#Congo military court sentences former President Kabila to death for treason.

KINSHASA, Congo — A high military court in Congo convicted former President Joseph Kabila of treason and war crimes Tuesday on accusations of collaborating with anti-government rebels and sentenced him to death.

It was not immediately clear how the sentence could be carried out because the whereabouts of Kabila, who has been on trial in absentia since July, have been unknown since he last was seen in public in a rebel-held city earlier this year. Kabila’s political party called the verdict politically motivated.

The court in Kinshasa ordered his immediate arrest.

The government said Kabila collaborated with Rwanda and the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23, which seized key cities in a lightning assault in January in Congo’s mineral-rich east.

Kabila has denied the allegations, though he expressed support for the rebels’ campaign in an op-ed published in February in the South African newspaper Sunday Times.

The high military court in Kinshasa ruled Tuesday that Kabila was guilty of treason, war crimes, conspiracy and organizing an insurrection together with the M23. It also ordered Kabila to pay US$29 billion in damages to Congo, as well as $2 billion to the country’s province of North Kivu and $2 billion to South Kivu.

The court said prosecutors presented testimony implicating Kabila from Eric Nkuba, the imprisoned former chief of staff of rebel leader Corneille Nangaa. Nkuba was convicted on rebellion charges in August 2024.

The court cited Nkuba as saying that Kabila regularly communicated with Nangaa by phone about how to overthrow the government of current President Felix Tshisekedi.

The head of Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy called the verdict “a political, unfair decision.”

“We believe that the clear intention of the dictatorship in power is to eliminate, to neutralize, a major political actor,” the party’s permanent secretary, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Richard Bondo, a lawyer who represented the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, said he was “satisfied” with the court’s decision. “Justice rendered in the name of the Congolese people gives satisfaction to its people,” he added.

Kabila led Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office at the age of 29 -- after his father and former President Laurent Kabila was assassinated -- and extended his mandate by delaying elections for two years after his term ended in 2017. His candidate lost in December 2018 to Kabila’s long-term political rival, Tshisekedi, who has ruled the country since 2019.

In May, the country’s Senate voted to repeal Kabila’s immunity from prosecution, a move Kabila denounced at the time as dictatorial.

Kabila had lived outside of Congo in self-imposed exile but returned in April to Goma, one of the cities held by the rebel group. His current location is unknown.

Congo’s decades-long conflict escalated in January, when the M23 rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of #Goma, followed by the town of #Bukavu, which they took in February. The fighting has killed some 3,000 people and worsened what was already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with around 7 million people displaced.

By Saleh Mwanamilongo.

Pope Leo criticizes ‘inhuman’ treatment of immigrants in U.S.

“Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” the pontiff told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo.

The Catholic Church’s position that life is sacred from conception until natural death is one of the 1.4-billion-member denomination’s strongest teachings.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, was responding to a question from a U.S. journalist who asked about the country’s politics.

The White House said Trump was elected based on his many promises, including to deport criminal illegal aliens. “He is keeping his promise to the American people,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded in a statement.

Elected in May to replace the late Pope Francis, Leo has shown a much more reserved style than his predecessor, who frequently criticized the Trump administration.

Leo was asked about a decision by the archdiocese of Chicago to give an award to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat who supports abortion rights. The move has attracted vocal criticism from conservative Catholics, including several U.S. bishops.

“It is very important to look at the overall work that the Senator has done,” said the pope.

“I understand the difficulty and the tensions but I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church,” he said.

“Someone who says I am against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” said the pope.

Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Richard Chang and Lincoln Feast.

#Trump said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to back a US-sponsored Gaza peace proposal aimed at ending a nearly two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave, including a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Convoy carrying Ecuadorian president attacked during protests, officials say.

Ecuador says an aid convoy carrying President Daniel Noboa and foreign diplomats was attacked in Imbabura province on Sunday during protests over fuel prices.

The unrest, now in its eighth day, turned deadly at the weekend. It began after the government said it would end a subsidy on diesel to reduce public spending, curb fuel smuggling and free up funds for social programs. In Imbabura, dozens of demonstrators have blocked roads and clashed with security forces.

