The ship, Honour 25, was overrun late on Wednesday by six gunmen when it was approximately 30 nautical miles offshore, the officials said.

Until three years ago, piracy had almost disappeared in this stretch of the Indian Ocean, once notorious for hijackings, but it has since made a comeback, with fishing trawlers or container ships targeted.

The seizure of a tanker headed for the Somali capital, Mogadishu, is likely to increase anxiety in the city where petrol prices have already tripled since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.

It was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil, security officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region told the BBC.

The hijacked ship departed the port of Berbera, in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, on 20 February and arrived near the coast of the United Arab Emirates shortly after the conflict began, according to the ShipAtlas website.

The shipping map then shows it circling in the waters close to the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz before turning around on 2 April and making its way towards Mogadishu.

Under the control of the pirates, the vessel, carrying 17 crew – 10 Pakistanis, four Indonesians, one Indian, one Sri Lankan and one from Myanmar, has anchored close to the Somali shore between the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla.

Five more armed men have since boarded the Honour 25, sources said.

Officials believe the hijackers set off from a remote area near Bander Beyla. It is unclear how they were able to intercept and take control of the oil tanker.

Neither the Somali authorities nor the European Naval Force, which oversees anti-piracy operations in Somali waters, has release a statement on the hijacking.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme on Saturday, April 25, Mr Quashie revealed that he had been summoned by South African officials who assured him of their commitment to addressing the situation.

“Yesterday, I was summoned by the South African authorities, and they told us they know the people behind these acts, and they will go to great lengths against them,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, confirmed that the South African government has expressed regret over the incidents and pledged to investigate the attacks.

According to him, the assurance followed diplomatic engagements after viral videos surfaced showing harassment involving Ghanaian nationals.

Mr Ablakwa noted that Ghana has strongly condemned the attacks and continues to engage South African authorities to ensure the safety of its citizens.

He added that discussions with his South African counterpart underscored the need for swift action to prevent a recurrence, stressing that Ghana expects firm measures to protect the rights and dignity of foreign nationals.

Zambian journalist and digital creator Lilian Chipeso and Ghanaian content creator Goshers captured attention during the widely discussed Ghana–Zambia fufu saga.

What started as lighthearted banter about food and culture quickly gained traction across social media, drawing in audiences from both countries and beyond.

For Lilian, a communications professional and storyteller, the journey to Ghana became more than just a visit it was an opportunity to experience firsthand the culture she had been engaging with online. Her arrival in Accra was met with excitement, reflecting the strong connection she had built with audiences even before setting foot in the country.

Goshers, whose influence helped shape the narrative, emphasized the intention behind the viral moment:

“Everything started during the Ghana–Zambia fufu saga… But when the banter started heading towards division, I knew I had to find a way to bring people together and remind everyone that, after all, it was just banter . we are still one people.”

That message has become the defining theme of their story turning what could have divided into something that unites.

During her stay in Ghana, Lilian was hosted at the Groove Essipong Hotel, where she experienced a blend of comfort and hospitality that complemented her cultural journey.

The hotel’s serene environment and attentive service provided the perfect space for rest and reflection amidst a busy schedule of media appearances and engagements. It also offered a quiet reminder of Ghana’s growing appeal as a destination for both leisure and cultural exchange.

Her time in Ghana, from media tours to cultural immersion, further strengthened the bond between her and Goshers moving their connection beyond screens into a shared real-life experience that resonated with many.

Their story, now amplified on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning, goes beyond viral fame. It highlights how digital platforms can foster meaningful connections, reshape narratives, and promote unity across borders.

In a time when differences are often amplified, Lilian Chipeso and Goshers have offered a refreshing perspective, one that celebrates shared identity, mutual respect, and the simple truth that, despite it all, we remain one people.

Local officials reported that the gunmen arrived at approximately 4:00 p.m. local time (15:00 GMT/Ghana time) and operated with near impunity for several hours. The assault marks a significant escalation in the 17-year insurgency that continues to destabilise Africa’s most populous nation. Despite numerous military campaigns, extremist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) remain capable of overwhelming local defences.

Lethal Incursion in Pubagu

The village of Pubagu, situated in the Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, suffered the highest casualty count with 11 residents confirmed dead. For many, the violence was a shocking departure from the community’s history of relative peace. Mwada Saidu Uba, the local council chairman, noted the unexpected nature of the violence. “Pubagu is one of the locations in our council area that had never suffered such an attack until yesterday,” he stated following the funerals of those killed.

Eyewitnesses in Pubagu detailed a relentless onslaught that lasted over an hour. One survivor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the indiscriminate nature of the violence. “Yesterday evening, the terrorists stormed our community in Pubagu. They shot sporadically for hours, burning houses and shops. They killed both men and women after operating for over one hour,” the source said. Usman Rumirgo, a local ward official, confirmed that assailants set several houses ablaze before fleeing, leaving two survivors critically injured.

Assault on Mayo-Ladde

Simultaneously, the attackers crossed into Adamawa State to strike the community of Mayo-Ladde in the Hong Local Government Area. In this secondary location, nine people were killed as the gunmen exploited the porous border between the two states. Like the raid in Borno, the militants focused on the destruction of infrastructure and the seizure of vital resources.

