By CHINEDU ASADU, RUTH ALONGA and AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

GOMA, Congo (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday for a deal signing aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region’s critical minerals for the U.S. government and American companies.

Lauded by the White House as a “historic” agreement brokered by Trump, the so-called Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity between Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda follows monthslong peace efforts by the U.S. and partners, including the African Union and Qatar, and finalizes an earlier deal signed in June.

The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by decadeslong fighting with more than 100 armed groups, the most potent being the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The conflict escalated this year, with M23 seizing the region’s main cities of Goma and Bukavu in an unprecedented advance, worsening a humanitarian crisis that was already one of the world’s largest with millions displaced.

‘We are still at war’

Fighting, meanwhile, continued this week in the conflict-battered region with pockets of clashes reported between the rebels and Congolese soldiers, together with their allied forces. Trump has often said that his mediation has ended the conflict, which some people in Congo say isn’t true.

FILE – M23 rebels enter the centre of east Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, and take control of the South Kivu province administrative office, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga, File)

Analysts say Thursday’s deal also isn’t expected to quickly result in peace. A separate peace deal has been signed between Congo and the M23.

“We are still at war,” said Amani Chibalonza Edith, a 32-year-old resident of Goma, eastern Congo’s key city seized by rebels early this year. “There can be no peace as long as the front lines remain active.”

Rare earth minerals

Thursday’s pact will also build on a Regional Economic Integration Framework that officials have said will define the terms of economic partnerships involving the three countries as agreed upon in November.

In search of ways to circumvent China in acquiring rare earth minerals, the Trump administration has capitalized on Congo’s need for security support to gain access to its minerals which are essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cellphones and more, and dominated by China.

China already accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of its processing globally.

Trump is expected to hold separate meetings with both Congolese and Rwandan leaders before three-way talks followed by the signing scheduled to take place at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. Several African leaders are expected to attend the signing.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will on Thursday also host an event that will bring together American business leaders. The Congolese and Rwandan delegations will focus on potential investment opportunities in critical minerals, energy and tourism, according to Yolande Makolo, a senior adviser to Kagame.

Ongoing clashes

In eastern Congo, meanwhile, residents reported pockets of clashes and rebel advances in various localities. Both the M23 and Congolese forces have often accused each other of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this year.

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In the central plateaus across South Kivu province, fighting continued in recent weeks with thousands often on the run.

The hardship in the aftermath of the conflict has also worsened following U.S. funding cuts that were crucial for aid support in the conflict.

In rebel-held Goma, which had around 2 million people and was a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts before this year’s escalation of fighting, the international airport is still closed, government services such as bank operations are yet to resume and residents have reported a surge in crimes and in the prices of goods.

“We are waiting to see what will happen because so far, both sides continue to clash and attack each other,” said Moise Bauma, a 27-year-old student in rebel-held Bukavu city.

Both Congo and Rwanda, meanwhile, have touted American involvement as a key step towards peace in the region.

“We need that attention from the administration to continue to get to where we need to get to,” Makolo said. “We are under no illusion that this is going to be easy. This is not the end but it’s a good step.”

Conflict’s cause

The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where Hutu militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million ethnic Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutus and Twa, Indigenous people. When Tutsi-led forces fought back, nearly 2 million Hutus crossed into Congo, fearing reprisals.

Rwandan authorities have accused the Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide and alleged that elements of the Congolese army protected them. They have argued that the militias formed by a small fraction of the Hutus are a threat to Rwanda’s Tutsi population.

Congo’s government has said there can’t be permanent peace if Rwanda doesn’t withdraw its support troops and other support for the M23 in the region. Rwanda, on the other hand, has conditioned a permanent ceasefire on Congo dissolving a local militia that it said is made up of the Hutus and is fighting with the Congolese military.

U.N. experts have said that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in eastern Congo, operating alongside the M23. Rwanda denies such support, but says any action taken in the conflict is to protect its territory.

Chinedu Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria, and Aamer Madhani from Washington. Justin Kabumba contributed to this report from Goma.

By ALI SWENSON, LINLEY SANDERS and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Fifty-two-year-old Dinam Bigny sank into debt and had to get a roommate this year, in part because of health insurance premiums that cost him nearly $900 per month.

Next year, those monthly fees will rise by $200 — a significant enough increase that the program manager in Aldie, Virginia, has resigned himself to finding cheaper coverage.

“I won’t be able to pay it, because I really drained out any savings that I have right now,” he said. “Emergency fund is still draining out — that’s the scary part.”

Bigny is among the many Americans dependent on Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans who are already struggling with the high cost of health care, according to a new survey from the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Most of the more than 1,300 enrollees surveyed in early November say they anticipate that their health costs will be impacted next year if Congress doesn’t extend expiring COVID-era tax credits that help more than 90% of enrollees pay for health insurance premiums, per KFF. The possibility of an extension looks increasingly unlikely.

The enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the end of this year have been at the center of recent tensions in Congress, with Democrats calling for a straight extension and several Republican lawmakers vehemently opposed to the idea. Their inability to agree on a path forward fueled a record 43-day government shutdown earlier this fall.

President Donald Trump and some Republicans in Congress have circulated proposals in recent weeks to offer a short-term extension or reform the Affordable Care Act, but no plan has emerged as a clear winner. Meanwhile, the window for Americans to shop for next year’s plans is well underway with less than a month to go until the subsidies expire.

KFF’s poll reveals that marketplace enrollees — most of whom say they would be directly impacted by the subsidies expiring — overwhelmingly support an extension. The survey found this group is more likely to blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than Democrats if the tax credits are left to expire.

Enrollees already find it challenging to afford health expenses

The expiration of the tax credits — which a separate KFF analysis found will more than double monthly payments for the average subsidized enrollee — comes as Americans are already overwhelmed by high health expenses, the poll shows.

About 6 in 10 Affordable Care Act enrollees find it “somewhat” or “very” difficult to afford out-of-pocket costs for medical care, such as deductibles and copays. That exceeds the roughly half of enrollees who find it challenging to afford health insurance premiums. Most also say they could not afford a $300 per year increase in their health insurance costs without significantly disrupting their household finances.

Cynthia Cox, a vice president of KFF who leads the organization’s ACA research, said the population of Americans on Affordable Care Act health insurance includes some high-earning entrepreneurs and small business owners, but the bulk of enrollees are lower-income and therefore vulnerable to even small increases in health costs.

“These are often going to be people who are living paycheck to paycheck, who have volatile or unpredictable incomes as well,” she said. “Increases that many of them are facing are going to be some sort of financial hardship for them.”

Most enrollees see cost increases on the horizon

Slightly more than half of Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees believe their health insurance costs will increase “a lot more than usual” next year, according to the poll. About another 4 in 10 anticipate increases that will be “a little more than usual” or “about the same as usual.”

Larry Griffin, a 56-year-old investment banker and financial adviser in Paso Robles, California, already pays $920 a month for his gold-level health plan through the state’s insurance marketplace. He says that price will go up to about $1,400 a month next year — alongside jumps in copays and his annual out-of-pocket maximum.

He’s concerned the increases will affect his ability to save money for his upcoming retirement, but with the recent amputation of his left leg below the knee, as well as other health issues, he said he can’t risk going off health insurance or downgrading his plan.

Griffin is among the roughly three-quarters of marketplace enrollees who say health insurance is “very important” for their ability to access the health care they need.

“I’m not going to say that I can’t manage it, I can, but it’s just another one of those things,” he said. “Here’s, you know, knock number 5,000 against me after all of the other things I’ve had to deal with.”

Patricia Roberts, 52, a full-time caregiver for her daughter in Auburn, Alabama, expects her monthly health insurance premiums to rise from around $800 a month to $1,100 a month next year — costs she can manage. But her friends across the border in Georgia are staring down doubling monthly fees next year.

“I don’t know how people are going to live, with it already being a struggle just to pay for food and all the other things,” Roberts said.

Support for an extension stretches across political parties

The poll shows allowing the enhanced tax credits to expire would be overwhelmingly unpopular with current marketplace enrollees.

Support for continuing the tax credits extends across party lines. Nearly all Democrats and about 8 in 10 independents who are enrolled in marketplace plans say the credits should be extended, as do about 7 in 10 Republicans. Support is similarly high among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who support the MAGA movement, and those who don’t.

Yvette Laugier, 56, a Republican in Chicago, said while her income is too high to qualify her for the enhanced premium tax credits, she supports extending them temporarily with additional fraud protections to give lower-income enrollees more time to consider their options.

Among those who think Congress should extend the credits, about 4 in 10 say Trump would deserve “most of the blame” if they were allowed to expire and roughly one-third say that about Republicans in Congress. Democrats in Congress are much less likely to receive blame: only 23% of enrollees say they would deserve the bulk of responsibility.

Bigny, in Virginia, said the blame should be split between both Democrats and Republicans. But he has hope they can come to a compromise and potentially a temporary extension in the coming weeks.

“They should just sit and really look for what’s best for American people overall,” he said.

Swenson reported from New York.

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By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Olympic flame for the Milan Cortina Winter Games was formally handed to Italian organizers on Thursday in the all-marble stadium in central Athens where the first modern Olympics were held nearly 130 years ago.

