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Youth Serve and Strengthen Communities in the Americas

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Youth Serve and Strengthen Communities in the Americas

During April 2026, youth and friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used the JustServe platform to find ways to serve in their communities across North and South America.

The following service project summaries are a few selected examples that represent many more projects that took place during the month.

SOTs & Broll for journalists

Rancagua, Chile

Young men and women gathered in Rancagua, Chile, on April 25 to paint 20 homes for senior citizens, providing much-needed support that brightened the neighborhood through simple service. It was a meaningful experience for the youth.

“I am filled with joy because I know I’m helping people who need it,” said Sofía Castillo. “I also know that I’m serving the Savior, and that makes me very happy.”

Day-of-Service—Chile

Youth volunteers paint 20 homes for senior citizens in Rancagua, Chile, on Saturday, April 25, 2026.2026 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

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This project was in coordination with the city of Rancagua and the program El Servicio Nacional del Adulto Mayor (SENAMA), an effort focused on improving the quality of life, autonomy and participation of elderly adults.

“I feel very happy,” said Geraldine Quiñones, a social worker with SENAMA. “I encourage all youth and the next generations to participate in more volunteer service, especially for senior citizens, because this is part of life for everyone.”

She continued, “We will all reach their age, and truly, we would like to spend our final years of life — or whatever time we have left — in the best possible way.”

Agustín Meléndez said that helping others was central to his decision to volunteer.

“What I’ve liked most about being here is that it helps people,” Meléndez said. “Jesus Christ would help people, so I follow His example.”

Mesa, Arizona

An interfaith “ServeFest” brought together JustServe volunteers at Brown Road Baptist Church in Mesa on April 11.

“If people could just learn to get along,” said Alan Thompson, pastor at Brown Road Baptist Church. “We don’t have to have the same theological beliefs to work together. Working together for a common goal of serving the community … that’s what it’s all about today.”

Day-of-Service---Arizona
Day-of-Service—Arizona

Alan Thompson (right), pastor at Brown Road Baptist Church, helps sort shoes with two other JustServe volunteers during Servefest in Mesa, Arizona, on April 11, 2026.2026 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

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In the morning, youth volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ sorted donated clothes and shoes into gender, age and size categories. The event invited the community to visit the Baptist church that day and take clothes and shoes home that would benefit them.

“Jesus Christ does small things like little miracles,” said Abi Davis, a youth volunteer. “I could be someone’s little miracle with this one-fold of clothes; [it] could mean so much to someone.”

The young men and women of the Church worked alongside the members of the Baptist church who had lived a little longer but still wanted to serve.

“Our average age [in the congregation] was 82 years of age, and so our serving is going to be limited to, ‘What can an 82-year-old or a 92-year-old lady do?’” said Thompson.

The 13 charities and nonprofits that wanted to participate in ServeFest needed a place to host the event, and that’s when Thompson knew how his congregation could help.

“We don’t have to do the serving. We can host them and make them feel at home. We are honored to be the host … and we’re just glad to link together with them and serve together,” said Thompson.

Laura Pahules, founder of Control Alt Delete, a nonprofit that helps domestic violence survivors flee abuse, was grateful to be a part of Servefest.

“I have seen the results of the JustServe community and how it can make such a huge impact on nonprofits,” said Pahules.

Tauna Barton, an organizer of ServeFest and a JustServe representative in Mesa, felt that this event was a perfect way to love their neighbors.

“We have so much that we can give and share, so we invited all the community that has needs that we could help,” said Barton. “We could share our faith, our love of the Savior, and just let them know we are super happy to be here helping them.”

Denver, Colorado

Around 1,000 youth from across the Denver area gathered at a meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ to complete more than a dozen community service projects as part of a large-scale service event tied to the America250 initiative.

Each project aimed at completing at least 250 — or in some cases 2,500 — items to benefit local nonprofits, food pantries and individuals in need.

