KINSHASA, Congo — At least 19 people were killed when rebels attacked a town in Congo’s North Kivu province, the army said late Thursday, the latest violence in the country’s conflict-battered east. The rebels shelled the town of Mweso, where they “indiscriminately dropped mortar bombs,” which also injured 27 other civilians, army spokesman Lt. Col. … Read more
BEIJING — China, the world’s biggest exporter, says it is deeply concerned about tensions in the Red Sea that have upended global trade by forcing many shippers to avoid the Suez Canal. China has been in “close communication with all parties concerned and making positive efforts to de-escalate” the situation in which Iran-backed Houthi rebels … Read more
KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwandan authorities accused Burundi’s leader of making “incendiary allegations aimed at inciting division among Rwandans,” raising tensions that persist after Burundi closed all border crossings with Rwanda earlier this month. Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have deteriorated in recent weeks after Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye renewed accusations that Rwanda is funding and … Read more
Not long after the 1924 death of the founder of the Soviet Union, a popular poet soothed and thrilled the grieving country with these words: “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live.” A century later, the once-omnipresent image of Vladimir Lenin is largely an afterthought in modern Russia, despite those famous lines by revolutionary writer … Read more
ISLAMABAD — This week’s airstrikes between Iran and Pakistan that killed at least 11 people mark a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors. Long-running, low-level insurgencies on either side of the border have frustrated both countries, and the apparent targets of the strikes — Iran’s on Tuesday and Pakistan’s response on Thursday — … Read more
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces a test of his authority and his nerve on Wednesday as he tries to subdue a Conservative Party rebellion and win parliamentary approval for his stalled plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda. Lawmakers are due to vote on a bill that aims … Read more
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Debt-ridden Sri Lanka ’s navy is preparing to join a U.S.-led operation to protect merchant vessels sailing in the Red Sea against attacks by Houthi rebels, a Sri Lankan navy spokesman said on Tuesday. The attacks by Houthi rebels have targeted commercial shipping vessels transiting through the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait … Read more
MULTAN, Pakistan — Pakistan’s counterterrorism police said Monday they arrested 21 members of outlawed militant group the Pakistani Taliban, which has been behind several deadly attacks across the country. Acting on intelligence information, the arrests were made in the eastern Punjab province over the past two weeks, the provincial Counterterrorism Department said in a statement. … Read more
AMSTERDAM — Climate activists blocked part of the main highway around Amsterdam near the former headquarters of ING bank for hours on Saturday to protest its financing of fossil fuels. Dozens of Extinction Rebellion protesters were detained by police late in the afternoon after ignoring orders to end their blockade. Police said the operation to … Read more
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s peace minister has been fired and arrested for having alleged links to an outlawed rebel group after he made a series of social media posts criticizing the government. Federal police released a statement Tuesday accusing Taye Dendea of “collaborating with anti-peace forces that are trying to destroy Ethiopia” and of … Read more