Trump, children to testify in fraud case as Israel continues Gaza offensive
Former US President Donald Trump and three of his children will soon take the stand in a New York business fraud case.
A judge ruled on Friday that Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, must testify in the case against her brothers and father.
She was dismissed as a defendant in the case earlier this year – but her brothers Eric and Donald Jr were not.
The New York Attorney General’s Office said the former president will testify on 6 November and his three children will take the stand before him.
Why DR Congo wants East African troops to leave
After just 11 months in action, the East African force set up to curb militia violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been ordered to leave the country.
The Congolese government said it would not extend the East Africa Community (EAC) Regional Force’s mandate after months of Kinshasa complaining about the group’s ineffectiveness.
The decision not to extend the troops’ stay comes as violence between the M23 rebel group and pro-government militias erupts in DR Congo’s troubled eastern region once more.
The East African Community (EAC) – a union of seven countries – sent its troops to DR Congo last year after a resurgence in fighting by the M23. The force was agreed shortly after DR Congo had joined the regional club.
Israel continues Gaza airstrikes
Israel is continuously pounding Gaza with airstrikes following a night of intensified bombing.
The BBC’s Rushdi Abualouf said the north of the Gaza Strip was hit overnight “on a scale we’ve never seen before” and that there was “chaos” in the territory.
Communication networks went down last night and getting information out of Gaza has become difficult.
Israel’s military said its ground forces entered Gaza overnight as part of an expanded ground operation and are still in the field.
The UN General Assembly called for an immediate humanitarian truce, with 120 states voting for a resolution put forward by Jordan.
Mass arrests in Nigeria over alleged gay wedding
Security forces in Nigeria arrested more than 70 people on allegations that they organized a gay party that included a wedding ceremony between two men.
The arrests occurred last Saturday night in Gombe, a predominantly Muslim state in northern Nigeria, but were confirmed on Monday.
It is the latest crackdown on gay people in Nigeria, where a 2014 law prohibited same-sex relationships and marriages.
In August, security forces arrested 67 people for allegedly attending a gay wedding in the southern Delta state, but a court released them on bail.
Russia executing own retreating soldiers, US says
Russia is executing soldiers who try to retreat from a bloody offensive in eastern Ukraine, the White House has said.
According to the US, some of the casualties suffered by Russia near Avdiivka were “on the orders of their own leaders”.
Russian and Ukrainian troops have been locked into a fierce battle for the frontline town since mid-October.
Russia is thought to have suffered “significant” losses at this time.
Liberia’s presidential race goes to run-off
A run-off election will be held next month in Liberia following a photo finish between President George Weah and his main rival Joseph Boakai.
Weah got 43.83% of the vote and Mr Boakai, a former vice-president, received 43.44%.
The October 10 poll was the tightest presidential contest in Liberia since a civil war ended about two decades ago.
A second round was triggered as neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round.
The run-off is due to take place on November 14, the head of the electoral commission Davidetta Browne said after announcing the final results.
Japan’s top court struck down trans sterilization law
Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to require citizens to be sterilized before they can officially change genders.
The 2004 law said people could only change their gender if they had no reproductive capacity.
Wednesday’s ruling came after a transgender woman filed a petition challenging the law.
Human Rights Watch has called the law “abusive and outdated”.
Wednesday’s ruling reverses a 2019 verdict by the court which found the same law constitutional.
Iceland’s PM strikes over gender pay gap
Tens of thousands of women in Iceland, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, refused to go to work on Tuesday.
The “kvennafri”, or women’s day off, had been called in protest at the gender pay gap and gender-based violence.
Fields in which women form the majority of workers, such as healthcare and education, were especially affected.
The planned walkout marked the first full-day women’s strike since 1975.
Women and non-binary people had been urged to refuse paid and unpaid work on Tuesday, including household chores.
“I will not work this day, as I expect all the women [in cabinet] will do as well,” Iceland’s PM Ms Jakobsdóttir told the mbl.is website ahead of the protest.
Trump, children to testify in fraud case as Israel continues Gaza offensive
