International peacekeepers killed as fighting rages around eastern Congo’s key city

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Updated 26 January 2025
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International peacekeepers killed as fighting rages around eastern Congo’s key city

International peacekeepers killed as fighting rages around eastern Congo’s key city
  • M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling the eastern city of Goma, which has around 2 million people
  • Congo, the US and UN officials accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army

GOMA, Congo: Fighting with M23 rebels in eastern Congo has left at least 13 peacekeepers and foreign soldiers dead, United Nations and army officials said Saturday.
M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling the eastern city of Goma, which has around 2 million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.
The UN Security Council moved up an emergency meeting on the escalating violence to Sunday morning (10 am EST). Congo requested the meeting, which had originally been scheduled for Monday.
On Saturday, Congo’s army said it fended off an M23 offensive toward Goma with the help of its allied forces, including UN troops and soldiers from the Southern African Development Community Mission, also known as SAMIDRC.
“The Rwandan-backed M23 is clearly exploiting the presidential transition in the US to advance on Goma — putting thousands more civilians at risk,” Kate Hixon, advocacy director for Africa at Amnesty International US, told the Associated Press.
Congo, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than a decade ago.
Rwanda’s government denies the claim, but last year acknowledged that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
The burning wreckage of a white armored fighting vehicle carrying UN markings could be seen on a road between Goma and Sake on Saturday, where much of the fighting was concentrated in recent days.
Two South African peacekeepers were killed Friday, while a Uruguayan Blue Helmet was killed Saturday, a UN official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter publicly.
Additionally, three Malawian peacekeepers were killed in eastern Congo, the United Nations in Malawi said Saturday.
Seven South African soldiers from the SAMIDRC were also killed during clashes with M23 over the last two days, South Africa’s department of defense said in a statement.
Uruguay’s military in a statement issued Saturday identified its member killed in Congo as Rodolfo Álvarez, who was part of the Uruguay IV Battalion. The unit, according to the statement, is working “uninterruptedly to comply with the United Nations mandate, as well as to guarantee the evacuation of non-essential civilian and military personnel from the city of Goma.”
“Various measures have been taken to improve the security of our troops, who are operating in adverse conditions,” the military said. It added that four Uruguayan peacekeepers were also injured. Three of them remained in Goma while a fourth one was evacuated to Uganda for treatment.
Since 2021, Congo’s government and allied forces, including SAMIDRC and UN troops, have been keeping M23 away from Goma.
The UN peacekeeping force, also known as MONUSCO, entered Congo more than two decades ago and has around 14,000 peacekeepers on the ground.
South Africa’s defense minister, Angie Motshekga, was visiting the country’s troops stationed in Congo as part of the UN peacekeeping mission the day the soldiers were killed.


Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy
Updated 10 sec ago
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Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy
KATHMANDU: Tens of thousands of protesters demanding the abolished monarchy be restored and the former king be made the head of state of the Himalayan nation demonstrated in Nepal Thursday.
The protesters, waving flags and chanting slogans, demanded the return of the king and the restoration of Hinduism as a state religion as they marched through the main circle in the capital, Kathmandu.
Just a few hundred meters (feet) from the pro-monarchy protesters, their opponents, who are supporters of the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, had gathered at the exhibition grounds to celebrate Republic Day.
There was fear that these two groups could likely clash and create trouble in the city. Hundreds of riot police kept the two groups apart and authorities had given them permission on different times to take out their rallies.
Nepal abolished the monarchy and turned the nation into a republic in 2008, bringing in a president as the head of the state.
“Bring king back to the throne and save the country. We love our king more than our lives,” the estimated 20,000 protesters chanted with a few playing traditional drums and musical instruments.
“We are going to continue our protests until the centuries-old monarchy is brought back and the country turned in to a Hindu stage for the interest of the country,” said Dil Nath Giri, a supporter of the former king at the rally.
The pro-monarchy supporters had announced they were restarting their protests from Thursday.
In their last big protest on March 28, two people including a television cameraman, were killed when protesters attacked buildings and set them on fire while police fired bullets and tear gas on the protesters. Several protesters arrested on that day are still in jail.
There has been growing demand in recent months for Gyanendra Shah to be reinstated as king and Hinduism to be brought back as a state religion. Royalist groups accuse the country’s major political parties of corruption and failed governance and say people are frustrated with politicians.
Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy.
Gyanendra, who left the Royal Palace to live as commoner, has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite growing support, the former king has little chance of immediately returning to power.

