World

GOMA — Rwanda-backed armed group M23 on Sunday accused the Democratic Republic of Congo's government, which it has been fighting in the country's east, of trying to "torpedo" direct talks scheduled in Angola.

The spokesman for the M23 and the Congo River Alliance [AFC], a political-military alliance of which the M23 is a member,  accused the DRC government of using fighter jets and drones to bomb densely populated areas in recent days.

"This deadly escalation... demonstrates the Kinshasa regime's intent to sabotage the long-awaited dialogue," Lawrence Kanyuka said in a post on X.

AFP could not verify the allegations made by the M23, and the DRC government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kanyuka in his statement "acknowledges receipt" of Angola's invitation to "direct dialogue" scheduled for Tuesday in Luanda with the DRC government.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco called on Saturday for a ceasefire starting Sunday at midnight, an appeal to which no party has responded.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has so far refused to attend talks with the M23 group, which has made rapid inroads into eastern DRC since the beginning of the year with the backing of Rwandan troops.

But following a visit by Tshisekedi to Luanda this week, "direct peace negotiations" were announced, starting Tuesday.

Tina Salama, a spokeswoman for Tshisekedi, told AFP late Sunday: "A delegation from the DRC will travel to Luanda on Tuesday at the invitation of the mediator to hear what they have to say."

She gave no details of its composition, nor whether it would engage in direct talks.

Since January, the major cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Goma and Bukavu, a region rich in natural resources and close to the Rwandan border, have fallen under M23's control.

UN experts say the M23 is supported by approximately 4,000 Rwandan soldiers.

Meanwhile Rwanda said Monday it had severed diplomatic ties with Belgium, saying the European nation had "consistently undermined" Kigali "during the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo".

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group launched a massive offensive in the mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year, taking two major cities.

A United Nations report has said that Kigali effectively controls the group and has around 4,000 troops in the country.

Kigali has denied involvement in the conflict and says it faces a threat from ethnic Hutu fighters in the DRC.

"The Government of Rwanda today notified the Government of Belgium of its decision to sever diplomatic relations, effective immediately," the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

"Belgium has clearly taken sides in a regional conflict and continues to systematically mobilize against Rwanda in different forums, using lies and manipulation to secure an unjustified hostile opinion of Rwanda, in an attempt to destabilize both Rwanda and the region," it said.

It said that the decision reflected "Rwanda's commitment to safeguarding our national interests and the dignity of Rwandans".

All Belgian diplomats within the country will be required to leave within 48 hours, the statement added.

WASHINGTON — At least 40 people were killed and dozens more injured by tornadoes and violent storms that ravaged the central and southern United States at the weekend, local authorities said.

Local news channels across the affected region showed video of roofs torn off homes, trees felled, and trucks overturned by high winds.

Eight people died in Kansas in a crash involving more than 50 vehicles, caused by low visibility during a "severe dust storm", local police said.

In Oklahoma, four people were killed as wildfires and strong winds swept across the state, the local emergency management department said.

"We are actively monitoring the severe tornadoes and storms that have impacted many States across the South and Midwest," President Donald Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social.

He said National Guard troops were deployed in Arkansas, where officials said three people had died and 32 had been injured in the storm.

"The damage is overwhelming," Missouri governor Mike Kehoe said in a statement after visiting some of the hardest-hit areas in that state.

"Homes and businesses have been destroyed, entire communities are without power, and the road to recovery will not be easy."

Earlier, the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 12 storm-related fatalities and shared images of boats piled on top of one another at a marina destroyed by the weather.

In Texas, local authorities said four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.

The United States saw the second-highest number of tornadoes on record last year with nearly 1,800, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], trailing only 2004.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump will speak by phone on Tuesday, as one US official expressed hope the two could agree a Ukraine ceasefire within "weeks".

Trump said earlier "a lot of work" had been done between the US and Russia on settling the three-year Ukraine conflict, and that there was a "very good chance" hostilities would end.

Putin said last week he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire, but warned he had "serious questions" about how it would be implemented that he wanted to discuss with Trump.

Kyiv has agreed to the ceasefire, while its European allies have criticised Putin for not committing to an unconditional and immediate halt in fighting, with the UK accusing the Russian leader of "dragging his feet".

"There is such a conversation being prepared for Tuesday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters including AFP ahead of the Trump-Putin call, without commenting on what the two leaders would discuss.

The US leader last spoke to Putin last month, in a call that broke Western efforts to isolate Putin as long as his forces keep up their Ukraine offensive.

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin last Thursday in Moscow to present the details of the joint ceasefire plan, which envisages a 30-day pause in hostilities.

Witkoff told CNN he expected some sort of deal in the "coming weeks".

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has reacted with anger to Putin's statements, accusing him of wanting to prolong the fighting.

On Saturday, Zelensky warned that Moscow wanted to first "improve their situation on the battlefield" before agreeing to any ceasefire.

- Russia grinding ahead -

Moscow has been pressing ahead in several areas of the front for over a year.

On Monday, Russia claimed its forces had captured Stepove -- a village in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region -- although open-source battlefield maps showed it outside Moscow's control.