The humanitarian impact of the raid was immediate and devastating. In addition to the loss of life, the militants engaged in systematic destruction of property and essential resources, including the looting of food supplies. Mada Saidu, the chairman of Askira-Uba district, provided a grim assessment of the total scale of the tragedy. “In total, we have 20 deaths, 11 from Askira Uba in Borno, nine from Hong Local Government Area, Adamawa,” Saidu confirmed.

Condemnation and Allegations of War Crimes

The international community has reacted with sharp condemnation to the scale of the atrocities. Amnesty International released a statement strongly condemning the “vicious and unlawful attack,” noting that in addition to the loss of life, Boko Haram militants targeted places of worship and private residences. The organisation emphasised that the deliberate killing of non-combatants represents a grave violation of international law.

“Such horrific killing of civilians by Boko Haram once again demonstrates its brazen disregard for life,” the human rights group stated. “These killings specifically targeting civilians amount to war crimes, and perpetrators must be swiftly brought to justice.” Amnesty further asserted that the consistent targeting of civilians is “unacceptable and must end,” calling for a shift in accountability for the insurgent group’s 17-year campaign of terror.

Military Counter-Offensive and Recent Gains

Following the raids on Pubagu and Mayo-Ladde, the Nigerian military launched a series of high-stakes counter-offensives. In the early hours of April 23, 2026, troops from Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK) successfully repelled a major terrorist assault at the Kukareta location. Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, the Media Information Officer for the Joint Task Force, reported that the engagement lasted three hours and resulted in a “disorderly withdrawal” of the insurgent forces.

The military reported that 24 terrorists were neutralised during the encounter. Troops also recovered a significant cache of weaponry, including 18 AK-47 rifles, multiple machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and mortar tubes. While two personnel were wounded and an armoured tank sustained damage, the military characterised the operation as a decisive success. “This successful operation highlights the resilience, combat readiness and fire superiority of OPHK troops in denying terrorists freedom of action,” Uba stated, adding that exploitation operations are ongoing to recover additional equipment along withdrawal routes marked by blood trails.

Federal Government and Military Response

In response to the surge in violence, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated the State House commiserated with the people of Borno and Adamawa. The President characterised the raids as “final, desperate, and frantic attempts” by terrorist elements to spread fear in the face of sustained military pressure. “We will continue to intensify our efforts against all criminal elements, wherever they may be,” Tinubu stated, noting that he has directed security chiefs to move to the region to take direct charge of the situation.

The Nigerian Armed Forces have signalled a simultaneous escalation in counter-terrorism operations, deploying additional troops to the Askira-Uba axis. A spokesperson for the Defence Headquarters confirmed that the army is currently conducting intelligence-led missions to locate the motorcycle-mounted units responsible for the raids. To sustain this momentum, the federal government announced the approval of advanced equipment and operational support to enhance the capabilities of frontline troops stationed in these high-risk “theatres” of conflict.

Despite these strategic gains, the vulnerability of remote hubs remains a critical concern. Mada Saidu noted that when the initial attacks began, local security groups were quickly outmatched. “I later went there together with the army. Initially, it was local security that was there, that is, hunters and vigilantes. But they were overpowered by the terrorists,” Saidu said. This pattern highlights the ongoing difficulty the Nigerian government faces in securing vast rural landscapes against mobile, highly motivated insurgent cells that expertly exploit security gaps.

Regional Instability and Emerging Threats

This latest wave of violence is emblematic of a broader surge in extremist activity across the northeast. Just days prior, on April 16, Boko Haram militants killed four soldiers and a civilian woman in the Mussa community in Askira Uba, highlighting the persistent danger to both military personnel and civilians. Beyond the established presence of Boko Haram and ISWAP, the region now faces emerging threats from the IS-linked Lakurawa and various bandit ggroups specialisingin kidnapping and illegal mining. “Vulnerable rural communities regularly come under fire from Islamic extremists and bandits who take advantage of Nigeria’s vast rural areas and security gaps,” officials observed.

Humanitarian Crisis and Strategic Outlook

The long-standing conflict has claimed thousands of lives and displaced at least 2 million people, creating a humanitarian crisis that aid organisations struggle to contain. As the two critically injured victims from the recent raids receive treatment at a nearby hospital, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the limitations of local vigilante groups against well-armed insurgents. The recurring violence underscores a complex security dilemma where the state must balance the protection of remote agricultural hubs with the pursuit of highly mobile militant factions. To prevent further erosion of authority, a more robust and proactive presence is required to shield these isolated border communities from the shifting frontlines of the 17-year conflict.

The criticism comes after a recent altercation involving Burna Boy and DJ Tunez at a club in Lagos, which also sparked an online feud between Burna Boy and Wizkid.

Reacting to the controversy, some Nigerians accused Burna Boy of frequently getting into physical confrontations and described him as arrogant.

However, speaking in an interview with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on Channels TV, Bose Ogulu dismissed the criticism, stating that she does not mind being perceived that way.

When asked about the perception of her son, she said if knowing his worth and carrying himself accordingly is seen as arrogance, then it is not a bad thing.

“And I can’t apologise for that,” she added.

Ebuka asked: “Do you mind that Burna Boy is seen as arrogant? Do you mind that you are seen as arrogant in the way you run the Burna brand?”

She responded: “I don’t mind, honestly, I don’t mind at all. I mean, any adjective they want to attach to you is okay. The thing is, who are you? If knowing your worth and carrying yourself as such is arrogant, then it is a good thing. And I can’t apologise for that.

“Because I think we were born into a world where we were expected to put our heads down.

