Rwanda is in the early stages of talks to receive immigrants deported from the United States, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said.

"We are in discussions with the United States," Nduhungirehe said in an interview with the state broadcaster Rwanda TV, late on Sunday.

"It has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing...still in the early stages."

US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the US refugee resettlement program after the start of his second term in January.

Rwanda has in recent years positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove, despite concerns by rights groups that Kigali does not respect some of the most fundamental human rights.

Kigali notably signed an agreement with Britain in 2022 to take in thousands of asylum seekers from the UK before the deal was scrapped last year by then newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The Great Lakes nation in Africa is often viewed as an island of stability in a turbulent region, but the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned there was a risk some migrants sent to Rwanda could be returned to countries from which they had fled. Kigali accused UNHCR of lying, denying the allegations.

Last month, the US already deported to Rwanda a resettled Iraqi refugee whom it had long tried to extradite in response to Iraqi government claims that he worked for the Islamic State, according to a US official and an internal email.

The US Supreme Court in April temporarily blocked Trump's administration - which has invoked a rarely used wartime law - from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members.

Rwanda's Foreign minister Nduhungirehe confirmed that the two nations were engaged in "ongoing" talks, he said "they are not yet conclusive to determine the direction this will take".

"I would say the discussions are in their initial stages, but we continue to talk about this problem of migrants," he said, without giving further details.

When contacted by news agencies about the talks he said: "You will be informed when the discussions will be finalised."

The African nation of roughly 13 million people has been criticised by rights groups over its human rights record and increasingly diminished freedom of speech.

Rwanda has also faced mounting pressure over its involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the east of the country has been re-engulfed in conflict after a lightning strike by the Rwandan-backed military group M23.

(with newswires)

Tunis (AFP) – Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets of the capital Thursday to mark Labour Day, to protest against President Kais Saied and to demand the release of jailed political figures.

The rally, attended by members of different political factions, was called by Tunisia's powerful UGTT trade union confederation and relatives of detained opposition figures.

"We're not happy with what's happening," activist Souhaieb Ferchichi said. "People keep advocating for their rights despite an atmosphere of fear and repression."

"This regime is failing," he added. "It sells us slogans while not respecting the constitution and the law."

Demonstrators on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis's main thoroughfare and a popular protest spot, carried a banner reading: "Injustice is the beginning of the end."

"The revolution will come," they chanted, with some carrying signs calling the president a "tyrant".

"The country is in a state of shutdown, a state of silencing voices and jailing young people over a social media post," UGTT chief Noureddine Taboubi said in a statement that denounced a "clampdown on freedoms".

Since Saied's power grab in July 2021, in which he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia.

Thursday's protest comes days after lawyer Ahmed Souab was detained on terrorism-related charges after claiming that judges were under political pressure to hand opposition figures hefty sentences in a recent mass trial.

Last month's trial saw around 40 public figures, some of them staunch critics of Saied, sentenced to long jail terms on charges including plotting against the state.

Souab had been a member of the defence team.

"As his family, we consider his arrest to be politically motivated," said the lawyer's 67-year-old brother Mongi Souab.

"Ahmed was not detained just for his words, but for his political positions regarding the state's policies," he told AFP.

The trial drew international criticism, with objections from France, Germany and the United Nations.

This week Saied dismissed "comments and statements by foreign parties" as "blatant interference in Tunisia's internal affairs".

Thursday's demonstration in Tunis was also marked by a counter protest.

"The president said what he said: no to foreign interference," said Ridha Soula, a retired 70-year-old among a smaller group of Saied supporters near the main rally.

"We have elections here, and the people gave their voice," he said. "If you won we're with you. If you lost, you stay quiet."

Istanbul (AFP) – Police arrested more than 400 people in Istanbul on Thursday, officials said, amidst a massive show of force to prevent May Day demonstrations in Turkey's biggest city.

More than 50,000 police were deployed and key metro, bus and ferry services were shut down as part of the operation.

May Day came with the government embroiled in a battle with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), following the detention of its presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul.

Imamoglu is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

More than 400 people were arrested, a day after 100 people were detained for allegedly planning to protest in the central Taksim Square, where demonstrations have been banned since 2013.

"The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400," the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that 407 protesters were arrested in Istanbul, while a statement by Istanbul authorities said 52,656 police officers had been deployed in the city.

AFP journalists witnessed several dozen people being detained in neighbourhoods on the European side of Istanbul.

Several thousand people assembled in sanctioned protests called by unions on the Asian side of the city.

"They blocked all the streets, as if it's a state of emergency," a student named Murat, who did not want to give his last name, told AFP. "That shows the government is scared."

On Wednesday, rights group Amnesty International urged Turkey to lift the ban on demonstrations in Taksim.

"The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and... must be urgently lifted," said Dinushika Dissanayake, an Amnesty's specialist on Europe.

As happens every year, the square has been sealed off with metal barriers for several days, with a heavy police presence.

Damascus (AFP) – Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri on Thursday condemned what he called a "genocidal campaign" against his community after two days of sectarian clashes left 101 people dead.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned his country would respond "with significant force" if Syria's new authorities fail to protect the Druze minority.

