violence

Human Rights Watch, a non-state global organisation defending human dignity, has accused members of armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly the M23/AFC rebels, as well as the Congolese national army, of committing sexual violence against women.

The independent watch organisation, in collaboration with SOFEPADI, a Congolese women’s rights think tank, resolved that conflict-related sexual violence in eastern DRC has escalated while support to survivors has drastically dropped.

The escalation of violent conflict in North Kivu and South Kivu, and the shrinking charity funds, have resulted in restricted access to healthcare, significantly hindering women and girls experiencing sexual violence from receiving comprehensive support. A number of clinics that once provided essential healthcare and assistance have had to shut down.

“The armed groups and the military forces utilise sexual violence as a war weapon in the eastern DR Congo,” said Ida Sawyer, the Director of the Crises, Conflict and Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. She underlined the fact that “survivors of these atrocious crimes are confronted by a climate of impunity which protects those responsible for the crimes and a health system deprived of accompanying measures”.

Formed in 2012 from a mutiny within the Congolese army, the M23 rebel group has long destabilised eastern DRC, after accusing the country of failing to honour a 2009 peace agreement. The group quickly gained control of territory in North Kivu, including Goma, in 2012. M23 is widely reported to be backed by Rwanda, a claim reinforced by UN reports of Rwandan military involvement. Its pro‑Tutsi identity and alleged foreign support have made it a flashpoint in the Great Lakes region, where ethnic divisions and mineral wealth fuel conflict. 

In January 2025, M23 fighters launched a major offensive and captured Goma after days of heavy battles with the Congolese army. The takeover left hundreds of civilians dead and hospitals overwhelmed. Congolese authorities accused Rwanda of deploying thousands of troops to support M23. On February 4, 2025, M23 declared a unilateral ceasefire citing humanitarian reasons, but analysts warn the conflict remains unresolved and tied to control of Congo’s mineral‑rich territories.

In November 2025, Human Rights Watch, in collaboration with the Office of Feminine Solidarity for Peace and Development, a local NGO in Beni and Bunia, interviewed 23 survivors of sexual violence in the northeastern region of the DRC. The researchers interacted with four Congolese survivors in Uganda who had fled from violence in Congo. They recounted scenes of extreme physical violence and their abandonment by local administrative and health authorities who were expected to come to their aid.

Human Rights Watch reported meeting with local health and judicial authorities in Congo, as well as representatives from national and international organisations that assist survivors. The organisation said it has reached out to the US State Department, the spokesperson for the Congolese government, and the leaders of the M23 rebellion to share their findings. However, they reportedly have not yet received a response from any of these entities.

World Boxing Assn. lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis is wanted by Florida police in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident last fall.

A warrant has been issued for Davis’ arrest on charges of battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping, Miami Gardens Police Executive Officer Emmanuel Jeanty said Tuesday during a news conference.

“At this time, the Miami Gardens Police Department is actively working with the United States Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force to locate and apprehend Mr. Davis,” Jeanty said.

On Oct. 29, a woman reported to Miami Gardens police that Davis had entered a club where she was employed, grabbed her by her throat and hair and “forcefully escorted her down a stairway and toward the parking garage,” Jeanty said.

The woman — who said she’d been in an “intimate relationship” with Davis that had ended about a month earlier — said the boxer released her inside the garage. She said she suffered minor injuries, according to Jeanty.

A police investigation included the review of “video surveillance footage that corroborates key elements of the victim’s statement,” Jeanty said.

The alleged victim was not named by police, but on Oct. 30, Miami Dade resident Courtney Rossel, an ex-girlfriend of Davis’, filed a civil lawsuit against Davis on claims of battery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and intentional infliction of emotional distress related to an alleged Oct. 27 incident at her workplace. The case remains open.

Davis had been scheduled to fight Jake Paul on Nov. 14 in Miami, but the bout was canceled days after Rossel filed her lawsuit.

After escalating incidents of violence involving federal agents taking part in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, officials are looking to create “ICE-free” zones in L.A. County.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to bar immigration enforcement officers from county-owned spaces.

Lindsay Horvath, the District 3 supervisor, announced the motion to establish county property as “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-free” zones, prohibiting agents from staging, processing or operating in those areas.

“Los Angeles County will not allow its property to be used as a staging ground for violence caused by the Trump administration,” Horvath said at the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting.

The motion instructs county counsel to draft an ordinance for board consideration within 30 days.

The Times reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but did not receive a response by publication.