The government said Monday that about 350 people ambushed the convoy on Sunday with fireworks, molotov cocktails and rocks as it was driving to the area to deliver humanitarian aid.

Approximately 50 soldiers guarding the vehicles attempted to repel the attackers, presidential spokesperson Carolina Jaramillo said, without specifying whether anyone was injured.

The presidency said the convoy was also carrying dignitaries including Vatican diplomat Andrés Carrascosa, European Union Ambassador Jekaterina Dorodnova and Italian Ambassador Giovanni Davoli.

Italy’s embassy in Ecuador said its ambassador was not harmed in the attack, which it described as a “terrorist act” directed against the Ecuadorian head of state.

CNN has reached out to the diplomatic missions of the EU and the Vatican for more information.

Noboa posted images Monday on X showing several cars with broken and cracked windows. He claimed that the attackers were trying to resist Ecuador’s progress with violence. “We continue: Ecuador cannot go backward,” he said.

The presidency has blamed Sunday’s attack on “terrorist groups” it says have infiltrated the demonstrations.
Protests turn deadly

Officials said another attack on a separate humanitarian convoy this past weekend killed least one person and injured nine soldiers. An additional 17 military personnel were kidnapped, the presidency claimed.

The Indigenous confederation CONAIE, which is leading the protests, has rejected the government’s claims. It said the person who died on Sunday was an Indigenous man who was shot by members of the armed forces. It has called on the government to end what it considers repression against its community. Indigenous leaders have accused the government of violent suppression of protests and allowing unchecked mining and oil drilling on ancestral lands. The government has suggested that the protesters were to blame.

“I think it’s quite clear that the violent actions — in this case instigated by Marlon Vargas, the CONAIE leader, who just a few weeks ago, less than a week ago, was calling for protests and criminal acts such as taking over oil wells — can ultimately lead to such a tragic outcome as the loss of human life,” spokesperson Jaramillo said Monday.

The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office said it would investigate the matter.

“The preliminary investigation will be carried out — based on international protocols — by its Specialized Unit for the Investigation of the Unlawful Use of Force, in order to guarantee the objectivity of the process,” the office said.

The current Moldovan authorities refuse to hold talks with Russia and also obstruct the Transnistrian settlement, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

His statement comes at a press briefing in response to a TASS correspondent’s question about the latest developments in the region and perspectives for the Transnistrian issue settlement.

"Regarding the [conflict] settlement, this is an extremely difficult issue," Peskov stated. "Having the current Moldovan leadership as our vis-a-vis makes it certainly very difficult and almost impossible to talk about this now."

"This refers to the Moldovan leadership, which effectively excludes dialogue with the Russian Federation," he added.

On September 28, Moldova held parliamentary elections. The turnout reached 52% of registered voters. According to preliminary results from the Central Election Commission, after 99.9% of the votes were counted, the ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) retained control of parliament, receiving 50.16%. The opposition has already announced its disagreement with the vote results and intends to appeal them due to numerous violations of voter rights.
Transnistria conflict

Russian peacekeepers were introduced into the armed conflict zone following the signing of an agreement with Moldova on July 21, 1992, for the peaceful settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. Currently, the Russian military works alongside the blue helmets of Moldova and Transnistria to maintain peace in the region.

The Operational Group of Russian Forces (OGRF), consisting of around 1,000 troops and officers, is stationed on the left bank of the Dniester River. Its primary task is to guard warehouses storing over 20,000 tons of ammunition that remained after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from European countries.

Additionally, the OGRF supports peacekeepers who have been effectively blockaded since 2015, after Ukraine blocked their supply routes through its territory. The rotation of OGRF personnel has also been hindered by Moldova, which is pushing for their withdrawal.

Chisinau insists on the withdrawal of the OGRF and proposes replacing the peacekeepers with a civilian mission under an international mandate. However, Tiraspol opposes this idea, pointing out that a similar mission was unable to prevent fighting in 1992, which resulted in over 1,000 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries.

