A bus overturned on a highway Tuesday and passengers were thrown out of it, killing at least 12 people and injuring 45 in the South African city of Johannesburg, emergency services said. Emergency crews were trying to lift the bus back onto its wheels to see if any more victims were trapped underneath it, said William Nthladi, a spokesperson for the city’s Ekurhuleni Emergency Management. “On arrival we found patients lying across the road," Nthladi said. The early-morning crash happened on a highway near Johannesburg’s main O.R. Tambo International Airport. The bus was lying on its side near the edge of the highway. It had been transporting people from the township or Katlehong, east of Johannesburg, officials said. Nthladi said 12 people were declared dead at the scene of the crash by paramedics. South Korean fighter jet accidentally drops bombs, reportedly injuring 7 people Nthladi said he also couldn’t give exact details on the extent of the injuries but said they ranged from serious to critical. The driver was among those taken to the hospital. No other vehicle was involved in the crash and officials weren’t yet able to determine the cause. Police are investigating and the crash was being treated as a crime scene because of the fatalities, Nthladi said.

The United Nations’ food agency says it has temporarily paused aid distribution in Sudan’s famine-hit Zamzam displacement camp of a half-million people as fighting intensifies between the country’s warring sides, and it warns that thousands could now starve. The World Food Program said Wednesday that fighting in the past two weeks between the military and a paramilitary group in Sudan's civil war has forced its partners to leave the camp in western Darfur for safety. “Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve in the coming weeks,” said the agency's regional director, Laurent Bukera. Bukera urged the warring sides to stop fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. “We must resume the delivery of life-saving aid in and around Zamzam safely, quickly and at scale,” she said. WFP has been feeding about 300,000 camp residents, but it and partners reached only 60,000 people this month amid intensified shelling. One attack destroyed the camp’s central open market, pushing residents farther from essential food and supplies, the agency said. Earlier this week, the Doctors Without Borders medical charity said it paused its operations, including its field hospital, in the camp due to intensified attacks. Famine was announced in the Zamzam camp in August and spread to two other camps for displaced people in Darfur and the Western Nuba Mountains. Sudan’s military breaks paramilitary group's siege of crucial city The camp is 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, or RSF, has been trying for months to take. The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023. The conflict has been marked by atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Aid groups have made pleas for access for months in Zamzam and elsewhere, with little success. The UN’s top humanitarian official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, has accused the RSF of preventing life-saving aid from reaching many in Darfur. The RSF and allied militias control most of that region.

Sudan’s military on Sunday broke a more than yearlong siege on the crucial city of Obeid, restoring access to a strategic area in the south-central region and strengthening crucial supply routes in its nearly two years of war against a notorious paramilitary group, officials said. The military also kicked the Rapid Support Forces from its last stronghold in the White Nile province in another setback to the notorious group, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah said in a statement. Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country. The fighting, which wrecked the capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups Abdullah, the spokesman, said military troops in the al-Sayyad axis managed to reopen the road to the city of Obeid and break the RSF siege on the city which serves as the provincial capital of North Kordofan province. The city hosts a sprawling airbase and the military’s 5th Infantry Division known as Haganah. A commercial and transportation hub, Obeid is located on a railway linking Khartoum to Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur province. It was besieged by the RSF since the onset of the ongoing conflict in April 2023. Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim hailed the military’s advances in Obeid as a “massive step” to lift the RSF siege on el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, as well as delivering humanitarian aid to the Kordofan area. Corruption Index reveals worst scores in over a decade, South Sudan falls to bottom Sunday’s RSF defeats were the latest in a series of setbacks for the notorious group that started in September when the military launched an offensive aiming at recapturing the Great Khartoum area — Khartoum and its two sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, or Bahri. The military has since captured strategic areas including its own main headquarters and is now close to recapturing the Republican Palace which RSF fighters stormed in the first hours of the war in an attempt to kill military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. The RSF has also suffered multiple battlefield setbacks elsewhere in the country. It lost control of the city of Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira province, and other areas in the province. The military also regained control of the country’s largest oil refinery. The developments on the ground have given the military the upper hand in the war, which is approaching its 2-year mark with no peaceful settlement on the horizon. International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a U.S. assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, have not halted the conflict. The RSF and its allies, meanwhile, signed a charter that paved the way for the establishment of a parallel government to challenge the military-backed administration. The move has raised concerns about a potential split of the country. Cholera spreading to another city Cholera has spread to Rabak, the provincial capital of White Nile province, according to health authorities in the province. The disease first hit Kosti, another White Nile city, before reaching Rabak, the health ministry said. A total of 68 people died from cholera in the two cities between Thursday and Sunday, according to the health ministry. More than 1,860 others were diagnosed with the disease, it said. An anti-cholera vaccination campaign in Kosti and Rabak reached 67% of its targeted people in the last two days, according to the ministry. The outbreak was blamed mainly on contaminated drinking water after Kosti’s water supply facility was knocked out during an attack by the RSF, the health ministry said. The facility was later fixed as part of the government's efforts to fight the disease. Sudan: Paramilitary attack on market kills 54, injures scores Cholera is a highly contagious disease that causes diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and can be fatal if not immediately treated, according to the World Health Organization. It’s transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water. Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Sudan. The disease killed more than 600 and sickened over 21,000 others in Sudan between July and October last year, mostly in the country’s eastern areas where millions of people displaced by the conflict were located.

