Hundreds of women were raped and burned alive during the chaos after a Rwandan-backed rebel group entered the Congolese city of Goma last week.

The female inmates were attacked in their wing inside Goma’s Munzenze prison during a mass jailbreak, according to a senior UN official.

The deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force based in Goma, Vivian van de Perre, said that while several thousand men managed to escape from the prison, the area reserved for women was set on fire.

Images taken shortly after Rwandan-backed M23 rebels reached the centre of Goma reveal vast plumes of black smoke rising from the prison on the morning of 27 January.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/54635924

Reuters discusses former U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial proposal for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and transform it into a luxurious "Riviera of the Middle East" while resettling Palestinians elsewhere. This plan has been widely condemned by international powers, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, France, China, Russia, and several European nations, all of which reaffirmed their support for a two-state solution.

Trump suggested that Jordan and Egypt could be persuaded to accept displaced Palestinians, though both countries have rejected the idea. Critics argue that forced displacement of Palestinians would violate international law and destabilize the region. The Palestinian militant group Hamas dismissed Trump's proposal as "ridiculous and absurd," while Palestinians fear another "Nakba" (catastrophe), referring to the mass displacement during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed that it would not normalize relations with Israel without a Palestinian state, contradicting Trump's claim that Riyadh was open to normalization without such conditions. The proposal has raised concerns about worsening regional tensions and whether it is a serious policy initiative or a bargaining tactic.

Opinion: This reeks of tactics to drum up war in the Middle East. By bullying the little sibling that is Palestine, Trump looks to provoke the bigger Islamic states into conflict. With Trump's track record of arrogance and the already poor relationship that the United States has with countries like Iran and Iraq, that conflict is likely to happen. If Trump and his administration continues this route, there is bound to be retaliation from Palestinian supporters, and they will have a backing that will enable them to do so. It would then be the Trump administration's agenda to find a large enough enemy to blame and then likely invade.

China’s central bank set a stronger-than-expected fixing rate for the yuan against the US dollar on Wednesday, signalling that China does not plan to offset the impact of US tariffs by allowing its currency to weaken.

The fixing rate – also known as the midpoint rate – plays a crucial role in determining the onshore yuan’s exchange rate, as the PBOC only allows trading to rise or fall up to 2 per cent above or below its set rate each day.

Many analysts had expected the PBOC to set a lower rate for the yuan this year, as a weakening of the Chinese currency would mitigate the impact of US tariffs on Chinese exporters. The US government raised duties on Chinese imports by 10 per cent on Tuesday.

“Today’s fixing rate was set stronger than market expectations. This sends a signal that China is unlikely to counter the impact of tariffs through yuan depreciation,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“The trade negotiation between China and the US hasn’t started. Setting a strong fixing rate could contribute to a good negotiation atmosphere, as the US does not want the yuan to depreciate sharply either.”

On Tuesday, the Chinese government responded to the US tariff hike by announcing that it would impose its own tariffs on certain US imports from February 10. It also placed export restrictions on several mineral products and launched an anti-monopoly investigation into US tech giant Google.

China may choose to counteract US tariffs by boosting domestic demand through fiscal stimulus, rather than resorting to currency tools, Ding said, meaning that depreciation of the yuan may be limited in the future.

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Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is up against the AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, which runs New Delhi and has built a vast support base on its welfare policies and an anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal, a popular crusader against corruption, suffered a setback as he himself faced corruption allegations.

The AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in a landslide victory in the last election, held in 2020. leaving BJP with only eight and the Congress party with none. The AAP had also swept the 2015 state elections, winning 67 seats, with the BJP taking three.

Modi and Kejriwal have both campaigned vigorously in roadshows with thousands of supporters tailing them. They have offered to revamp government schools and provide free health services and electricity, and a monthly stipend of over 2,000 rupees (US$25) to poor women.

Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people, is a federal territory that Modi’s party has not won for over 27 years despite having a sizeable support base there.

Kejriwal was arrested last year along with two key leaders of his party ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. They have consistently denied the accusations, saying they are part of a political conspiracy. The Supreme Court allowed the release of Kejriwal and other ministers on bail.

Kejriwal later relinquished the chief minister’s post to his most senior party leader.

The BJP, which failed to secure a majority on its own in last year’s national election but formed the government with coalition partners, has gained some lost ground by winning two state elections in northern Haryana and western Maharashtra states.

Modi’s party hopes to benefit after last week’s federal budget slashed income taxes on the salaried middle class, one of its key voting blocks.

Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, accusing Modi’s government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken political opponents, and pointed to several raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures in the months before the national election.

