Author: Buzzo

After a week of fighting, rebels backed by Rwanda have wrested almost full control over Goma, a city of two million in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.Hospitals are overflowing with the wounded, and the city morgue with the dead. Goma’s residents are beginning to emerge from their hiding places, desperately searching for water and food. And the Congolese military that was supposed to protect them has been vanquished.On Thursday, in a yard outside Goma’s biggest stadium, rebels with the Rwanda-backed M23 militia loaded more than 1,000 soldiers they had captured into truck beds, where the men stood packed together.…

Alice CuddyInternational reporterWatch: Three more Israeli hostages released by HamasThree Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza were released from captivity on Saturday, in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Yarden Bibas, 34, Ofer Kalderon, 53, and Keith Siegel, 65, were handed over to the Red Cross – the latest hostages to be released as part of a ceasefire deal struck last month.The Palestinian prisoners were taken in buses to the West Bank, many of them coming from the nearby Ofer prison.The tone of the exchange sat in stark contrast to Thursday’s chaotic handover, during which surging crowds…

Parkland high school shooting survivor and gun safety advocate David Hogg has double-barrel support to become the next Democratic National Committee vice chairman this weekend.Prominent Democrats, including former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and California Rep. Eric Swalwell, have come forward to support the 24-year-old, who quickly became an activist after the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead.“David Hogg represents exactly the kind of bold, dynamic and courageous leadership our party needs right now,” Walz wrote on social media earlier this month. “He has a unique ability to connect with the American people and to…

Greece’s famed tourist island hotspot, Santorini, has witnessed a sudden increase in seismic activity, prompting the authorities to call for an urgent meeting. As per the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry, monitoring sensors had picked up “mild seismic-volcanic activity” in Santorini’s caldera, leading to speculation and concerns, especially given the island’s tourism-driven economy and the potential for geological upheaval.The curved island in the Aegean Sea is located around a flooded volcanic caldera with monitoring stations detecting at least 39 quakes in a single day, mostly magnitude 3.5 or less, as per a report in Live Science.The island is famous…

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top Republican lawmakers in the key swing state of Arizona has sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting that the administration “prevent California from dictating the country’s energy policy.””California’s radical rules will harm Arizona families by increasing costs, impacting jobs, and limiting consumer choice,” Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen said in a letter to the EPA. “By taking swift action, EPA can reverse the Biden Administration’s erroneous approval of California’s extreme rules.”In the letter, Petersen praised Trump’s reversal of burdensome regulations thus far, saying that his executive orders, including rolling…

Ben KingBusiness reporterBBCAdvert for heated tobacco product on display in a Sainsbury’s store in LondonSainsbury’s and Morrisons are displaying adverts for tobacco products in their stores which Trading Standards says are against the law.Video screens and posters promote devices that deliver nicotine by heating tobacco rather than burning it.The two supermarkets say they believe the laws banning tobacco advertising do not apply to the devices.Heated tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes, but experts say it is probably more harmful than vapes, and less effective at helping smokers quit.Tobacco adverts were banned in 2002. But if you walk into a Sainsbury’s…

Katie Sullivan points to the middle of a busy junction in east Bristol where she sat for four hours in the cold last week to stop council contractors installing a bus gate. It was the third time local people had come out en masse to prevent the rollout of a “livable neighbourhood” trial backed by the Green-led city council.“We’re furious the council is doing this to us,” says Sullivan, who lives nearby. “[The scheme] doesn’t solve the problem [the council] wants it to solve… the imposition on people’s lives is huge.”The more than 30 people involved in the latest guerrilla…

Mark SavageMusic CorrespondentGetty ImagesBeyoncé and Taylor Swift are two of the most recognised artists in the history of the Grammy AwardsThe Grammys are music’s biggest night, both literally and figuratively. The ceremony, which takes place in LA on Sunday night, runs for a staggering eight hours, attracting the biggest stars in pop, rock, country and hip-hop. Organisers will hand out 94 awards, recognising everything from best pop album to best choral performance.Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have both confirmed their attendance, as they square off in the album of the year category for the first time since 2010 (Swift won on…

Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition will soon be removed from the Nintendo Switch’s digital storefront, but only temporarily. Square Enix recently took to Twitter via the official Dragon Quest page and announced that starting February 1, the game will be “temporarily unavailable” on the eShop. This is due to the company making “some minor updates to the store listing.” Square Enix hasn’t mentioned the exact nature of these “minor updates,” but one can take a guess based on its past titles. Triangle Strategy and Octopath Traveler both saw temporary delistings on the eShop as well, to change…

The country began to see the effects of President Donald Trump’s policies in his second week in office, with the White House implementing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China; border crossings plummeting; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs shuttering; the federal workforce being faced with the decision to return to the office or to resign; and more. As promised, Trump’s administration has been moving at warp speed to implement his agenda — signing more than 200 executive actions just hours after taking the Oath of Office.  President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office…