Day-of-Service--Denver
Day-of-Service–Denver

JustServe volunteers participate in the Global Youth Service Day in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday, April 25, 2026.2026 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fourteen-year-old Juliette Lewis of Denver helped make blankets for children experiencing medical crises and staying with their families at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Denver. “It makes me happy because we have a lot of things here, and some kids don’t have anything,” she said. “This makes a lot of difference.”

Youth assembled hygiene kits, baby clothing bags, heart pillows for cancer patients, reusable grocery bags, meal delivery bags and comfort items for students. They also collected more than 600 nonperishable food items, created handmade cards for first responders, veterans and hospital patients, and cleaned a nearby park.

Several projects were completed in collaboration with local organizations, including WeeCycle, SECOR Cares, Project Angel Heart, and Denver Parks and Recreation.

“This was an amazing turnout,” said Jennifer Perry, volunteer coordinator for WeeCycle. “We had more youth than expected, and they made quick work of everything. I’m so glad to see how much they want to help the community.”

Wake Forest, North Carolina

More than 175 youth volunteers served at community gardens, food pantries, parks and a local ballfield as part of a day of service across several North Carolina communities.

“It’s better than anything else you could be doing on a Saturday,” said Mark Sorensen, a youth volunteer.

The young men and women planted and maintained two community gardens that donate produce to local food pantries. They planted more than 120 tomato plants at Wake Forest Presbyterian Church’s Giving Garden. They also mulched and weeded the Community Connections Garden at Wake Forest Baptist Church.

Referring to the service the youth and missionaries give regularly, Larry Roper, director of the Giving Garden, explained, “This is God’s Garden, one that belongs to the community and all churches. Our garden wouldn’t be as successful as it is without them.”

Additional efforts included building five new garden boxes, restoring a town gazebo, cleaning parks and streets, packing 140 shelf-stable meal bags at Journey Ministry Food Pantry, assembling snack kits and comfort capes for children served by SAFEchild, and supporting a Miracle League baseball game, where youth served as buddies to athletes with special needs.

“We’re better together,” said Diane Ferrari, a local JustServe specialist. “It’s amazing the positive impact and healing that can take place as we unite and serve one another.”

In all, volunteers supported eight agencies and towns through service projects.

Los Angeles, California

On Saturday, April 18, youth and community leaders gathered at Iglesia Poder De Dios to help fight food insecurity.

The interfaith event brought together volunteers from 13 Los Angeles–area churches to assemble and distribute food boxes to families and individuals in need. The initiative was part of a broader collaboration with America250, JustServe and the Church of Jesus Christ.

A full semitruck of food was delivered to Iglesia Poder de Dios, where JustServe volunteers prepared and distributed hundreds of food boxes.

“I loved seeing their smiles and dedication as they served,” said Shanna Nussbaum, a local communications director of the Church. “In LA right now, one in three families is food insecure, so this service is truly a powerful gift and will feed over 500 families.”

She continued, “While it was hard work, seeing young people smile and being touched by the Spirit and uniting within diversity is heartwarming and miraculous. The humanitarian efforts of the Church truly change lives as we strive to live the important commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor.”

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Schrödinger’s carbon: The hidden uncertainty in every net-zero plan

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Billions of tons of carbon dioxide are being classified as ‘dealt with’ in global climate plans before anyone

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لندن.. اتهام بريطاني من أصل صومالي بمحاولة قتل يهور

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45 minutes of water flow into the water وجهت إليه تهمتان بالشروع في القتل وحيازة أداة حادة في مكان عام، على أن يمثل أمام محكمة وستمنستر الجزئية.

› › › مشيرة إلى أنه يأتي ضمن سلسلة هجمات شملت حوادث حرق عمد ومحاولات ستهداف مواقع يهودية في شمال غرب لندن.