“First is the colour of your skin, the colour of your passport, and for me, my gender. So, I don’t understand the concept of that life. I understand that if I know something, I know it, and I expect you to realise that I know it. And if you don’t realise that I know it, then put me to the test,” she said.

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The trains were travelling early on Thursday on a line linking the towns of Hillerød and Kagerup in the North Zealand area of north-east Denmark, with a total of 37 people on board, according to police.

Tim Ole Simonsen of the Greater Copenhagen fire department was unable to say what led to the crash, but told Danish TV that all the injured had been taken to the hospital by air or by ambulance.

Local mayor Trine Egetved said she was deeply shaken by the accident.

Public broadcaster DR showed images of two yellow and grey trains, both with visible front-end damage, facing each other in a wooded area.

Officials said the trains collided at 06:29 local time (05:29 BST) on Thursday, and fire and rescue teams were alerted immediately.

Egetved, who is the mayor of the Gribskov municipality, said those with critical injuries had been flown to the National Hospital in Copenhagen.

“The local track is used by many Gribskov residents, workers and students,” she wrote on Facebook.

She told public broadcaster DR that it was shocking that two trains could collide head-on, “and we must ensure it never happens again”.

In a statement to government-owned station TV2, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “very concerned by the terrible train accident”.

Denmark’s Accident Investigation Board arrived at the scene during the morning, and Inspector Morten Pedersen of North Zealand police said they would be working together to find out what had happened.

Pedersen told reporters it was far too early to know the cause of the crash.

The board’s railway unit manager, Klaus Jensen, told broadcaster TV2 that investigators are looking at “all hypotheses”, including “a failure in the signalling system, or whether there may have been a failure due to human factors”.

Claus Pedersson, safety director at Lokaltog – which operates the train line – told public broadcaster DR that several members of staff have been injured.

He described the collision as “one of the worst we can imagine in the railway industry”, adding that “right now we are collecting data” to understand the causes of the incident.

“We see accidents like this happen from time to time, and the most important thing is that we learn from it,” he added.

In a separate interview with broadcaster TV2, Pedersson said initial reports suggest one of the train drivers pulled the brakes and then helped evacuate passengers.

He also reassured passengers, telling them that “very competent” people drive and monitor the trains.

Rail accidents are rare in Denmark, and one expert suggested one of the train drivers had ended up on the wrong line by overriding a stop signal as the train left a local station. The Gribskov line is not thought to have been updated with an automated safety system.

When asked in a phone interview with the BBC whether the visit could help repair the relationship, Trump said: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely, the answer is yes.”

“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he said. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”

The president also spoke about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who he said could only “recover” if he changed course on immigration.

The King and Queen will travel to the US for a four-day visit beginning on Monday, and will meet with Trump at the White House.

The King will have a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.

After two days in Washington DC, they will travel to New York, Virginia and Bermuda before returning to the UK.

The Foreign Office said the trip would mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, and would celebrate a partnership of “shared prosperity, security and history”.

In the five-minute interview on Thursday, Trump was also asked about his relationship with Sir Keir.

The two leaders have appeared at odds over the war in Iran, and the prime minister has faced mounting pressure over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said Lord Mandelson was “a really bad pick” but the prime minister had “plenty of time to recover”.

When asked what he meant by that post, Trump said: “If he opened the North Sea and if his immigration policies became strong, which right now they’re not, he can recover, but if he doesn’t, I don’t think he has a chance.”

Trump has repeatedly called on the UK to increase oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

“I make my decisions based on what’s in the British national interest and not what other people say or do,” Sir Keir said while talking to broadcasters about the president’s comments on Thursday.

“That is why I took the decision that we would not be dragged into the war in Iran,” he said. “I’m not going to be diverted or deflected from that by what anybody else says.”

Trump has also criticised the UK government and other allies over their response to the Iran war. He has said he is “not happy” with the level of support offered by the UK, while Sir Keir has repeatedly said the country will not be drawn into a wider conflict.

When the president was asked why he needed allies such as the UK to get involved, he told the BBC: “I didn’t need them at all but they should’ve been there. I didn’t need them, obviously.”

“We’ve wiped Iran’s military out,” he added. “I didn’t need anybody.”

“I wanted to see whether or not they would be involved,” Trump said, describing his calls for support from allies as “more of a test”.

Trump was also asked whether his threat, made earlier this month, that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran agreed to a deal was about nuclear weapons. The comment was widely condemned, including by the Pope, the head of the UN and Sir Keir.

“The other side is dying to make a deal,” Trump said. “So whatever I’m saying or whatever I’m doing, it seems to be working very well.”

Towards the end of the phone interview, the president also referenced his multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit against the BBC.

He is suing over the way a Panorama documentary edited together different sections of a speech he gave before the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021.

Trump said the BBC had to be “very careful” or it could “destroy” its reputation.

The BBC has previously apologised to Trump over the Panorama edit, but rejected his demands for compensation. It has said there is no basis for a defamation claim and filed to dismiss the lawsuit.

“We have said throughout we will robustly defend the case against us,” a BBC spokesperson said on Thursday.

The company told employees in a memo on Thursday that it planned to cut 10% of its workforce – roughly 8,000 staff. It said it would also not fill thousands more open jobs it had been hiring for.

A key reason for the layoffs is Meta’s increased spending in other areas of the company, including AI, for which it will spend $135bn (£100bn) this year. This is roughly equal to the amount it has spent on AI over the previous three years, according to a person who viewed the memo.

