within the Israeli establishment over the consequences of any potential Iranian retaliation. Calls are growing in the Hebrew media for a political and diplomatic off-ramp that could prevent “Israel” from sinking deeper into a regional confrontation.

In a related report, Channel 13 confirmed that several officials inside the Israeli occupation’s leadership are pushing to conclude the military campaign within days following the US strike on Iran. The urgency underscores growing unease over a scenario spiraling beyond control.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, emphasized on Sunday that the recent attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities do not signify the end of the confrontation, warning that Iran still holds significant strategic advantages.

In a post on X, Shamkhani wrote: “Even assuming the complete destruction of the facilities, the game is not over; enriched materials, domestic expertise, and political will remain intact.”

He added that the initiative, both political and operational, now lies with the side that “knows how to play intelligently and avoids firing indiscriminately,” suggesting that Iran’s response would be impactful.

Strategic deterrence, sustained capabilities

Shamkhani’s remarks follow intensified US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, including major sites at Natanz and Fordow. Despite the damage, Iranian officials continue to assert that the core of the country’s nuclear program, knowledge, enrichment stockpiles, and national resolve, remain unaffected.

“The surprises will continue,” Shamkhani warned, signaling that Tehran has more calculated moves to come amid escalating regional tensions.

Following the United States’ airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, senior Iranian lawmakers have raised the possibility of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation.

The warnings come after US President Donald Trump announced, in a post in Truth Social, on Sunday at dawn, that the United States carried out what he described as a “very successful attack” on three Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

Iran implemented measures to safeguard infrastructure

Esmail Kowsari, a prominent member of Iran’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament, affirmed that the country had already implemented protective measures to safeguard its nuclear infrastructure. He dismissed allegations of severe damage to Iran’s nuclear program, calling them “baseless claims,” and insisted that “Tehran has accurate intelligence disproving such assertions.”

Kowsari revealed that authorities are actively weighing a possible exit from the NPT. “We are reviewing the option of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said, noting that the parliamentary committee would soon hold an emergency session to assess the American attack and formulate Iran’s official response.

Reiterating Iran’s commitment to Resistance, Kowsari warned that “our armed forces will certainly continue striking the Zionist entity,” adding, “US military bases across the region will not remain secure. Hitting them will be far easier than targeting the Israeli regime.”

He further cautioned that Iran is prepared to escalate militarily if necessary, stating, “The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is on the table. We will definitely implement it if the situation requires.”

Al-Mayadeen, 22.6.2025

TEL AVIV, Israel – Israeli experts believe Tel Aviv’s goal of overthrowing the Iranian government is unlikely to succeed, highlighting the difficulty of changing regimes through external pressure and attacks.

Experts argued that strikes on Iran have diverted attention away from Israel’s “real issue”—the Palestinian question—while also increasing internal support for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Before the attacks on Iran, Israel was facing a “tsunami of international criticism” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to Alon Liel, former charge d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara and Foreign Ministry secretary.

However, strikes on Iran shifted the momentum, with European nations backing Israel and global attention turning toward Iran, Liel told Anadolu.

Liel acknowledged that Israel’s strikes had slowed Iran’s nuclear program and significantly harmed its missile capabilities, but he did not believe Tehran’s nuclear ambitions could be completely eliminated.

“Even if Israel doesn’t declare it, toppling the Iranian regime is another goal,” said Liel.

“I don’t think we can fully eliminate their nuclear ambitions, but we can delay them. Whether a grassroots opposition will form against the regime depends on the Iranian people.”

Israeli bombing of Iran’s television station is about ‘regime change’

Speaking to Anadolu, Gideon Levy, a columnist for Haaretz known for criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and discriminatory occupation policies, said: “We don’t know how close Iran really is to nuclear weapons. Israel claims it’s very close. If that’s true, then this operation could be seen as legitimate.”

Levy added that Netanyahu has dedicated his life to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and after seeing Hezbollah’s strength weakened and US support as an opportunity, he decided to launch the attack.

“I consider this a dangerous adventure. We’re still in the middle of it, and we don’t know how it will end,” he said.

