Category World News

Congolese refugees have recounted harrowing scenes of death and family separation as they fled intensified fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels captured a strategic city despite a recent United States-brokered peace agreement.

M23 has cemented control over Uvira, a key lakeside city in DRC’s South Kivu province that it seized on Wednesday, despite a peace accord that President Donald Trump had called “historic” when signed in Washington just one week earlier.

Al Jazeera, which is the first international broadcaster to gain access to the city since M23’s takeover, saw residents tentatively returning home after days of violence, amid a heavy presence of rebel fighters on Friday.

The day before, M23 fighters combed the streets to flush out remaining Congolese forces and allied militias – known as “Wazalendo” – after taking over key parts of the city.

Meanwhile, at Nyarushishi refugee camp in Rwanda’s Rusizi district, Akilimali Mirindi told the AFP news agency she fled South Kivu with just three of her 10 children after bombs destroyed her home near the border.

“I don’t know what happened to the other seven, or their father,” the 40-year-old said, describing corpses scattered along escape routes as about 1,000 people reached the camp following renewed clashes this month.

Regional officials said more than 413 civilians have been killed since fighting escalated in early December, with women and children among the dead.

The offensive has displaced about 200,000 people, and threatens to drag neighbouring Burundi deeper into a conflict that has already uprooted more than seven million across eastern DRC, according to United Nations figures.

Uvira sits on Lake Tanganyika’s northern shore, directly across from Burundi’s largest city, and serves as South Kivu’s interim government headquarters after M23 seized the provincial capital, Bukavu, in February.

Al Jazeera correspondent Alain Uaykani, who gained access to the city on Friday, reported a tenuous calm and the heavy presence of M23 soldiers but described harrowing scenes on the journey there.

“Here in Uvira, we have seen different groups of the Red Cross with their equipment, collecting bodies, and conducting burials across the road,” Uaykani said.

He added that the Al Jazeera crew saw abandoned military trucks destroyed along the road to Uvira, and the remains of people who were killed.

Residents who fled Uvira told AFP of bombardment from multiple directions as M23 fighters battled Congolese forces and their Burundian allies around the port city.

“Bombs were raining down on us from different directions,” Thomas Mutabazi, 67, told AFP at the refugee camp. “We had to leave our families and our fields.”

‘Even children were dying’

Refugee Jeanette Bendereza had already escaped to Burundi once this year during an earlier M23 push in February, only to return to DRC when authorities said peace had been restored. “We found M23 in charge,” she said.

When violence erupted again, she ran with four children as “bombs started falling from Burundian fighters”, losing her phone and contact with her husband in the chaos.

Another refugee, Olinabangi Kayibanda, witnessed a pregnant neighbour killed alongside her two children when their house was bombed. “Even children were dying, so we decided to flee,” the 56-year-old told an AFP reporter.

M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka announced on Wednesday that Uvira had been “fully liberated” and urged residents to return home.

Fighting had already resumed even as Trump last week hosted Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame at a widely attended signing ceremony.

The December 4 Washington agreement obliged Rwanda to cease supporting armed groups, though the M23 was not party to those negotiations and is instead involved in separate Qatar-mediated talks with Kinshasa.

DRC’s government accused Rwanda of deploying special forces and foreign mercenaries to Uvira “in clear violation” of both the Washington and earlier Doha agreements.

The US embassy in Kinshasa urged Rwandan forces to withdraw, while Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner called for Washington to impose sanctions, saying condemnation alone was insufficient.

Rwanda denies backing M23 and blames Congolese and Burundian forces for ceasefire violations.

In a statement on Thursday, President Kagame claimed that more than 20,000 Burundian soldiers were operating across multiple Congolese locations and accused them of shelling civilians in Minembwe.

Rescuers pulled bodies from under the rubble of a collapsed house in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya after heavy rain and winds brought the heavily damaged building crumbling to the ground. At least 12 people have died over the last 24 hours as Storm Byron inflicts further damage on the remnants of Israel’s genocide war.

Domino effect

Chile has nearly 15.8 million registered voters, and this year, for the first time since 2012, all of them are required by law to vote in the presidential race.

Kast is believed to have the upper hand in Sunday’s run-off.

Though he came in second place during the first round of voting in November, he is expected to sweep up additional support from conservative candidates who did not make the cut-off for the second vote.

But some voters expressed scepticism about the emphasis on crime in this year’s race.

Daniela Ocaranza, a mother who lives in a low-income neighbourhood in Santiago, considers the heightened focus on crime to be a ploy.

She volunteers at an organisation that fights for affordable housing, and she thinks politicians are leveraging the uptick in crime to convince the voters to put more resources into security.

“Crime has increased,” Ocaranza acknowledged. “But this happens in all countries.”

