KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — On a busy roadside in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, Ronald Yiga bent over his racing bicycle, inspecting the wheels.
Dressed in shiny black sweatpants, a yellow, red and green top and a helmet, the 32-year-old cyclist was preparing for the road cycling world championships in neighboring Rwanda, the first time the event has taken place in Africa in its 104-year history.
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Amateur cyclists take part in a social ride on the eve of the start of the UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
People walk and cycle along a dirt road during the men's Under 23 individual time trial event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man pushes his bicycle as he crosses the road during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Mali team members get ready for Time Trial practice for the upcoming UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Team Rwanda competes, during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
For Yiga and colleagues from his Fun Cycling Club, a small but growing community of riders in Uganda, the competition offered a chance to race alongside their heroes and maybe catapult a sport in Africa that has long felt like a pastime.
“This is so big for the continent,” said Yiga, who took up cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic to ride around lockdown public transport restrictions.
Yiga said he will be excited to see Tadej Pogačar, the reigning road race world champion and four-time Tour de France winner, in this week's championships in Rwanda. The Slovenian rider will compete Sunday in the men's elite road race, with the women's race set for Saturday.
“I can’t wait to see him (Pogačar) ... because I have been seeing him on TV in the Tour de France. I can’t wait,” said the full-time cellphone repairer, before setting out on a 100-kilometer training ride.
For Aziz Ssempijja, Yiga’s teammate, it is more than just representing Uganda.
“I might perform well in these championships and you never know I might get a team that can be able to spot my talent … that can push my skills to the next level,” he said.
“This could open doors for us,” adds Rwandan national team cyclist Eric Manizabayo. “It’s about my future.”
Like others from Mali or South Sudan, many African riders race with vintage rim-brake bikes when professionals ride much more expensive machines. Yet they remain undeterred.
The championships could provide a breakthrough moment for Africa, said Jacques Landry, director of the World Cycling Center, a development initiative set up by world cycling body UCI.
“They’re not a finality of what’s going on in Africa. They’re a rebirth of what can happen moving forward. I think for most of the national federations, they do see it as a way to ignite more activities in Africa, the linchpin of African cycling,” said Landry.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, cycling is still considered low-key, often associated with commuters or those of modest means. But its popularity is rising, with more local competitions giving riders, including children, “a race to go to, whereas before there were no races,” said Landry.
Thousands of visitors have descended on Kigali, where the competition runs until Sunday. A global audience of over 300 million is expected to watch elite riders from about 100 nations test themselves on courses, including the men’s 273-kilometer (179-mile) road race on Sunday up the Mur du Kigali with over 3,500 meters of elevation gain.
“This is our moment to show the world Rwanda’s spirit,” said Eric Mupenzi, a motorcycle taxi operator navigating the capital’s police-controlled streets. “We will line the hills and roar for every rider, like the whole city is pedaling together,” he said.
“We will cheer so loud that the world can hear us,” vowed Jean de Dieu Uwimana, a fan in Kigali.
Rwanda has invested in turning its hilly terrain into a launchpad for world-class cycling.
“We have gone from community competitions to hosting the world,” said Valentin Bigango, vice president of the Rwanda Cycling Federation. “This is about legacy, inspiring our young talents, growing tourism, and proving Africa is ready.”
The championships crown years of effort by Rwanda to project itself through sport.
President Paul Kagame’s administration has invested in venues like the $100 million BK Arena, which hosted the Basketball Africa League finals, struck partnerships with European soccer teams, and may bid to host Formula 1’s first African Grand Prix in more than three decades.
“The sky is the limit,” Kagame said earlier this year while inaugurating a new sports facility in Kigali. “Sports can bring tens of billions to Africa, and we must be part of that story.”
But Rwanda’s sporting ambitions are not without controversy. Rights groups accuse the government of repression and using high-profile events to “sportswash” its image. U.S. senators last year warned the NBA against complicity in abuses through its Rwanda partnerships.
The conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwanda is accused of backing the M23 rebel group, had cast doubt on these cycling championships going ahead in Rwanda.
Still, enthusiasm in the streets is hard to miss. Motorcycle taxi operators pause rides to talk about their favorite cyclists. Market vendors line the hillsides to watch. Children peer out from the crowd to cheer.
Ugandan cyclists see it much the same. Yiga believes the races will lift not only Rwanda but the entire region’s tourism industry.
“These championships have never been in Africa so it’s going to help us a lot. We Africans need to give a good performance so that Europeans can also know that Africans can do cycling,” said his teammate, Ssempijja.
Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe.
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Amateur cyclists take part in a social ride on the eve of the start of the UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
People walk and cycle along a dirt road during the men's Under 23 individual time trial event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man pushes his bicycle as he crosses the road during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Mali team members get ready for Time Trial practice for the upcoming UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Team Rwanda competes, during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The sound of gunfire faded Thursday in the capital, Tehran. The country closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
Here is the latest:
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said on Thursday that “criminal gangs” were responsible for the situation in Iran, accusing them of carrying out an “American-Israeli” scheme.
“Criminal gangs in Iran killed Iranian citizens, security forces and burned mosques,” he said without providing evidence. “What’s being committed by criminal gangs in Iran is horrific, bearing an American stamp as it includes slaughter and burning some people alive.”
He also said that the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Iran to create a crisis leading to the current issues in the country with the end goal of controlling Iran.
Yet he said the U.S. has “failed in Iran” and that Iranians “will not yield to America.”
The president of the European Union’s executive arm says the 27-member bloc is looking to strengthen sanctions against Iran as ordinary Iranians continue their protests against Iran’s theocratic government.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday following a meeting of the EU’s commissioners in Limassol, Cyprus that current sanctions against Iran are “weakening the regime.”
Von der Leyen said that the EU is looking to sanction individual Iranians —apart from those who belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard — who “are responsible for the atrocities.”
She added that the people of Iran who are “bravely fighting for a change” have the EU’s “full political support.”
Canada’s foreign minister says a Canadian citizen has died in Iran “at the hands of the Iranian authorities.”
“Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations — has led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on social media Thursday.
“This violence must end. Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence,” she added.
Anand said consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family in Canada. She did not provide details.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced Thursday that a local staff member was killed and several others were wounded during the deadly protests in Iran over the weekend.
Amir Ali Latifi, an Iranian Red Crescent Society worker, was working in the country’s Gillan province on Jan. 10 when he was killed “in the line of duty,” the organization said in a statement.
“The IFRC is deeply concerned about the consequences of the ongoing unrest on the people of Iran and is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” the statement continued.
U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed as “good news” reports that the death sentence has been lifted for an Iranian shopkeeper arrested in a violent crackdown on protests.
Relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani had said he faced imminent execution.
Trump posed Thursday on his Truth Social site: “FoxNews: ‘Iranian protester will no longer be sentenced to death after President Trump’s warnings. Likewise others.’ This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
Trump sent tensions soaring this week by pledging that “help is on its way” to Iranian protesters and urging them to continue demonstrating against authorities in the Islamic Republic.
On Wednesday Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying he had been told that “the killing in Iran is stopping.”
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union’s main foreign policy chief said the G7 members were “gravely concerned” by the developments surrounding the protests, and that they “strongly oppose the intensification of the Iranian authorities’ brutal repression of the Iranian people.”
The statement, published on the EU’s website Thursday, said the G7 were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and condemned “the deliberate use of violence” by Iranian security forces against protesters.
The G7 members “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
Women cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
