The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has asked the senate to lift the immunity of former president Joseph Kabila, who has been accused of helping the armed rebel group M23 and has indicated he will return to the country.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Kabila of preparing "an insurrection" and backing an alliance that includes the M23 armed group fighting government forces in the east of the country.

"The Congolese judiciary has gathered the most tangible and irrefutable evidence supporting the clear involvement, the direct participation of senator for life Joseph Kabila in war crimes, crimes against humanity and the massacres of peaceful citizens," justice minister Constant Mutamba told reporters on Wednesday.

As a former president, Kabila holds the title of "senator for life", which allows immunity from prosecution.

Mutamba said this immunity could be removed with the approval of the senate, and that his ministry

Megiddo (Israel) (AFP) – About 300 Arab Israelis gathered Thursday in the ruins of a village that Palestinians fled during the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel, to commemorate what Palestinians call the "Nakba", or catastrophe.

As Israel celebrated Independence Day on Thursday, the demonstrators —- men, women, and children -— marched through the ruins chanting, "Your independence is our Nakba".

The place where the demonstrators gathered was previously the village of Al-Lajjun.

The site, once home to thousands of Palestinians, has now been partly taken over by kibbutz Megiddo, an Israeli farming community.

Clad in traditional keffiyeh headscarves and garments, marchers sang the Palestinian anthem and shared memories of loss and resilience.

Among them was Ziyad Mahajneh, 82, who had fled the village as a child in 1948.

They "attacked our village with cannons and machine guns," Mahajneh recalled.

He said when his family fled he was left behind, and it was a nei

Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's political chaos deepened Thursday after a retrial was ordered for a presidential frontrunner over alleged election law violations and two key government figures quit ahead of a snap election next month.

The June 3 vote will decide who replaces impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office over his ill-fated declaration of martial law in December.

The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a ruling that found former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of making false statements during a previous campaign, potentially scuppering his chances of running in the presidential election.

The ruling came before the resignations on Thursday of acting president Han Duck-soo, who hinted at a possible presidential bid, and finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who was set to replace him, as a parliament dominated by opposition MPs voted on his impeachment.

The top court's decision to order a retrial for Lee, who is leading in the polls by wi

Damascus (AFP) – Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri on Thursday condemned what he called a "genocidal campaign" against his community after two days of sectarian clashes left 101 people dead.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned his country would respond "with significant force" if Syria's new authorities fail to protect the Druze minority.

The violence poses a serious challenge to the Islamist authorities who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

It comes after a wave of massacres in March in Syria's Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast in which security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It was the worst bloodshed since the ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.

Hijri in a statement on Thursday denounced the latest violence in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus as an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign" against the Druze

Istanbul (AFP) – Police arrested more than 400 people in Istanbul on Thursday, officials said, amidst a massive show of force to prevent May Day demonstrations in Turkey's biggest city.

More than 50,000 police were deployed and key metro, bus and ferry services were shut down as part of the operation.

May Day came with the government embroiled in a battle with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), following the detention of its presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul.

Imamoglu is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

More than 400 people were arrested, a day after 100 people were detained for allegedly planning to protest in the central Taksim Square, where demonstrations have been banned since 2013.

"The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400," the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that 407 protesters were arrested in Istanbul, whil

Tunis (AFP) – Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets of the capital Thursday to mark Labour Day, to protest against President Kais Saied and to demand the release of jailed political figures.

The rally, attended by members of different political factions, was called by Tunisia's powerful UGTT trade union confederation and relatives of detained opposition figures.

"We're not happy with what's happening," activist Souhaieb Ferchichi said. "People keep advocating for their rights despite an atmosphere of fear and repression."

"This regime is failing," he added. "It sells us slogans while not respecting the constitution and the law."

Demonstrators on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis's main thoroughfare and a popular protest spot, carried a banner reading: "Injustice is the beginning of the end."

"The revolution will come," they chanted, with some carrying signs calling the president a "tyrant".

"The country is in a state of shutdown, a state of silencing voices and jailing y

Ships in the Mediterranean must now use cleaner fuel with lower sulphur content, as the sea on Thursday becomes the world’s fifth low-emissions zone. Reducing sulphur emissions is expected to improve air and water quality and benefit human and environmental health.

Ferries, container and cruise ships are now required to use fuel with a lower sulphur content, under rules designed to improve air quality around the Mediterranean Sea.

The requirement follows a 2022 agreement by the International Maritime Organisation to create a Sulphur Oxides and Particulate Matter Emission Control Area (SECA) covering the entire Mediterranean.

The requirement follows a June 2022 agreement by the International Maritime Organisation to create a Sulphur Oxides and Particulate Matter Emission Control Area (SECA) covering the entire Mediterranean.

