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M23 Rebels Withdraw from Planned Talks with Congo Govt, Citing Int’l Sanctions

M23 rebels sit on a truck during the escort of captured FDLR members (not pictured) to Rwanda for repatriation, at the Goma-Gisenyi Grande Barrier border crossing, March 1, 2025. (Reuters) 
M23 rebels sit on a truck during the escort of captured FDLR members (not pictured) to Rwanda for repatriation, at the Goma-Gisenyi Grande Barrier border crossing, March 1, 2025. (Reuters) 
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M23 Rebels Withdraw from Planned Talks with Congo Govt, Citing Int’l Sanctions

M23 rebels sit on a truck during the escort of captured FDLR members (not pictured) to Rwanda for repatriation, at the Goma-Gisenyi Grande Barrier border crossing, March 1, 2025. (Reuters) 
M23 rebels sit on a truck during the escort of captured FDLR members (not pictured) to Rwanda for repatriation, at the Goma-Gisenyi Grande Barrier border crossing, March 1, 2025. (Reuters) 

The Rwanda-backed rebels who captured key areas of Congo's mineral-rich east said Monday they were withdrawing from peace talks this week with the Congolese government, saying that international sanctions on the group's members have undermined such dialogue.

The talks scheduled to start in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on Tuesday "have become impracticable" as a result of the sanctions announced by the European Union against some of its members on Monday, M23 rebel group’s spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement. Alleged offensives still being carried out in the conflict-hit region by Congo's military also undermine the talks, he said.

"Consequently, our organization can no longer continue to participate in the discussions," he added.

Congo's government, after initially rejecting such talks, said Monday that it would participate in the dialogue in Angola. A delegation representing Congo has already traveled to Luanda for the talks, Tina Salama, the spokesperson for President Felix Tshisekedi, told The Associated Press. Tshisekedi had earlier refused direct negotiations with the rebels.

M23 also initially had sent a delegation to Luanda, the group's spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on the X platform on Monday.

The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu in February.

Angola, which has acted as a mediator in the conflict, announced last week that it would host direct peace negotiations between Congo and M23 on Tuesday.

Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused.

"A dialogue with a terrorist group like the M23 is a red line that we will never cross," Tshisekedi said during a speech to the diplomatic corps on Jan. 18.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,575 kilometers (978 miles) to the east.

The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to "summary executions" by both sides.

International pressure is growing on Rwanda as the European Union sanctioned five Rwandan nationals, including the commander of Rwandan special forces deployed in eastern Congo. On Monday, Rwanda cut diplomatic ties with Belgium and ordered all its diplomats to leave, a month after Brussels suspended development aid to the East African country. Rwandan President Paul Kagame had accused Belgium of "destroying" Rwanda in a speech on Sunday.

The US State Department said last week it was open to a mining partnership in Congo and has confirmed that preliminary discussions had begun.

On Sunday, Tshisekedi met with the US special envoy to Congo, Rep. Ronny Jackson, to discuss potential security and economic partnerships.

"We want to work together so that American companies can invest and work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and for that we have to make sure there is a peace in the country," Jackson told reporters after the meeting.

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World

South Korea’s Ousted Leader Yoon Indicted for Flying Drones over North Korea 

19 November 2024, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro: Then South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a plenary session during the G20 summit. (Alexandre Durao/G20/dpa) 
19 November 2024, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro: Then South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a plenary session during the G20 summit. (Alexandre Durao/G20/dpa) 
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South Korea’s Ousted Leader Yoon Indicted for Flying Drones over North Korea 

19 November 2024, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro: Then South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a plenary session during the G20 summit. (Alexandre Durao/G20/dpa) 
19 November 2024, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro: Then South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a plenary session during the G20 summit. (Alexandre Durao/G20/dpa) 

South Korea’s ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol faces more criminal charges as prosecutors alleged Monday that he ordered drone flights over North Korea in a deliberate bid to stoke tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law.

Yoon set off the most serious political crisis in South Korea’s recent history when he imposed martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and sent troops to surround the National Assembly. He was later impeached and removed from office and is in jail standing trial on charges including masterminding a rebellion.