A spokesman for Meta confirmed the planned job cuts but declined to comment further.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder and chief executive, made public comments in January that essentially telegraphed the company would be cutting jobs again this year.

The Meta boss said he had seen how much more productive workers who relied heavily on AI tools had become, noting a single person could now complete projects that would have previously required a large team.

“I think that 2026 is going to be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work,” Zuckerberg said.

Last week, Reuters reported that Meta was planning to cut more than 10,000 employees this year. The memo to employees on Thursday was first reported by Bloomberg.

While Meta has already cut around 2,000 workers in two smaller rounds of layoffs already this year, employees had been braced for weeks for a much deeper cut, as the BBC previously reported.

Meta’s spending and internal focus had shifted heavily in recent months toward catching up on the development of AI models and tools.

The company just this week informed employees that it would begin tracking and logging their interactions with work computers in order to help train and improve its AI models, a move one employee called “dystopian” given the looming layoffs.

“This company has become obsessed with AI,” they told the BBC.

Since 2022, Meta has enacted several rounds of job cuts, shedding tens of thousands of workers.

But it had started hiring again, and last year its overall number of employees looked to be at around the same level it had been at before its initial layoff.

The upcoming jobs cuts will be Meta’s largest layoff since 2023.

A number of other tech firms, most of which are also spending huge sums on building tools and infrastructure for AI technology, have also enacted swathes of job cuts this year.

Amazon has laid off more than 30,000 workers. Oracle laid off more than 10,000 workers.

Block, which is among the smaller tech companies, laid off nearly half of its staff totaling more than 4,000 workers. And Snap, another smaller tech company, has laid off around 1,000.

Also on Thursday, Microsoft told employees that it would offer voluntary buyouts to thousands of workers with longer tenure at the firm.

Nearly all of the companies have cited the growing capabilities of, or increased investment in, AI technology as a factor in executives’ perceived need for fewer employees.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Gannon Ken Van Dyke after he allegedly made trades on Polymarket, a crypto-powered platform, based on classified information.

“That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law,” Justice Department officials said.

Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier in the US Army stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, won more than $409,000 (£303,702) as a result of his bets.

US forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their compound in Caracas in a dramatic, nighttime raid on 3 January, and brought them to New York to face allegations of weapon and drug offences, which they deny.

Van Dyke allegedly placed bets on the timing and outcome of the operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve, “all to turn a profit”, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.

The DOJ alleges that on or about 26 December 2025, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account and began trading on Maduro and Venezuela-related markets.

He is accused of making bets of more than $33,000 (£24,500) while in possession of classified nonpublic information about Operation Absolute Resolve.

In a statement posted on social media on Thursday, Polymarket said: “When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation.”

The company added: “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works.”

Van Dyke has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday.

“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” said acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”

US Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, where the case will proceed, added that prediction markets “are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain”.

The justice department officials said that as a soldier Van Dyke signed nondisclosure agreements in which he promised to “‘never divulge, publish, or reveal by writing, words, conduct, or otherwise . . . any classified or sensitive information’ relating to military operations”.

Federal prosecutors allege that starting from 8 December 2025 until at least 6 January 2026, Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve and had access to sensitive, nonpublic, classified information about that operation.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an independent US federal agency, said it had also filed a complaint against Van Dyke accusing him of engaging in insider trading.

Asked about the alleged betting during an unrelated event on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he had not heard about it but would look into it.

When asked about concerns that prediction markets could lead to insider trading, the president said he is “not happy with any of that stuff”.

“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what’s going on all over the world, in Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things,” he said. “I was never much in favour of it.”

The Acting High Commissioner was invited by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to formally convey Ghana’s strong concern over alleged intimidation and harassment targeting foreigners, including Ghanaians, as captured in widely circulated social media videos.

In a press release issued on April 23, the Minister cited a specific incident in KwaZulu-Natal Province, where a Ghanaian resident was reportedly confronted, asked to produce proof of legal status, and told to leave South Africa and “fix his country.” He described such actions as conduct that undermines the dignity and rights of law-abiding individuals.

The statement further noted that although no fatalities or injuries have been recorded in the current incidents, similar occurrences in the past have led to loss of lives and property, underscoring the need for swift intervention to prevent escalation.

Mr Ablakwa also highlighted the long-standing relationship between Ghana and South Africa, recalling Ghana’s support during South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle as a symbol of enduring solidarity.

“Unprovoked harassment of foreign nationals is contrary to the principles of African unity and peaceful coexistence,” he stressed.

The government has since lodged a formal protest, calling for urgent measures to ensure the protection of Ghanaian nationals, prevent further incidents, and guarantee that such situations do not recur.

In response, Mr Dthamba assured that the South African government is taking the matter seriously and has initiated steps to restore calm.

He added that law enforcement agencies are closely monitoring the situation to prevent violence and ensure accountability.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its commitment to safeguarding Ghanaians abroad, indicating that diplomatic engagements with South African authorities will continue.

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However, commission chairman Mohamed Chande Othman did not say who was responsible for the deaths and recommended further investigations.

Opposition parties and human rights groups had previously accused the security forces of unleashing a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner of the 29 October poll with 98% of the vote – which the opposition described as a “mockery” of democracy.

At the time, the president said the election was fair and transparent and blamed foreigners for the violence saying it was part of a plot to overthrow her.

International observers, however, last year raised concerns over the lack of transparency in the vote, with the African Union and the southern Africa bloc Sadc saying the election had fallen short of democratic standards.