In a remote village in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, 19-year-old Nozuko Majola worries about affording the hour-long trip to collect her essential HIV medication, usually delivered to her inaccessible home via untarred roads. Majola is among millions of South Africans impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid, sparking fears of widespread treatment interruptions, rising infection rates, and increased fatalities. A 2024 report from the Human Sciences Research Council revealed KwaZulu-Natal had the country's second-highest HIV prevalence at 16%, with around 1,300 new infections weekly among young people. In 2022, the province recorded the highest number of HIV-positive individuals — approximately 1.9 million — contributing to South Africa’s total of over 7.5 million cases, the highest globally. Trump’s suspension of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which annually provides over $400 million (17% of South Africa’s HIV funding), has placed the treatment of 5.5 million South Africans on antiretroviral therapy at risk. Since its inception in 2003, PEPFAR has saved at least 26 million lives worldwide, according to the U.N. AIDS agency. A federal judge recently ordered a temporary lift on the freeze, and the U.S. Embassy in South Africa announced the resumption of PEPFAR projects under a limited waiver. However, several HIV-focused NGOs have already shut down, leaving patients to seek care at overwhelmed public clinics, while PEPFAR-funded vehicles sit idle. NGOs, which supplement government healthcare services, have been crucial for patients like Majola in Umzimkhulu, where high unemployment forces many to depend on subsistence farming and welfare. Majola expressed concern that many patients would miss their treatment due to transport challenges and infrequent mobile clinic visits. The funding halt has also displaced nearly 15,000 PEPFAR-funded health workers, adding strain to the healthcare system. In Umgungundlovu, the district with the country’s highest HIV cases, counselors and clinic managers are struggling with administrative burdens left by departing PEPFAR staff. Long-time HIV patient Nozuko Ngcaweni, who lost a child to the virus, lamented the impact of the aid suspension, fearing it threatens the goal of an HIV-free generation by 2030. Mzamo Zondi, provincial manager of the Treatment Action Campaign, warned that the aid freeze jeopardizes efforts to curb new infections, calling it “a matter of life and death.”

