Sudan's gold industry has become the lifeblood of its war, with nearly all of the trade channelled through the United Arab Emirates, enriching both the army and paramilitaries, according to official and NGO sources.

The two-year conflict has decimated Sudan's economy, yet last month the army-backed government announced record gold production in 2024.

Demand for the country's vast gold reserves was "a key factor in prolonging the war," Sudanese economist Abdelazim al-Amawy told AFP.

The United States has removed multimillion-dollar bounties on leaders of Afghanistan's feared Haqqani militant network, including the current Taliban interior minister, the State Department and the Taliban government said.

The Haqqani network was responsible for some of the deadliest attacks during the decades-long war in Afghanistan.

The men remain on Washington's list of "specially designated global terrorists" but the bounty price has been scrapped.

An Algerian court on Thursday sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic storm, to five years behind bars, an AFP journalist inside the courtroom said.

The author is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.

He was arrested in November and stood trial for undermining Algeria's territorial integrity, after saying in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial era.

Palestinians on Wednesday staged protests in the Gaza Strip against the territory's Hamas rulers for the second consecutive day, calling for an end to the war with Israel, witnesses said.

Demonstrators carrying banners reading "Hamas does not represent us" were seen marching in Gaza City and the town of Beit Lahia to the north, just over a week after Israel resumed its bombing campaign following nearly two months of a truce.

"We do not want Hamas! We are tired," said protester Muayed Zahir, who took part in the rally in Gaza City.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken Turkey closer to autocracy with the arrest of the elected mayor of Istanbul, but the scale of the ensuing protests could yet shake his grip, analysts say.

Long accused by opponents of presiding over a drift into authoritarianism, analysts say Erdogan crossed a new line with the arrest last week of the elected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular and charismatic figure who made no secret of his desire to challenge the Turkish strongman.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen air strikes as a "witch hunt" and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid calls by Democrats for him to quit.

Republican Trump lashed out after the Atlantic Magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a chat group of senior US officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Wednesday to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas did not release hostages, while the militant group warned they would return "in coffins" if Israel did not stop bombing the Palestinian territory.

Just over a week since its military resumed operations following a January truce, Israel said two projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip, with one intercepted and the other landing near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Outside his bullet-riddled home in Sudan's war-ravaged capital, Jamil Morjan stood with his hands raised in prayer for his mother's soul over a mound of earth.

There was no headstone -- just a rough wooden plank marking the spot where his mother lay buried.

"We couldn't take her to a cemetery," he told AFP, his bloodshot eyes laden with exhaustion.

When his mother died in March 2024, the Sudanese capital was a war zone, torn apart by nearly a year of fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Israeli survivor Gal Gilboa-Dalal has led a life of pain and worry since Hamas militants took his younger brother Guy hostage from the music festival they attended together on October 7, 2023.

Wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the face of his 23-year-old brother, he showed a photo of their final moments together before being separated during the attack.

Of the 1,218 people killed as a result of the October 7 attack, militants murdered more than 370 people at the Nova music festival, at which Guy Gilboa-Dalal was taken hostage.

Student protesters were back on the streets on Wednesday as they marked a week since the start of Turkey's biggest demonstrations against the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2013.

The protests erupted after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a graft and "terror" probe, which the main opposition CHP party slammed as a "coup".

Vast crowds have hit the streets daily, defying a protest ban in Istanbul and other big cities, with the biggest crowds gathering after dark, sparking running battles with riot police.