Russia slams Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘collective punishment’ of civilians

Russia slams Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘collective punishment’ of civilians
Updated 1 min 19 sec ago
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Russia slams Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘collective punishment’ of civilians

Russia slams Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘collective punishment’ of civilians

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday slammed Israeli attacks on Gaza as “collective punishment of the civilian population,” in some of Moscow’s strongest criticism of Israel as it steps up its offensive.
Lavrov said “measures taken by Israel” in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas “constitute collective punishment of the civilian population,” calling what was happening in Gaza “incomprehensible and indescribable.”


Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit

Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit
Updated 54 min 13 sec ago
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Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit

Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit
  • Last week, Marcos requested all his Cabinet secretaries to render their resignations
  • Reshuffle follows his allies’ recent failure to secure majority of contested Senate seats

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered all ranking executives of government-owned and controlled corporations to resign, days after asking his Cabinet members to step down.

All appointed chairpersons, CEOs, directors, trustees, and members of governing boards of government-owned and controlled corporations were asked to “immediately submit their respective courtesy resignations to the President through the Office of the Executive Secretary,” according to a notice from the Governance Commission for GOCCs, which was released on Wednesday.

The move follows Marcos’ request last week for his government members to render their resignations as he attempted to address the public’s dissatisfaction over his administration’s performance.

Most of his Cabinet secretaries have either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.

“This process is part of a rigorous and ongoing evaluation of government performance not only at the Cabinet level but across the entire bureaucracy,” Lucas Bersamin, executive secretary of the Philippines — the head and highest-ranking official of the Office of the President — told reporters on Thursday.

“The people expect results, and the president has no patience for underperformance. In line with this, the president has also instructed the heads of government-owned and controlled corporations to submit their courtesy resignations. He has further indicated that senior officials will likewise be included in the continuing review.”

Marcos’ decision to reshuffle the Cabinet and leadership of state-owned corporations follows his allies’ failure to secure a majority of contested Senate seats in the May 12 midterm elections, raising questions about his weakened mandate for the remaining three years of his term, which ends in 2028.

The son of the late Philippine dictator who was overthrown in 1986, Marcos won the presidency by a landslide in 2022 after campaigning on a message of national unity and presenting himself as a candidate of change.

Public support for the 67-year-old leader has, however, dropped sharply this year, with Pulse Asia surveys showing his approval rating falling to 25 percent in March, from 42 percent in February.

The survey showed that a majority of Filipinos disapproved of the Marcos administration’s handling of the most pressing issues, including controlling inflation and combating corruption, with disapproval rates at 79 percent and 53 percent, respectively.

The bureaucrats and executives affected by the president’s decision will continue in their roles unless and until the Office of the President issues further directives or formally acts on their resignations.

“All these people who offered their courtesy resignations are expected to continue performing their functions, discharging their duties until their replacements have been appointed,” Bersamin said.

“And that is expected of all public servants; no one abandons because that is part of the obligation of a public servant.”


Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks

Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks
Updated 56 min 35 sec ago
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Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks

Erdogan urges Russia, Ukraine not to ‘shut the door’ on talks
  • Russia said Wednesday it wanted new talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday to present its plan for a peace settlement
  • But Kyiv said it needed to see the proposal in advance for the meeting to yield results

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” to dialogue ahead of an anticipated meeting between officials from both sides in Istanbul on Monday.