Rwanda-backed rebels reached the center of east Congo’s second largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday morning and took control of the South Kivu province administrative office after little resistance from government forces, many of whom fled the rebels' advance. Scores of residents cheering on the M23 rebels in central Bukavu on Sunday morning as they walked and drove around the city center after a dayslong march from the region's major city of Goma 63 miles (101 kilometers) away, which they captured late last month. Several parts of the city, however, remained deserted with residents indoors. The M23 rebels are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east, and are supported by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to the U.N. Armed fighters have raped scores of children in eastern Congo, UNICEF says It was not clear if the rebels had taken decisive control of the city of about 1.3 million people. Their presence in central Bukavu is an unprecedented expansion of the rebels' reach in their yearslong fighting with Congolese forces. Unlike in 2012 when they only seized Goma in the fighting connected to ethnic tension, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power. Many Congolese soldiers were seen on Saturday fleeing the rebels’ advance into Bukavu alongside thousands of civilians amid widespread looting and panic. Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi held a security meeting in the faraway capital of Kinshasa, where officials noted that Bukavu was “briefly” invaded by M23 but remains under the control of the Congolese army and allies from local militia, the presidency said on X. There were no signs of fighting or of Congolese forces in most parts of Bukavu on Sunday. Tshisekedi has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict. Congo's forces are being supported in Bukavu by troops from Burundi and in Goma by troops from South Africa. Burundi's president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest his country will not retaliate in the fighting. In a post on X he said that “those people who were ready to get profit of the armed attack of Rwanda to Burundi will not see this.” The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes M23, said it was committed to “defending the people of Bukavu” in a Saturday statement that did not acknowledge their presence in the city. “We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic,” Lawrence Kanyuka, the alliance’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

The UN children’s fund on Thursday accused armed men, likely on both sides of the conflict in eastern Congo, of raping scores of children over the past weeks as rebels expand their footprint and push government forces out. The accusation came as the conflict in the mineral-rich region shows no signs of abating. UNICEF cited reports of the abuses, saying the offenders were apparently from among both the M23 rebels and the government forces fighting them. "In the North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave violations against children by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence at levels surpassing anything we have seen in recent years,” UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “One mother recounted to our staff how her six daughters, the youngest just 12 years old, were systematically raped by armed men while searching for food," Russell added. Health facilities in the restive region reported during the week from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2 a total of 572 rape cases — more than a fivefold increase compared to the week before, Lianne Gutcher, UNICEF's communication chief in Congo, told The Associated Press. Of those, 170 of those treated were children, she added. US aid freeze halts NGO support for displaced Somalis Armed men perpetrated the rapes but it was unclear what specific armed group or army they belonged to, Gutcher said. “It is suspected that all parties to the conflict committed sexual violence,” she added. The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are the most prominent among more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In late January, the rebels captured Goma, the region’s largest city, in a major escalation of the fighting. Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and killings akin to “summary executions” committed by both the Congolese army and the M23 rebels in the region since the beginning of the year. On Monday, 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes in the country's east went on trial in the city of Bukavu. The city is under the control of government forces but the rebel offensive has inched closer to it recently. Congo's Health Minister Roger Kamba, meanwhile, said 143 patients who were being treated for mpox fled from Goma’s hospitals as the rebels pushed into the city. Some were found or came back on their own but 110 have not returned. The minister said the city has also recorded nearly 100 cases of cholera since the rebel offensive started. Goma is now fully under rebel control. Kamba added that Congolese authorities, with the help of aid groups, were able to send vaccines, medical supplies and medicines to Goma through a humanitarian corridor via neighboring Kenya and Rwanda. He did not provide details. On Thursday, Congolese musician Delcat Idengo was killed in Goma in what authorities described as an “assassination.” Congo's government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya blamed his death on “Rwanda and its accomplices.” The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the circumstances surrounding the death of the artist, known for his politically charged songs.

