Global News

Two people were killed and at least 14 wounded when a Russian drone smashed into a residential high-rise in Ukraine’s Black Sea city of Odesa, authorities said on Saturday. Three children were among the wounded in the overnight attack, with one in critical condition, said regional Governor Oleh Kiper. Footage posted by the State Emergency Service showed firefighters battling a blaze and rushing residents down a dark stairwell in the 21-storey building. Russia has stepped up drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks as diplomatic efforts to end the nearly three-and-a-half-year-old war have stalled. SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/2sPuoD1

Soldiers in Togo used tear gas and batons on Thursday to disperse hundreds of protesters who blocked main roads in the capital to call for the resignation of longtime leader Faure Gnassingbe, Reuters witnesses said. The gathering organised by bloggers and activists highlighted persisting political strife in Togo, where last month Gnassingbe was given the powerful new role of President of the Council of Ministers that has no fixed term limit. Gnassingbe, whose family has ruled the West African nation since 1967, had previously served for two decades as president, and opposition parties have described his new appointment as a “constitutional coup” that could extend his rule for life. Protest organisers called for three days of gatherings, although participants on Thursday were quickly scattered by soldiers, Reuters witnesses said. Many shops remained closed as clashes continued into the afternoon, they said. Hodabalo Awate, Togo’s minister of territorial administration, did not immed...

By Alexander Cornwell Reuters The Israeli military said seven soldiers were killed in a single attack in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the military’s deadliest day in the territory since it broke a ceasefire with Hamas in March. A lieutenant, three staff sergeants and three sergeants, members of a combat engineering battalion, were killed when a explosive device planted on the armoured vehicle they were travelling in ignited a fire, the military said on Wednesday. The latest deaths are likely to increase public pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-long war, a move strongly opposed by hardline members of his right-wing ruling coalition. Public support for Netanyahu collapsed after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza, which exposed Israel to its deadliest security failure. But his standing has been boosted by his surprise decision to strike Iran — a campaign widely viewed as dealing a ...

At least 17 soldiers were killed in northern Nigeria when gunmen stormed three army bases, security sources and a local official said on Wednesday, the latest assault in a region plagued by violence. Armed gangs operating in the northwest, known locally as bandits, typically engage in kidnapping for ransom and target security forces. The Nigerian Army confirmed the attacks on Tuesday but did not provide details. “Sadly, some gallant warriors paid the supreme price in the day-long battles while four troops wounded in action are currently receiving treatment for their gunshot wounds,” the army said in a statement. Two security sources said gunmen launched surprise attacks on the army’s forward operating bases in the Kwanar Dutse Mariga and Boka areas in Niger State and another base in neighbouring Kaduna State, battling troops for several hours. The sources and Abbas Kasuwar Garba, chairman for Mariga district, said all 17 fatalities were at the Kwanar Dutse Mariga base. “It was an...

Kenyans are expected to take to the streets in large numbers on Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-government protests that culminated in the storming of parliament and several deaths as police opened fire on demonstrators. Although the protests eventually faded after President William Ruto withdrew proposed tax hikes that had initially sparked the rallies, public anger over the use of force by security agencies has not abated, with fresh demonstrations erupting this month over the death of a blogger in police custody. Six people, including three police officers, were charged with murder on Tuesday over the killing of 31-year-old blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang. All have pleaded not guilty. The death of Ojwang has become a lightning rod for Kenyans still mourning the deaths of more than 60 people killed during last year’s demonstrations and blaming security forces for the fatalities and dozens of unexplained abductions. Poli...

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, Associated Press Thailand began imposing land border restrictions Monday including blocking tourists heading into Cambodia as the two countries engage in retaliation in their border dispute. Relations between the countries have deteriorated following an armed confrontation May 28 in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in a relatively small, contested territory. While the two sides have agreed to de-escalate their dispute, they continue to implement or threaten measures that have kept tensions high. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Monday that Thailand will boost screening at land borders and block departing tourists, saying that only students, medical patients and others who need to purchase essential goods would be allowed to enter or leave Thailand. She said the measures were aimed at blocking people heading toward Cambodia’s lucrative casinos, but it appeared that all tourists would be blocked. The Thai army said in a statement later Monday...