To comply with the zone, ships must now use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.1 percent, down from the previous 0.5 percent allowed. The French governmen

Dhaka (AFP) – Three days of political rallies began in Bangladesh on Thursday with rival groups to stage mass demonstrations in Dhaka, drumming up support for eagerly anticipated elections following an uprising last year.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, has led an interim government since autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled into exile as crowds stormed her palace in August. He has said elections will be held as early as December, and at the latest by mid-2026.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely tipped to win the poll, will hold a May Day rally in Dhaka.

"We are confident this will be the most memorable grand rally in recent times," BNP media officer Shairul Kabir Khan said.

The largest Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, will also take to the streets of the capital on Thursday.

The Jatiya Party, formerly close to Hasina's regime, will likewise hold a rally.

It will be its first outdoor political event since its offices were vanda

Muzaffarabad (Pakistan) (AFP) – School playing fields in Pakistan's Kashmir are being transformed into first aid camps for children to learn how to respond if war breaks out with India.

Wearing a protective helmet and a fluorescent vest, 13-year-old Konain Bibi listened attentively to her first aid lesson.

"With India threatening us, there's a possibility of war, so we'll all have to support each other," she told AFP.

Pakistan's government has warned that it has "credible intelligence" that India was planning an imminent military strike.

Already frosty relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted since a deadly assault on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last week.

India blames Pakistan for the gun attack that killed 26 people on April 22, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his military "complete operational freedom", although Islamabad has denied any involvement.

Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is

A national political forum in Mali has proposed making military leader Assimi Goïta the country’s president, with a five-year renewable term starting in 2025.

The recommendation would change Mali’s transitional charter – the temporary legal framework put in place after the 2021 coup – to install General Goïta as president “for a five-year renewable term from 2025, like his peers in the AES”, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office.

The AES – or Alliance of Sahel States – includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all ruled by military governments. Niger made a similar move in March, naming its coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani president with a renewable five-year term.

The forum also called for the dissolution of all existing political parties and stricter rules for creating new ones. Of Mali’s 297 recognised parties, only 137 took part in the talks. Many boycotted the event.

Critics fear the proposals could end Mali’s multi-party system, which was introduce

Belgrade (AFP) – Serbia's trade unions will for the first time join a protest Thursday called by student leaders, six months after the deadly train station tragedy that sparked mass demonstrations against corruption.

Serbia has been gripped by a wave of unrest since 16 people were killed in the collapse of the newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad last November — a tragedy widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight

It has already led to the resignation of the Prime Minister and the fall of the government.

But on May 1, students and members of the five largest unions will gather in front of the Serbian government building in the capital, Belgrade.

The students announced on their official Instagram account that "their struggle enters a new phase".

Zeljko Veselinovic, leader of the "Sloga" (Unity) union, acknowledged the importance of the development in comments to AFP.

"The students have united us," he said.

"In my 20 years of union work, it has never happened

Tokyo (AFP) – The Bank of Japan on Thursday left its key interest rate unchanged but revised down its growth forecasts, warning that US trade tariffs are fuelling economic uncertainty.

"The introduction of wide-ranging tariffs is expected to impact global trade activity," the central bank said.

"Heightened uncertainties regarding policies including tariffs are likely to have a large impact on business and household sentiment around the world and on the global financial and capital markets."

Since coming to office in January, US President Donald Trump has embarked on a hardball campaign to rectify what he says are unfair trade imbalances.

His administration has imposed hefty levies on multiple trading partners and imports including steel and automobiles.

The BoJ said Thursday it now expects Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) to rise 0.5 percent in fiscal 2025 -- down from its previous estimate of 1.1 percent.

In fiscal 2026, it expects GDP in the world's fourth largest

Yangon (AFP) – Myanmar's military junta let a truce declared to spur aid efforts after last month's earthquake expire on Thursday, a ceasefire that monitors say it consistently violated with air strikes.

The March 28 magnitude-7.7 quake in Myanmar's central belt killed nearly 3,800 and has left tens of thousands homeless as the summer monsoon season approaches.

The junta -- which snatched power in a 2021 coup, sparking a many-sided civil war -- declared a ceasefire on April 2 and extended it last week as aid groups warned of a long road to recovery.

It expired at midnight on Wednesday (1730 Tuesday GMT) with the junta information team making no announcement of an extension. A junta spokesman could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Monitors from the Britain-based Centre for Information Resilience logged 65 air attacks by the military during the proclaimed ceasefire period -- many clustered in regions worst-hit by the quake.

When the military pledged to pause offensi

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – The head of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) on Wednesday criticized US President Donald Trump's order to fast-track deep-sea mining in the open ocean outside American territorial waters.

"No state has the right to unilaterally exploit the mineral resources of the area outside the legal framework established by UNCLOS," ISA head Leticia Carvalho said in a statement, referring to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"It is common understanding that this prohibition is binding on all States, including those that have not ratified UNCLOS," she added.