In a desolate makeshift camp on the fringes of Somalia's capital, tens of thousands of internally displaced people sit under the baking sun not sure if they can have access to food rations and medication following U.S. President Donald Trump's decree to freeze most of his country's foreign aid. Trump’s decision, which will remain in force for 90 days following his Jan. 20 executive order, threatens to collapse the humanitarian aid economy that sustains the livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. The U.S. provides more foreign aid globally than any other country, budgeting about $60 billion in 2023, or about 1% of the U.S. budget. Somalia, a Horn of Africa nation that struggles with a homegrown Islamic extremist insurgency, depends almost entirely on foreign aid to look after people displaced by armed conflict, amounting to 3 million, according to the UN refugee agency. The east African country also grapples with the effects of natural disasters, particularly drought, and food insecurity. The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, spent $369 million in Somalia in 2021, supporting everything from sanitation programs to emergency nutrition with funds channeled through government and non-governmental groups. Ayan Ali Hussein, chairwoman of the Dooxdoox IDP camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, said Trump’s order provoked almost immediate stop-work orders addressed to USAID partners, shutting down basic services. Suddenly “there are no facilities to treat malnourished children,” she said. “Women who had experienced gender-based violence once had access to care, counseling, protection, medication, financial support, and clothing, none of which are available anymore.” Hussein’s camp looks after eight sites, home to nearly 8,000 households of internally displaced Somalis who will “lack basic items like plastic sheets” for temporary shelter. The suspension of USAID, “left a huge void in our lives” she said. One of the camp's residents, an 85-year-old mother of eight, Ruqiya Abdulle Ubeyd, said she was shocked by Trump’s decision and asked "the U.S. government to restore the aid it used to give to vulnerable people,” she said. Hamas' threat to delay the next release of Israeli hostages raises fears for Gaza ceasefire The fund freeze has also caused major concern among those in need of urgent medical care, including people with HIV, as it disrupted the work of almost all NGOs in Somalia. One of the hard-hit organizations is the Somali Young Doctors Association, or SOYDA, a key provider of medical assistance in the camps. Its founder, Dr. Abdiqani Sheikh Omar, previously a top official in Somalia’s health ministry, said the abruptness of Trump’s announcement has destabilized their programs. In 2025, Somalia was to receive $125 million in USAID support for programs that could now become “null and void,” he said. To cope with funding shortages, his group decided to prioritize critical nutrition and hygiene programs. Many of his workers also face immediate job losses, and the organization is “engaging our volunteer health professionals to cover this emergency staff funding gap through part-time shifts,” he said. SODYA also provides medication for people who can’t afford it. “Previously, whenever our children got sick, we would come straight to (the SODYA) center for help,” said Hussein Abikar, a father of five who lives in the camp with his family. “There is no other place where we could find such support,” Abikar said.

Hamas' threat to delay the next planned release of Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip has jolted a fragile ceasefire that’s seen as having the potential to wind down the war. It has brought new dismay for Israelis who watched the latest Hamas handover of hostages in growing horror over the weekend as the three emaciated men came into sight. Of the 17 hostages yet to be released from Gaza under this phase of the ceasefire, Israel has said eight are dead. The next handover of three hostages had been scheduled for Saturday, and families say time is running out for those still alive. Israel now awaits what comes from a security Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, moved up in response to Monday's Hamas announcement. The developments also have led to new fear in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have surged to what remains of their homes in the territory’s north after fleeing in the war’s earliest weeks. The uncertainty, just over halfway into the ceasefire’s six-week first phase, complicates talks on the far more difficult phase. It also jeopardizes the pause in the devastating fighting and the increase in humanitarian aid for Gaza that it has made possible. Already, there had been concerns that the war would resume at the end of the first phase in early March. What happened? Hamas accused Israel of not holding up its end of the deal by initially delaying the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza over an earlier dispute, carrying out strikes across the territory and hindering the entry of humanitarian aid. The militant group, which quickly reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, said the next hostage release would be delayed “until further notice.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called the delay “a complete violation” of the ceasefire agreement, and he instructed the military to be on highest alert. The prime minister’s coordinator for hostages said the government intends to live up to its end of the deal. Hamas releases 3 more Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire A later Hamas statement called the postponement a “warning signal” to Israel and noted that five days remained for mediators – the United States, Qatar and Egypt -- to pressure Israel to act. “The door remains open for the exchange to proceed as planned if Israel abides by its obligations," it said. There was no immediate public reaction from mediators. What’s Trump saying? The Hamas announcement came as U.S. President Donald Trump pressed further on his stunning proposal to remove the Palestinian population from devastated Gaza and have the U.S. take “ownership” of the territory. He told Fox News on Sunday that the Palestinians would not have the right to return. That deepened the shock among Palestinians, who live with the history of fleeing or being forced from their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war. And it brought new condemnation from Arab nations that have long pressed for an independent Palestinian state. Trump’s comments contradicted some of his own administration officials who had said the president was only calling for the Palestinians’ temporary relocation. The Hamas statements on Monday made no mention of Trump’s proposal, which they have rejected multiple times. Who and what is at stake? In immediate limbo is the planned release on Saturday of three more Israeli hostages, along with dozens more Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Such exchanges – five so far in a gradual release of 33 hostages – have been sometimes tense and chaotic acts of trust that have gradually pushed the ceasefire forward, allowing its other measures to fall into place. But the latest release brought home like no other the bleak and dangerous conditions for those still held in Gaza. Israel's Netanyahu heads to US to discuss 'victory over Hamas' with Trump Relatives of the newly released hostages, at times sobbing, have described people being chained or held underground for months and eating half a piece of pita per day. Freed hostages have described going months without showering. The accounts have put furious new pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to begin the delayed talks on the ceasefire’s second phase, which is meant to see more hostages released and bring a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. “The hostages are in a clear and present danger. Their lives are at risk,” a doctor working with families of hostages, Hagai Levine, warned Monday. “Delaying their release means that some of them will not survive.”

