Mes: septiembre 2019

(AP) KINSHASA, Congo – Rebels have seized a town on volatile eastern Congo after the army fled their advance, a local official said Sunday. Omar Kavota says the M23 rebels seized the town of Rutshuru Sunday. Kavota says the army looted during their retreat. “We appeal to the international community to do something to protect the civilians who fled the fighting and are living in fear,” he said. Panicked residents were fleeing Rutshuru on Friday night amid reports that the rebels had advanced within shelling distance, according to a statement from the North Kivu Civil Society. Fears were heightened by the evacuation of U.N. and independent aid agencies, followed in the late afternoon by the retreat of Congolese army soldiers, it said. An Indian peacekeeper was killed overnight on Thursday as M23 fighters attempted to take the town of Bunagana, said Madnodje Mounoubai, the United Nations spokesman in Congo. Congo’s two-year-long peace was shattered in April when an army unit led by Gen. Bosco Ntaganda defected. They fled into the bush, where they regrouped as the M23 rebels, named for the date in March 2009 when the former rebels signed a deal with the Congolese government, a deal brokered as the army was in full retreat and the dissidents threatened to take the eastern provincial capital of Goma. Under the accord, the rebels were integrated into the very army...

MOSCOW — The Telegram encrypted messenger app said Tuesday said it would cooperate with investigators in terror probes when ordered by courts, except in Russia where it is locked in an ongoing battle with authorities. The company founded by Russian Pavel Durov has refused to provide authorities in the country with a way to read its communications and was banned by a Moscow court in April as a result. But in its updated privacy settings, Telegram said it would disclose its users’ data to “the relevant authorities” elsewhere if it receives a court order to do so, although not in Russia. “If Telegram receives a court order that confirms you’re a terror suspect, we may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities,” Telegram’s new privacy settings said. “So far, this has never happened. When it does, we will include it in a semiannual transparency report,” the app added. Durov said the new privacy terms were adopted to “comply with new European laws on protecting private data.” But Durov assured his Russian users that Telegram would continue to withhold their data from security services. “In Russia, Telegram is asked to disclose not the phone numbers or IP addresses of terrorists based on a court decision, but access to the messages of all users,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. He added that since Telegram is illegal...

“Skating with Celebrities” star Kristy Swanson got her assault charge put on ice. It was withdrawn Wednesday in the Ontario Court of Justice at the request of a prosecutor, according to the Crown attorney’s office and Swanson’s lawyer. “The Crown and I worked together in the best of all parties to resolve the matter,” Swanson attorney Constance Baran-Gerez said. “I am thrilled and excited that the charge has been dropped,” Swanson said. “This never should have happened and our family can move on.” The case stemmed from a June confrontation between Swanson and the ex-wife of her boyfriend and skating partner, Olympic medalist and former world champion pairs skater Lloyd Eisler. Swanson is a 37-year-old former Playboy model who starred in the 1992 film “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Britney: “It’s Sad How Cruel Our World Can Be” 2Britney Spears phoned in to Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show 102.7 KIIS FM on Wednesday to chat about her latest child custody troubles and her new album, “Blackout,” that hit stores this week. When asked about media criticism, Britney Spears replied, “It’s sad how people … how cruel our world can be. But at the end of the day you got to know in your heart that you are doing the best that you can.” Seacrest then asked if she felt she was doing the best she could with her sons. Spears...