APRNEWS - The Philippines officially quit the International Criminal Court on Sunday, though the beleaguered UN-backed tribunal has pledged to pursue its examination of alleged extrajudicial killings in the government's controversial drug war.

APRNEWS - The European Union is set to renew sanctions in December on senior officials in Democratic Republic of Congo, including presidential candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, four Western diplomats told Reuters.

REUTERS - Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba returned home on Wednesday after a decade in prison in The Hague for a presidential run expected to pose a stiff challenge to President Joseph Kabila or his successor in December’s election.

APRNEWS - Former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Democratic Republic of Congo said he was headed Wednesday for Kinshasa to throw his hat into the ring for a December presidential election after spending 11 years abroad — most of them behind bars.

APRNEWS - Considering that the opposition in DR Congo has agreed in principle to field a joint candidate, former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba said he believed he would be the best candidate in December’s presidential election but that he was open to supporting another candidate.

APRNEWS - Congolese Foreign Affairs Minister Leonard She Okitundu said Sunday that the former Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba “may return” to the country if he wishes. Okitundu did not specify whether Bemba will be prosecuted by the Congolese justice system.

APRNEWS - Belgium is prepared to accept former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, after he was cleared of war crimes last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders disclosed on Thursday.

APRNEWS - Former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba will know on Wednesday “by the latest” whether he will be freed following his acquittal last week on warcrimes charges, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday.

APRNEWS - Judges at the International Criminal Court ordered for the release of Congolese ex-vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba following his acquittal last week on war crimes charges.

According to the court order, issued on Tuesday, Bemba will be freed in neighbouring Belgium, where his family lives.

APRNEWS - Lawyers for Jean-Pierre Bemba, the Congolese ex-vice president whose war crimes conviction was quashed on appeal last week, requested his immediate release on Tuesday from the International Criminal Court.