“Israel bombed Iran’s television station. That’s about regime change—because a TV station has nothing to do with nuclear capabilities,” he said.

“Uranium isn’t produced or enriched at a TV station. They did it because the station symbolized the regime,” Levy noted.

Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes.

Israeli authorities said at least 25 people have been killed and hundreds injured since then in Iranian missile attacks.

Meanwhile, in Iran, 430 people have been killed and more than 3,500 wounded in the Israeli assault, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.

ANADOLU, 21.6.2025

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday and Tehran’s vows of reprisals have brought the two Middle East adversaries closer to an all-out war, which also threatens to draw in the United States, at least to some degree.

So how do the militaries of Iran and Israel stack up against each other?

Iran boasts a large standing force but also relies on proxies and undercover operations that have been severely disabled in recent months by U.S. and Israeli actions. Israel, meanwhile, relies on both subterfuge and robust regular ground and air forces that are apparently unmatched in the region. Though roughly equal in the number of troops, the two militaries bring strikingly different tactics and firepower.

Where does Iran stand?

On paper, Iran would seem to have an advantage in numbers, with 88 million people and a land area of 1.6 million square kilometers (618,000 square miles) compared to Israel’s 9 million people and 22,000 square kilometers (8,500). Militarily however, those numbers mean little.

Iran’s troops are divided between the regular armed forces, generally commissioned with guarding Iran’s borders and carrying out more conventional military tasks, and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, including the elite Quds Force, the strategic missile command and the cyberforce.

The regular forces command the bulk of the troops — around 600,000 men — and standard equipment, while the Revolutionary Guard has about 200,000 personnel split between various divisions. Along with Iran’s proxies, its conventional forces are believed to have been heavily degraded by Israeli and U.S. military operations over the past year.

Iran’s military equipment is a hodge-podge, including some provided by the Soviet Union and others by the U.S. prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, along with more recent Russian additions. With an estimated 350 antiquated planes in its air force, it lags far behind Israel in both quantity and quality. Iran, however, does have the ability to produce a wide range of UAV’s and similar equipment, typified by the Shahed attack drones it has sold to Russia in large numbers for use in the war in Ukraine.

The security of its top commanders has been a recurring problem from Iran, with the head of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Hossein Salami and Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, among those who killed in Friday’s strikes in Tehran. Top nuclear scientists were also killed. Other senior commanders have been killed in recent strikes around the region.

Iran’s nuclear program has advanced in recent years, and it is believed to have developed enough uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels to produce multiple nuclear weapons in a matter of months if it took the decision to do so.

But Iran would need even more time to develop a missile or other means of weaponizing them. Israel does not appear inclined to take that chance, however, having already struck facilities manufacturing nuclear material and ballistic missiles.

How does Israel compare?

Israel’s formidable land, sea and air forces are derived from both the latest U.S. and European technology as well as a robust domestic defense industry that can design, build and sustain a full range of armaments, allowing it to take on opponents on multiple fronts at the same time.

For a small nation it also has a considerable supply of troops, with about 170,000 active duty forces and another 400,000 reserves. Though fewer than Iran, Israel’s forces have been battle hardened by regional conflicts.

One option for Iran’s counterstrike may include hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting Israel, though how long that could be sustained is unclear. In October 2024, a massive Iranian missile assault on Israel caused only limited damage, partly because of U.S. help in shooting down Iranian missiles.

That defense was made possible by Israel’s multi-tiered missile defenses. The sophisticated system, developed over decades with considerable U.S. support, is capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, though it has never acknowledged having such weapons. Israel also has a steadfast ally in the United States, which has been key in previous conflicts and will likely be crucial in any that follow.

The U.S. role

The United States has distanced itself from the Israeli actions but could be a target of Iranian retaliation. Among the U.S. assets in the region are an aircraft carrier with about 60 fighters in the Arabian Sea, along with dozens of other jets at bases throughout the region — as well as thousands of troops.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Israel took “unilateral action against Iran,” warning Iran not to target U.S. forces in retaliation. In recent days, the U.S. began pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East.

Israel already curtailed Iran’s ability to fight back, having decimated Iranian proxies Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and heavily bombed Iran’s air defense systems.

