Global News

By Sonia Rao Reuters From the young woman brutally murdered and dismembered in a short-term rental apartment to the Olympic runner set on fire by her estranged boyfriend, a surge in violence against women in Kenya has spurred many to prepare themselves to fight back. At least 97 women across Kenya were killed in femicides – intentional killings with a gender-related motivation – between August and October of last year, according to police figures. The police did not provide statistics for earlier periods, but according to figures compiled by the Africa Data Hub collective based on media reports, there were at least 75 femicides in 2023 and 46 the year before. Activists said the recent upward trend is felt across Kenya’s impoverished informal settlements, where women’s efforts to protect themselves have taken on fresh urgency. Inside a church in the  Korogocho  area of the capital Nairobi, Mary Wainaina, 93, thumped a punching bag. “No! No! No!” she shouted, before running...

A passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter, with US media reporting multiple bodies pulled from the dark, near-freezing water. A massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft. Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive. “We’re going to be out there as long as it takes,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters. Citing local sources, CBS News said at least 18 bodies had been recovered, while NBC reported more than a dozen. US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shish...

A new bout of fighting between two guerrilla groups in northeastern Colombia, where violence has displaced nearly 50,000 people in 10 days, claimed 13 lives this weekend, authorities said Monday. The toll brought to 54 the total number of confirmed deaths from fighting in the cocaine-growing Catatumbo region — lower than the figure of about 80 reported last week based on local counts, officials said. The government has vowed “war” against the left-wing guerrillas, declaring a state of emergency and deploying some 10,000 soldiers to contain the violence that threatens to scupper a fragile national peace process. In just five days from January 16, bloodshed was reported across three Colombian departments — from the remote Amazon jungle in the south to the mountainous northeastern border with Venezuela. Analysts say the spasm of violence in Catatumbo was caused by a turf war between the ELN guerrilla group and a rival formation comprised of ex-members of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla...

By Agatha Cantrill, with Peter Catterall in Beijing AFP Chinese startup DeepSeek, which has sparked panic on Wall Street with its powerful new chatbot developed at a fraction of the cost of its competitors, was founded by a hedgefund whizz-kid who believes AI can change the world. Based out of the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou — sometimes known as “China’s Silicon Valley” — DeepSeek has come seemingly out of nowhere to release a cutting-edge product. But in China it was already making waves, last year dubbed the “Pinduoduo of AI” — a reference to a popular online shopping app that steamrolled big players like Alibaba with its low prices. DeepSeek has won plaudits for its cost-effectiveness and praise in China for its seeming ability to navigate US sanctions that have aimed to prevent access to the high-tech chips needed to power the AI revolution. AFP paid visits to the firm’s offices in both Hangzhou and the capital Beijing on Tuesday, but offices appeared closed for the Lunar...

By Shaun Tandon with David Salazar in Bogota AFP Colombia on Sunday backed down and agreed to accept deported citizens sent on US military aircraft, hours after President Donald Trump threatened painful tariffs to punish the defiance to his mass deportation plans. Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, had earlier said he would only take back citizens “with dignity,” such as on civilian planes, and had turned back two US military aircraft with repatriated Colombians. Trump, less than a week back in office, responded furiously and threatened sanctions of 25 percent that would quickly scale up to 50 percent against Latin America’s fourth largest economy. Petro initially sought to hit back and impose his own tariffs on US products, but by the end of the volatile Sunday he had backed down. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told a late-night news conference that his country had “overcome the impasse” and would accept returned citizens. A White House statement said...

By Ahmed Kingimi Reuters Suspected Islamist fighters killed at least 20 Nigerian soldiers, including a commanding officer, after attacking an army base in a remote town in northeastern Borno state, security sources and residents said on Sunday. Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters have mainly operated in Borno, targeting security forces and civilians, in the process killing and displacing tens of thousands of people. The latest assault happened on Friday, when ISWAP members arrived on gun trucks and attacked the army’s 149 Battalion in Malam-Fatori town, gateway to the border with Niger, two soldiers and residents said. One of the soldiers who survived the attack told Reuters by phone that troops were taken by surprise as the militants “rained bullets everywhere”. “We tried so much to repel the attacks and after more than three hours of gun duel, they overpowered us, killing our commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel,” the soldier said, declining to...