A joint summit of leaders from eastern and southern Africa is in progress in Tanzania, as African governments seek a resolution to the violent unrest in eastern Congo, where rebels are threatening to topple the Congolese government, reports AP. Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose administration is accused of supporting the M23 rebels—who currently control the largest city in eastern Congo—is attending the summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial hub. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi is participating virtually. 773 dead in weeklong fighting as military tries to repel Rwanda-backed rebels: Congo The summit brings together leaders from the East African Community bloc, which includes both Rwanda and Congo, along with those from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional alliance encompassing countries from Malawi to South Africa. The M23 insurgency is partly driven by Rwandan concerns that rebels opposing Kagame’s administration have been allowed by Congo’s military to operate in the largely lawless areas of eastern Congo. Kagame also argues that Tshisekedi has failed to address the legitimate grievances of Congolese Tutsis, who face discrimination. Rwanda has also criticised the deployment of SADC peacekeeping forces against M23 fighters, claiming it has escalated the conflict in North Kivu, a mineral-rich province in eastern Congo. Kagame maintains that the SADC troop presence in eastern Congo is not a peacekeeping effort, as they are actively fighting alongside Congolese forces against the M23. United Nations experts have reported that approximately 4,000 Rwandan troops are supporting the M23 rebels in North Kivu. The rebels, in their push to seize Goma—the strategically located capital of North Kivu near the Rwandan border—successfully repelled Congolese government troops, who had been reinforced by local militias known as Wazalendo, alongside regional peacekeepers and U.N. forces. Rwanda-backed rebels take more towns after seizing east Congo's largest city In his opening remarks, Kenyan President William Ruto addressed summit participants, stating that “the lives of millions depend on our ability to navigate this complex and challenging situation with wisdom, clarity of mind, and empathy.” “Dialogue is not a sign of weakness,” Ruto, the current East African Community chair, emphasised. “It is in this spirit that we must encourage all parties to set aside their differences and engage in constructive discussions.” Tshisekedi has previously dismissed calls for direct negotiations with the M23, viewing the group as a Rwandan proxy force intent on exploiting eastern Congo’s vast natural resources. The M23’s advance has shattered a 2024 ceasefire, reminiscent of their takeover of Goma more than a decade ago. The rebels now claim they will govern the city, which is home to 2 million residents, including hundreds of thousands displaced from the country’s interior. The insurgents have also vowed to push forward towards Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

An ambush by a “group of criminals” killed at least 10 Nigerien soldiers near the country’s border with Burkina Faso this week, Niger’s ruling military junta said. An intervention unit was sent to the west of the country on Monday to catch criminals stealing cattle in Takzat, a village in western Niger, according to a military statement said broadcast on Wednesday night. “It was during the operation that a group of criminals ambushed the detachment of the internal security forces which resulted in the loss of 10 of our soldiers,” it said. It did not specify who the criminals were. The attackers managed to flee, but the military caught and neutralized 15 “terrorists” on Tuesday, the statement added. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants and government forces. Death toll from Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion rises to 86 Ten soldiers were killed and seven others injured in an attack near Niger’s border with Burkina Faso last December, the army said. The same month, militants of an Islamic State group affiliate — known as Islamic State Sahel Province — likely shot and killed 21 passengers on a bus in the Arboudji village, near the border with Burkina Faso, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.