The violence poses a serious challenge to the Islamist authorities who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

It comes after a wave of massacres in March in Syria's Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast in which security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It was the worst bloodshed since the ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.

Hijri in a statement on Thursday denounced the latest violence in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus as an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign" against the Druze.

He called for immediate intervention by "international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes".

Israel has ramped up its support for Syria's Druze, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday urging the international community to "fulfil its role in protecting the minorities in Syria -- especially the Druze -- from the regime and its gangs of terror".

In a later statement, Katz said: "Should the attacks on the Druze resume and the Syrian regime fail to prevent them, Israel will respond with significant force."

The Syrian Observatory said the fighting had involved security forces, allied fighters and local Druze groups.

The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said the death toll included 30 government loyalists, 21 Druze fighters and 10 civilians, including Sahnaya's former mayor, Husam Warwar.

In the southern province of Sweida, heartland of the Druze minority, it said 40 Druze gunmen were killed, 35 in an "ambush" on the Sweida-Damascus road on Wednesday.

The monitor told AFP the fighters were killed "by forces affiliated with the ministries of interior and defence and gunmen associated with them".

The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous.

AFP was unable to confirm the recording's authenticity.

Truces was reached in Jaramana on Tuesday and in Sahnaya on Wednesday.

The government announced it was deploying forces in Sahnaya to ensure security, and accused "outlaw groups" of instigating the clashes.

However, Hijri said he no longer trusts "an entity pretending to be a government... because the government does not kill its people through its extremist militias... and then claim they were unruly elements after the massacres".

"The government (should) protect its people," he said.

Syria's new authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists.

On Wednesday, a foreign ministry statement vowed to "protect all components" of Syrian society, including the Druze, and rejected "foreign interference".

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Thursday reiterated Syria's rejection of demands for international intervention, posting on X that "national unity is the solid foundation for any process of stability or revival".

"Any call for external intervention, under any pretext or slogan, only leads to further deterioration and division," he added.

Israel sees the new forces in Syria as jihadists and carried out strikes near Damascus on Wednesday. Israel said its forces were ordered to hit Syrian government targets "should the violence against Druze communities continue".

"A stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime -- Israel expects them to act to prevent harm to the Druze community," a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

Israel has attacked hundreds of military sites in Syria since Assad's overthrow.

Israel's military said Thursday two injured Syrian Druze had been evacuated to northern Israel for treatment.

A United Nations statement urged "all parties to exercise maximum restraint" and "uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law".

Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's political chaos deepened Thursday after a retrial was ordered for a presidential frontrunner over alleged election law violations and two key government figures quit ahead of a snap election next month.

The June 3 vote will decide who replaces impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office over his ill-fated declaration of martial law in December.

The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a ruling that found former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of making false statements during a previous campaign, potentially scuppering his chances of running in the presidential election.

The ruling came before the resignations on Thursday of acting president Han Duck-soo, who hinted at a possible presidential bid, and finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who was set to replace him, as a parliament dominated by opposition MPs voted on his impeachment.

The top court's decision to order a retrial for Lee, who is leading in the polls by wide margins, could potentially bar him from the election.

The court ruled there had been a "legal misunderstanding" resulting in his acquittal.

The resignations add to the country's political uncertainty, with the acting presidency now falling to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, who will be tasked with managing the electoral process for the presidential vote.

"I apologise that I am stepping down from my post, as it has become difficult to continue fulfilling my duties amid the grave economic circumstances both at home and abroad," Choi said in a statement released by the finance ministry.

Choi's decision came as opposition MPs were voting on his impeachment motion, which was suspended after Han accepted his resignation.

In overturning Lee's acquittal, the country's top court said claims he made during the 2022 campaign were "deemed false claims concerning matters of sufficient significance to mislead voters".

If found guilty by a lower court and handed a prison sentence or a fine of one million won ($700) or more, Lee would be barred from running for office for five years.

Lee's Democratic Party lashed out at the verdict, calling it "an election interference".

"Is the court trying to interfere in people's choice to set the course of the country's future?" the party said in a statement.

"The judiciary is trying to take away people's rights" to elect a leader, it added.

Yoon's People Power Party welcomed the decision and demanded Lee withdraw his candidacy.

"It is only common sense that he withdraws his candidacy... as a responsible politician," party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong told reporters.

The election was called in the wake of Yoon's impeachment over the martial law attempt.

While Thursday's verdict was a blow to Lee, political commentator and attorney Yoo Jung-hoon told AFP: "It usually takes about three months for a lower court to deliberate on a case remanded by the Supreme Court.

"It will be extremely difficult for the court to issue a ruling before the election."

Even if the court does rule against Lee, he could still appeal, which would "buy him enough time to win", Yoo said.

Aside from the election law violation case, Lee also faces a string of other trials on corruption allegations.

Should he win the presidency in June, these proceedings could be suspended under presidential immunity, and would resume once his term concludes.

Ex-acting president Han said he had quit to "take on a greater responsibility", hinting at a presidential run.

The 75-year-old is expected to formally announce his candidacy for next month's election on Friday.