She said the media is partly to blame in raising fears. It shows “you the same crime 30 times a day — morning, noon and night — so the perception is that there is more”.

“But there are many other things that are more important,” Ocaranza stressed, pointing to issues like education, healthcare and pensions. They are areas that she sees best addressed by Jara, whom she will be voting for on Sunday.

For his part, Johnson said politicians draw up hardline policies to appease residents who want urgent action taken.

But he noted that research has shown punitive measures don’t typically produce results. In the meantime, he warned that the outsized fears about crime can have real-world ramifications.

“Today, there are fewer people consuming art, going out to see theatre, going out to restaurants. So it doesn’t just limit someone’s quality of life but also economic development,” Johnson said.

The United States has announced sanctions on three nephews by marriage of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and six Venezuela-flagged oil tankers and shipping firms linked to them, amid ongoing political conflict between Washington and Caracas.

This latest move by Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday came just one day after US forces seized another oil tanker, the Skipper, just off the coast of Venezuela.

As well as the so-called “narco-nephews” – Franqui Flores, Carlos Flores and Efrain Campo – the US has also placed sanctions on Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero.

Since September, the US has carried out at least 21 deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea, killing more than 80 people. While the White House has justified the attacks as necessary to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the US, political observers believe the aim is to drive Maduro out of power, not least because Venezuela is not a main source of drugs and the Trump administration has provided no evidence that any of the boats were carrying them.

So, what sanctions are imposed by the Trump administration? Why is Washington sanctioning Venezuelan oil? And how does Chevron, a US oil major, still get to do business in Venezuela?

What new sanctions have been placed on the Maduro family and oil tankers?

Escalating economic pressure on Venezuela, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions targeting members of Maduro’s family and the maritime network facilitating the country’s oil exports.

Announcing the measures, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said they marked a reversal of the previous Biden administration’s diplomatic strategy and aimed to cut off funding for what the US terms a “corrupt narco-terrorist regime”.

The new designations focus on the nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores. The US’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the “narco-nephews”, two of whom were convicted of drug trafficking in the US in 2016 but granted clemency by President Biden in 2022 in a prisoner exchange.

Additionally, Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, a former national treasurer and executive of state-owned oil company PDVSA, has been readded to the sanctions list.

The US authorities also named Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero Napolitano and six shipping companies accused of using “deceptive practices” to transport oil to Asian markets covertly.

Six specific vessels – White Crane, Kiara M, H Constance, Lattafa, Tamia, and Monique – have been identified as “blocked property”.

The Treasury said the new sanctions have been applied in addition to existing ones on President Maduro, his wife, Flores, his son Nicolas Maduro Guerra, and Flores’s three sons, Walter Gavidia Flores, Yosser Gavidia Flores and Yoswal Gavidia Flores.

How do these sanctions work?

Essentially, the sanctions mean targeted individuals are barred from accessing any property or financial assets held in the US. They cannot access US bank accounts, sell their property, or access their money if it passes through the US financial system.

Any US companies or citizens doing business with any sanctioned individual or company will be penalised and risk becoming subject to enforcement actions.

The sanctions extend beyond the individuals on the list. Any entity that is owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, by one or more of the blocked persons is also sanctioned as well, even if that company isn’t explicitly named.

Why is the Trump administration sanctioning the Maduro family?

The Trump administration accuses the family of heading up drug cartels and overseeing drug trafficking in Venezuela.

In its statement, the Treasury Department asserted that the nephews have been involved in trafficking cocaine since they were granted clemency by Biden in 2022.

The new sanctions also have a domestic political dividend as Trump frames them as a direct repudiation of the Biden administration’s diplomatic strategy towards Venezuela.

The Republican president argues that the previous administration’s attempt to offer sanctions relief, including delisting anyone on the terrorist list, has failed to result in democratic elections in Venezuela.

The sanctions mark Trump’s return to a “maximum pressure” strategy, and his aim to dismantle the financial networks that support Maduro.

Trump is hitting Venezuela, a petro-state where up to 95 percent of export earnings are from fossil fuels, where it hurts.

“Maduro continues to deny democratic values in the country and refuses to recognise the will of the Venezuelan people, and thus it is in the foreign policy interest of the United States to continue to apply pressure to those tied to the Maduro regime,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Does that mean US oil companies cannot do business in Venezuela?

No, not entirely. Oil giant Chevron has managed to keep operating there.

With a capacity of more than 300 billion barrels, Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

However, its reserves have dropped sharply over the past three decades, since former President Hugo Chavez and then the succeeding Maduro administration squeezed control of the state-run oil company, PDVSA.

Currently, Chevron is the only US oil producer still active in Venezuela. The company secured a licence from President Biden in 2022 to operate outside US sanctions. The Trump administration extended the firm another waiver this year.