وفي أعقاب الحادث، رفعت المملكة المتحدة مستوى التهديد إلى « شديد »، وهو ثاني أعلى مستوى، ما يعني أن وقوع هجوم بات « محتملا للغاية”.

وقال قائد شرطة العاصمة مارك رولي إن البلاد تواجه « ما يشبه وباء معاداة السامية »، مؤكدا نشر موارد أمنية إضافية في مناطق محددة من العاصمة.

من جهته، دعا رئيس الوزرراء كير ستارمر إلى « الوحدة لمكافحة معاداة السامية »، عقب زيارة للمنطقة التي شهدت الهجوم.

34 to 76 عاما، حيث غادر الأول المستشفى، بينما لا يزال الثاني يتلقى العلاج في حالة مستقرة.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

By taxing drunkenness on public roads, the mayor of Saintes assumes “to seek new revenue”

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In the Charente-Maritime prefecture, people arrested in a state of public and obvious intoxication will have to pay a “fixed price” of 150 euros from July 1. So decided the municipality led by Mayor (Horizons) Bruno Drapron.

Saintes intends to recover the cost of the intervention of its municipal police officers obliged to take the unscrupulous to the hospital before any placement in a sobering up cell, with the police or the gendarmes. Obtaining a “certificate of non-hospitalization” after medical examination is obligatory, requires time and back and forth.

“A patrol was mobilized for an average of three hours,” says the municipality, based on the latest arrests. “And when the Saintes hospital is saturated, the patrols are forced to go to Royan or Rochefort. During this time, they are not on the ground,” says Bruno Drapron, who does not intend to “stigmatize a population. Many of those picked up have ample means to contribute to the City’s finances. The marginalized have income, unlike the homeless.”

The socialist Ludovic Norigeon, leader of the Saint-Etienne opposition, regrets “that a situation of fragility is transformed into financial punishment”, “that a human problem is treated with accounting logic”. He also points out “illusory recipes, most of the people concerned [étant] insolvent”. Bruno Drapron pleads for “common sense”, refutes all “populism” and assumes: “We are choosing to look for new recipes”.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

Free party near Bourges: around 8,000 people on military land deemed “very dangerous” by the prefecture

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Thousands of people gathered on Friday, May 1 morning, near Bourges for a free party on military land made “very dangerous” by the potential presence of unexploded munitions, the prefect of Cher told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Around 9 a.m., the authorities had already counted 2,300 vehicles, or around 8,000 people, gathered at the Polygon, a shooting range of the General Delegation for Armaments, explained Philippe Le Moing Surzur. The organizers of the event informed the prefecture “through indirect contact” to expect 30,000 people.

The partygoers have been installed for 5 hours on this military land located in the territory of the commune of Cornusse. “They could not have chosen worse,” underlined the prefect of Cher, calling on participants to refrain from making fires, digging or picking up anything from the ground.

The Cher prefecture has opened an operational center to coordinate the implementation of an emergency system, in particular to deal with fires or explosions.

In a press release posted on social networks, presented in the form of a false prefectural decree, the “organizers of the Teknival de Bourges” explain that they want to protest through this event in particular against a proposed law aimed at “reinforcing the penalization of undeclared or prohibited rave parties”. Adopted at first reading in the National Assembly on April 9, it must now be examined in the Senate.

The first Teknival in France was held in 1993 near Beauvais (Oise). Since then, this event has been held regularly in large locations kept secret until the last moment.

Also read the report (2025) | Article reserved for our subscribers Free parties, “extremely political” self-managed evenings, far from institutionalized clubs

The World with AFP

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

May 1st is sacred – Almouwatin.Com

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May 1st, a day off for everyone. This is what we learn at school and what we measure in the streets that day. Certainly, this year there was a discussion, bordering on controversy, on the economic necessity, or not, of broadening the possibility of exemption to allow more trades to work that day.

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Originally published at Almouwatin.com

Poland, Lebanon: drone warfare and hybrid warfare

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On the front page of the press this Friday, May 1, 2026: a Prime Minister in difficulty, hybrid wars and a history of familiarity.