Kejriwal vowed to be an anti-corruption crusader and formed the AAP in 2012 after tapping into public anger against the then-Congress party government over a series of corruption scandals. His pro-poor policies have focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free healthcare and bus transport for women.

The BJP was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 by the Congress party, which ran the government for 15 years. In the 2015 and 2020 elections in Delhi, the AAP won landslide victories.

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Two Israeli soldiers were killed, and six others were wounded after a gunman opened fire at close range on an IDF post at the Tayasir checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, West Bank.

Two are in moderate-to-serious condition, while the remaining soldiers were lightly wounded.

According to the IDF, the attacker arrived overnight at the post's entrance near the checkpoint, armed with an M-16 and wearing a military vest. He opened fire at the rooms inside the IDF post.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants his country to take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are displaced elsewhere.

"We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site," Trump said at the start of a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"I do see a long-term ownership position," Trump said when asked about the U.S. controlling the territory for an extended period, adding that he is not ruling out sending U.S. troops in to secure Gaza.

...

Trump's comments came hours after he suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be "permanently" resettled outside the war-torn territory.

"You can't live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location," Trump said earlier Tuesday.

"I think it should be a location that's going to make people happy. You look over the decades, it's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaza."

Trump has previously called on Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries to take in Palestinians temporarily while Gaza is reconstructed after the devastating war between Hamas and Israel, which was paused in January by a ceasefire. Tuesday was the first time he has publicly floated making that resettlement permanent.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25627002

By Yasmine El-Sabawi in Washington
Published date: 5 February 2025 02:09 GMT

"On Tuesday, at a stunning joint press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump announced the US will be taking over and running Gaza, potentially for the foreseeable future.

“Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent,” Trump told reporters after a three-hour meeting with Netanyahu. "

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25623410

from Associated Press
By AAMER MADHANI, TIA GOLDENBERG and ZEKE MILLER
Updated 8:21 PM EST, February 4, 2025

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25613323

from #DropSiteNews [you may get a request to sign up for free subscription]

Jeremy Scahill Feb 04, 2025

"Yesterday, Trump made a series of incendiary statements suggesting he supported the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. (Both governments have said they would oppose such moves.)"

Israeli forces shot a two-year-old girl in the head in her home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday while she was eating dinner with her family, according to health officials and family members.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says Laila Muhammad Al-Khatib was shot dead during an Israeli military raid on the village of Ash-Shuhada, just south of Jenin.

"They started to shoot at us through the windows without any warning," Ghada Asous, the toddler's grandmother, said. "All of a sudden, the special forces raided us and were shooting through the windows."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25623886

Bilal Ghazeye
Feb 04, 2025

"Convoys of civilians that headed towards their villages on January 26 were fired on by Israeli troops. At least 27 people were killed and over 150 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Since then, displaced residents have camped outside of their villages in protest in a tense standoff with the Israeli military."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has frequently brought up Ukraine's rare earth minerals as a reason to continue fueling the proxy war.

"This war is about money. People don't talk much about it. But you know, the richest country in all of Europe for rare earth minerals is Ukraine. Two to seven trillion dollars' worth of minerals that are rare earth minerals, very relevant to the 21st century," Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity in November. "Ukraine's ready to do a deal with us, not the Russians. So it's in our interest to make sure that Russia doesn't take over the place."

Israeli officials suggested that the increased military aid was part of a deal to get Netanyahu to agree to the Gaza ceasefire deal. Trump’s envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has said he’s pushing for the full implementation of the agreement, but the ceasefire is very fragile as Netanyahu doesn’t want to implement the second phase.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/6926658

Miami born Daniel Noboa, following his god-king Trump, announces tariffs on Mexican imports. He even copies Trump "they're not treating us fairly" excuse, and cites that Mexico is abusing ecuatorian producers.

In 2024, the trade balance between both countries accounts for merely $108M USD in favor of Mexico.

The main product Mexico exports to Ecuador is medicine and chemicals used to produce medicaments.

This comes the day after he proudly announces a trade agreement with Canada 😅 Noboa is giving a masterclass on 21th century compradorism.

China's finance ministry announced the measures in response to 10% tariffs on Chinese products imposed by President Trump's administration, which took effect Tuesday.

China's government would impose 15% tariffs on U.S. coal and LNG starting this coming Monday, per a finance ministry statement.U.S. crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks would face 10% tariffs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said tariffs "will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains."China's government said Trump's action "seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization" and it's announced plans to file a legal complaint with the WTO.

The WTO's dispute system has been hampered since 2019 when the first Trump administration blocked the appointment of judges.

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