Iranian state media has announced Iran has begun its “mighty and victorious” response to US strikes. The state-run Tasnim agency says that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched missiles at US bases in Qatar and Iraq. In the last few minutes, we’ve seen reports of explosions heard in Qatar. Majed al-Ansari, official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, writes on X: “We consider this a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, its airspace, international law, and the United Nations charter.” He says Qatar’s air defence systems “successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles” and the base had been evacuated earlier. He adds: “All necessary steps were taken to ensure the safety of personnel at the base, including Qatari Armed Forces members, friendly forces, and others. “We confirm that no injuries or human casualties resulted from the attack.” The spokesperson says Qatar reserves the right to respond “in a manner equivalent with t...

By Parisa Hafezi, Phil Stewart and Maayan Lubell Reuters Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran’s response to the U.S. attack on its nuclear sites and U.S. President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in the Islamic republic. Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the U.S. joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, despite calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy from around the world. Commercial satellite imagery indicated the U.S. attack on Saturday on Iran’s subterranean Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged or destroyed the deeply buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but the status of the site remained unconfirmed, experts said. In his latest social media comments on the U.S. strikes, Trump said “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran.” “The biggest damage took place far below ground leve...

 Colombia’s army said on Sunday that 57 soldiers were kidnapped by civilians acting under pressure from FARC dissidents in a mountainous area of the country’s southwest. The region, near El Plateado in the Cauca department, is a key zone for cocaine production and remains one of the most tense in the country’s ongoing conflict. It says 31 soldiers were seized on Saturday while the rest were abducted on Sunday by a group of more than 200 people. The military says the civilians are acting under pressure from dissidents of the Farc rebel group which agreed a peace deal with the government in 2016. The mountainous region is a key zone for cocaine production and remains one of the most tense in the country’s ongoing conflict with rebel groups. In a video statement on social media, Brig Gen Federico Alberto Mejia said four non-commissioned officers and 53 soldiers had been seized over the weekend. “This is called kidnapping,” he said. Reports in local media suggest that the EMC re...

By Yuras Karmanau and Joanna Kozlowska, Associated Press Belarus has freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a rare visit by a senior U.S. official, Tsikhanouskaya’s team announced on Saturday. Tsikhanouski, a popular blogger and activist who was imprisoned in 2020, arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, alongside 13 other political prisoners, his wife’s team said. The release came just hours after Belarusian authorities announced that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine in Minsk. Keith Kellogg became the highest-ranking U.S. official in years to visit Belarus, Moscow’s close and dependent ally. A video published on Tsikhanouskaya’s official Telegram account showed Tsikhanouski disembarking from a white minibus, smiling broadly despite his shaved head and emaciated frame. He pulled his wife into a long embrace as their...

By Guy Faulconbridge and Vladimir Soldatkin Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped on Friday that in his view the whole of Ukraine was “ours” and cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border. Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, also said he was not seeking the capitulation of Ukraine or denying Ukraine’s sovereignty, but that Ukraine had to be neutral. Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Asked about fresh Russian advances, Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people and “in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours”. Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow’s c...

By MONIKA PRONCZUK AP Armed men killed 34 soldiers and wounded 14 others in western Niger near the tri-state border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the defense ministry said. The attack was carred out around 9 a.m. Thursday in Banibangou by attackers using eight vehicles and more than 200 motorbikes, the ministry said in a statement. The government said its forces killed dozens of attackers it called “terrorists,” adding that search operations by land and air were being conduted to find additional assailants. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in the three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries have vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Allia...

By Alexander Cornwell, Parisa Hafezi and Trevor Hunnicutt Reuters Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful. Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, the Human Rights Activists News Agency said. Those killed include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side. Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, and sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah A...