Ahead of Friday’s strikes, Iran had vowed massive retaliation for any attack, not just against Israel but also U.S. bases in the region, with one official vowing to effectively drive the U.S. from the Middle East through the destruction of its military infrastructure.

AP

KHNATSAKH, Armenia, June 12 – Nightfall is an anxious time for residents of Khnatsakh.

Every evening at around 10 p.m., automatic gunfire echoes through the tiny village in Armenia, locals say – the sound of Azerbaijani troops firing into the night sky from their positions across the border, high above.

The bullets regularly hit houses, though no-one has been hurt, so far, the villagers say.

Azerbaijan denies its troops have been shooting across the border, and has accused Armenian troops of violating the ceasefire.

“It’s very tense because at home we have the children, the little ones, and the elderly,” said Karo Andranyan, 66, a retired mechanic.

A hundred metres from his front door, on the hillside, an Azerbaijani military position with a flag fluttering in the breeze is a reminder of the proximity of Armenia’s bitter rival. The heavily militarized, 1,000-km border has been closed since the early 1990s.

The countries have fought two major wars in the past 40 years, destabilising the Caucasus – a region that carries major oil and gas pipelines toward Europe, and is strategically important to Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Rising tensions along the border are increasing the risk of new clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as they approach a critical juncture in a tortuous peace process, two experts told Reuters.

In March, the two sides said they had agreed the outline of a peace treaty that could be signed in 2026, raising hopes of reconciliation. The draft envisions the two sides demarcating their shared border, and requires Armenia to amend its constitution before Azerbaijan ratifies the deal.

But since then, reports of ceasefire violations along the border have surged, following months of relative quiet.

Andranyan said he thought the nighttime gunfire was meant to intimidate the villagers and the small garrison of Armenian troops stationed there. The village – which census data said had a population of 1,000 – was emptying as locals feared a return to conflict, he said.

“What are we supposed to do?”

Though there have been no fatalities on the border since last year, incidents of cross-border gunfire are reported regularly. Most of the accusations since March, which describe cross-border gunfire and occasional damage to property, have been made by Azerbaijan against Armenia.

Both sides have repeatedly denied allegations of ceasefire violations.

The simmering conflict has shifted decisively in Azerbaijan’s favour since 2020, as the oil and gas producer recaptured territory lost in the 1990s and progressively re-established control over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh where ethnic Armenians had established de facto independence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2023, it retook all of Karabakh, prompting the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee en masse to Armenia.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a congressional hearing last month there was a “real risk” of war between the two. He said that the U.S. wanted Azerbaijan “to agree to a peace agreement that does not cause them to invade a neighboring country, Armenia.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in power since 2003, said in January that Armenia presented a “fascist threat” that needed to be destroyed.

Laurence Broers, an expert on Armenia and Azerbaijan at London’s Chatham House think tank, said that though a return to full-scale war was possible, more localised skirmishes were more likely.

He said Azerbaijan, whose population of 10 million is three times Armenia’s, has few incentives to agree swiftly to a peace treaty and may instead rely on smaller scale escalations to force its neighbour to make further concessions in the talks.

“Escalation and militarization has been a very successful strategy for Ilham Aliyev,” he said.

Armenian authorities have repeatedly insisted there will be no war. In a speech last month, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the two countries would not resume fighting, “despite all the arguments, all the provocations”.

In response to questions about the border tensions, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry referred Reuters to its previous public comments.

In a statement in May, it said that Baku is committed to peace and has no territorial claims on Armenia. It said that Yerevan’s actions “call into question Armenia’s commitment to peace”.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry has consistently denied Armenian reports of cross-border gunfire.

TENSIONS IN THE SOUTH

Armenia’s southernmost province of Syunik is at the heart of the dispute and is where most ceasefire violations are reported.

Syunik separates the main body of Azerbaijan to the east from the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the west. It also provides a vital trade route for Armenia to Iran, which it borders to the south.

Azerbaijan has since 2020 demanded Armenia provide it with a corridor through Syunik to Nakhchivan. Baku has said that the passage would remain Armenian territory but have minimal controls from the capital Yerevan.