Last year, the BBC verified multiple videos of police shooting towards groups of protesters. Footage posted online showed that demonstrators were confronted by heavily armed police units blocking their progress and firing tear gas to disperse crowds. In many of the videos, gunfire can clearly be heard as people scatter in the ensuing chaos.

The scale of Tanzania’s election violence was shocking for a nation that had cultivated an image of calm, consensus and order for nearly six decades.

Speaking after receiving the report on the violence, Samia said it “shook our nation” and the government would take lessons from it.

She also defended the actions of the security agencies, saying they had prevented the state from sliding into anarchy.

“We have learnt. The commission has told us that all the violence was planned coordinated, financed and executed by people who were trained and given equipment for committing crimes,” she said.

She believed that the objective of those involved was “to create a leadership vacuum” and make the country “ungovernable”, adding that they would be held accountable.

The main opposition party, Chadema, told the AFP news agency that the report was a “cover-up” and described it as “an attempt to whitewash the regime’s crimes”.

This is the first time the authorities have said how many people died.

Among the 518 dead, 490 were male, 21 were children and 16 were security officers, Othman said, adding that 197 had died from shotgun wounds.

But he explained that the death toll could be higher as some victims had been buried without the authorities being told.

More than 2,000 people were injured, including 120 security officers, he added.

Opposition and religious groups had said thousands of people were killed, with reports of bodies being taken from hospitals and some allegedly buried in mass graves.

Othman said the claims of the existence of mass graves “could not be substantiated”, alleging that AI was used to manipulate some images.

The commission identified several underlying causes of the violence, citing economic, political and social issues, including demands for political reforms, unemployment and “lack of patriotism”.

It said politicians and activists used these issues to persuade citizens to take part in protests. It added that the demonstrations were neither peaceful nor lawful and would not qualify for legal protection.

After the nine‑member commission was appointed by President Samia, opposition parties had raised concerns.

They said the inquiry “cannot be independent or impartial, especially in a situation where the government is the primary suspect in the crimes being investigated”.

The commission had a mandate to determine the root causes of the violence, who was involved and for what purpose.

It was also tasked with examining the consequences of the unrest, the response to it and make recommendations on the way forward.

It collected evidence from across the country from ordinary citizens, victims, political leaders and security agencies. Some of its sessions were held in private.

The protests started in Dar es Salaam on 29 October and spread across the country over the following days.

The demonstrations were largely organised by young people angered by what they saw as a political system dominated by one party since Tanzania gained independence in the 1960s.

The two main opposition leaders were blocked from contesting the poll. Tundu Lissu is still in detention on treason charges, which he denies, while Luhaga Mpina’s candidacy was rejected on technical grounds.

The commission made several recommendations including free medical treatment and psychosocial support for victims and that a national day of mourning be set aside in honour of those who died.

It also proposed setting up a commission of criminal inquiry to determine who is to be held accountable.

Besides, it recommends that a new constitution should be in place by 2028, before the next general election, as well as a new commission to foster reconciliation.

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Speaking on Badwam on Adom TV, he urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to summon the South African High Commissioner in Ghana.

According to him, the situation requires urgent attention at the diplomatic level to address concerns surrounding the treatment of Africans, including Ghanaians, in South Africa.

“With immediate effect, the South African High Commissioner in Ghana should be summoned by the Foreign Minister to address this issue,” he insisted.

He stressed that engaging the High Commissioner would provide an opportunity for Ghana to formally register its concerns, seek clarification on the matter, and find solutions to the issue.

Collins Adomako-Mensah added that swift action by the Foreign Ministry would demonstrate Ghana’s commitment to protecting its citizens and ensuring mutual respect among African nations.

Janet Fordham, 69, suffered fatal injuries in the collision on 14 February 2023 after coming to the country to marry a Ghanaian man she met online, who claimed he could help her get the money back.

Mrs Fordham had fallen victim to several online scams during a five-year period that saw her lose her home and life savings, estimated to be up to £1m, Devon Coroner’s Court heard.

When she travelled to Ghana, the retired housekeeper was living in a caravan at the home of her son, Martin, and daughter-in-law, Melanie Fordham, in Honiton, Devon.

She started using online dating websites in 2017 and met a man who claimed to be a British Army sergeant major working in Syria and needed her help to get gold bars to the UK.

Mrs Fordham told her family that they were in love and that he was retiring to return to the UK, with the couple wanting to buy a house together, her daughter-in-law said, adding that she warned her the man would be asking for money.

Melanie Fordham added: “I told her categorically not to send him any. Janet had been sending money to him, but we didn’t find out about this until years later. I believe she gave him around £150,000.”

Mrs Fordham later learned she had been defrauded again by a “diplomat” after her UK bank accounts were frozen, but her family said they don’t know how she transitioned from one fraud to the next.

Melanie Fordham said her mother-in-law “transferred money by several means, including bank transfers, wire transfers at the post office, and potentially a travel agent”, but the banks and post office stopped her mother-in-law from using their services because they recognised it was fraud.

Third man promised to help recover funds

The inquest heard another man, named Kofi, contacted Mrs Fordham, claiming he was a doctor in Ghana who worked part-time at a friend’s mobile phone repair shop, where he supposedly found a phone containing messages to and from Mrs Fordham.

Kofi claimed he contacted Mrs Fordham because he believed she had been scammed and wanted to help get her money back, Melanie Fordham said.

