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Wedding Party Fire in Kinshasa Leaves at Least 22 Dead

A general view of a wedding reception hall that was damaged by fire in Kinshasa on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
A general view of a wedding reception hall that was damaged by fire in Kinshasa on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
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Wedding Party Fire in Kinshasa Leaves at Least 22 Dead

A general view of a wedding reception hall that was damaged by fire in Kinshasa on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
A general view of a wedding reception hall that was damaged by fire in Kinshasa on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

At least 22 people were killed in a fire at a wedding party in Congo 's capital, Kinshasa, the regional mayor said Saturday.

Several other people were injured in the fire that started overnight Friday and continued into early Saturday morning in a building in Lingwala in northern Kinshasa.

The mayor of Lingwala, Norbert Mushinga, told the Congolese Press Agency that the provisional toll is 22. He noted the toll could rise further.

The exact cause of the fire is unconfirmed.

“It is a tragedy,” Jacquemin Shabani, Congo's deputy prime minister and interior minister, said. The minister visited the site Saturday morning

Deadly fires are common in densely populated areas of Kinshasa where urban development is not complemented with provisions such as fire services. The fires are common during the dry season and several have occurred this year, according to local media.

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NATO Will Not Tolerate Hybrid Actions Against Members, US Envoy Says

The US flag is lowered to half staff to honor country music legend Dolly Parton following her passing, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 27 August 2026. (EPA)
The US flag is lowered to half staff to honor country music legend Dolly Parton following her passing, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 27 August 2026. (EPA)
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NATO Will Not Tolerate Hybrid Actions Against Members, US Envoy Says

The US flag is lowered to half staff to honor country music legend Dolly Parton following her passing, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 27 August 2026. (EPA)
The US flag is lowered to half staff to honor country music legend Dolly Parton following her passing, at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, 27 August 2026. (EPA)

NATO members should not tolerate deliberate actions of hybrid war, and the United States will stand by countries as they deal with these incidents, Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, said on Saturday.

Whitaker said last month's attempted drone attack at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport, which Berlin ‌has blamed ‌on Russia, was more worrying ‌than ⁠other recent incidents ⁠NATO members have faced due to Russian drones targeting Ukraine that strayed off course.

"Then you have what I would call the more concerning hybrid actions like we saw ⁠in Leipzig, like we ‌have seen ‌in Poland," Whitaker said speaking on the sidelines ‌of a business conference in Italy.

NATO ‌members must be prepared, vigilant and also deliver a strong message when they are challenged by these events, ‌he said.

"If we can identify who's doing it — which Germany ⁠did — ⁠we make sure we express strongly that is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it," Whitaker said.

Critical infrastructure, including energy assets, could be targeted and should be monitored by national authorities, he added.

The response to these challenges is primarily national, but the United States supports countries when they are dealing with these acts, he said.

World

Thousands March for Democracy Ahead of Eastern German Vote

People attend a demonstration as part of a democracy festival, a day before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, in Magdeburg, Germany, September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
People attend a demonstration as part of a democracy festival, a day before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, in Magdeburg, Germany, September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
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Thousands March for Democracy Ahead of Eastern German Vote

People attend a demonstration as part of a democracy festival, a day before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, in Magdeburg, Germany, September 5, 2026. (Reuters)
People attend a demonstration as part of a democracy festival, a day before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, in Magdeburg, Germany, September 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Thousands of people joined a march for "democracy" in eastern Germany on Saturday, a day ahead of a regional election expected to result in a historic win for the far right.

The march in Magdeburg, capital of the Saxony-Anhalt region, drew demonstrators holding up placards proclaiming "more love, less hate", "a better life without Nazis", and "the potato is also of foreign origin".

The march was organized by a coalition of groups dubbed "Saxony-Anhalt: Open to the World".

The far right, anti-migrant, pro-Russian and pro-Donald Trump Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is leading in the polls for the Saxony-Anhalt election, and is expected to top the vote in the small state of 2.1 million inhabitants.

It would be the first regional election win for the AfD, marking an unprecedented breakthrough for the far right in Germany in the postwar era.

However, the party is not assured of managing an absolute majority that would allow it to govern alone.

So far, all other parties have ruled out governing with the AfD, with the exception of the pro-Russian left-wing party BSW, whose members are divided on the issue.

World

States Reach Agreement at Autonomous Weapons Talks in Geneva

Smoke rises in the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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States Reach Agreement at Autonomous Weapons Talks in Geneva

Smoke rises in the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 27, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 27, 2026. (Reuters)

The 128 ‌states party to a framework that regulates or bans weapons considered as indiscriminate, or causing too many injuries, agreed on a document on Saturday that could pave the way to international rules on autonomous weapons.

Agreement to the non-binding text marks a significant step after more than a decade of talks on how to regulate weapons systems that can identify and engage ‌targets with ‌varying degrees of autonomy, sometimes called "killer ‌robots".

However, ⁠one rights group ⁠said the text definition of an autonomous weapon and the measures to reduce their possible harmful effects on civilians appeared to have been watered down.

"It's a real shame that all the work done by states ⁠on the text over the past three ‌years has been ‌substantially diluted in the last hours," Nicole van Rooijen, ‌executive director at Stop Killer Robots, told Reuters.

The ‌member states of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons had been meeting this week in the Swiss city of Geneva and reached consensus overnight.

The ‌agreement comes as alarm grows over the use of lethal autonomous weapons ⁠systems in ⁠conflicts, including those in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East. The document, reached by consensus, is non-binding but could open the door to formal treaty negotiations.

Talks went late into the night to overcome differences over language amid opposition from states such as the United States and Russia.

The US and Russia favor national guidelines over international legally binding rules. Washington sought flexibility in the non-binding text, including in areas related to exercising human judgment.