DR Congo
Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) killed at least 319 civilians, including 48 women and 19 children, last month, according to the UN. The M23 armed group, backed by neighboring Rwanda, resurged in 2022 after years of calm and seized vast areas of DRC’s mineral-rich east. Since then, several peace deals have collapsed, thousands have been killed, and a spiraling humanitarian crisis has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Eastern DRC, which borders Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, has been the center of fighting between the government and a patchwork of rebel groups for at least 30 years, with foreign powers regularly interfering in the conflict.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Gaza
Seventy-nine percent of Israeli Jews are "not so troubled" or "not troubled at all" by reports of famine in Gaza, according to a new poll. The survey, carried out by the Israel Democracy Institute, found that 86 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel were “very troubled" or "somewhat troubled" by the situation. Some 70 percent of Jewish Israelis identifying as left-wing, though, expressed concern. Two-thirds of Palestinian Israelis said Israel could reduce the suffering but chooses not to, while just 15 percent of Israeli Jews agreed.
More from the New Arab here.
Armenia-Azerbaijan
U.S. President Donald Trump is to host the leaders of longtime foes Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House on Friday. Officials told Reuters today that the meeting will conclude with the U.S. securing rights to develop a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will also sign a framework peace deal — a boost to Trump’s ambition to be seen as a global peacemaker despite his support for the ruinous Israeli war on Gaza and his failed efforts to stop the Russia-Ukraine war. The corridor will link Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave, by passing through Armenian territory. It is to be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP.
More from Reuters here.
He's so desperate for recognition; he'll put his name on a pile of shit.