The +: Receive the France 24 Press Review every morning on your iPhone or any other mobile. And also always on your PC by becoming a fan on Facebook…

Anger does not subside in the United Kingdom after the anti-Semitic knife attack in a Jewish neighborhood of London. The Guardian looks at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s reaction with a trip in support of the targeted Jewish community.

The Daily Telegraph gives us another, more critical view of this visit and shows us photos of hostile demonstrators. According to them, Labor is responsible for this attack. The Daily Mail wonders, for its part, why the suspect was able to move freely, when he had already been arrested in 2008 for stabbing a police officer.

For the New York Times, these anti-Semitic attacks in the United Kingdom, France or the Netherlands could be a form of “hybrid war”. The often young authors are recruited against a promise of money on social networks by an Islamic group, Hayi. According to the daily, Iran could be behind the latter. The goal: to establish fear in Western societies.

Ukraine, laboratory of the Russian defense industry

Hybrid warfare is also a method used by Russia in Poland, writes The Times. Sabotage of the railway network, drone flights, hacker attacks on energy networks… Russia is on the offensive, worries a Polish general. He calls on NATO to take urgent measures.

Le Monde explains to us that Ukraine has become a laboratory for the defense industry. kyiv now produces millions of drones per year. 4 million and 2025 and 7 planned for this year. An expertise that Ukraine skillfully exports in return for support in other areas. Today, drones, Le Monde tells us, are responsible for 80% of deaths and injuries on both camps. Drones are also used, L’Orient-le-Jour tells us, by Hezbollah against the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.

Finally, Le Temps offers us on May 1st, a short history of familiarity in business. More and more people use informal terms in the Swiss professional environment, indicates the daily, as in Latin or Anglo-Saxon countries. So behind the amusing side of this article, there is a real question: does using informal terms in the professional environment improve working conditions?… Not really, time tells us, it doesn’t change anything.

Find the Press Review every morning on France 24 (Monday to Friday, at 7:20 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. Paris time). Also follow the Revue des Hebdos every weekend in multicast.

Originally published at Almouwatin.com

Stéphane Rotenberg, 20 years of Beijing Express and not a wrinkle: accident, vagal discomfort, arrest and hostile territories, he has had it all

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This May 1, 2026, M6 is broadcasting a new episode of Beijing Express, season 22. An edition filmed in Southeast Asia, between Nepal, China – in the Yunnan region – and Thailand, where ten pairs have been competing since March 5, 2026.

At the heart of this extraordinary adventure, a figure has remained unchanged for two decades: Stéphane Rotenberg, whose energy seems to defy time despite a daily life full of pressure, risks and unforeseen events.

For more than twenty years, Stéphane Rotenberg has embodied the soul of Beijing Express. With his calm tone and his sense of storytelling, he accompanies the candidates through sometimes hostile territories.

Rare longevity in an extreme program

However, behind this image of mastery lies a much more trying reality. The host continues filming at a sustained pace, between travel, extreme weather conditions and logistical constraints. “It’s our stress,” he admits, evoking in particular the dangers linked to the road and hitchhiking, at the heart of the concept of the show.

Over the seasons, he has been able to build extraordinary physical and mental resistance. But this endurance is not without consequences. Between accumulated fatigue and constant pressure, he has already come close to the limits. “I didn’t realize that I had had a sleepless day and a half,” he confides about an illness that occurred at home, a direct result of overwork. An alert which testifies to the intensity of an often idealized profession.

Filming under permanent tension

Season 22 is a new illustration of this. During their visit to Nepal, the team found themselves immersed in the middle of a revolution. Demonstrations, shootings, burning buildings: the scene was transformed into a crisis zone. “The city was on fire,” says the host. Faced with this situation, the production had to interrupt filming for several days, confined to a hotel. “We hid and we were confined,” he summarizes, describing a heavy and uncertain atmosphere.

