🇧🇫 JNIM militants attacked Pemboanga village in southeast Burkina Fasot yesterday, near the border with Benin. 2 civilians were reportedly killed along with 2 pro-government militiamen.

🇳🇪 Nigérien forces ambushed by IS Sahel at Sanam

The current crisis surrounding Niger's new military government has not stopped the ongoing jihadist insurgency in the country.

Earlier this week, in Sanam, Niger, a patrol of soldiers was ambushed by IS-Sahel militants. 28 soldiers were reportedly killed, two vehicles destroyed and three captured by the jihadists.

🇸🇻💥💰🤑 — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele scared off many on Wall Street by embracing Bitcoin. Two years later, the bond rally he’s overseeing is proving too lucrative to resist.

Eye-popping 70% returns — the best among dollar bonds from emerging markets this year — are attracting investors who were once cautious or avoiding the securities altogether. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Eaton Vance and PGIM Fixed Income are among those who have recommended or bought the debt, betting it will continue climbing.

“Although we missed a significant share of the rally, we still think there’s value across El Salvador’s curve,” JPMorgan research strategists Ben Ramsey, Nishant Poojary and Gorka Lalaguna wrote in a July note, moving overweight on the debt. “There’s room for this credit to keep outperforming.”

The optimism demonstrates how Bukele has gained acceptance from both money managers and his peers in Latin America after many had dismissed him as an anti-establishment maverick. His hard-line stance on gangs, which has dramatically cut crime in the country, is influencing politics throughout the region. And his commitment to paying bondholders is making him a favorite among emerging-market investors.

Source 🔗

🚩 PCV warns that the Maduro is preparing a fraudulent congress to intervene in the party

"This new phase of the plan is geared towards holding a supposedly totally fraudulent congress of what they call the Patriotic PCV, which is nothing more than a government-controlled PCV," warned Pedro Eusse, a member of the Political Bureau.

The leader explained that this supposed congress will not be held with militants of the Communist Party of Venezuela but with "mercenaries hired by the leadership of the State, by Diosdado Cabello and other heads of the government party."

PCV warns that government officials will ask the TSJ to intervene in the party

"New anti-democratic maneuver in Venezuela: Group of mercenaries at the service of the Government-PSUV is preparing to request -in the next few hours- the Supreme Court of Justice, the illegal intervention of the Communist Party of Venezuela", wrote the PCV this Sunday.

🤣PCV (Venezuelan Comunist party) introduces an appeal to protect itself from possible prosecution

https://elpublicotv.com/pcv-introduce-un-recurso-de-amparo-para-protegerse/

🇻🇪🏳️‍🌈🚩40 communist parties of the world demand that Maduro cease maneuvers to intervene in the PCV (Venezuela Communist Party)

Communist Party of Venezuela was intervened by the Supreme Court of Justice, which appointed an ad hoc board of directors to organize new internal elections.

https://cutt.ly/cOJYT

Communists take over Venezuelan embassy in Mexico: They reject the judicial assault on the PCV

https://elpublicotv.com/comunistas-toman-embajada-de-venezuela-en-mexico/

🚨🇵🇰⚡️ ~ Pakistan: Punjab Police holds flag march in Jaranwala after communal violence erupted in city yesterday.

— Section-144 has been imposed in the city and Police has arrested over 150 people involved in mob violence.

— At least 8 churches were vandalised by the mob over Quran desecration.

🚨🇵🇰⚡️ ~ The Jaranwala police of the Faisalabad District have filed two terror cases against more than 600 people for ransacking and "torching Christians" Churches a day ago, it emerged on Thursday.

🔴 150 arrests have been made.
🔴 3000 Police, Rangers deployed.
🔴 Churches being restored by government.

➡️ https://www.dawn.com/news/1770614

🚨🇵🇰⚡️ ~ Police booked local leaders of #TLP and Jamaal Ahle Sunnat - under Sections including Anti-Terrorism Act and #Blasphemy law's Section 295A, 295 - for vandalising #Christian houses and churches in Jaranwala, #Punjab yesterday.

⚡🇹🇷🇱🇾 Turkey allegedly got a lease on a Libyan port lasting for 99 years, says a local Turkish newspaper.

The Port will be handed over to the Turkish Navy and Ground Forces, which will guarantee a military presence and "ensure the safety of vessels in the Mediterranean."

@themediterraneanman

🇬🇷 🌍 "Greece’s Rise as a Trans-Mediterranean Power: Greece’s Eastern Mediterranean strategic shift to Europe-to-Africa and Europe-to-MiddleEast connectivity"

➡️ 🇬🇷 + 🇪🇺 Connectivity paradigm shift

📎 Prof Michael Tanchum

🇩🇪 Germany walks back plan to meet NATO spending target on annual basis.

The German government has retreated from a plan to legally commit itself to meeting NATO's 2% military spending target on an annual basis, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

This wording is softer than Scholz's original pledge in a speech on Feb 27, 2022, in which he announced a "Zeitenwende" or sea change three days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"From now on, we will invest more than 2% of the GDP into our defence year after year," Scholz said at the time.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-walks-back-plan-meet-nato-spending-target-annual-basis-2023-08-16/