Global News

By JUSTIN KABUMBA and SALEH MWANAMILONGO ,Associated Press | Posted By TOE Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Monday launched a new political and military coalition of groups opposed to the current government, including the M23 rebels who have captured wide swaths of territory in eastern Congo. Kabila’s new Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, or FRN, includes rebel groups formerly united under the Congo River Alliance, whose former leader Corneille Nangaa will serve as one of the new coalition’s four vice presidents. Coalition adviser Claude Ibalanky said at a news conference late Monday at Kabila’s residence in the eastern city of Goma that the FRN’s mission is to restore the pillars of a functioning republic. It aims to “unite and coordinate all resistance forces in order to put an end to tyranny — by any means necessary, including the use of force,” Ibalanky said. “The signatories have decided to pool their forces, resources, a...

By Rob Johnson & Darryl Coote UPI | Posted by TOE  At least 139 people died and 84 were missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the United Nations’ migration agency said Sunday. Survivors said the incident happened off Djibouti’s coast in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb strait late Thursday and early Friday, according to a statement form the International Organization for Migration The agency said the boat was carrying 305 people from the Horn African nation towards Yemen when it sank. “No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement. “We cannot keep treating these deaths as normal. Safe and legal pathways save lives. I am asking governments and donors to act before the next boat goes down.” Men, women and children were among those on the boat, with at least 15 children among the dead, according to the IOM , which...

By TOE | Posted TOE Ethiopia and Eritrea each accused the other of starting a war of aggression on Friday as an internal Ethiopian conflict threatened to escalate into a regional war. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in its northern Tigray state, who launched attacks against federal forces last month. The two countries severed diplomatic relations, and over the past week, Eritrean troops have been seen in northern Tigray with Ethiopia launching drone strikes against their forces. A foreign security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP they estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Eritrean soldiers were present in Tigray. Eritrea’s conduct is “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence”, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos wrote in a letter to diplomats. Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, responded on X that it was facing “an unprovoked war of aggressio...

By AFP | Posted by TOE Saudi authorities said Wednesday three people were killed in attacks on two of the kingdom’s international airports, including in the capital Riyadh, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have fired on both transport hubs. The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed a wave of attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure in recent weeks, which came as Riyadh-backed forces pressed a counter-offensive against the group’s territorial gains. Since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July, more than 200,000 people have been displaced within the country, the United Nations said Wednesday. The Houthis claimed an attack on Riyadh’s main airport, while the Saudi-led coalition — which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its fight against the group — vowed retaliation. The Houthis later claimed another attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Thursday and repeated a warning — “...

By Branko Filipovic and Fedja Grulovic Reuters | Posted by TOE A Bosniak left-leaning moderate, a pro-Russian Serb nationalist and a Croatian nationalist are leading Sunday’s election for Bosnia’s inter-ethnic tripartite presidency, the election commission said early on Monday, based on ballots from 96.31% of polling ‌stations. The results were largely in line with expectations and with projections by the Poliwave tracking platform, although voter turnout was low at a ‌combined 42.02% in Bosnia’s two entities, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republika Srpska. Voters also cast ballots for the national parliament, alongside regional races in the two entities. Voter frustration has grown ​over an economic slowdown, the slow pace of EU entry talks and a lingering political crisis in which ethnically based dominant parties from the two entities have repeatedly stalled decisions by the weak central government that links them. Denis Becirovic, a Bos...

By Timour Azhari and Mubasher Bukhari Reuters | Posted by TOE Saudi Arabia is planning an offensive against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with options being considered including a coastal push to secure the Red Sea shipping route or an assault on multiple fronts, regional and Western officials told Reuters. The operation, expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will by led by Yemeni forces on the ground, which are overseen by Riyadh, and supported by Saudi air strikes, according to six people with knowledge of the preparations. While the US is already providing ​intelligence to support Riyadh’s operations in Yemen, and some regional and European nations are providing mainly defensive military aid to the kingdom, the Saudi allies aren’t expected to play a direct role in combat operations, said the people ‌who requested anonymity to discuss security matters. Saudi Arabia entered neighboring Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of an Arab c...