Despite these extreme conditions, Stéphane Rotenberg keeps his cool. He even continues to shoot sequences at the heart of events, guided by his professional instinct. “When things go south, you never know how things might turn out,” he admits. This ability to remain operational in unpredictable contexts undoubtedly explains his longevity at the head of the program.

But these experiences leave traces. The host constantly evolves between adrenaline and caution, aware of the risks but committed to telling the adventure as close as possible to reality.

Accidents, scares and hard blows: the price of adventure

Because behind the success of Beijing Express lies a succession of misadventures which could have put an end to his career. In 2012, Stéphane Rotenberg was the victim of a violent sidecar accident, hit by a car. Result: several injuries, around ten stitches and persistent pain. “It could have been the end of the banquet,” he admits lucidly.

Another notable episode: an arrest in 2010 during filming in India. Suspected of espionage, he was held for several days by the authorities. “I risked ten years in prison,” he remembers. A situation as absurd as it is distressing, which illustrates the unforeseen events that the team can face.

Added to this are filming accidents, difficult health conditions and even external events, such as the pandemic or political tensions. Without forgetting this vagal discomfort that occurred after excess work, where he confides having been resuscitated: “I was resuscitated only once in my life”.

Despite these challenges, Stéphane Rotenberg continues to move forward, faithful to his role as conductor of the adventure. A consistency that commands respect, as it is based on extraordinary resilience. Behind the image of an animator who does not age, in reality emerges the portrait of a man who has learned to deal with risks, without ever giving up his passion.

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Originally published at Almouwatin.com

In Lyon, a housing program claims the use of “blue wood”, often abandoned because it is marked by a fungus

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It’s all a matter of geometry: cutting squares and rectangles out of wooden cylinders, to get out as many trays, beams and rafters as possible. Seated in the armchair of his cabin which overlooks the long hall of the Chauvin sawmill, located in Mignovillard, a small town in the Jura at an altitude of 800 metres, Stéphane (he did not wish to give his name), one eye on the logs of softwood passing under his feet, the other on the control screens, solves the exercise, controller in hand, guided by a laser.

To this art of handling shapes is added that of distinguishing colors. Only by sight, this time. White, no problem. Black, the operator, fifteen years of experience, stops the band saw carriage – “There, the log on which we have already removed a plate, on the right, in the middle, there are three black notches. That’s a big worm,” we dismiss. The wood is unsuitable for construction. “Nothing kills the worm, it continues to eat,” explains Stéphane. As for blue, “there, on the edge”, the teams at this family sawmill – a story spanning five generations – have learned to consider it since the bark beetle began to ravage the spruce forests. The tiny insect, which the tree usually drowns in a bath of resin, enjoys episodes of drought amplified by global warming. High temperatures favor its proliferation. In Burgundy and Franche-Comté, since 2018, tens of thousands of hectares have been affected. The landscapes of eastern Europe are profoundly changed. The Alps are starting to be affected.

A scanner detects wood defects, at the Chauvin sawmill, in Mignovillard (Jura), April 23, 2026.

The blue traces come from a fungus which develops after the passage of the beetle. It is precisely these colored sections, and not the immaculate ones imported from Scandinavia, that Paul Jarquin, founder of REI Habitat (of which Axa holds 49% of the capital), specialist in wooden construction, intends to use massively in an operation in Lyon, in the heart of the Confluence district.

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Originally published at Almouwatin.com

In Mali, jihadist rebels call for the fall of the ruling junta to establish “a peaceful and inclusive transition”

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In addition to weapons, the offensive carried out by the rebels against the junta in Mali is also found in the words. The jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) encouraged, Thursday, April 30, a union to overthrow the military in power.