Russia has also in the past two weeks mounted a major counter offensive against Ukrainian troops in its Kursk region.

Moscow last week retook the main town that Ukraine seized in its summer 2024 incursion, Sudzha, and swathes of areas around it. Russia has said it has moved several hundred civilians that were previously trapped in Kyiv-held areas.

Andrey Klimenko was one of them. He spoke to AFP after leaving his home in the village of Zamostye, outside Sudzha, on Friday as Russian forces pushed to recapture land, and is now staying in a displacement centre.

"Planes were dropping bombs near my vegetable patch. I nearly died because of bombs, mortar fire and drones," the 52-year-old told AFP.

Ukraine has conceded it is in a difficult position in the region, but denies its troops are surrounded.

Zelensky replaced his army's chief of general staff last week as Kyiv's front line troops continued to struggle.

Exchange of fire

After a brief lull in drone fire last week, both sides appeared to have stepped up attacks on Monday.

Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on southern Russia, sparking a blaze at an oil refinery, while Moscow launched a barrage of nearly 200 drones against Ukraine.

Around 500 people in the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa lost power because of the attacks, and one person was wounded there, governor Oleg Kiper said, adding several buildings were damaged, including a pre-school.

Putin last week said he would back a ceasefire but only if it led to "long-term peace and addresses the root causes of the crisis".

Among Putin's demands are that Ukraine never join the NATO military alliance, that European peacekeepers not be deployed on Ukrainian territory, and that Moscow be allowed to keep all the land it currently occupies.

Since Russia seized Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow now controls around a fifth of Ukraine.

Zelensky has pushed back at Putin's demands, saying the Russian leader does not really want peace.

In the Kursk region, 35-year-old displaced resident Yekaterina Panova said she was hopeful Trump could mediate.

"We really want America to somehow influence Russia's friendship with Ukraine," she told AFP.

"Both Russians and Ukrainians are Slavs. It's just some kind of fratricide going on."

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives. 

Hundreds of staff at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued equipment.

Trump, who has already eviscerated the US global aid agency and the Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among "elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary."

Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter and former Arizona news anchor put in charge of the media agency after she lost a US Senate bid, said in an email to the outlets that federal grant money "no longer effectuates agency priorities."

White House press official Harrison Fields took a more casual tone, simply writing "goodbye" on X in 20 languages, a jab at the outlets' multilingual coverage.

VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday.

"VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today's action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission," he said on Facebook.

"Voice of America has been a priceless asset for the United States, playing an essential role in the fight against communism, fascism, and oppression, and in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world," he said, noting that its coverage -- in 48 languages -- reaches 360 million people each week.

The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which started broadcasting into the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, called the cancellation of funding "a massive gift to America's enemies."

"The Iranian ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years," its president, Stephen Capus, said in a statement.

 'Negates 80 years' of US efforts 

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it "threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting the free flow of information."

Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and senior Democratic congresswoman Lois Frankel said in a joint statement that Trump's move would "cause lasting damage to US efforts to counter propaganda around the world."

US-funded media have reoriented themselves since the end of the Cold War, dropping much of the programming geared toward newly democratic Central and Eastern European countries and focusing on Russia and China.

Chinese state-funded media have expanded their reach sharply over the past decade, including by offering free services to outlets in the developing world that would otherwise pay for Western news agencies.

Radio Free Asia, established in 1996, sees its mission as providing uncensored reporting into countries without free media including China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam.

The outlets have an editorial firewall, with a stated guarantee of independence despite government funding.

The policy has angered some around Trump, who has long railed against media and suggested that government-funded outlets should promote his policies.

The move to end US-funded media is likely to meet challenges, much like Trump's other sweeping cuts. Congress, not the president, has the constitutional power of the purse and Radio Free Asia in particular has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past. 

 'Constant anxiety' 

One VOA employee described "constant anxiety, looking at your phone at all hours, and checking X in your time off" to learn the fate of the outlet. 

The employee, who requested anonymity, described Saturday's message as another "perfect example of the chaos and unprepared nature of the process," with VOA staffers presuming that scheduled programming is off but not told so directly.

A Radio Free Asia employee said: "It's not just about losing your income. We have staff and contractors who fear for their safety. We have reporters who work under the radar in authoritarian countries in Asia. We have staff in the US who fear deportation if their work visa is no longer valid."

"Wiping us out with the strike of a pen is just terrible." 

KOCANI, Republic of North Macedonia — A fire tore through an overcrowded nightclub packed with mostly young people in North Macedonia early Sunday, killing 59 people, apparently after on-stage fireworks at a hip-hop concert set the venue ablaze, authorities said.

Some 155 people who were injured in the inferno had been taken to hospitals across the country, 22 of them in critical condition, officials said. Some of the more serious cases were taken to hospitals in other European countries.

Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said that more than 20 wounded and three of those killed in the fire were minors.

"At the time of the event around 500 people were inside, while 250 tickets were sold," he said.

The blaze started in the Club Pulse in the eastern town of Kocani, which was packed with mostly young fans attending a concert by a popular hip-hop duo called DNK.