#Taliban release a U.S. citizen from Afghan prison. The deputy spokesperson for the Taliban Foreign Ministry, Zia Ahmad Takal, identified the man as Amir Amiri. He did not say when Amiri was detained, why, or where.

An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024 and was on his way back to the U.S. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details with the media.

Qatar facilitated Amiri’s release in the latest diplomatic achievement resulting from its security partnership with the U.S. that has secured the freedom of four other Americans from Taliban detention this year. The energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula also helped in releasing a British couple who were imprisoned for months.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed Amiri’s release, saying it marked the administration’s determination, reinforced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, to protect American nationals from wrongful detention abroad.

“While this marks an important step forward, additional Americans remain unjustly detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will not rest until all our captive citizens are back home.”

Ahmad Habibi, the brother of Mahmood Habibi, a U.S. citizen held by the Taliban for more than three years, said he and his family were grateful to hear the news about Amiri, and they remained hopeful that Mahmood would also return home.

Mahmood Habibi, an Afghan-American business owner, worked as a contractor for a Kabul-based telecommunications company and vanished in 2022. The FBI and his family have said they believe he was taken by the Taliban, who have denied holding him.

“We are grateful that senior officials at the State Department and National Security Council have repeatedly assured us that any deal they do with the Taliban will be `all or nothing’ and they have explicitly assured us that they will not leave my brother behind,” Ahmad Habibi said.

It remains unclear what the Taliban receive in exchange for freeing U.S. nationals. But Afghanistan’s needs are many.

The international aid money that flowed into the country after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion is drying up even as economic and humanitarian crises mount, particularly after a magnitude-6 earthquake on Aug. 31.

But Afghanistan remains a focus for Trump, who has said he wants to retake Bagram Air Base, a massive former U.S. military facility, a demand rejected by senior Taliban officials.

Riazat Butt, The Associated Press

Police: Deadly shooting in North Carolina was ‘highly premeditated’ and location was ‘targeted’.

Nigel Edge, 40, of Oak Island is accused of opening fire Saturday night from a boat into a crowd gathered at the American Fish Company in Southport, a historic port town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Wilmington, Police Chief Todd Coring said.

At a press conference Sunday, Coring said the location was “targeted,” but he did not elaborate.

Authorities said Edge piloted a small boat close to shore, which was lined with bars and restaurants, stopped briefly and fired. He then sped away.

Roughly half an hour after the shooting, a U.S. Coast Guard crew spotted a person matching the suspect’s description pulling a boat from the water at a public ramp on Oak Island. The person was detained and turned over to Southport police for questioning, officials said.

Edge is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He could face additional charges, Coring said.

The weapon used was an assault rifle, although Coring didn’t specify what kind.

“We understand this suspect identifies as a combat veteran. He self-identifies. Injured in the line of duty is what he’s saying, he suffers from PTSD,” Coring said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Edge is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday, District Attorney Jon David said. He is being held without bond.

Among the five people hospitalized with injuries, at least one “is now clinging for their life,” David said. Some of the victims were vacationers from out of town.

Oak Island Police Chief Charlie Morris said the suspect was known to police as someone “who frequently hung out on our pier,” and that he had filed lawsuits against the town and police department over the last few years. He did not elaborate.

The district attorney said Edge had had “minor contacts” with police in the past “but nothing significant in his past which would give us any indication that he was capable of such horror.”

It was not immediately known whether Edge has an attorney to speak on his behalf. No attorney was listed on court documents. A call to Legal Aid services in Brunswick County went unanswered Sunday.

Investigators from multiple agencies -- including the State Bureau of Investigation and the Coast Guard -- remained on the water and at the scene Sunday collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.

Vietnam evacuates thousands and shuts airports as Typhoon Bualoi nears landfall.

Bualoi had left at least 20 people dead in the central Philippines since Friday, mostly from drownings and falling trees, and knocked out power in several towns and cities, officials said. The storm forced about 23,000 families to evacuate to more than 1,400 emergency shelters.