Police spoke to Mrs Fordham about Kofi, but officers could not further the investigation as she failed to respond.

Detective Sergeant Ben Smith, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said officers contacted Mrs Fordham about allegations of fraud in 2017, 2020 and 2022 and tried to persuade her “not to have any contact with the criminals and not to hand over money”, but she was making these decisions of her own free will.

Mrs Fordham continued to transfer money abroad using Bitcoin and ATMs, causing her daughter-in-law to contact the police again.

“Whether she was in so deep, she couldn’t accept it was all gone, she had to keep piling money in the hope of getting something back,” Melanie Fordham said.

“Whether she genuinely believed what she was being told, we will never know.”

Apart from using her savings and home, Mrs Fordham also borrowed money from other family members, totalling around £140,000, was in arrears on loans and credit cards and even cashed in her pension, withdrawing the maximum £500 a day.

Flying to Ghana for marriage

In October 2022, Mrs Fordham flew to Ghana to meet Kofi, with whom she was romantically linked.

“As a family, we tried everything to stop her, but she was adamant,” Melanie Fordham said. “I spoke to her doctor, sought legal advice, but because she was of sound mind, albeit brainwashed, she was deemed to have capacity and there was nothing we could do.”

In Ghana, Mrs Fordham and Kofi were driving from Accra to the Oti region “to get approval from a family member for marriage” when their car left the road and crashed, fatally injuring Mrs Fordham, Mr Smith told the inquest.

He said that there was no third-party involved in the smash.

Kofi later pleaded guilty to driving offences and was handed a suspended prison sentence and a fine.

Philip Spinney, senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, said at the end of the hearing: “I conclude that Janet Fordham died as a consequence of a head injury that was probably sustained in a road traffic collision.”

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The demonstration, scheduled to take place between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., is being organised by local South Africans who claim that foreigners are taking over jobs meant for citizens.

Chairman of the Ghanaian community in Mthatha, Yirenyi Gyekye Darko, said he has been in touch with local police, who have assured him that the protest will be peaceful and well monitored.

“I spoke to one of the station commanders, and he confirmed that there will be a peaceful demonstration. The police are taking precautionary measures to ensure everything remains under control,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.

Despite these assurances, Dr. Darko has advised members of the Ghanaian community to remain cautious and prioritise their safety.

“We have asked our people to stay indoors and not open their shops until about midday, when the situation is expected to normalise,” he stated.

He explained that the protest is being driven by demands for the South African government to prioritise employment for its citizens, amid claims that foreign nationals, including Ghanaians, Nigerians, and Zimbabweans, are taking up local jobs.

“The demonstrators are calling for priority to be given to South Africans. Their main concern is that foreigners have taken their jobs,” he added.

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From Wednesday, British pet owners are no longer able to travel with their animals using the EU pet passport scheme and must instead obtain a new animal health certificate each time they go abroad.

Responding to the changes, a number of owners have told the BBC they are now facing steep bills to get the new documents in place, with new costs incurred for each trip.

Some pet owners have also complained about a lack of communication with the legislation, leaving them unable to take holidays which have already been paid for.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) said anyone planning to travel to the EU with their pet should check guidance on GOV.UK, and the entry rules for their destination.

In guidance put on its website, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “GB residents should no longer use EU pet passports to travel into the EU.

“EU pet passports may now only be issued to people whose main home is in the EU and should not be used by people who have holiday homes in the EU or visit seasonally.”

The guidance also states that pet passports issued before Wednesday are also no longer valid.

But a number of owners said they had only become aware of the new laws this week.

The issue is also set to affect assistance dogs.

In a statement to the BBC, Guide Dogs for the Blind said the new rules “underline the importance of the UK rejoining the pet passport scheme”.

“The cost and complexity of obtaining an Animal Health Certificate for every journey has prevented many guide dog owners from being able to work, attend important events and travel independently. “

‘Majorly out of pocket’

Jane Keles had been due to travel to France next week to stay at a mobile home she owns with her husband in Picardy, in northern France.

Having found out about the rule change on Monday, the EU pet passport she has for her two Dachshunds, Otto and Lola, is now invalid, and the trip has been cancelled.

“We made arrangements in terms of time off work. We’ve got a cat sitter sorted and everything else,” the 63-year-old told the BBC.

“We find out a couple of days ago that our EU pet passports are not valid documents anymore.

“We’ve costed it all up, and it’s going to cost us all another £500 to change the booking and go [in June].”

Jane said she and her husband make regular trips to France but are now considering selling their mobile home because of the recurring costs of obtaining animal health certificates each time.

The EU pet passport, which is still valid for EU residents, is issued by a vet, valid for the life of the animal, and contains details of a dog, cat, or ferret’s microchip or health records (such as rabies vaccinations). It also contains contact details for the owner and the vet who issued the passport.

Jane said the cost of obtaining the animal health certificates would mean spending £80 on rabies jabs for each of her dogs, and an additional £155 for the certificates.

“We’re going to be majorly out of pocket,” she added.

Mike Walton, the owner of two Bichon Frisés from near Manchester, faces a similar problem.

Despite being an Irish passport holder and spending part of the year in Portugal, he can no longer travel with an EU pet passport because he is a UK resident.

The 77-year-old told the BBC that the EU pet passport, which his dogs currently have, contains much of the same information as an animal health certificate.

“I spoke to my vet, and they told me we don’t do health certificates,” he said.

