UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on May 11 issued a high alert on the widening use of drones in the conflict in Sudan. Türk warned that unless the international community takes action without delay, the conflict in Sudan could enter a new, even deadlier phase.

The Sudan team at the Human Rights Office found that upwards of 80% of all civilian deaths from January to April—numbering at least 880—can be attributed to drone attacks. These include attacks on May 8 that killed 26 civilians in Al Quz, South Kordofan, and near El Obeid, North Kordofan.

Syria's Interior Ministry announced May 8 the arrest of deposed regime brigadier Khardal Ahmad Dayyub (Dioub), a former head of Air Force Intelligence in Daraa, for his involvement in systematic human rights violations committed against civilians. Dayyub is accused of running an "assassination committee" in Daraa, as well as involvement in the chemical attacks on Eastern Ghouta during his later service in the Damascus regional branch. He is also said to have had a key role in coordination with Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria that were introduced to back up the Bashar Assad dictatorship. (SANA)

The alarming reports that Nigeria has established "concentration camps" for the Fulani ethnic minority cast an ironic light on Nigeria's tension with the Sahel states of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to the north. These three regimes have broken from the Western imperial camp (to embrace the nascent Russian imperial camp)—but are likewise subjecting their Fulani minorities to persecution and massacre. With the recent shock rebel offensive in Mali, the "terrorist" stigma that attaches to the Fulani and Tuareg peoples across the imperial camps makes their position more precarious than ever. Meanwhile, prominent voices on the both the right and the (supposed) "left" are spreading propaganda about the struggle in West Africa that is alarmingly wrong, because it exclusively views the crisis through a campist lens. In Episode 327 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg tries to provide some clarity on these fast-escalating and grossly under-reported conflicts.

Yemen's unrecognized Houthi administration warned that they are prepared to close the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, mouth of the Red Sea. This is a second maritime chokepoint for oil from the Arabian Peninsula after the Strait of Hormuz, now effectively closed due to Washington's conflict with Iran. In a post on X April 18, Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi said: "If Sana'a decides to close the Bab al-Mandab, then all of mankind and jinn will be utterly powerless to open it... [T]herefore, it is best for Trump—and the complicit world—to immediately end all practices and policies that obstruct peace, and to show the respect required for the rights of our people and nation." (Times of India)

In a landslide victory in the April 12 elections, Hungarian opposition candidate Péter Magyar defeated long-entrenched incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a global icon for the ascendant authoritarian right. In his 16 years in power, Orbán had become a quasi-dictator. He turned the state media into a mouthpiece for his Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz), redrew electoral districts to favor Fidesz, and stacked the judiciary with loyalists—leading the EuroParliament in an official report in 2022 to declare that his government was no longer a democracy but a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy." He was defeated despite visits to Hungary to campaign for him by such prominent figures from the international far right as Italy's Matteo Salvini, Marine Le Pen of France, and US Vice President JD Vance. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the electoral result as a "victory for fundamental freedoms."

Panama Ports Company SA (PPC), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison, commenced arbitration proceedings against Danish shipping firm Maersk A/S on April 7 over the planned takeover by Maersk of PPC's port terminals in Panama.

After five weeks of war, the US and Iran on April 8 agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan. Its basic details, however, and to what extent it will be implemented, are surrounded by uncertainty. A main sticking point is the question of whether Lebanon was included in the deal. Iranian and Pakistani officials are insisting it was, but the US and Israel say that it wasn't. Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out devastating attacks on Beirut and other parts of Lebanon.

Leaders of all the major Kurdish opposition parties in Iran denied that they have received weapons from the United States, after President Donald Trump said that Washington had sent arms to the Iranian protesters through the Kurds. "We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them," Trump told Fox News by telephone on April 5. "And I think the Kurds took the guns." He later reiterated to Fox on camera: "We sent guns, a lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people, so they could fight back against these thugs. You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them."