Chevron, which partners with PDVSA, accounts for about one-fifth of Venezuela’s official oil production.

Chevron increased shipments from 128,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October this year to 150,000bpd last month. The US group says it needs to recover billions of dollars PDVSA owes in unpaid bills and property seizures.

What other sanctions does the US already have in place on Venezuela?

At the core of the US sanctions programme are targeted financial and asset-blocking measures. US citizens and companies are banned from dealing with various designated Venezuelan officials, business leaders and entities whose property and interests in property are frozen in the US, unless authorised to do so by OFAC.

In addition to individual sanctions, the US has imposed broad sectoral restrictions on Venezuela’s economy, most notably on its state-owned oil company, PDVSA, and related oil exports. Since 2017, Washington has barred the Venezuelan government from US financial markets and prohibited the purchase of Venezuelan debt.

In 2019, sanctions were extended to freeze PDVSA assets in the US, restrict US firms – except Chevron – from doing business with PDVSA, and deter international partners from engaging with Venezuela’s oil sector.

US policy also includes visa restrictions and travel bans on Venezuelan officials and their associates, whom they accuse of undermining democracy or being responsible for human rights violations.

The US has also sanctioned maritime and shipping operations connected to Venezuela’s oil trade, including designating vessels and shipping companies which transport Venezuelan crude.

Since Trump’s return to the US presidency earlier this year, the US has added terrorism-related designations to Venezuelan groups it alleges are involved in drug trafficking or broader criminal networks. These designations carry their own financial and legal restrictions, often intersecting with existing economic sanctions.

In November, the US government designated the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organisation and alleged that the group, which is accused of drug trafficking operations, is overseen by Maduro himself.

How have sanctions affected Venezuela?

US sanctions against Venezuela have contributed to one of the most severe economic collapses in modern history outside of a war zone.

In the late 1990s, Caracas was producing 3.6 million barrels of oil per day, generating 95 percent of its export revenues. But US sanctions and years of mismanagement have brought production below 1 million bpd.

That severely reduced tax revenues from oil proceeds, a key source of government income. Eventually, after the central bank printed more money to cover budget shortfalls and imports became increasingly expensive, inflation exceeded 1 million percent in 2018.

Venezuela defaulted on its commercial debt in 2017. Together with bonds issued by PDVSA and the state-owned utility, Elecar, the government owes approximately $92bn. An additional $57bn is owed to China and in various arbitration awards.

In all, Venezuela’s debt-to-GDP ratio is estimated at 148 percent.

The US relieved some sanctions briefly during Biden’s presidency, under the 2023 Barbados Agreement, notably on oil and debt, in return for political guarantees such as holding free and fair elections and releasing detained US citizens.

The deal allowed Venezuela to earn an additional $740m in oil sales. But then Maduro blocked his main opponent, Maria Corina Machado, who remains in hiding but was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, from running for election, and Biden reimposed US sanctions in April 2024.

However, experts suggest, sanctions have actually helped Maduro stay in power to some extent. Venezuelan officials shifted to an illicit “black market” economy using shadow fleets to transport oil. That, in turn, strengthened a loyal circle of military and business elites who profit from evading sanctions, and circling back their support to Maduro.

Are there ways to get around these sanctions?

There are myriad methods Venezuela has adopted under Maduro to skirt US sanctions.

Caracas, in coordination with other sanctioned states such as Iran, has used a “shadow fleet” of older, lightly regulated oil tankers to transport crude to buyers such as Chinese refiners.

These vessels often turn off Automated Identification System (AIS) transponders, use falsified tracking data, change names or flags, or operate under opaque ownership structures in jurisdictions that do not enforce sanctions rigorously.

They aim to conceal the true origin and destination of the oil and frustrate enforcement of sanctions. The Skipper, which was seized off the coast of Venezuela by the US this week, is believed to be a part of this network of tankers which smuggle oil for countries facing stiff sanctions, including Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

Venezuelan oil shipped to China has, in some cases, been labelled as Brazilian crude or otherwise relabelled on certificates of origin, Reuters reported, allowing carriers and buyers to circumvent tagging that would flag cargo as subject to US sanctions.

Transshipment at sea or in intermediate ports, where sanctioned cargoes can be switched from one vessel to another which is not on a sanctions list, is another method of evading detection.

Some sanctioned entities have also been reported as using shell companies or intermediaries in tax havens to obscure beneficial ownership and make it harder for sanctions regulators to trace transactions.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride and his crew were filming with the Thai military near the Cambodian border when an artillery duel broke out, forcing them to take cover. Fighting between the two sides has killed at least 20 people and around half a million have fled their homes.

The air quality in New Delhi and its surrounding areas has turned hazardous as a dense layer of smog blanketed the Indian capital. Several parts of Delhi recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 400 and even 450 – a level considered as “severe” under international pollution standards.