The United States is not a signatory of the convention, which established the ISA in 1982 and says that international waters and its resources are "the common heritage of humankind."

The ISA is scrambling to devise a rulebook for deep-sea mining, balancing its economic potential against warnings of irreversible environmental damage.

Washington wants to spearhead mining for miner

New Delhi (AFP) – India will conduct its first official caste census since independence, the government announced on Wednesday, a move likely to have far-reaching consequences for its politics and contentious affirmative action policies.

Caste remains a crucial determinant of one's station in life in India, with higher castes the beneficiaries of ingrained cultural privileges and lower castes suffering entrenched discrimination -- and a rigid divide between both.

More than two-thirds of India's 1.4 billion people are estimated to be on the lower rungs of a millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing.

The decision to include detailed caste data as part of the next census -- originally due in 2021 but yet to take place -- was approved by a government meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs has decided today that caste enumeration should be included in the forthcoming census," government

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Microsoft President Brad Smith called Wednesday for a swift resolution of trade tensions between the United States and Europe, during an interview with AFP in Brussels.

Transatlantic ties are at their lowest since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleashed painful tariffs against allies and rivals alike within weeks.

"There are real issues that deserve discussion. We hope that there will be real resolutions that bring people together on both sides of the Atlantic, and the sooner, the better," Smith said.

"We're all going to need to see how the trade discussions unfold," he said.

Trump has hit steel, aluminium and auto imports with 25-percent tariffs, and in April he imposed sweeping 20-percent levies on EU goods before announcing a 90-day pause.

Now the European Union and the United States are in talks to avoid a bitter conflict that risks undoing a trade relationship worth 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion).

Smith was

Abidjan (AFP) – Several thousand people rallied in support of Burkina Faso's ruling junta Wednesday, days after the military authorities said they had uncovered a "plot" to overthrow the government.

Demonstrators carried giant posters of junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore and Burkinabe and Russian flags.

With placards bearing slogans such as: "Down with imperialism and its local lackeys" and "Full support for President Ibrahim Traore and the people of Burkina Faso", they gathered in a central square in the capital Ouagadougou.

It was one of the biggest pro-junta demonstrations since Traore seized power in a September 2022 coup in the west African country, which has been battling jihadist attacks for a decade that have killed tens of thousands of people.

On April 21, the junta claimed to have undone a "major plot" planned by masterminds in neighbouring Ivory Coast, with the arrests of several top army officials.

Traore has regularly accused Ivory Coast of harbouring his o

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to deploy on Wednesday to support firefighters battling rapidly spreading wildfires near Jerusalem, calling the situation a "national emergency".

The country's Magen David Adom rescue agency reported hundreds of civilians were currently at risk from the fires.

Sixteen people were being treated for minor injuries from smoke inhalation, the MDA said, adding the alert level had been raised to the highest level.

Police closed the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway and evacuated residents along the route as brushfires broke out again in an area ravaged by blazes a week ago.

"We are facing a national emergency, and all available forces must be mobilised to save lives and bring the fires under control," Katz said in a statement from his ministry.

An AFP journalist at the scene said the fire was raging in wooded areas near the main road between Latrun and Beit Shemesh and that helicopters were working to extinguis

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The eurozone economy expanded more than expected at the start of the year, official data showed on Wednesday, despite US President Donald Trump's tariffs but global trade tensions threaten more pain and near stagnation in 2025.

The EU's official data agency said the 20-country single currency area recorded growth of 0.4 percent over the January-March period from the previous quarter.

The figure was higher than the 0.2 percent forecast by analysts for Bloomberg, and comes after the eurozone economy grew by 0.2 percent in the final quarter of 2024.

The 27-country European Union economy expanded by 0.3 percent, after 0.4 percent between October and December.

The better-than-expected data appears to be linked to advance purchases in the United States, before Trump's tariffs came into effect.

But for the year as a whole, the outlook remains lacklustre, according to experts.

Trump on April 2 slapped sweeping 20 percent levies on a majority of Europea

Afghanistan (AFP) – Since the start of the school year in March, Afghan boys have been required to wear new uniforms of turbans and long tunics, following an order to adopt outfits reflecting Taliban rule.

The Taliban government's education ministry cites strengthening discipline, masking social inequalities and promoting what the authorities see as true Islamic attire as reasons for the dress code change -- a move that has sparked division.

"Islam has preserved and strengthened the standards of modesty and dignity by paying attention to clothing. Sharia clothing defines the identity of a Muslim male and female," the ministry said in its directive.

"Sharia clothing is a means to preserve the dignity of the individual and protect the society against moral degradation."

Before the Taliban authorities swept back to power in 2021, the shalwar kameez and turban -- traditional wear in the region -- were uncommon in academic or professional settings.

Since their return, the str