“The other vets who have said they will only do them for their own clients. I’ve been with my existing vet for 10 years, and they know my dogs. Changing vets is not something I really want to do.”

He said he had been quoted about £300 for his two dogs for the new animal health certificates, with £85 each for the new rabies vaccinations required to obtain the certification.

A number of other owners also contacted the BBC with a similar issue, and confusion about travel plans.

One owner questioned whether the rule would be enforced at the border and said they intended to travel through the Eurotunnel on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the APHA said: “From 22 April, new EU rules change how GB residents travel to the EU with their pets, but holidays with your pets are still possible.”

“To avoid delays and ensure a smooth journey, pet owners residing in Great Britain should get an Animal Health Certificate if they’re travelling from Great Britain to an EU country.”

In a post on X on Wednesday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the “violations” include the US naval blockade of Iranian ports – which he said amounted to taking the global economy “hostage” – and “warmongering” by Israel “on all fronts”.

Iran remains open to negotiations, said Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian, but he added, “breach of commitments, blockade and threats are main obstacles to genuine negotiations”.

It appeared early Tuesday that the US and Iran would hold new peace talks in Pakistan this week – but they have yet to begin.

Vice-President JD Vance – due to lead the US delegation in those talks – remains in the US.

On Tuesday night, US President Donald Trump announced an extension to the US-Iran ceasefire that was due to expire on Wednesday.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that Trump’s extension is open-ended, and has no new deadline. She added that Trump is “satisfied” with the ongoing US naval blockade against Iran, and “understands Iran is in a very weak position”.

“The cards are in President Trump’s hands right now,” she said.

Asked by reporters when the war would end, Leavitt said that it’s up to Trump to decide, “and he will do so when he feels it’s in the best interests of the United States and the American people”.

The Iranian negotiator’s latest comment comes as clashes continue in the dangerous waterway and vital global shipping route, with Iran announcing that it had “seized” two ships in the strait.

On Wednesday morning, Iran said two cargo ships were taken in the Strait of Hormuz for “inspection”. The announcement follows reports of attacks on three cargo ships in the strait.

Euphoria, one of the three container ships attacked earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, appears to have dropped anchor near a port in the United Arab Emirates, according to MarineTraffic tracking data analysed by BBC Verify.

UAE-owned Euphoria was attacked eight nautical miles west of Iran, according to the maritime security firm Vanguard. No damage to the ship or injuries to crew was reported.

Iran has not commented on Euphoria, but has said it seized the other two vessels – MSC Francesca and Epaminondas – both of which reported damage resulting from the attacks.

A statement from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) Navy said that the ships were “operating without authorisation” and committed “repeated violations”, accusing them of trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz “in secret” and tampering with navigation systems.

It also warned that it is “monitoring” movements through the strait and has vowed “firm” action against the “violators”.

Iranian news outlet Tasnim, which is affiliated with the IRGC, later posted dramatic footage of Iranian commandos raiding the two ships.

Their most recent broadcast positions indicate neither has moved far since the attacks occurred.

However, MarineTraffic data indicates Euphoria returned to sailing southwards after the reported time it was attacked, ending up about 13 nautical miles from the port of Khor Fakkan at around 14:00 BST.

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis later confirmed that the Epaminondas, a Greek-owned ship, had been attacked.

“I can confirm that there was an attack against the Greek cargo ship, but I cannot confirm that this has been seized by the Iranians,” Gerapetritis told CNN.

Also on Wednesday, the US Defense Department announced that the US Secretary of the Navy would depart his post “effective immediately”.

No reason was given for John Phelan’s ouster. It comes just weeks after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Randy George to step down from his post. Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will serve as acting secretary.

The White House lack of a timeline – either for a return to negotiations in Pakistan or to kinetic strikes against Iran – is likely strategic. It gives the Trump administration significant flexibility to let the blockade and the economic stranglehold on Iran bite.

Leavitt said this will allow “pragmatists” in Iran to come up with a peace proposal without pushback from hardliners.

At the same time, it allows Trump to avoid a return to full-scale military action that many Americans are weary of, and that could upset already nervous global markets.

“The strategic disadvantage at the moment is that Iran has decided that the measure of victory has become control of the Strait of Hormuz,” said Andrew Peek, a former State Department deputy assistant secretary.

The “bright side”, he told the BBC is that “President Trump has managed the stock market effectively, though gas prices have ticked up about a dollar in some places.”

In her remarks to reporters at the White House, Leavitt also said that the US does not consider Iran’s seizure of two ships in the Strait of Hormuz to be a violation of the ceasefire.

“These were not US ships, these were not Israeli ships,” she said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, Mr Ablakwa said he initiated a telephone conversation with the South African Minister for International Relations and Cooperation to address the disturbing incidents and coordinate an official response.

“I called him on the trending videos about Ghanaians coming under extremely disturbing xenophobic attacks in South Africa,” he stated.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the South African government has expressed concern and assured Ghana of swift action.

“The South African Foreign Minister has expressed his empathy with the victims and promised full-scale investigations into the depressing incidents,” he said.

He further disclosed that authorities in South Africa are expected to brief African ambassadors as part of efforts to address the situation and reassure affected countries.

Mr Ablakwa also confirmed that he has been in constant communication with Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quarshie, to coordinate Ghana’s response.

“I am also able to confirm that since yesterday, I have been in constant contact with Ghana’s High Commissioner in South Africa… coordinating our response,” he noted.