Since June 6, 2025, when immigration enforcement officials descended on the region — raiding four businesses including a fast-fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles and detaining dozens — to the first month of 2026, Horvath said, “federal immigration enforcement has too often escalated into extreme violence.”

“Our federal government is freely, without cause, murdering its own citizens in broad daylight,” she said, “in front of witnesses and cameras.”

The action comes after multiple incidents of violence in California as well as last week’s fatal shooting in Minnesota of 37-year-old Renee Good by a federal immigration agent, which spurred outcry across the country. Good, a mother of three, has been portrayed by government officials as a domestic terrorist who tried to run down an agent with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis have rejected those claims.

On Friday in Southern California, a 21-year-old protester underwent six hours of surgery after a Department of Homeland Security agent fired a nonlethal round at close range at him during a protest. The protester is shown in video, his face covered in blood, being dragged by the neck by an agent. He suffered a fractured skull around his eyes and nose and permanently lost the vision in his left eye, according to family.

An off-duty ICE agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. at a Northridge apartment complex on New Year’s Eve. The officer suspected that Porter was an “active shooter,” according to the DHS. Porter was firing an assault-style rifle in what family members said was an act of celebration on New Year’s Eve.

“I think it’s really important for our communities to understand what we’re saying is, you don’t have the right to come in and harass people without a federal warrant,” said Hilda Solis, District 1 supervisor and co-author with Horvath of the motion. “If [federal agents] use our property to stage, then you need to show us documentation, a federal warrant, to back that up.”

Solis said she hoped city councils and other jurisdictions would be motivated to adopt their own ordinance to create “ICE-free” zones.

Prior to President Trump taking office in 2025, ICE agents were prohibited from conducting arrests and other enforcement activity in sensitive locations, including places of worship, schools and hospitals.

A DHS directive from Jan. 20, 2025, superseded that practice, saying that officers taking enforcement action in a sensitive location should use “discretion along with a healthy dose of common sense.”

Bay Area officials are also considering the adoption of “ICE-free” zones. Alameda County officials introduced a proposal for these designated zones in November; on Thursday, officials will incorporate feedback from the county’s sheriff, district attorney, probation department, and public defender, The Oaklandside reported.

The first “ICE-free” zone ordinance was established by Chicago in October barring immigration enforcement agents from property owned or controlled by the city.

As manhunt is under way, police do not believe attack was random but neither was it likely to be attack on religion.

Two people have been killed and several injured in a shooting in the car park of a Mormon church in the Utah capital of Salt Lake City in the United States.

Police said the shooting occurred on Wednesday in the car park of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where dozens of people were attending a funeral.

Three of the six injured victims are in critical condition.

Police confirmed that no suspect was in custody and have launched a manhunt, with the FBI reportedly offering assistance.

While police said they did not believe the shooting was random, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told The Associated Press news agency it did not appear to be a targeted attack against a religion.

Church spokesman Glen Mills told reporters there had been signs of a fracas outside the church, where the funeral was taking place.

“Out in the parking lot, there was some sort of altercation took [place] and that’s when shots were fired,” he said.

About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, with helicopters flying overhead.

“As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground… People are attending to him and crying and arguing,” said Brennan McIntire, a local man who spoke to AP.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said, “This should never have happened outside a place of worship. This should never have happened outside a celebration of life.”

The church, which has headquarters in Salt Lake City, is cooperating with law enforcement.

About half of Utah’s 3.5 million residents are members of the faith. Churches like the one where the shooting occurred can be found in towns throughout the city and state.

The faith has been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in a Michigan church last month and set it ablaze.

The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.

About 82 percent of mass killings in the US in 2025 involved a firearm, according to a database maintained by AP alongside USA Today and Northeastern University.

The shooting in Salt Lake City occurred amid growing unrest in the US, after a federal officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis amid ongoing protests against an immigration crackdown.

THE daughter of Tommy Lee Jones was arrested over an alleged domestic violence dispute just six months before she was found dead in a hotel.

Emergency services were called to the Fairmont in San Francisco in the early hours of Thursday, where paramedics found Victoria Jones unresponsive and later pronounced her dead, TMZ reported.

It has now been revealed that Victoria was arrested in June for domestic battery and domestic violence involving elder abuse for an alleged incident that occurred at the Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa, California.

The mugshot from her arrest shows the 34-year-old former child actress red eyed and dishevelled.

She pleaded not guilty and was scheduled to appear in court later this month.

Victoria Kafka Jones was the daughter of the actor Tommy and his ex-wife Kimberlea Cloughley, who divorced in 1996. 