BY SAM MEDNICK, WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY AP Hamas militants handed over four captive  female Israeli soldiers  to the Red Cross in Gaza City on Saturday after parading them in front of a crowd. Israel followed with the release of the first 70 of 200 Palestinian prisoners or detainees due to be set free as part of the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The four smiled broadly as they waved and gave the thumbs-up from a stage in Gaza City’s Palestine Square, militants on either side of them and a crowd of thousands watching, before they were led off to waiting Red Cross vehicles. They were likely acting under duress, with previously released hostages saying they were held in brutal conditions and forced to record propaganda videos. Israel meanwhile released 70 Palestinian prisoners who will not be allowed to return to the Gaza Strip or West Bank, according to Egypt’s state-run Qahera TV, which said they had arrived on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with ...

The Sudanese army has broken a siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of its command centre in central Khartoum, the army said on Friday, in what would be a major victory in the capital after nearly two years of war. The RSF in a statement rejected the Sudanese army’s claims it had advanced as “propaganda” designed to boost morale, and accused the army of spreading falsehoods through doctored videos. Reuters could not independently verify either side’s claim. The war, which broke out in April 2023 due to disputes on the integration of the two forces, has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the  population into hunger . Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, comprises three main cities -Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri – separated by the Nile River and collectively referred to as the triangular capital. The army statement said it had successfully broken the siege of its Signal Corps camp, one of the largest military installations in...

By Andrew Osborn and Ronald Popeski Reuters Russian air defences repelled a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight, intercepting and destroying 121 drones targeting 13 regions, including Moscow, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday, making no mention of casualties or damage. The ministry said six drones had been destroyed over the Moscow region and one over the capital itself, while other drones had targeted other regions, including those that border Ukraine and Kursk, where Ukrainian troops hold a chunk of land despite Russian efforts to eject them. Twenty drones had also targeted the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow, the ministry said, and channels on the Telegram messaging app posted unverified videos of what bloggers there described as large blazes in the city. They said an oil storage depot and a power station had been hit. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday it had also fought off a Russian drone attack had and shot down 25 of 58 drones launched by Russia in...

By Sonia Rolley Reuters Laden with just the possessions they can carry, thousands of displaced people have reached the outskirts of the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fleeing a rapid M23 rebel advance that has taken more territory than ever before. The advance marks a turning point for the M23 since it launched a fresh insurgency into Congo’s mineral-rich east in March 2022, analysts say. They never managed to gain this much ground during previous offensives in 2012 and 2013 and the more territory they take, the more opportunity there is for them to generate more mining revenue to fund their campaign, analysts say. The M23 is the latest in a series of groups of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgents to rise up against Congolese forces. The group, named after the March 23 date of a 2009 accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt, accuses the government of not living up to the peace deal to fully integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration. There are m...

By David SALAZAR AFP Colombia on Wednesday reinstated arrest warrants for dozens of guerrilla commanders blamed for armed attacks that displaced 32,000 people and sparked the country’s most serious security crisis in years. President Gustavo Petro’s government unfroze warrants for 31 leaders of the National Liberation Army — or ELN — a 5,800-strong leftist militia that is deeply involved in drug trafficking. The ELN is accused of carrying out a series of attacks against rival militants in the country’s mountainous and lawless border region with Venezuela. At least 80 people have died, dozens have been kidnapped and tens of thousands have been displaced, according to government and United Nations estimates. In response, Petro declared a state of emergency, suspended peace talks and deployed some 5,000 soldiers to the area. Forty-eight-year-old Zilenia Pana fled the fighting with her eight and 13-year-old children, finding the relative safety of Ocana, a small town on the western e...

By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal Reuters U.S. President  Donald Trump  on Tuesday vowed to hit the European Union with tariffs and said his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports because fentanyl is being sent from China to the U.S. via Mexico and Canada. Trump voiced his latest tariff threats in remarks to reporters at the White House a day after taking office  without immediately imposing  tariffs as he had promised during his campaign. Financial markets and trade groups exhaled briefly on Tuesday, but his latest comments underscored Trump’s longstanding desire for broader duties and a new Feb. 1 deadline for 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico, as well as duties on China and the EU. Trump said the EU and other countries also had troubling trade surpluses with the United States. “The European Union is very, very bad to us,” he said, repeating comments made Monday. “So they’re going to be in for tariffs. It’s the only way … you’...

