The US supreme court has backed the Trump administration in an action over payments due by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), with chief justice John Roberts issuing an "administrative stay" that means the $1.5bn worth of payments can still be delayed. Donald Trump had ordered the payments to be stopped, but a federal judge had set a deadline for the agencies to release funds for work already carried out. Roberts responded to an emergency appeal by the administration by allowing the payments freeze to continue.

Workers at the agency have described Trump's proposed cuts as a "catastrophic blow" which will lead to "shuttering life-saving and important programs forever." \Associated Press reports that after USAid placed 4,080 staffers who work across the globe on leave Monday some have been told they are being given a brief window Thursday and Friday to clear out their workspaces. Each worker is being given just 15 minutes at their former workstation.

The war-torn Ukrainian economy could expand by 5% next year if a ceasefire is agreed, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has predicted - but prospects for reconstruction depend on a lasting peace. The London-based lender has invested $6.2bn (£4.9bn) in projects in Ukraine over the course of the three-year conflict. It forecasts GDP growth for Ukraine at 3.5% this year, as the country battles inflation caused by Russian attacks on power generation, and 5% in 2026, if hostilities are halted.

Beata Javorcik, the EBRD's chief economist, said it is prepared to support the rebuilding of Ukraine in the event that negotiations secure an end to the war. "We stand ready to invest when the time comes," she said. As Washington hails an anticipated agreement with Kyiv on extracting Ukraine's valuable mineral resources, Javorcik praised the Zelenskyy government's approach to steering the economy through terrible circumstances.

More than 7,000 people have died this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured unprecedented amounts of territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo, Congo's prime minister said Monday (Feb. 24), as the European Union announced it would review an agreement with Rwanda on critical raw materials. Judith Suminwa Tuluka told the UN Human Rights Council that the security and humanitarian situation in the region "has reached alarming levels." The conflict has accelerated in recent weeks, with the rebels taking the key city of Goma in January and Bukavu, another provincial capital, this month.

M23 is the most potent of the many armed groups vying for a foothold in Congo's east, which has trillions of dollars of mostly untapped mineral wealth crucial to the world's technology. Pressure grew on Rwanda. The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called Congo's territorial integrity "non-negotiable" and said EU defense consultations with Rwanda have been suspended and their memorandum of understanding regarding critical raw materials will be under review.

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his militant group Thursday (Feb. 27) to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a new bid to end a four-decade long conflict with Turkey's government that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. In a message from his prison on an island off Istanbul, Ocalan said that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, should hold a congress and decide to disband. "Convene your congress and make a decision. All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself," Ocalan said, according to a message that was read in Kurdish and Turkish by pro-Kurdish party politicians who visited Ocalan earlier in the day.

Ocalan's momentous announcement is part of a new effort for peace between the group and the Turkish state, which was initiated in October by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli. The far-right politician suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands.

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