By Aida Pelaez-fernandez and Jose Cortes Reuters Erick weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall as a major hurricane on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast on Thursday, leaving flooded streets, damaged boats and buildings in Oaxaca as authorities warned of dangerous rains. Erick made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near the resort town Puerto Escondido around 5:30 a.m. local time (1130 GMT). By mid-afternoon, it had slowed to a tropical storm as it moved inland, with sustained winds weakening to 50 mph (85 kph). In coastal towns, residents began clearing debris. “There are many boats sunk here,” said fisherman Eduardo Gonzalez in Puerto Escondido. “We’re here to help our colleagues.” Officials cautioned that Erick’s intense rains remained dangerous. “Life-threatening flooding and mudslides are expected, especially in areas of steep terrain,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, forecasting up to 8 inches (20 cm) of rain for Guerrero state with up to 4 inches for its n...

By Daphne Psaledakis, Ange Kasongo and Anait Miridzhanian Reuters Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo technical teams initialed a draft peace agreement that is expected to be signed next week, the two countries and the United States said on Wednesday, aiming for an end to fighting in eastern Congo. The provisional agreement, announced in a joint statement, could mark a breakthrough in talks held by President Donald Trump’s administration to end the fighting in eastern Congo and bring billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium. The provisional agreement, reached after three days of talks, addresses territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups, according to the statement. The agreement also includes provisions on the establishment of a joint security mechanism that incorporates a propos...

By Steven Scheer, Steve Holland and Parisa Hafezi Reuters Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a sixth day despite a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran’s unconditional surrender. The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel in the first two hours of Wednesday morning. Explosions were heard over Tel Aviv. Israel told residents in the area of Tehran to evacuate so its air force could strike Iranian military installations. Iranian news websites said explosions were heard in Tehran and the city of Karaj west of the capital. Trump warned on social media on Tuesday that U.S. patience was wearing thin. While he said there was no intention to kill Iran’s leader “for now,” his comments suggested a more aggressive stance toward Iran as he weighs whether to deepen U.S. involvement. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” he...

By Abraham Achirga Reuters The gunmen attacked after dark and chased farmer Fidelis Adidi away from the central Nigerian village of Yelwata. The next morning he returned to find the charred remains of one of his two wives and four of his children. They had been living in a room he had rented in the market, in an attempt to keep them safe from a wave of clashes between cattle herders and farmers in the country’s Middle Belt region. His second wife and another child were badly wounded in the assault that began on Friday night and, according to Amnesty International, killed around 100 people in the town in Benue region. “My body is weak and my heart keeps racing,” the 37-year-old told Reuters as he stood outside the room, surveying the damage. “I lost five of my family members.” In another room in the market, bodies lay burned beyond recognition next to blackened piles of food and farm equipment. Authorities have struggled to contain the violence that has simmered for years...

Waves of Russian drones and missiles struck districts across the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Tuesday, damaging an apartment building, sparking fires and injuring up to 16 people, city officials said. Reuters witnesses said drones swarmed over the capital and they heard what appeared to be missiles overhead. An air raid alert remained in effect more than seven hours after it had been proclaimed. Other parts of the country also came under attack, including areas outside the capital and the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where the regional governor reported at least four strikes. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that most of the 16 injured were in Solomianskyi district, near the city centre, where a drone damaged the top floor of an apartment building and other non-residential areas. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, noted 12 strikes in five districts. Among the targets was a kindergarten in the city’s eastern edge. “The capital is coming un...

Iran launched a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country as emergency services reported at least three killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of open warfare between the regional foes. Iran announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for the surprise attack on its nuclear program and military leadership that Israel began last Friday. Powerful explosions, likely from Israel’s defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn on Monday, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over the coastal city. Authorities in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv said that Iranian missiles had hit a residential building there, charring concrete walls, blowing out windows and heavily damaging multiple apartments. The Israeli Magen David Adom emergency service reported that two women and one man — all in their 70s — were killed in the wave of missile a...