Some Azerbaijani officials have also suggested that southern Armenia is historically Azerbaijani territory, though they have not pressed a formal territorial claim.
In addition to its border with Azerbaijan, Armenia’s frontier with Turkey – a close ally of Baku’s – is also closed, making its boundary with Iran a lifeline for trade. A corridor through Syunik could risk shutting off its access to the remote, mountainous border.

Armenia and Iran have warm ties, despite Armenia’s Christian religion, and increasingly pro-Western orientation. In 2022, Iran was Armenia’s fourth-largest source of imports. In May, Tehran’s defence minister visited Yerevan, with Iranian media quoting him as expressing Iran’s opposition to redrawing borders in the region.

The dilemma is heightened by Armenia’s strained ties with traditional ally Russia, which opposes Armenia’s bid to draw closer to the West, and which has deepened its links with Azerbaijan.

“Armenia has two open borders, one with Georgia, and the other one with Iran. And this keeps the country going,” said Tigran Grigoryan, director of the Regional Centre for Democracy and Security think tank, in Yerevan.

Grigoryan said that Azerbaijan’s demands for the corridor could be the spark for future military escalation. He suggested that the ceasefire violations may be an effort to force Armenia into making concessions on the issue.

“If Armenia loses its border with Iran, that would be a catastrophe,” he said.

The Iranian and Russian foreign ministries did not reply to requests for comment.

Throughout Armenia’s isolated south, the importance of the Iranian connection is clear.

Along the single route that links the two countries, Iranian road workers are labouring to expand a narrow, zig-zagging mountainside road clogged with lorries from south of the border, heading north towards Georgia and Russia.

Along the way, some locals sell plastic bottles full of red wine to truckers newly arrived from Iran, where alcohol is banned.

At Armenia’s southernmost tip sits the historic town of Meghri, the gateway to Iran.

Only 16 km away from Azerbaijan, the town of 4,000 has seen its daily life overshadowed by tensions with Baku, deputy mayor Bagrat Zakaryan said.

“Given the recent events in Karabakh, and what the president of Azerbaijan has been saying, there is this feeling of fear,” he said.

OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE

Others are more optimistic about the prospect of peace.

Until 1993, Armen Davtyan was the deputy director of Meghri’s railway station, which sat at a crossroads connecting Yerevan to Baku, and Iran to the Soviet Union, until the latter’s 1991 dissolution.

But after the 1988-1994 Karabakh war and the closure of the frontier, the tracks connecting Armenia to Azerbaijan were ripped up and Davtyan went to work as a border guard.

A rusted train, emblazoned with a Soviet emblem, lingers outside the station building, now a derelict shell metres from the Iranian border.

Davtyan said he fondly remembered the pre-war days, when Armenians and Azerbaijanis worked together on the railways, and hopes that one day cross-border trains might again pull into Meghri station.

“I do understand that some people are scared that if the railway reopens, the Azerbaijanis will return,” he said.

“But if in 2025, people are still scared of us opening transport links, I think that’s a little absurd.”

REUTERS

KAMPALA – A crying parent with an unpaid tuition balance walked into the staff room of a Catholic private school and begged the teachers to help enroll her son.

The school’s policy required the woman pay at least 60 percent of her son’s full tuition bill before he could join the student body. She didn’t have the money and was led away.

“She was pleading, ‘Please help me,’” said Beatrice Akite, a teacher at St. Kizito Secondary School in Uganda’s capital city, who witnessed the outburst. “It was very embarrassing. We had never seen something like that.”

Two weeks into second term, Akite recounted the woman’s desperate moment to highlight how distressed parents are being crushed by unpredictable fees they can’t pay, forcing their children to drop out of school. It’s leaving many in sub-Saharan Africa — which has the world’s highest dropout rates — to criticize the mission-driven Catholic Church for not doing enough to ease the financial pressure families face.

Legacy of Catholic education across Africa

The Catholic Church is the region’s largest nongovernmental investor in education. Catholic schools have long been a pillar of affordable but high-quality education, especially for poor families.