The typhoon was expected to bring winds of up to 133 km/h (83 mph), storm surges of more than a metre (3.2 feet) and heavy rains that could trigger flash floods and landslides.

Vietnam’s weather agency said Bualoi was about 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of central Vietnam early Sunday and moving northwest. It was expected to make landfall between Quang Tri and Nghe An provinces.

Authorities grounded fishing boats in northern and central regions and ordered evacuations. State media reported Da Nang planned to relocate more than 210,000 people, while Hue prepared to move more than 32,000 coastal residents to safer ground.

The Civil Aviation Authority said operations were suspended at four coastal airports, including Danang International Airport, with several flights rescheduled.

Heavy rains have drenched central provinces since Saturday night. In Hue, floods swamped low-lying streets, storms ripped off roofs and at least one person was reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters.

In neighboring Quang Tri province, a fishing boat sank and another was stranded while seeking shelter. Eight people have been rescued while efforts were underway to reach three others at sea, state media said.

Forecasters warned of more heavy rain through Oct. 1, raising risks of flooding and landslides in northern and central provinces.

Bualoi was the second major storm to threaten Asia in a week. Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest to hit in years, left at least 28 deaths in the northern Philippines and Taiwan before making landfall in China and dissipating Thursday over Vietnam.

Global warming is making storms like Wipha stronger and wetter, according to experts since warmer oceans provide tropical storms with more fuel, driving more intense winds, heavier rainfall, and shifting precipitation patterns across East Asia.

Aniruddha Ghosal, The Associated Press

Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.

Large Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv kills 4 and wounds at least 10. Kyiv bears the brunt of the attack

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration, confirmed Sunday’s casualties via Telegram and said that 10 others were wounded in the attack, which targeted civilian areas across the city. A 12-year-old girl was among the dead. Thick black smoke could be seen rising from a blast near the city center.

“The Russians have restarted the child death counter,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram.

Russia fired a total of 595 exploding drones and decoys and 48 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday. Of those, air defenses shot down or jammed 566 drones and 45 missiles.

Besides Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the bombardment targeted the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa. Zelenskyy wrote on X that at least 40 people were wounded across the country. Later, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry stated the number of the wounded rose to 70, with more than 100 civilian objects damaged.

Zaporizhzhia’s regional head, Ivan Fedorov, said that three children were among the 27 wounded in the region, adding that more than two dozen buildings were damaged in the capital, which that bears the same name.

“This vile attack came virtually @ the close of U.N. General Assembly week, and this is exactly how Russia declares its true position. Moscow wants to keep fighting and killing, and it deserves the toughest pressure from the world,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told world leaders on Saturday that his nation doesn’t intend to attack Europe, but will mount a “decisive response” to any aggression.
Residents shaken

The strikes that began overnight and continued after dawn on Sunday also targeted residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, a medical facility and a kindergarten, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who also said that damage was reported at more than 20 locations across the capital.

At Kyiv’s central train station, passengers arrived to the crackle of anti-aircraft gunfire and the low buzz of attack drones. Mostly women, they waited quietly in a platform underpass until the air raid alert ended. Parents checked the news on their phones while children played online games.

“The sky has turned black again,” said one woman at the station, who gave only her first name, Erika. “It’s happening a lot.”

Ilona Kovalenko, a 38-year-old resident of a five-story building struck in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district, told The Associated Press that she woke up because of the explosion, which shattered windows.

“A neighbor kept knocking on our door. She was completely covered in blood and shouting, `help, save my daughter,’” said Kovalenko, who fled the building with her grandmother after the strike.

Oleksandra, the neighbor’s daughter, was the 12-year-old killed in the attack.

“Sadly, she died on the spot,” Kovalenko said. “We are in shock, to be honest.”

Another multistory residential building was heavily damaged by the attack. Emergency services personnel used power saws to clear the debris. Piles of glass littered nearby sidewalks as building residents, some looking shaken, sat on benches.

“There are no warehouses or plants here. We were sure that nothing would happen, but it hit us here,” Volodymyr, a retired Kyiv resident who only gave his first name, told the AP at the site of a missile strike.