“We call on all sincere patriots, without distinction of any kind, to stand up and unite our forces in a common front” including “political parties, the national armed forces, religious authorities, traditional leaders and all components of Malian society,” the group declares in French on its Az-Zallaqa platform. “It is imperative to put an end” to the junta, for “a peaceful and inclusive transition” for a “new Mali” of which “one of the essential priorities [sera] the establishment of Sharia”, Islamic law, he adds

The GSIM statement was published five days after the coordinated and unprecedented attacks that this jihadist organization, allied with Al-Qaeda, carried out with rebels from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) – a predominantly Tuareg rebellion – against strategic positions of the military, in power since 2020, in several cities, including the capital, Bamako, and its neighbor and stronghold of the junta, Kati, as well as Kidal, Gao, both in the north of the country, and Sévaré, in the center.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In Mali, jihadists want to suffocate Bamako

National tribute to the minister killed during the attacks

The statement also comes on the same day that GSIM began imposing a road blockade in Bamako, after announcing it on Tuesday. Air traffic to neighboring countries remains maintained.

This blockade is in place in the capital where, in the morning, a national tribute was paid to the Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, in the presence of the head of the Malian junta, Assimi Goïta, and in front of thousands of people, before his burial in Kati in the afternoon. General Camara was killed on Saturday in Kati by a “vehicle bomb driven by a suicide bomber” that targeted his residence, according to the Malian government.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In Mali, jihadists shake up the junta by carrying out an unprecedented attack

The tribute paid to him, at the military engineering battalion located in the center of Bamako, took place under very high security, noted Agence France-Presse (AFP). With closed faces, thousands of people, parents, relatives, friends, official figures from Mali and officials from neighboring countries participated in the ceremony. Posters bearing the image of Sadio Camara, 47, were put up all over the brigade compound.

Mr. Camara was a key figure in the junta and considered the architect of the rapprochement in recent years with Russia. The funeral took place in the presence of the defense ministers of Niger and Burkina Faso, also led by juntas, and which form, with Mali, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

General Assimi Goïta, head of the Malian junta, during the funeral of former defense minister Sadio Camara, in Bamako, April 30, 2026.

In combat gear and wearing dark glasses, Assimi Goïta paid tribute to General Camara by bowing in front of his coffin, covered with the green-yellow-red flag of Mali and on which his military cap was placed.

“He helped define Mali’s defense priorities. It represented unwavering loyalty to the general interest. Despite the weight of responsibilities, he never deviated from his missions,” testified the Prime Minister, Abdoulaye Maïga, referring to Mr. Camara. “You have fallen as a martyr. You left as a hero,” he said. The testimonies were followed by a military parade in tribute to General Camara who was posthumously elevated to the rank of army general.

Russia rejects call to withdraw from country

His death is a hard blow for the junta, more weakened than ever, which finds itself in a very difficult situation, while the strategic town of Kidal, in the north of the country, is now under the control of armed groups who seem to continue to advance in the North.

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This death, the large-scale attacks and the loss of Kidal also cast doubt on the junta’s abilities to face threats from armed groups and undermine its rhetoric, which until now affirmed that its strategy of rupture, its new partnerships with foreigners and its increased military effort had made it possible to reverse the trend against Islamist fighters.

Mali faces a critical security situation and is prey to uncertainty and excitement after the coordinated and simultaneous attacks by these armed groups across its territory, which left at least 23 civilian and military dead, according to a hospital source.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Mali: France’s embarrassment in the face of the crisis

On Tuesday, Mr. Goïta affirmed that the situation was now “under control”, while recognizing a moment of “extreme seriousness”. “The situation is far from being under control,” retorted FLA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane on Wednesday in an interview with AFP, affirming that the military regime “will fall, sooner or later.”

Moscow, for its part, affirmed on Thursday that its forces would remain in Mali, thus rejecting the rebels’ call for a Russian withdrawal from the country.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Mali: Russia, failing ally of a junta threatened by the jihadist offensive

The World with AFP

Originally published at Almouwatin.com