His successor and liberal rival, President Lee Jae Myung, approved legislation that launched independent investigations into Yoon’s martial law stunt and other criminal allegations involving him, his wife and associates.

On Monday, Yoon and two of his top defense officials were charged with benefiting the enemy and committing abuse of power over their alleged drone flights, which came about two months before the declaration of martial law, according to a special investigation team.

North Korea accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop propaganda leaflets three times in October 2024. Yoon's defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, initially made a vague denial, but South Korea's military later switched to saying it couldn’t confirm whether or not the North’s claim was true. Any public confirmation of South Korean reconnaissance activities on North Korea is highly unusual.

Tensions rose sharply at the time, with North Korea threatening to respond with force. But neither side took any major action and tensions gradually subsided.

When Yoon announced martial law, he briefly cited “threats from North Korean communist forces,” but focused on his fights with the liberal-controlled parliament that obstructed his agenda, impeached top officials and slashed his government’s budget bill. Yoon called the National Assembly “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”

On Monday, Park Ji-young, a senior investigator working for independent counsel Cho Eun-suk, told a briefing that her team still indicted Yoon, Kim and Yeo In-hyung, ex-commander of the military’s counterintelligence agency, over the alleged drone flying.

She said the trio “undermined the military interests of the Republic of Korea by increasing the danger of a South-North armed conflict with the purpose of setting up an environment for declaring emergency martial law,” Park said.

Park disclosed what she called memos found in Yeo's mobile phone, some of which suggest likely plots to trigger tensions with North Korea. Memos include wordings like “creating an unstable situation,” “drones" and “targets like Pyongyang” that could force North Korea to respond because of “a loss of its face.”

Park said she won't further explain about those memos due to concerns about leaks of military secrets.

There were no immediate public responses from Yoon, Kim or Yeo over their indictments. But in July, Yoon’s defense team said Yoon had maintained he wasn’t informed of the drone flights.

In January, state prosecutors indicted Yoon for allegedly directing a rebellion. It's a grave charge whose conviction only carries the sentence capital punishment or life imprisonment. Kim and Yeo have also been arrested and indicted for allegedly playing key roles in Yoon's martial law imposition.

Animosities between the Koreas worsened after Yoon took office in May 2022 with a tougher approach on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

South Korea earlier accused North Korea of occasionally flying its own drones over South Korea, but refrained from publicly taking tit-for-tat steps. But in December 2022, South Korea announced it fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance drones over North Korea in response to what it called North Korea's first drone flights across the border in five years. Observers say that reflected Yoon's resolve to get tough on North Korean provocations.

World

Typhoon Blows Away from the Philippines, 4 Dead and 1.4 Million Displaced

Typhoon Blows Away from the Philippines, 4 Dead and 1.4 Million Displaced
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Typhoon Blows Away from the Philippines, 4 Dead and 1.4 Million Displaced

Typhoon Blows Away from the Philippines, 4 Dead and 1.4 Million Displaced

Typhoon Fung-wong blew out of the northwestern Philippines on Monday after setting off floods and landslides, knocking out power to entire provinces, killing at least four people and displacing more than 1.4 million others.

It was forecast to head northwest toward Taiwan.

Fung-wong lashed the northern Philippines while the country was still dealing with the devastation wrought by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left at least 224 people dead in central provinces on Tuesday before pummeling Vietnam, where at least five were killed.

Fung-wong slammed ashore in northeastern Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 185 kph (115 mph) and gusts of up to 230 kph (143 mph).

The 1,800-kilometer (1,100-mile)-wide storm weakened as it raked through mountainous northern provinces and agricultural plains overnight before blowing away from the province of La Union into the South China Sea, according to state forecasters.

One person drowned in flash floods in the eastern province of Catanduanes, and another died in Catbalogan city in eastern Samar province when her house collapsed on her, officials said.

In the northern mountain province of Nueva Vizcaya, a landslide buried a hillside hut in Kayapa town before dawn on Monday, killing two children and injuring their parents and a sibling, town police chief Maj. Len Gomultim said.