Tens of thousands of protesters, including families with children, gathered in the Netherlands on Sunday to oppose Israel’s siege of Gaza and the Dutch government’s policy on the war. The second major  rally  in a month drew an estimated 150,000 people to The Hague, according to organisers. Participants dressed in red to create a “red line” against ongoing Israel attacks and alleged war crimes against Palestinians. Demonstrators sang, held speeches and marched past the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. Last year the court  ordered  Israel to halt a military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah and allow access for humanitarian aid. Israel rejects allegations of war crimes and genocide, and says its campaign is in self defence, targeting Palestinian militant group Hamas. The war in Gaza began 20 months ago after Hamas-led militants raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 ...

At least 100 people have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a village in Nigeria’s central Benue state, Amnesty International Nigeria said Saturday. The attack took place from late Friday into the early hours of Saturday in the village of Yelewata, the group said in a post on social media platform X. “Many people are still missing…dozens injured and left without adequate medical care. Many families were locked up and burnt inside their bedrooms,” the post added. Benue is in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a region where the majority Muslim North meets the largely Christian South. The region faces competition over land use, with conflicts between herders, who seek grazing land for their cattle, and farmers, who need arable land for cultivation. These tensions are often worsened by overlapping ethnic and religious divisions. Last month, at least 42 people were shot dead by suspected herders in a series of weekend attacks across Gwer West district in Nigeria’s central Benue state. Since 2...

Ukraine said on Friday it had received the bodies of 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war with Russia as part of agreements to exchange both prisoners of war and the dead. “According to the Russian side, the bodies belong to Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel,” the prisoner exchange coordination committee said on Telegram, adding that experts will conduct identification tests. The committee released pictures of people in white protective suits with a logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross at an undisclosed location, standing and walking near railway carriages. Earlier this week, Ukraine repatriated another 1,212 bodies of its servicemen killed in the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to each hand over as many as 6,000 bodies and to exchange sick and heavily wounded prisoners of war and those aged under 25. Ukraine and Russia have conducted three exchanges of POWs this week but not disc...

By JON GAMBRELL and JOSEF FEDERMAN AP Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday in strikes that targeted the country’s nuclear program and raised the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq, with multiple sites around the country hit. The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed, Iranian state television reported, in a major body blow to Tehran’s governing theocracy and an immediate escalation of the nations’ long-simmering conflict. An anchor read a statement saying: “The news of assassination and martyrdom of Gen. Hossein Salami was confirmed,” but did not elaborate. Another top Guard official, as well as two nuclear scientists, were also feared dead. Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs, and they warned of a reprisal that could target ...

Clashes between anti-government protesters and authorities in Bolivia have left at least four first responders dead, the country’s justice minister said on Thursday. Tensions have intensified in recent days as supporters of former President Evo Morales, who have strangled transportation by blocking highways across the Andean nation, skirmish with officials attempting to clear the roadblocks. The demonstrations have gained momentum primarily in Bolivia’s rural areas, where Morales’ supporters have taken to the streets to express their frustration over the former president’s disqualification from running in upcoming elections and the country’s deteriorating economic situation. “There are already four officers who have lost their lives,” Justice Minister Cesar Siles told reporters in La Paz, adding that some had been shot. The deceased are three police officers and a firefighter, Bolivia’s state news agency reported. “We can’t call these civilian protests anymore. We are talking abou...

By Sumit Khanna, Shivam Patel and Aditi Shah Reuters More than 290 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, a police officer told Reuters, APA reports, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. At least one person is known to have survived, police said, and the man told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after take-off. The plane came down in a residential area, crashing onto a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour. It was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital. City police chief G.S. Malik told Reuters that 204 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. Vidhi Chaudhary, another senior police officer, said police found one survivor who was in seat 11A, adding that there could be more survivors in hospital. “Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise and then the plane ...