From Athens the flame will travel to Italy, where it will begin a 63-day, 12,000-kilometer relay through all 110 Italian provinces before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony on Feb. 6.

Italy will host the flame for the first time in 20 years and 10,000 torchbearers have been organized.

“To stand here in this historic stadium provides an inspiring reminder of the honor we have been granted and the precious treasure we will carry home with us,” Milan Cortina organizing committee president Giovanni Malago said before receiving the flame.

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A forecast of severe rainstorms in Athens kept large crowds away and led organizers to announce the ceremony would be shortened. But the rain held off until the very end, a weak sun filtering through the heavy black clouds, and the few hardy spectators who turned up were able to enjoy a performance featuring Greek and Italian singers and a children’s choir in the stadium which staged the first modern Games in 1896.

After spending the night burning in a cauldron outside the 5th century B.C. Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis, Greece’s most famous landmark, the flame was carried into the Panathenaic stadium by Greek water polo player Elena Xenaki, who lit another cauldron in the stadium along with Greece’s women’s national water polo team.

The flame was lit on Nov. 26 in Ancient Olympia, the site of the ancient games which inspired the modern Olympic movement, using a concave mirror to focus the sun’s rays on a torch in a highly ceremonial performance. The idea of the Olympic flame and torch relay was the result of Greek-German cooperation and began ahead of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The tradition has been followed ever since.

On Thursday, Greece’s Olympic Committee president Isidoros Kouvelos handed the flame to Malago.

“We cannot change the whole world in 16 days of competition,” Kouvelos said, “but we can show for 16 days what the world could look like when respect comes first.”

These are the third Winter Games hosted by Italy but preparations have been plagued by cost overruns and construction setbacks.

The Games feature 116 medal events, the debut of ski mountaineering, the return of NHL players to Olympic ice hockey and higher female participation.

A separate flame for the March 6–15 Winter Paralympics will be lit on Feb. 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

By DASHA LITVINOVA, Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that some proposals in a U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine are unacceptable to the Kremlin, indicating that any deal is still some way off despite intense shuttle diplomacy by American envoys.

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U.S. President Donald Trump has set in motion the most intense diplomatic push to stop the fighting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor nearly four years ago. But the peace efforts have once again run into demands that are hard to reconcile, especially over whether Ukraine must give up land to Russia and how it can be kept safe from any future Russian aggression.

Putin said in comments published Thursday that his five-hour talks with U.S. envoys this week were “necessary” and “useful,” but also “difficult work.” Some of the proposals were unacceptable to the Kremlin, he said.

Meanwhile, Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, are set to meet with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, on Thursday in Miami for further talks, according to a senior Trump administration official who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Putin spoke to the India Today TV channel before his visit to New Delhi on Thursday. Before the full interview was broadcast, Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti quoted some of Putin’s remarks in it.

Tass quoted Putin as saying in the interview that at the talks in the Kremlin on Tuesday, the sides “had to go through each point” of the U.S. peace proposal, “which is why it took so long.”

“This was a necessary conversation, a very concrete one,” the Russian president said.

There were provisions that Moscow said it was ready to discuss, while others “we can’t agree to,” Putin said, adding “it’s difficult work.”

Trump said Wednesday that Witkoff and Kushner came away from their marathon session confident that he wants to find an end to the war.

“Their impression was very strongly that he’d like to make a deal,” Trump said.

Putin refused to go into details as to what Russia could agree to and what it finds unacceptable. None of the officials involved in the negotiations has offered details of the talks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, third right, Russian Presidential foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, fourth right, and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev, right, attend talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, second left, and Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, third, at the Senate Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

“I think it is premature. Because it could simply disrupt the working regime” of the peace effort, Tass quoted Putin as saying.

European leaders, left on the sidelines by Washington as U.S. officials engage directly with Moscow and Kyiv, have accused Putin of feigning interest in Trump’s peace drive.

Russian barrages of civilian areas of Ukraine continued overnight into Thursday. A ballistic missile struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, wounding six people, including a 3-year-old girl, according to city administration head Oleksandr Vilkul.

He said that the strike damaged more than 40 residential buildings, a school and domestic gas pipes in the city, which is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown.

A 6-year-old girl died in Kherson, a southern port city, after Russian artillery shelling wounded her the previous day.

“Doctors fought until the very end to save her life, but her injuries were too severe,” regional military administration chief Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Russia also struck Odesa with drones, wounding six people, while civilian and energy infrastructure was damaged, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration.

Overall, Russia fired two ballistic missiles and 138 drones of various types at Ukraine overnight, officials said.

Meanwhile, in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, two men were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike on their vehicle Thursday, Moscow-installed regional leader Vladimir Saldo said.

A 68-year-old woman was also wounded in the attack, he said.

Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington.