Southern African governments extend stay of peacekeepers in war-torn eastern Congo by a year
The UN peacekeepers were meant to leave Congo next month, but soaring violence in the east by Rwanda-backed rebels has meant they are staying, with the country’s communication minister, Patrick Muyaya, stating there would be a new timeline for the force’s departure, although he didn’t give details.
Hours after Ukraine hit Russia with US-supplied ATACMS, it followed with UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles
The Storm Shadows have a range in excess of 250 kilometres (155 miles) and would give Ukraine the ability to hit targets far deeper into Russia than before.
Mausoleum holding Congo independence hero Lumumba’s gold-capped tooth is vandalised
A military coup toppled Lumumba, and he was arrested, jailed and later killed. His assassination, blamed on separatists, cleared the way for the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country he later renamed Zaire for decades with support from Western powers until his death in 1997.
Trump’s resounding victory has reduced pollsters in US to idle peddlers of gossip, unreliable
Vanderbilt University political scientist Josh Clinton, who led a taskforce analysing how surveys performed in the 2020 election cycle, said he was worried that the apparent mismeasurement could amplify its possible cause: public distrust of polling and of political institutions writ large.
Kenya’s diplomacy tested again after Ugandan opposition leader kidnapped in Nairobi surfaces in Kampala military court
Kizza Besigye’s wife wife Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on the social platform X on Wednesday that her husband was “kidnapped” on Saturday in Kenya and that she was “reliably informed” that he was being held in a military jail.
Kenya’s president on the spot again over human rights violations after Ugandan opposition leader is arrested and deported
Dr Kizza Besigye, who was Museveni’s physician during the guerrilla war but later became an outspoken critic, was kidnapped on Saturday during the launch of a book by veteran Kenyan opposition politician Martha Karua, Byanyima wrote on the social media platform X.
Top Russian officials reveal Putin’s willing to discuss Ukraine peace if Kyiv abandon ambitions to join Nato
While Moscow claims the four regions as wholly part of Russia, defended by the country’s nuclear umbrella, its forces on the ground control 70-80 per cent of the territory with about 26,000 square kilometres still held by Ukrainian troops, open-source data on the front line shows.
Tension builds between Washington and Moscow as US embassy in Ukraine closes over fears of air attack
Russia had been warning the West for months that if Washington allowed Ukraine to fire US, British and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow would consider those NATO members to be directly involved in the war in Ukraine.
Experts in Russia and abroad warn Kremlin’s revised nuclear policy makes it easy to use atomic weapons in Ukraine
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasised that such strikes could potentially be a trigger for a nuclear response under the revised document.
‘Cow Vigilantes’ entrench hate crimes in India as Hindus target Muslims and low castes
Between February and August 2024, CSOH identified and analysed 1,023 Instagram accounts run by users involved in cow vigilantism. Researchers found that 30 per cent of the accounts shared content showing physical violence against Muslims involved in the cattle business.