An Air India plane with more than 200 people on board  crashed near the airport  in India’s western city of Ahmedabad, the airline and police officials said on Thursday, without specifying whether there were any fatalities. The plane was headed to London’s Gatwick airport in the UK, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport. “At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,” Air India said on X. The crash occurred when the aircraft was taking off, television channels reported. Visuals showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport. They also showed visuals of people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances. A total of 242 people were on board the flight, news agency ANI reported, citing Gujarat state’s police control room. India’s CNN News18 TV channel, however, said there were 220 passengers and 12 crew on the plane. SOURCE: AGENCIES...

The death toll from floods in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province has risen to 49, the head of the province said on Wednesday. Parts of South Africa have been lashed by heavy rain and snow since the weekend, in a severe winter cold front that has disrupted transport and power networks. “The status has escalated to 49 (deaths),” Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane told a press conference. Earlier, a school bus was swept away by floods near Mthatha and a provincial safety official said eight bodies were recovered. Mabuyane said the report he had received said six people on the bus had been discovered dead and four were still missing. The vehicle had been carrying 13 schoolchildren and two adults. Flooding has become more common and severe in South Africa as the impacts of climate change are felt. A storm on the East Coast in April 2022 killed about 400 people and left thousands homeless. SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES from The Times Of Earth https://ift....

The Sudanese army accused forces under eastern Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar of attacking border posts on Tuesday, the first time it has accused its northwestern neighbour of direct involvement in the country’s two-year war. The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, whom the military also accused of involvement in the border attack, has drawn in multiple foreign countries, while international attempts at bringing about peace have so far failed. Sudan had early in the war accused eastern Libya’s Haftar of supporting the RSF via weapons deliveries. It has long accused Haftar’s ally the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF as well, including via direct drone strikes last month. The UAE denies those allegations. Haftar forces denied involvement in the attack and accused a force affiliated with the Sudanese armed forces of attacking a military patrol while it was carrying out “its legitimate duty to secure the Libyan side of the border.” “T...

By Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini Reuters  Low voter turnout on Monday sank Italian opposition  referendum  proposals to ease citizenship laws and tighten job protection rules, with senior figures in the coalition of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying the outcome boosted the government. Near-final data from polling stations in Italy showed only around 30% of eligible voters had cast their ballots at the end of two days of voting, far short of the 50% plus one of the electorate needed to make the vote legally binding. The outcome – which will be final once votes from Italians living abroad are counted – is a blow for the coalition of centre-left opposition parties, civil society groups and the CGIL trade union behind the referendum questions, and a win for Meloni who strongly opposed them. “The opposition wanted to turn the referendum into a vote on the Meloni government. The response is very clear: the government emerges from this stronger and the left is weaker...

By YESICA FISCH AP Israeli forces stopped a Gaza-bound aid boat and detained  Greta Thunberg  and other activists who were on board early Monday, enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during  the war with Hamas . The activists had set out to protest Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which is among the deadliest  and most destructive  since World War II, and  its restrictions  on the entry of humanitarian aid, both of which have put the territory of some 2 million Palestinians  at risk of famine . The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which had organized the voyage, said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid to the territory. “The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo—including baby formula, food and medical supplies—confiscated,” it said in a statement. Israel’s Foreign M...

Rwanda has said it would withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), underscoring diplomatic tensions in the region over an offensive this year by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Kigali had expected to assume the chairmanship of the 11-member bloc at a meeting on Saturday in Equatorial Guinea. Instead, the bloc kept Equatorial Guinea in the role, which Rwanda’s foreign ministry denounced as a violation of its rights. Rwanda, in a statement, condemned Congo’s “instrumentalization” of the bloc and saw “no justification for remaining in an organization whose current functioning runs counter to its founding principles.” It wasn’t clear if Rwanda’s exit from the bloc would take immediate effect. The office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in a statement that ECCAS members had “acknowledged the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and ordered the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from Congolese soil.” M2...

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre. The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”. The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah, and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-...