More than 1.4 million people moved into emergency shelters or the homes of relatives before the typhoon made landfall, and about 318,000 remained in evacuation centers on Monday.

Fierce wind and rain flooded at least 132 northern villages, including one where some residents were trapped on their roofs as floodwaters rapidly rose. About 1,000 houses were damaged, Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV of the Office of Civil Defense and other officials said, adding that roads blocked by landslides would be cleared as the weather improved on Monday.

“While the typhoon has passed, its rains still pose a danger in certain areas” in northern Luzon, including in metropolitan Manila," Alejandro said. “We'll undertake today rescue, relief and disaster-response operations.”

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a state of emergency on Thursday due to the extensive devastation caused by Kalmaegi and the expected damage from Fung-wong, which was also called Uwan in the Philippines.

Tropical cyclones with sustained winds of 185 kph (115 mph) or higher are categorized in the Philippines as a super typhoon to underscore the urgency tied to more extreme weather disturbances.

The Philippines has not called for international help following the devastation caused by Kalmaegi, but Teodoro said the United States, the country’s longtime treaty ally, and Japan were ready to provide assistance.

Authorities announced that schools and most government offices would be closed on Monday and Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

More than 325 domestic and 61 international flights were canceled over the weekend and into Monday, and more than 6,600 commuters and cargo workers were stranded in ports after the coast guard prohibited ships from venturing into rough seas.

World

Tehran Responds to Trump: We’ll Make Our Enemies Pay for their Actions

US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters upon arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, on his way to attend a football game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in Maryland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters upon arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, on his way to attend a football game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in Maryland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Tehran Responds to Trump: We’ll Make Our Enemies Pay for their Actions

US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters upon arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, on his way to attend a football game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in Maryland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters upon arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, on his way to attend a football game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in Maryland. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that after President Donald Trump's admission of being behind the Israeli attack on Iran during the 12-day war last June, the US government must accept the legal, political, and military consequences of its blatant aggression on his country.

Speaking at an open session of the Parliament, the Speaker vowed that aggressors will be held accountable.

On Friday, Trump said he was “very much in charge of” Israel's initial attack on Iran early last summer.

“Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “When Israel attacked Iran first, that was a great day for Israel because that attack did more damage than the rest of them put together.”

The initial Israeli strikes on Iran in the early hours of June 13 killed top Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, it also damaged Iranian nuclear facilities.

Ghalibaf said: “Following the US president’s explicit admission of direct responsibility in the Zionist regime’s aggression against Iran, I strongly denounce this heinous act on behalf of the noble people of Iran.”

The Speaker noted that under international law, “the US government must accept the legal, political, and military consequences of this blatant aggression, which has resulted in the martyrdom of many of our citizens.”

On Saturday, Iranian news outlets said the country’s ambassador to the UN urged the Security Council to act after the US president publicly acknowledged leading the Israeli regime’s recent military attacks on Iran.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and President of the Security Council Michael Imran Kanu, Amir Saeed Iravani denounced the “irrefutable evidence” of US responsibility in the Israeli assaults on Iranian territory last June.

“These criminal aggressions-representing a grave and flagrant violation of Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter, the peremptory norms prohibiting the threat or use of force against sovereign States and international humanitarian law- resulted in numerous civilian casualties, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and serious damage to Iran's safeguarded and peaceful nuclear facilities,” he wrote.

Also, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Friday the United States must be held accountable for its “direct involvement” in Israeli airstrikes on Iran in June.

In a post on X, Baghaei responded to Trump’s remarks, which he said contradicted Washington's earlier claims that Israel acted alone.

Baghaei cited comments delivered on June 13, 2025 by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who denied US involvement in the strikes and called them a “unilateral” Israeli action. Baghaei said that statement was “an outright lie.”

He said: “From the very beginning, it was clear that the United States was a full participant in Israel's crime of aggression against the nation of Iran,” adding that Washington must be held responsible for “this flagrant violation and atrocious wrong.”

Last April, Tehran and Washington began rounds of Omani-mediated negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. But the talks were halted before the sixth round, following the surprise Israeli attack on Iran on June 13.