After talks in Switzerland, the two sides also made progress on a protocol for ceasefire oversight. Armed security personnel keep watch during a collective memorial service organised by the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) and the M23 armed group in Masisi, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, January 8, 2026 [Moise Kasereka/EPA] By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP, and Reuters April 19, 2026 The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and rival M23 rebels have

March 2026 By the Great Lakes & Central Africa Task Force Secretary Marco Rubio hosts a Democratic Republic of the Congo-Rwanda Peace Agreement signing ceremony between Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., June 27, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett) Despite efforts to negotiate a permanent peace agreement to end the

The Hungarian anti-LGBTQ laws banned Budapest's 2025 Pride march, but it went ahead regardless The European Union's top court has ruled that Hungarian anti-LGBTQ laws violate EU rules and infringe its values of equality and minority rights. The laws were brought in by Viktor Orbán's government in 2021 and banned so-called promotion of homosexuality or gender change to under-18s, arguing it violated child protection laws. The European Court of Justice ruled that the Orbán refo

By Kristie Moore Central Asian migrants working in Russia's construction sector. Image: Lantyukhov Sergey/globallookpress.com/picture alliance. Photo Russia is home to a significant population of migrants from Central Asia: according to a 2024 Human Rights Watch report, approximately 1,792,000 Uzbek, 1,231,000 Tajik, and 262,000 Kyrgyz migrants reside there. These migrants come primarily in search of work, usually in unskilled labor fields, such as construction, transportatio

A European Union flag flutters outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman//File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights BRUSSELS, April 28 (Reuters) - European Parliament lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favour of a consent-based definition of rape — known ‌as "only yes means yes" — and urged the European Commission to propose legislation establishing EU-wide rules. The EU adopted minimum standards to combat violence against