The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that Russia’s military only strikes military targets.

Russian officials didn’t immediately comment on the latest attacks.

For some Kyiv residents, this wasn’t the first time they had come under Russian attack. Mark Sergeev, a pastor who had already fled Russia-occupied Melitopol, found himself under attack again in Kyiv. He was sleeping on the second floor with his wife when the blast struck, with his children on the floor above.

“There was a blast, and a wardrobe fell on me and I was covered with glass. My wife was shouting: `Mark, where are the kids?’ I felt like this was like a death sentence,” Sergeev said. He called out to his older son Toper, who responded that he was alive, before pulling his younger child from the debris.

The pastor, who previously testified before U.S. Congress about Christian persecution in Russian-occupied territories, said that the attack brought back painful memories. “I am a pastor from Melitopol. We had a large Protestant church and a house that I built with my own hands, and the Russian FSB took it away and nationalized it,” he said, describing how Russian forces had forced his family to lie on the ground at gunpoint in 2022.

“And so, we lost our second home again,” Sergeev said.
Polish military responses triggered

The assault also triggered military responses in neighboring Poland, where fighter jets were deployed early Sunday as Russia struck targets in western Ukraine, according to the Polish armed forces.

Polish military officials characterized these defensive measures as “preventative.”

International concerns have mounted recently that the fighting could spread beyond Ukraine’s borders as European countries rebuked Russia for what they said were provocations. The incidents have included Russian drones landing on Polish soil and Russian fighter aircraft entering Estonian airspace.

Russia denied that its planes entered Estonian airspace and said that none of its drones targeted Poland.

The latest bombardment follows Zelenskyy’s announcement Saturday of what he called a “mega deal” for weapons purchases from the United States. The $90 billion package includes both the major arms agreement and a separate “drone deal” for Ukrainian-made drones that the U.S. will purchase directly.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses shot down 41 #Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday.

Derek Gatopoulos, Illia Novikov, and Elise Morton, The Associated Press

Morton reported from London.

#Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the group would not allow itself to be disarmed on Saturday as he addressed supporters marking one year since the killing by Israel of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah.

The charismatic leader was killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024.

Without Nasrallah and with much of its military capability destroyed by Israel, Hezbollah’s grip on Lebanese politics has weakened, and Beirut has ordered the army to disarm the group.

“We will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,” Qassem told the tens of thousands of supporters gathered at the tomb of the former chief on Saturday.

“We are ready for martyrdom,” he added.

Iran-backed Hezbollah, weakened by a deadly war with Israel last year, has organized a series of commemorative events to mark Nasrallah’s death.

Waving the group’s yellow banner as well as Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags, Hezbollah supporters gathered at the mausoleum, near Beirut airport, chanting “death to America, death to Israel” while partisan and religious songs blared from loudspeakers, an AFP journalist reported.

‘More than words’

Hezbollah is commemorating the killings of Nasrallah and second-in-command Hashem Safieddine in a series of events which began on Thursday with the projection of their images onto the iconic Raouche rock in Beirut, despite government opposition and the party’s lack of official authorization.

That opposition in turn drew criticism of the government from Hezbollah supporters.

In a statement on Saturday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed his hope that “this painful anniversary will serve as a rallying point, reinforcing the belief that Lebanon’s salvation lies in having one unified state, one army and constitutional institutions that protect sovereignty and uphold dignity”.

Despite a November ceasefire that ended over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, the latter has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon and still has troops positioned at five border points inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah is under intense pressure to hand over its weapons, with the Lebanese army having drawn up a plan to disarm it, beginning in the south.

Lebanon itself is under pressure from the United States and ongoing Israeli strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Lebanon’s efforts towards disarming Hezbollah from the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, but said he needed “more than words”.

Hezbollah was the only major armed group allowed to keep its weapons following Lebanon’s civil war, because it was fighting continued Israeli occupation of the south.

The group’s heartlands are in mainly Shiite southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as south Beirut.

In October 2023, it began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza. Months of exchanges escalated into all-out war in September 2024, before a ceasefire was agreed two months later.