‘RIP DEAR FRIEND’

Finding Prince Charming contestant dies as Kelly Osbourne leads tributes

Sadly, Victoria was found lying on the ground of the 14th floor of the swanky hotel on New Year’s Day.

A harrowing 911 call has revealed a possible cause of death as an overdose.

Dispatch logs indicate that the call came in at 2.52 am on Thursday, prompting crews to rush to the hotel.

After assessing Victoria, medics pronounced her dead at the hotel, officials said.

Dispatch audio from Broadcastify, obtained by TMZ, described it as a “code 3 for the overdose, color change.”

TMZ reported the call was also logged as an overdose response.

A San Francisco cop who had previously dealt with Victoria told The Post she had struggled with substance abuse issues and suspected her death was “fentanyl-related.”

It remains unclear whether Victoria was staying at the hotel or why she was on the 14th floor.

Page Six has reported a string of other run-ins Victoria had with the law.

In April this year, Victoria was arrested for obstructing a peace officer, using/being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of a narcotic controlled substance, for which she also pleaded not guilty.

The earliest criminal encounter is thought to be 2011 when she was arrested for theft in the amount of $50 to $500 in San Antonio, Texas — though the charges ended up being dismissed.

DAD’S ‘FIRING’

Victoria acted as a child, appearing in Men in Black II and later The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. 

She also made a one-episode appearance on One Tree Hill.

Speaking about his daughter while promoting The Three Burials, Tommy said, “She’s a good actress, has her SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card, speaks impeccable Spanish. 

“When she was a baby, I told Leticia, her nurse, to speak to her in Spanish,” he said.

He also recalled a clash over an early call time on set in a resurfaced interview in which he joked that he had to fire his young daughter.

“She had to get up at 5 am for her part. One morning, she wouldn’t get out of bed,” he said.

“I said, ‘Honey, this is work.’ But she wouldn’t budge. So I fired her. Then, without telling me, the production staff went over and woke her and rushed her out to the set just in time.”

Although she stepped away from acting, Victoria still appeared with her father at public events, including the premiere of Just Getting Started in 2017 and the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival that same year.

Fans also flooded social media with condolences, with one writing, “Condolences. Really sad way to lose someone, especially a family member, on the first day of the year as well.”

“No father should ever have to bury their daughter. I hope Tom has a lot of love around him during this tough time,” another fan added.

“Heartbreaking. 34 is far too young. Condolences to the family.”

Police in the Netherlands were pelted with fireworks and faced an “unprecedented amount of violence” on New Year’s Eve, officers have said.

A 19th century church in Amsterdam was engulfed by fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day, although the cause of the blaze is not yet known.

The Vondelkerk, which overlooks the largest park in the city, the Vondelpark, has been a tourist attraction since it was built in 1872.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, a 17-year-old boy and 38-year-old man were killed in fireworks incidents. In Bielefeld, Germany, local police said two 18-year-olds died after setting off homemade fireworks.

The head of the Dutch Police Union, Nine Kooiman, said she had been pelted by fireworks and other explosives on her shift in Amsterdam.

The amount of violence was “unprecedented” she said.

Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country.

Petrol bombs were thrown at police in the southern city of Breda. In Rotterdam, the city’s eye hospital said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.

A 17-year-old boy from Nijmegen and a 38-year-old man from Aalsmeer were killed in fireworks incidents, local media reported.

In Amsterdam the 50-metre high tower of the historic Vondelkerk church collapsed. Authorities said the roof was badly damaged but the structure was expected to remain intact.

The neo-Gothic basilica was designed by architect Pierre Cuypers whose works also include the Rijksmuseum.

A ban on unofficial fireworks is due to come into force in 2026. According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, a record €129m (£112m) had been spent on them this year.

Lionsgate

Lionsgate

Lionsgate

‘Getting the tone right’

Lionsgate

WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court ruled against President Trump on Tuesday and said he did not have legal authority to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to protect federal immigration agents.

Acting on a 6-3 vote, the justices denied Trump’s appeal and upheld orders from a federal district judge and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that said the president had exaggerated the threat and overstepped his authority.

The decision is a major defeat for Trump and his broad claim that he had the power to deploy military forces in U.S. cities.

In an unsigned order, the court said the Militia Act allows the president to deploy the National Guard only if U.S. military forces were unable to quell violence.

“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois. The President has not invoked a statute that provides an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act,” the court said.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had allowed the deployments in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., after ruling that judges must defer to the president.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Dec. 10 that the federalized National Guard troops in Los Angeles must be returned to the control of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Trump’s lawyers had not claimed in their appeal that the president had the authority to deploy the military for ordinary law enforcement in the city. Instead, they said the Guard troops would be deployed “to protect federal officers and federal property.”