Their appeal remains strong even with competition from other nongovernmental investors now eying schools as enterprises for profit. The growing trend toward privatization is sparking concern that the Catholic Church may price out the people who need uplifting.

Akite hopes Catholic leaders support measures that would streamline fees across schools of comparable quality. Firm fee ceilings need to be set, she said.

Kampala’s St. Kizito Secondary School, where Akite teaches literature, was founded by priests of the Comboni missionary order, known for its dedication to serving poor communities. Its students come mostly from working-class families and tuition per term is roughly $300, a substantial sum in a country where GDP per capita was about $1,000 in 2023.

Yet that tuition is lower than at many other Catholic-run schools in Kampala, where many students report later in the term because they can’t raise school fees in time, Akite said.

Late starts, long lines, extension requests

One of the most expensive private schools in Kampala, the Catholic-run Uganda Martyrs’ Secondary School Namugongo, maintains a policy of “zero balance” when a child reports to school at the beginning of a three-month term. This means students must be fully paid by the time they report to school.

Tuition at the school was once as high as $800 but has since dropped to about $600 as enrollment swelled to nearly 5,000, said deputy headmaster James Batte. On a recent morning, there was a queue of parents waiting outside Batte’s office to request more time to clear tuition balances.

Daniel Birungi, an electrical engineer in Kampala whose son enrolled this year at St. Mary’s College Kisubi, a leading school for boys in Uganda, said the emerging risk for traditional Catholic schools is to cater only to the rich.

There is hot water in the bathrooms, he said, describing what he felt was a trend toward levels of luxury he never imagined as a student there in the 1990s. Now, students are prohibited from packing snacks and instead encouraged to buy what they need from school-owned canteens, he said.

That has “put us under a lot of pressure,” he said.

Tuition at St. Mary’s College Kisubi is roughly $800 per term, and Birungi doubts he will be able to regularly pay school fees on time.
“You can go there and see the brother and negotiate,” he said, referring to the headmaster. “I am planning to go there and see him and ask for that consideration.”

The effects of a private education system

The World Bank reported in 2023 that 54 percent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa rank the issue of paying school fees higher than medical bills and other expenses. That’s partly because education is largely in private hands, with the most desirable schools controlled by profit-seeking owners.

Schools run by the Catholic Church are not usually registered as profit-making entities, but those who run those schools say they wouldn’t be competitive if they were run merely as charities. They say they face the same maintenance costs as others in the field and offer scholarships to exceptional students.

Regulating tuition is not easy, said Ronald Reagan Okello, a priest who oversees education at the Catholic Secretariat in Kampala. He urges parents to send their children to schools they can afford.

“As the Catholic Church, also we are competing with those who are in the private sector,” said Okello, the national executive secretary for education with the Ugandan bishops conference. “Now, as you are competing, the other ones are setting the bar high. They are giving you good services. But now putting the standard to that level, we are forced to raise the school fees to match the demands of the people who can afford.”

Across the region, the Catholic Church has built a reputation as a key provider of formal education in areas often underserved by the state. Its schools are cherished by families of all means for their values, discipline and academic success.

In Zimbabwe, the Catholic Church operates about 100 schools, ranging from dozens in impoverished areas where annual tuition is as low as $150 to elite boarding schools that can charge thousands of dollars.

But a legacy of inclusion is under pressure in the southern African nation due to fee increases at boarding schools and efforts by Catholic leaders to fully privatize some schools. Many boarding schools already charge tuition fees between $600 and $800, prohibitive for the working class in a country where most civil servants make less than a $300 per month.

Privatization will raise tuition fees even higher, warned Peter Muzawazi, a prominent educator in Zimbabwe.

Muzawazi, who attended Catholic schools, once was the headmaster of Marist Brothers, a top Catholic school for boys in Zimbabwe. That school in Nyanga is among those earmarked for privatization.

“I know in the Catholic Church there is a lot of space for reasonable fees for day scholars, but for boarders there is need to be watching because the possibility that they would be out of reach for the vulnerable is there,” he said.

The church needs to be actively engaged, he said. “How do we continue to guarantee education for the poor?”