Every winter, air pollution in Delhi spikes around this time when cold air traps smoke and fumes from fireworks, stubble burning and heavy traffic. The crisis is aggravated by vehicular and industrial emissions, massive road dust, construction activities and coal and biomass-fired residential heating.

As dozens of Indian cities grapple with “poor” or “very poor” air quality, per India’s pollution watchdog, China serves as a model for its neighbouring nation. Beijing, through stringent measures and effective air pollution control policies, has made a considerable effort to improve its air quality while also achieving impressive economic growth.

Twenty years ago, Beijing was crowned as the world’s smog capital. China’s temporary emission reduction regulations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics set the stage for its war on air pollution. With the launch of a five-year national action plan in 2013, the country introduced a raft of measures, including the closure of coal-fired boilers, promoting public transport and new energy vehicles, accelerating technological reform of enterprises and boosting innovation and green energy.

Special emphasis was given to slashing the “particulate matter (PM2.5)”. These inhalable particles, equal or less than 2.5 microns in diameter, are a major source of air pollution and pose the greatest danger to human health over their ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

Beijing’s efforts, coupled with the establishment of an early warning and emergency response system, better regulation of pollution activities, relocation of factories from populated areas and incentives for farmers to discourage agricultural burning, made a lasting impact, showing a dramatic 35 percent improvement in highly polluted areas by 2017.

In the following years, Beijing continued its campaign against air pollution. Average PM2.5 concentration dropped by a half, from 72 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³) in 2013 to 36μg/m³ in 2019, dropping further to 29.3μg/m³ in 2024. Although substantially higher than the World Health Organization’s guidelines – 5μg/m³ – it still marked a major breakthrough in China’s push against air pollution.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, China sustained its battle for blue skies, rolling out targeted air pollution control policies such as limiting construction-related emissions, deploying clean industrial technologies, cutting steel production, retiring old cars and encouraging the adoption of electric energy vehicles. The measures paid dividends as China’s capital transformed from an environmental backwater into an emblematic case of urban air quality governance. Blue skies are indeed back in Beijing, given PM2.5 concentration averaged 24.9μg/m³ in the first three quarters of 2025, per the government.

The recent improvement builds on prior gains. In 2022, average annual PM2.5 concentration across China fell to 29μg/m³, according to Chinese media, and the number of days classified as having good air quality in 339 cities reached 316 – a progress not many regional countries could match. As many parts of the world experienced rising PM2.5 levels, China’s steep reductions were so substantial that they single-handedly drove a decline in global pollution, highlighting the country’s outsized contribution to improving air quality worldwide.

Independent research supports the data. Thanks to timely government intervention, strong coordination between local and central administrations and international financial institutions, the Greater Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region notched a significant achievement. According to the Asian Development Bank, the region has made major gains in air quality: between 2015 and 2023, average annual PM2.5 levels fell by 44.2 percent, sulphur dioxide by 76.3 percent and nitrogen dioxide by 34.8 percent, while the share of days with good air quality rose by 10.3 points to 63.1 percent.

Experts underscore that China’s environmental frameworks have boosted cross-sector cooperation and spurred active participation from industries that were once major polluters. Over the years, Beijing has developed the world’s largest and most comprehensive new energy industrial chain. Its leadership in producing renewable energy and manufacturing electric vehicles positions it at the centre of the global clean energy transition, making it an important actor to combat air pollution at home and abroad.

With Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) growing by more than 73 percent between 2013 and 2024 and PM2.5 concentrations plunging to 26μg/m³ in the January-September period, the country demonstrates how a consistent, policy-driven approach can maintain a high growth rate and still strive to deliver clean air to its people. This experience offers a precedent for India and other nations, pursuing to curb pollution without impeding their development goals.

Air pollution is the greatest environmental health risk. It knows no borders, exacerbates climate change, causes economic losses and reduces agricultural productivity. Even in China, where three-quarters of cities met their annual PM2.5 targets in 2024, the monster is resurging sharply across several regions, urging Beijing to intensify its own measures and ensure enforcement.

The scale of this challenge necessitates strengthening cooperation and sharing best practices, particularly among countries in South, Southeast and East Asia that are worst affected. Being at the forefront of the air pollution crisis – what China faced a decade earlier amid rapid development and urbanisation – India cannot afford to be complacent in drawing valuable lessons both from Chinese past successes and nascent challenges.

By adopting elements of China’s clean-air playbook – from shutting down highly polluting factories and expanding electric bus fleets to establishing real-time dust monitoring at construction sites and reinforcing interprovincial coordination – India could make meaningful progress in securing cleaner air and a sustainable future for its people, while advancing its own development and economic growth.