The two sides in the Chicago case, like in Portland, told dramatically different stories about the circumstances leading to Trump’s order.

Democratic officials in Illinois said small groups of protesters objected to the aggressive enforcement tactics used by federal immigration agents. They said police were able to contain the protests, clear the entrances and prevent violence.

By contrast, administration officials described repeated instances of disruption, confrontation and violence in Chicago. They said immigration agents were harassed and blocked from doing their jobs, and they needed the protection the National Guard could supply.

Trump Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer said the president had the authority to deploy the Guard if agents could not enforce the immigration laws.

“Confronted with intolerable risks of harm to federal agents and coordinated, violent opposition to the enforcement of federal law,” Trump called up the National Guard “to defend federal personnel, property, and functions in the face of ongoing violence,” he told the court in an emergency appeal filed in mid-October.

Illinois state lawyers disputed the administration’s account.

“The evidence shows that federal facilities in Illinois remain open, the individuals who have violated the law by attacking federal authorities have been arrested, and enforcement of immigration law in Illinois has only increased in recent weeks,” state Solicitor Gen. Jane Elinor Notz said in response to the administration’s appeal.

The Constitution gives Congress the power “to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”

The Militia Act of 1903 says the president may call up and deploy the National Guard if he faces an invasion, a rebellion or is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”

Trump’s lawyers said that referred to police and federal agents. But after taking a closer look, the court concluded it referred to the regular military forces. By that standard, the president’s authority to deploy the National Guard comes only after the military has failed to quell violence.

But on Oct. 29, the justices asked both sides to explain what the law meant when it referred to the “regular forces.”

Until then, both sides had assumed it referred to federal agents and police, not the military.

Trump’s lawyers stuck to their position. They said the law referred to the “civilian forces that regularly execute the laws,” not the military.

If those civilians cannot enforce the law, “there is a strong tradition in this country of favoring the use of the military rather than the standing military to quell domestic disturbances,” they said.

State attorneys for Illinois said the “regular forces” are the “full-time, professional military.” And they said the president could not “even plausibly argue” that the U.S. soldiers were required to enforce the law in Chicago.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Newsom filed a brief in the Chicago case that warned of the danger of the president using the military in American cities.

“On June 7, for the first time in our Nation’s history, the President invoked [U.S. law] to federalize a State’s National Guard over the objections of the State’s Governor,” they said.

“President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth transferred 4,000 members of California’s National Guard — one in three of the Guard’s total active members — to federal control to serve in a civilian law enforcement role on the streets of Los Angeles and other communities in Southern California.”

That has proved to be “the opening salvo in an effort to transform the role of the military in American society,” they said. “At no prior point in our history has the President used the military this way: as his own personal police force, to be deployed for whatever law enforcement missions he deems appropriate.

“What the federal government seeks is a standing army, drawn from state militias, deployed at the direction of the President on a nationwide basis, for civilian law enforcement purposes, for an indefinite period of time,” they said.

MSF official tells Al Jazeera South Darfur hospital ‘overwhelmed’ by rapid increase in measles cases.

Displaced Sudanese families in the war-torn Darfur region are grappling with a dangerous measles outbreak that is spreading rapidly, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) official warns.

Dr Ali Almohammed, an MSF emergency health manager, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the group has been “overwhelmed” by measles cases arriving each day at the Nyala Teaching Hospital in South Darfur, where MSF provides paediatric and maternal healthcare.

“We have 25 beds [in] isolation for measles, but every day the number of cases is increasing,” Almohammed said in an interview from Amsterdam.

“The capacity of MSF to respond to all the needs of the people in Darfur is really limited. We cannot cover everything. Yes, we are trying to focus on the most lifesaving medical care, but still, our capacity is also limited,” he said.

The outbreak of measles, a vaccine-preventable virus, comes as violence between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the western region of Darfur and neighbouring areas has surged in recent weeks.

More than 100,000 people have fled their homes in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, after the RSF seized control of the city in late October after an 18-month siege.

The United Nations recently warned that Darfur has become “the epicentre of human suffering in the world” and UN and other humanitarian agencies have stressed that trapped civilians lack medicines, food and other critical supplies.

More than 1,300 new cases

According to MSF, more than 1,300 new measles cases have been reported in Darfur since September.

An extremely contagious virus, measles causes high fevers, coughing and rashes.

It is particularly dangerous for children under age five because it can cause serious health complications, according to a fact sheet from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This week, MSF said that while nearly 179,000 Sudanese children had been vaccinated against the disease over six months last year, they are only a fraction of the 5 million who are at risk.