BY ABDEL KAREEM HANA and TIA GOLDENBERG AP Palestinians in Gaza are confronting  an apocalyptic landscape of devastation  after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching  as far as the eye can see  — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history. “As you can see, it became a ghost town,” said Hussein Barakat, 38, whose home in the southern city of Rafah was flattened. “There is nothing,” he said, as he sat drinking coffee on a brown armchair perched on the rubble of his three-story home, in a surreal scene. Critics say Israel has waged a campaign of scorched earth to destroy the fabric of life in Gaza, accusations that are being considered in two global courts, including the crime of genocide. Israel denie...

By Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, Andy Sullivan and David Morgan Reuters Donald Trump  pardoned about 1,500 of his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol four years ago as he moved swiftly to impose his will on the U.S. government just hours after reclaiming the presidency on Monday. After a day of ceremony, Trump signed a series of executive actions to curb immigration and roll back environmental regulations and racial and gender diversity initiatives. He did not take immediate action to raise tariffs, a key campaign promise, but said he could impose 25% duties on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1. That  sent the Mexican peso  sliding 1% against the dollar while the Canadian dollar tumbled to a five-year low of C$1.4515. The news also quickly reversed gains in global stock markets and sent the greenback strongly rebounding across the board in choppy trade. Trump’s decision to  pardon supporters who attacked  the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is sure to enrage police, l...

BY ZEKE MILLER AP Donald Trump begins his speech as president by addressing his fellow presidents and others attending the event, including former Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Joe Biden. “The golden age of America begins right now,” he says. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected. “I will very simply put America first.” Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president Monday, promising a “revolution of common sense” and taking charge as Republicans assume unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country’s institutions. He pledged to “completely and totally reverse” the actions of his predecessor. Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, will act swiftly after  the ceremony , with  executive orders  already prepared for his signature to clamp down on border crossings, increase fossil fuel development and end dive...

By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mohammed Salem Reuters Thousands of Palestinians burst into the streets across  Gaza  as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on Sunday, some in celebration, others to visit the graves of relatives, while many rushed back to see what remained of their homes. “I feel alive again,” said Aya, a displaced woman from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip for over a year. “I feel like at last I found some water to drink after getting lost in the desert for 15 months,” she told Reuters via a chat app. In the north of the territory, where some of the most intense Israeli airstrikes and battles with the militants took place, drone footage showed hundreds of people walking on a dusty road through a devastated landscape of crushed concrete and twisted metal. One displaced family arriving back in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, surveyed what was left of their house, using shovels to cle...

A fresh outbreak of guerrilla violence amid a faltering peace process in Colombia has left more than 80 people dead, including civilians, and displaced around 11,000 in just four days, officials reported Sunday. As residents fled for their lives, the army deployed some 5,000 troops to the cocaine-growing Catatumbo region at the center of a fast-escalating territorial war. The National Liberation Army (ELN) armed group, officials said, launched an assault in Catatumbo last Thursday on a rival formation comprised of ex-members of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla force who kept fighting after it disarmed in 2017. Civilians found themselves caught in the middle, and by Sunday, it was estimated that “more than 80 people have lost their lives,” according to governor William Villamizar of the Norte de Santander department. Terrified residents carrying backpacks and belongings on overladen motorcycles, boats, or crammed onto the backs of open trucks, fled the region over the weekend. Hundre...

By David Shepardson Reuters TikTok stopped working in the United States late on Saturday and disappeared from Apple and Google app stores ahead of a law that takes effect on Sunday requiring the shutdown of the platform used by 170 million Americans. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office on Monday, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned,” the message notified users trying to use the app late on Saturday night. Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is set to have a wide-ranging impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. domestic politics, the social media marketplace and million...

By MELANIE LIDMAN, Associated Press Israel’s cabinet approved a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire and release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday, a day before the agreement’s scheduled start. In the early hours of Saturday, after meeting for more than six hours, the government ratified the agreement that could pave the way for an end to the 15-month-old war in the Palestinian enclave, which Hamas controls. “The Government has approved the framework for the return of the hostages. The framework for the hostages’ release will come into effect on Sunday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement. In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up heavy attacks since  the ceasefire deal  was agreed. Israeli tanks shelled eastern areas of the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and Israeli planes fired on areas in central and southern Gaza on Saturday, residents said. Medics in Gaza sa...