“We are in contact with Russia and Ukraine....We are telling them not to shut the door as long as it remains open,” the Turkish presidency on Thursday quoted him as saying.

Russia said Wednesday it wanted new talks with Ukraine in Istanbul next Monday to present its plan for a peace settlement, but Kyiv said it needed to see the proposal in advance for the meeting to yield results.

“During the course of each of our meetings, we have reminded our interlocuters that they should not pass up this opportunity,” Erdogan said, adding that: “extinguishing this huge fire in our region ... is a humanitarian duty.”

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have accelerated in recent months, but Moscow has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and shown no signs of scaling back its demands.

The two sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years. That encounter failed to yield a breakthrough.


Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’

Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’
Updated 29 May 2025
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Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’

Harvard to hold graduation in shadow of Trump ‘retribution’
  • Thursday’s commencement comes as Donald Trump piles unprecedented pressure on Harvard
  • Students wearing black academic gowns tour through Cambridge with photo-taking family members

CAMBRIDGE, United States: Harvard is due to hold its annual graduation ceremony Thursday as a federal judge considers the legality of punitive measures taken against the university by President Donald Trump that threaten to overshadow festivities.

Thursday’s commencement comes as Trump piles unprecedented pressure on Harvard, seeking to ban it from having foreign students, shredding its contracts with the federal government, slashing its multibillion-dollar grants and challenging its tax-free status.

Harvard is challenging all of the measures in court.

The Ivy League institution has continually drawn Trump’s ire while publicly rejecting his administration’s repeated demands to give up control of recruitment, curricula and research choices. The government claims Harvard tolerates antisemitism and liberal bias.

“Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper,” Trump said Wednesday.

Harvard president Alan Garber, who told National Public Radio on Tuesday that “sometimes they don’t like what we represent,” may speak to address the ceremony.

Garber has acknowledged that Harvard does have issues with antisemitism, and has struggled to ensure that a variety of viewpoints can be safely heard on campus.

“What is perplexing is the measures that they have taken to address these (issues) don’t even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems,” Garber told NPR.

Basketball star and human rights campaigner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar addressed the class of 2025 for Class Day on Wednesday.

“When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures,” he said, comparing Garber to civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Madeleine Riskin-Kutz, a Franco-American classics and linguistics student at Harvard, said some students were planning individual acts of protest against the Trump policies.

“The atmosphere (is) that just continuing on joyfully with the processions and the fanfare is in itself an act of resistance,” the 22-year-old said.

Garber has led the fight-back in US academia after Trump targeted several prestigious universities including Columbia which made sweeping concessions to the administration in an effort to restore $400 million of withdrawn federal grants.

A federal judge in Boston will on Thursday hear arguments over Trump’s effort to exclude Harvard from the main system for sponsoring and hosting foreign students.

Judge Allison Burroughs quickly paused the policy which would have ended Harvard’s ability to bring students from abroad who currently make up 27 percent of its student body.

Harvard has since been flooded with inquiries from foreign students seeking to transfer to other institutions, Maureen Martin, director of immigration services, said Wednesday.

“Many international students and scholars are reporting significant emotional distress that is affecting their mental health and making it difficult to focus on their studies,” Martin wrote in a court filing.

Retired immigration judge Patricia Sheppard protested outside Harvard Yard on Wednesday, sporting a black judicial robe and brandishing a sign reading “for the rule of law.”

“We have to look at why some of these actions have been filed, and it does not seem to me seemly that a president would engage in certain actions as retribution,” she told AFP.

Ahead of the graduation ceremony, members of the Harvard band sporting distinctive crimson blazers and brandishing their instruments filed through the narrow streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts – home to the elite school, America’s oldest university.

A huge stage had been erected and hundreds of chairs laid out in a grassy precinct that was closed off to the public for the occasion.

Students wearing black academic gowns also toured through Cambridge with photo-taking family members, AFP correspondents saw.