The organisation said it is not able to operate in most of North Darfur, including el-Fasher, or in East Darfur as a result of the ongoing conflict.

Almohammed also warned that other preventable diseases, such as diphtheria and whooping cough, are now appearing in Darfur with the number of vaccines arriving just a “drop in the ocean” of what’s needed.

According to MSF, shipping vaccines has been difficult due to ongoing violence as well as “significant administrative and bureaucratic hurdles”.

“We urge authorities to immediately eliminate all bureaucratic and administrative barriers to transporting vaccines throughout Darfur,” the organisation said in a statement.

“At the same time, there must be greater urgency from UNICEF to coordinate efforts to increase the transport and delivery of vaccines, syringes and the necessary supplies.”

Attacks on healthcare

Meanwhile, attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan have worsened the situation for civilians and medical personnel.

On Saturday, the Sudan Doctors Network said the RSF released nine medical workers from detention in Nyala in South Darfur out of a total of 73 health workers who had been detained by the paramilitary group.

The network welcomed the move as a “positive” step but called for the release of all detained medical workers and civilians without exception.

On Friday, the World Health Organization said attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan have killed 1,858 people and wounded 490 since the conflict began in mid-April 2023.

At least 70 health workers and about 5,000 civilians have been detained in Nyala in recent months, it added.

A day earlier, the Sudan Doctors Network said 234 medical workers have been killed, 507 injured and 59 reported missing since the war began.

Albanese said Australia has more guns now than 30 years ago, when the country’s deadliest-ever mass shooting took place.

Australia will launch a national gun buyback scheme, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced, as the country continues to come to terms with the deadly attack on a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead.

Albanese called the plan the country’s biggest gun buyback since 1996 – the year of Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in modern history, the Port Arthur massacre in the island state of Tasmania – and said authorities will purchase surplus, newly-banned and illegal firearms.

“Right now, there are more guns in Australia than there were during Port Arthur. We can’t allow that to continue,” Albanese told a news conference on Friday, adding that there are currently more than four million firearms in the country.

“Non-citizens have no need to own a gun. And someone in suburban Sydney has no need to own six … The terrible events of Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets,” he said.

Albanese added that authorities in Australia’s states and territories will be tasked with collecting the weapons and processing payments for surrendered firearms under the scheme. Federal police will then be responsible for destroying them.

“We expect hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed through this scheme,” Albanese added.

Aided by some of the toughest gun restrictions globally, Australia has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world.

Restrictions were tightened after a lone gunman, armed with semiautomatic weapons, killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site almost 30 years ago.

The massacre shocked the country, with authorities soon after launching a major gun amnesty and buyback scheme that removed more than 650,000 newly-prohibited firearms from circulation.

‘We need to do more to combat this evil scourge’

Sunday’s shooting in Sydney’s Bondi Beach area – in which two attackers, named as father and son Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, went on a shooting spree and killed 15 people – has had a similarly jolting impact on Australian society as the Port Arthur massacre and prompted self-reflection.

Albanese said 50-year-old Sajid – who was shot dead at the scene – and 24-year-old Naveed – who was charged with “terrorism” and murder offences after he awoke from a coma on Tuesday – were inspired by “Islamic State ideology”.

On Thursday, Albanese announced tougher hate speech laws as he acknowledged the country had experienced a rising tide of anti-Jewish hate since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Albanese said rising anti-Semitism in Australia “culminated on Sunday in one of the worst acts of mass murder that this country has ever seen”.

“It was an attack on our Jewish community – but it was also an attack on the Australian way of life,” he said.

“Australians are shocked and angry. I am angry. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more,” he added.

The prime minister also announced on Friday that Australia will hold a national day of reflection this Sunday – one week after the mass shooting.

Albanese urged Australians to light candles at 6:47pm (07:47 GMT) on Sunday, December 21 – “exactly one week since the attack unfolded”.

“It is a moment to pause, reflect, and affirm that hatred and violence will never define who we are as Australians,” he told reporters.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of people plunged into the ocean off Bondi Beach in another gesture to honour the dead.

Swimmers and surfers paddled into a circle as they bobbed in the gentle morning swell, splashing water and roaring with emotion.

“They slaughtered innocent victims, and today I’m swimming out there and being part of my community again to bring back the light,” security consultant Jason Carr told the AFP news agency.

“We’re still burying bodies. But I just felt it was important,” the 53-year-old said.

“I’m not going to let someone so evil, someone so dark, stop me from doing what I do and what I enjoy doing,” he said.