AFP UK

Vereinte Nationen (AFP) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on the world to “rethink priorities” by redirecting a portion of record military spending toward human development and the fight against poverty, as he presents his report on global arms spending. “Excessive military spending does not guarantee peace. It often undermines it, fueling arms race, deepening mistrust, and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability,” he tells a press briefing in New York.

Den Haag (AFP) – The consequences of the brutal crimes allegedly committed by Uganda rebel chief Joseph Kony are still reverberating in the country more than 20 years later, says an International Criminal Court prosecutor during his opening remarks at a hearing against the fugitive warlord. Kony faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, enslavement and sexual slavery, allegedly committed between July 2002 and December 2005 in northern Uganda. Kony, a former Catholic altar boy, headed the feared LRA, whose insurgency against the Ugandan government saw more than 100,000 people killed and 60,000 children abducted, according to the United Nations.

Kathmandu (AFP) – Kathmandu’s National Trauma Center treats injured protesters after Nepali police opened fire on demonstrators taking to the streets to demand the government lift a social media ban. At least 19 people were killed. Protests have reignited despite the apps going back online, with demonstrators setting the parliament ablaze and veteran prime minister KP Sharma Oli resigning.

Gaza (AFP) – The Israeli army drops leaflets on a neighbourhood in Gaza City ordering its evacuation, as residents react after picking them up. The Israeli military says it will act with “great force” in Gaza City and has told residents to leave as it steps up its deadly assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest urban centre. The assault to seize Gaza City comes as talks to end the war have yet to render an agreement.

Oslo (AFP) – Norway’s Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store claims victory in Monday’s legislative elections, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration populist Progress Party. The election campaign in the wealthy nation of 5.6 million people had centred largely on domestic issues but was also influenced by geopolitics, including US President Donald Trump’s policies and the war in Ukraine.

Pjöngjang (AFP) – North Korea holds a flag-raising ceremony and an evening gala with dance and fireworks at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, on the eve of its 77th founding anniversary.

Mishima (Japan) (AFP) – As Nintendo’s iconic Super Mario turns 40, AFP meets the record-breaking Japanese mega-fan Kikai who has accumulated more than 20,000 items of memorabilia of the moustachioed plumber.

Gulu (Uganda) (AFP) – Twenty years after he was first indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, charges against notorious rebel commander Joseph Kony are set to be heard, giving hope to many who endured his crimes. Kony’s decades-long campaign of terror across central Africa, as the leader of Lord’s Resistance Army, killed more than 100,000 people with 60,000 abducted children forced to become sex slaves or child soldiers. Despite a long-running hunt, at times involving international forces, Kony remains at large — his hearing will take place in-absentia.

Geneva (AFP) – “Pro-war propaganda is everywhere,” says United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, decrying “the glorification of violence” and the “erosion of international law”. In his opening address to the UN’s Human Rights Council’s 60th session, Turk warns that “the long-established rules of war are being shredded”. The address comes just days after China hosted a massive military parade and after US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to be renamed the Department of War.

Oslo (AFP) – Norwegian voters have begun casting their ballots in the Scandinavian nation’s election, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s ruling Labour Party, along with its left-leaning allies, topping September polls. As a NATO member sharing a border with Russia, the war in Ukraine has weighed heavily on Norway’s politics in recent years, and with an economy dependent on exports, the imposition of US trade tariffs has also loomed large.

Jerusalem (AFP) – “We will intensify our operations,” vows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in the Israeli-annexed east of Jerusalem, killing five people. Speaking at the scene of the attack, Netanyahu says “we are fighting against terrorism… we are not relenting”. The shooting comes as Israel steps up operations in Gaza, levelling buildings in Gaza City, which it has vowed to capture, and killing 10 people in overnight air raids, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.

Madrid (AFP) – Spain’s prime minister announces that the country will implement nine measures aimed at stopping “the genocide in Gaza”. The announcement marks the latest escalation in Spain’s outspoken criticism of the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by Hamas’s 2023 attack. Included in the measures are an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on vessels carrying fuel for the Israeli military using Spanish ports. Pedro Sanchez says the the move is also so that the Spanish people “knows and feels that…their country, Spain, was on the right side of history.”