Crypto News: Stirring up trouble

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An infamously complex conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has grown even knottier.

Joseph Kabila — the former leader sanctioned by the US and sentenced to death in absentia last year for treason — announced on Monday that he’s joining up with a Rwanda-backed rebel group to unseat President Felix Tshisekedi.

Kabila, who ruled Congo for almost two decades, labels his successor a tyrant who’s trying to stay in power beyond his allotted mandate, which is set to end in 2028. He promised his new movement, the Front for National Refoundation, would stop Tshisekedi by force if necessary.

The announcement shook a country already used to uncertainty. It also further undermines a fragile peace deal signed between Rwanda and Congo in Washington in December, lauded by President Donald Trump as one of the wars he’d ended.

Joseph Kabila Photographer: Jospin Mwisha/AFP/Getty Images — Joseph Kabila.

Washington has worked hard to resolve the conflict through diplomatic efforts, promises of shared economic prosperity and, more recently, a series of increasingly onerous sanctions against Rwandan government officials and its army.

Instead, tiny Rwanda has dug in.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has long seen eastern Congo as a security nightmare and a source of wealth for his nation. It appears he’s resolved that if he can’t get the Congolese to fix it, he will try himself.

Kagame has allies in Congo’s small population of Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language who have at times faced discrimination. And now the M23 movement has a more powerful Congolese face.

Tensions are high about what comes next. Kabila’s family is from Katanga, Congo’s copper-rich southeastern region. His father led a rebellion in the 1990s that began by seizing the mines and suffocating the country’s economy, quickly toppling dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

Without an army of his own, Kabila would need Rwanda’s help, and it’s not clear the nation has the stomach to force a coup.

The US says there is no military solution to the conflict in eastern Congo. A bad situation is in danger of becoming worse. — Michael J Kavanagh

A member of the M23 movement in Bukavu, eastern Congo, in February 2025.

Global Must Reads

Saudi Aramco’s executive headquarters in eastern Saudi Arabia was hit during a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants, causing a fire in a part of the complex, the kingdom’s energy ministry says. Separately, Republican John Sununu criticized Trump’s handling of the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the first debate in an unexpectedly close New Hampshire Senate race.

Russia says it attacked six Ukrainian electricity plants in a “massive strike” overnight, further undermining Trump’s claim of an energy truce between the two warring countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in London today for talks with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham as Kyiv and its allies scramble to respond to Trump’s diesel deal with Russia.

India’s external affairs minister laid out his country’s approach to some of its most consequential relationships in an interview. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says India and China are exploring ways to make incremental progress on their long-running boundary dispute, signaled optimism over trade negotiations with the US and deeper ties with Europe, and defended New Delhi’s relationship with Russia.

WATCH: Jaishankar speaks with Bloomberg’s Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the New Economy Forum in New Delhi.

Watch now — WATCH: Jaishankar speaks with Bloomberg’s Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the New Economy Forum in New Delhi.

Trump says Taiwan agreed to buy 30% of the liquefied natural gas from a planned project in Alaska for 20 years even as Taipei indicated that no binding commitments have been finalized. The US leader meanwhile pardoned two Alaska men who had been convicted of violating the Clean Air Act for removing air-pollution monitors from diesel vehicles.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana tendered his resignation following allegations of possible vote-buying, lining him up to become the first senior minister in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government to quit over a scandal. The premier had resisted calls to have Yana step down after local media reports claimed he cut roadworks funding to municipalities that didn’t support him in February’s general election.

Philippine prosecutors surprisingly dropped most of the impeachment charges against Vice President Sara Duterte, opting to zero in on her alleged hidden wealth as the sole ground to disqualify her from public office.

Trump ousted the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, following allegations of unethical conduct in reports by the Wall Street Journal. Guilfoyle denied the claims in a statement, promising to “vigorously defend my name.”

Guilfoyle arrives at the White House in Washington in February.

US investigators have issued subpoenas to the relatives of Representative Ilhan Omar, who is facing a criminal probe that includes a review of her immigration history, sources said.

Malaysia is turning to Chinese satellite tech for earlier warnings of floods that hit during the annual northeast monsoon, a move that would allow authorities to better prepare for and mitigate disasters.

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Chart of the Day

China’s export growth surged the most since February to drive global trade imbalances to new highs, with the surplus for 2026 on track to exceed the $1.2 trillion record set in 2025. The Asian nation’s lopsided trade relations with the world have grown even more extreme since the tariff war started by Trump over a year ago, especially as global demand for AI services and inputs like chips has exploded.

And Finally

The Casio AE1200WH watch, which costs less than $60 and is engraved with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s name, is turning up on the wrists of cabinet ministers, senior bureaucrats and political allies. The timepiece, nicknamed the Casio Royale, has become a badge of proximity to power in the country’s politics, offering a glimpse into the personal relationships that have helped Anutin build one of the country’s most stable governments in decades.