"The fire started around 2:30 am (0130 GMT), the sparklers that were on stage ignited the styrofoam on the ceiling. I heard an explosion and the roof collapsed," one young person who was inside for the concert told local media.

"We all rushed to get out, we all ran towards one door that was for both entry and exit," they were quoted as saying.

Another, a young woman waiting outside a hospital in the capital Skopje for a friend being treated for burns, said: "Initially we didn't believe there was a fire. Then there was huge panic in the crowd and a stampede to get out."

The fire was probably caused by pyrotechnic devices "used for lighting effects at the concert," said Toskovski, who visited the scene with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.

"Sparks caught the ceiling, which was made of easily flammable material, after which the fire rapidly spread across the whole discotheque, creating thick smoke," Toskovski said.

At a later press conference Toskovski said that the authorities were investigating whether "corruption" and "bribery" were linked to the deadly nightclub fire.

"This company does not have a legal license for work," he said, referring to the club. 

"This license, as many other things in Macedonia in the past, is connected with bribery and corruption. In this case, those involved in illegal issuance of license have names and will be held responsible," he added.

More than 20 people were under investigation over the blaze, 15 of whom were in police custody, while others were in hospital, he said.

Among the suspects are the two members of the band, an owner of the club and organisers, among others.

A former director of the rescue services and a state secretary at the economy ministry were among those detained, he said.

The head of the Kocani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, told media that "most of the dead unfortunately suffered injuries from the stampede that occurred in the panic while trying to exit".

"Seventy of the patients have burns and carbon monoxide poisoning," she said.

One of the members of the DNK duo that had performed, Vladimir Blazev, had burns to his face and needed assistance breathing, his sister told local media outlets.

 'Very sad day' 

"This is a difficult and very sad day" for the country, Mickoski wrote on his Facebook account. "The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the grief of their families, their loved ones and their friends is immeasurable."

The government proclaimed a seven-day mourning period and ordered flags lowered.

"A decision will also be made on an urgent and extraordinary inspection of all nightclubs, discotheques and restaurants that organise parties," the government said in a statement.

Pope Francis sent prayers to the victims and survivors and wished "the families of the dead, mostly young people, the expression of his deep condolence," the Vatican said in a message addressed to the bishop of Skopje, Kiro Stojanov.

Videos posted on social networks and shot before the fire showed there were "stage fountains" set up -- a type of indoor fireworks used during performances. 

Other videos published by media showed huge flames emerging from the building, a two-storey white structure in Kocani, a town with 30,000 residents.

An AFP photographer in the town saw military medical vehicles arrive to reinforce staff at the local hospital tending to some of the injured.

As the day unfolded, the leaders of neighbouring countries sent condolences.

Many of the patients in serious condition were transferred to other countries like Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey. 

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on X that she was "deeply saddened about the tragic fire" and that "the EU shares the grief and pain of the people of North Macedonia".

WASHINGTON - Russia and the United States have discussed the "next steps" of how to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Sunday, hours after Kyiv's European allies urged Moscow to commit to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

The United States this week proposed the halt in fighting in the more than three-year war after talks in Saudi Arabia, which Kyiv agreed to.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given no clear answer, instead listing a string of conditions and raising "serious questions" over the proposal.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused the Kremlin of not wanting to end the war and warned that Moscow wanted to first "improve their situation on the battlefield" before agreeing to any ceasefire.

Moscow said Sunday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and that the pair had discussed "concrete aspects of the implementation of understandings" at a US-Russia summit in Saudi Arabia last month.

The February Riyadh gathering was the first high-level meeting between the United States and Russia since Moscow launched its invasion.

"Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio agreed to remain in contact," the Russian foreign ministry said, with no mention of the US-suggested ceasefire.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Saturday that the pair had "discussed the next steps" on Ukraine.

She also said Rubio and Lavrov "agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia".

The call came hours after the UK hosted a virtual summit on Ukraine, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer accusing Putin of "dragging his feet" on the ceasefire.

"The 'yes, but' from Russia is not good enough," Starmer said, calling for a stop to the "barbaric attacks on Ukraine once and for all".

Kyiv the next day said Russia launched 90 Iranian-made Shahed drones onto nine Ukrainian regions.

In his reaction to the ceasefire earlier this week, Putin said the initiative would benefit primarily Ukraine and not Russian forces, who he said are "advancing" in many areas.

He raised "serious questions" over the initiative.

It has ousted Ukrainian forces from parts of its Kursk region, where Kyiv hopes to hold onto Russian territory as a potential bargaining chip in any future negotiations.

Putin said he wanted to discuss Moscow's concerns with Trump in a phone call.

Zelensky said Saturday that by not agreeing to the ceasefire, Putin was also going against Trump -- who has made overtures towards Russia -- and accused Moscow of trying to find ways not to end the war.

He accused Putin of "lying about how a ceasefire is supposedly too complicated".

Ukraine said Sunday that one person was killed by a Russian drone strike on the city of Izyum -- in the Kharkiv region, which fell to Russia at the start of its Ukraine invasion before being retaken by Kyiv's forces.