Efforts to privatize church-founded schools have sparked debate in Zimbabwe, which for years has been in economic decline stemming in part from sanctions imposed by the US and others. Authorities say privatizing these schools is necessary to maintain standards, even as critics warn Catholic leaders not to turn their backs on poor people.

“Schools have now turned into businesses,” Martin Chaburumunda, president of the Zimbabwe Rural Teachers’ Union, told The Manica Post, a state-run weekly. “Churches now appear only hungry for money as opposed to educating the communities they operate in.”

Rather than privatizing old mission schools, the church should invest in building new ones if it’s useful to experiment with different funding models, said Muzawazi, a lay Catholic who serves on the governing council of the Catholic University of Zimbabwe.

“The bright people who advance the cause of countries are not the rich ones,” he said. “We want every church and every nation to tap the potential of every person, regardless of economic status.”

AN-AP

JEDDAH – When Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Jeddah hosted Formula One star Lewis Hamilton and U.S. singer Jennifer Lopez during its Grand Prix this month, visitors found they were also drawn to a less obvious attraction – the historic old town.

Jeddah is known for being the kingdom’s modern commercial hub, and the exodus of its merchant class meant its old town had fallen into neglect.

The kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy and make itself less dependent on oil, however, has included revitalising culture to lure tourism revenue.

Visitors who came for the F1 event found they loved the slower pace of the restored old Jeddah.

Known in Arabic as al-Balad, the Town, has the feel of previous centuries with its Arabic-styled wooden architecture in brown and blue colours that reflect the city’s location between the sand of the Arabian desert and the sea.

“It’s my first time in Saudi Arabia and the old city is very beautiful with earthly tones… and has a very particular architecture,” said Rossella from Milan.

Al-Balad was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2014. Since then, the government has accelerated plans to restore about 650 buildings and revive the district’s local businesses.

Fadil Zahir, 57, was born in the old town and works as a barista there.

“Tourists and visitors are coming to al-Balad in great numbers,” he said.

UNESCO cited historic Jeddah as “the only surviving urban ensemble of the Red Sea,” where coral stone tower houses adorned with Roshan wooden balconies stand alongside mosques as old as the advent of Islam, when the third Caliph Uthman bin Affan declared the city to be Mecca’s official port.

“I am 62 now, I now see what I could see 40 years back. You talk about changes, I say it’s actually going back to the original,” said Ahmed Alkhanbashi, a general manager at Alkhanbashi Business Development Bureau.

REUTERS, 28.4.2025

TEHRAN — Since the onset of the Gaza war, more than 90 hotels have shut down, leading to thousands of workers being laid off, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

Israeli media outlets reported on Saturday that the prolonged conflict has caused a significant economic downturn, particularly in the tourism and hoteling sector. Channel 12 revealed alarming data, stating that one in five hotels in the occupied territories has been closed since October 7, 2023.

The closure, amounting to 20% of hotels in occupied Palestine, has been exacerbated by the cancellation of flights by foreign airlines to and from the occupied territories, which has severely impacted various economic sectors.

According to Channel 12, thousands of families dependent on the hospitality sector are now seeking new employment opportunities. A correspondent of the TV network reported a more than 85% reduction in tourism.

Yedioth Ahronoth, a Hebrew-language newspaper, recently reported that while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Lebanon to restore economic activities in northern territories, 80% of small businesses are at risk of closure there. Furthermore, Channel 12 revealed that unemployment in the north has increased by 20% compared to other regions since the war started.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the tourism sector of the regime has incurred losses of approximately 19.5 billion shekels ($5.25 billion) over the year since the military aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Despite claims from the Israeli regime that the costs of the wars on Gaza and Lebanon have amounted to $60 to $70 billion so far, Israeli economist Jacob Sheinin revealed that the total cost of the war could reach $120 billion, equal to 20% of the regime’s Gross Domestic Product.

IRNA, Nov 16, 2024

The ancient city of Baalbek, northeast Lebanon, has been declared an unsafe and red zone area due to continuous Israeli airstrikes in recent days. Evacuation orders have already been issued by the Israeli regime and the city is being destroyed. Baalbek is located northeast of the capital Beirut.

IRNA