The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has helped in the fight against rebels for more than two decades, will completely withdraw from the country by December.

“After 25 years of presence, MONUSCO will definitively leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024,” Bintou Keita, head of the mission known as MONUSCO said at a media briefing in the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Saturday.

All U.S. and British interests have become legitimate targets, the Houthi's Council declared.

A geopolitical storm is brewing in the Red Sea after U.S.-led strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday sparked a strong reaction from the Iran-backed militia, who immediately condemned the "brutal aggression" and vowed retaliation

The Houthi's Supreme Political Council declared that it would not allow the aggressors to escape punishment and "all U.S. and British interests have become legitimate targets."

Meanwhile, the internationally recognized government of Yemen issued a statement condemning recent military actions by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, blaming the Houthis for "dragging the country into a military confrontation arena for propaganda purposes."

The strikes mainly targeted weapons stores and drone assembly workshops to "intentionally avoid a direct impact on senior Houthi leaders," said Salah Bin Laghbar, an Anden-based political analyst.

"To wake up and find out your country has bombed another country is serious indeed".

As a former minister put it, you are not alone if you heard the headlines on the radio, or a news alert pinged on your phone saying the UK had carried out military strikes on Yemen and wondered, what on earth is going on?

So why did Prime Minister Rishi Sunak get the UK involved in the strikes on the Houthis? As so often in politics, the causes and the consequences are simple but complex too.

China said “reunification” with Taiwan was still “inevitable” after president-elect William Lai Ching-te won Saturday’s pivotal election on the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

Lai, from the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won despite warnings from China not to vote for him. He took 40.2 percent of votes cast, according to results from the Central Election Commission.

“I want to thank the Taiwanese people for writing a new chapter in our democracy,” Lai said in his victory speech. “We are telling the international community that between democracy and authoritarianism, we will stand on the side of democracy.”

In the run-up to the polls, China denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist, said he would be a threat to peace in the region if he won, and called the elections a choice between “peace and war”.

A landslide in north-west Colombia has killed at least 23 people and injured around 30 more, local authorities say.

The road connecting the cities of Medellín and Quibdo had been closed by several landslides, so many people stopped their cars to take shelter in a house near the community of Carmen de Atrato, a local official said.

Another landslide then struck the road, burying them and some of the vehicles.

Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, has denied that his government is embarking on an indiscriminate campaign to hunt down and kill gang members, as the South American country continues to reel from a week of chaos and deadly violence that he has classified as a war.

In his first interviews since the turmoil began last Monday, Ecuador’s 36-year-old leader said he was determined to stop his country becoming a “narco-state” and believed the only way to do so was with a hardline crackdown on the organised crime groups bringing “terror” to its prison system and streets.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry says that four of its citizens were among those captured by al-Qaida-linked extremists in Somalia after their helicopter that was contracted by the United Nations made an emergency landing in territory controlled by the militants earlier this week.

Officials say the helicopter went down on Wednesday because of engine failure and was then attacked by al-Shabab militants who killed one person and abducted the other passengers.

“Our citizens were members of the helicopter crew of the United Nations Mission in Somalia that crashed,” said Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign affairs ministry said Friday in a Facebook post.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — France’s new foreign minister arrived in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday to meet with his counterpart in a sign of support for Ukraine as Russia’s full-scale invasion nears its second anniversary.

Stéphane Séjourné noted that Ukraine was his first destination abroad since his nomination in a government reshuffle this week.

“Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” Séjourné said. “The defense of the fundamental principles of international law is being played out in Ukraine.”

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in neighboring Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said. This comes a day after an attack on a Turkish military base in Iraq killed nine Turkish soldiers.

Turkey often launches strikes against targets in Syria and Iraq it believes to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a banned Kurdish separatist group that has waged insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan lawyers Friday demonstrated peacefully in Nairobi against what they say is judicial interference by President William Ruto, who has said he will disregard court orders from allegedly corrupt judges blocking his key development projects.

In recent days, Ruto has also repeatedly threatened to remove judges he accuses of teaming up with his political rivals to frustrate his attempts to address unemployment in Kenya and provide affordable housing and universal health care. But the head of state has not produced any evidence to back his claims that some judges are corrupt.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Former Suriname dictator Desi Bouterse, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month for the 1982 killings of more than a dozen political opponents, has vanished after not turning himself in to authorities on Friday as planned.

His wife, Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, told reporters that she did not know where he was and firmly stated, “He’s not going to jail!”

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s imminent inauguration and the unrelenting pursuit of him and his party by the attorney general are recurring topics over dinner tables in this country, reflecting a political awakening in a population weary of corruption and impunity.

Despite Arévalo’s wide margin of victory in elections certified by Guatemalan authorities and declared fair by international observers, he has been a target of prosecutors since his surprise second-place showing in June’s first round of voting. His anti-corruption stance and outsider status are threats to deep-rooted interests in the Central American country, observers say.