He revealed that Ghana’s diplomatic mission has already located one of the victims captured in the viral footage and is providing consular support.

“I am gladdened that so far, colleagues in our diplomatic mission have located the main victim in the viral video and are offering consular assistance. He is doing very well,” he added.

The Minister assured that no Ghanaian fatalities have been recorded in connection with the incident and urged the public to remain calm.

“No Ghanaian life has been lost. We urge calm and confidence in our collective capacity to protect Ghanaians,” he said.

Reaffirming government’s commitment, Mr Ablakwa stressed that the administration remains resolute in protecting the welfare and safety of Ghanaians both at home and abroad.

He also called for unity across the continent, cautioning against actions that could undermine Pan-African solidarity.

“May these regrettable incidents never quench our Pan-African love and solidarity… we shall not be divided by the hatred of a few fringe elements,” he added.

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The engagement follows renewed efforts by both nations to establish a framework for long-term collaboration, including a proposed parliamentary cooperation arrangement aimed at delivering mutual economic benefits.

A delegation from the Government of Sierra Leone is currently in Ghana for the discussions, which bring together officials from both countries to explore opportunities across key sectors.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khadija Iddrisu, welcomed the Sierra Leonean delegation and urged the joint committee to produce practical and impactful outcomes.

She emphasised the importance of the engagement, encouraging members to ensure their deliberations result in strong, actionable recommendations that will benefit both countries.

The formation of the joint committee stems from recent high-level engagements between President John Dramani Mahama and his Sierra Leonean counterpart, during which both leaders signalled their commitment to establishing permanent cooperation.

As part of the proposed collaboration, Ghana is expected to offer expertise in the cocoa sector, while Sierra Leone will contribute its strengths in other areas of the economy.

The Sierra Leonean delegation, led by Alance Logan from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed optimism about the partnership.

He commended Ghana for its economic progress and noted that the collaboration would create opportunities for shared growth.

“We are happy to partner with Ghana. With Ghana’s rich experience in the cocoa sector and other areas, we believe this cooperation will be mutually beneficial,” he said.

The ongoing discussions are expected to lay the groundwork for a stronger economic partnership between the two West African nations.

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Robert Albon, who calls himself Joe Donor and advertises on Facebook and Instagram, offers sperm donation in several unlicensed ways.

He made a declaration of parentage application to the Family Court after discovering a couple he donated sperm to had named the mother’s partner as the father on the baby’s birth certificate.

The Family Court’s top judge, Sir Andrew McFarlane, dismissed Albon’s application and said: “The facts of this case are extreme”.

It is agreed that Albon, who is originally from the United States and in his 50s, is the child’s biological father.

The child’s mother was in a lesbian relationship at the time of conception, but not married.

The couple paid Albon £100 in cash and a £150 Amazon gift card before she got pregnant via artificial insemination.

By the time the child was born, the mother’s partner had begun identifying as a trans man and was registered on the birth certificate as the father.

The pair never wanted Albon to play any part in the child’s life, but said they would eventually explain the child’s roots in an age-appropriate way.

It is extremely rare for a parent in a Family Court case to be publicly named in order to protect children from being identified.

However, BBC Wales successfully applied to lift the restriction on naming Albon, citing public interest.

He advertises openly on Facebook and Instagram and has spoken extensively about his experiences in media interviews and TV programmes.

In 2024, he told The Sun he had his own “sperm factory” and women paid him hundreds of pounds for his sperm.

Albon, who is adopted, made the point in court documents that not knowing the identity of his birth parents – and having what he considers an incorrect birth certificate himself – had “eroded his sense of self”.

He said he wanted to guard against the same thing happening to this child and was not seeking any responsibility or looking to spend time with the child.

However, Sir Andrew said it was likely that Albon might “seek to assert himself as an active parent” as he had done on a previous occasion.

He added: “The impetus for doing so would be entirely self-driven by Mr Albon’s views, and not moderated by any insight towards, or empathy for, the mother.”

A court report said the proceedings had caused the child’s mother “considerable anxiety” and it had been the “hardest experience of her life”.

In the judgment, Sir Andrew said: “I fully accept that ‘vulnerable’ is, sadly, an apt description of her position, both in terms of her internal resources and the situation in which she finds herself with respect to Mr Albon.”

He said Albon’s application was dismissed “on the ground that to grant it would be manifestly contrary to public policy”.

This is the third judgement from the Family Courts concerning the legal parentage of children involving sperm donated by Albon.

A judgment made in 2023, published in February 2025, said Albon had applied to be named on the birth certificate of another child and wanted its surname changed to match his.

Jonathan Furness KC rejected the case, saying it was not in the best interests of the child. He published the outcome to “protect women from the potential consequences of unregulated sperm donorship generally, but also from Joe Donor himself”, he added.

At the fact-finding hearing, Furness said Albon had initiated legal proceedings to support his immigration position to stay in the UK.

In May 2025 another judgment was published where Albon’s application for custody of two children was turned down. Mr Justice Poole said: “He seeks to control others to prove that he is right, to secure recognition, to get his own way and to serve his own ends.”

Sir Andrew said his recent judgment did not mean that all future applications by unregulated sperm donors to be recognised as fathers would be dismissed.

The way Albon donates sperm is unregulated, as it is not done through a licensed clinic.

There are no health checks, legal safeguards preventing the donor from claiming parental rights or limits on the number of children a donor’s sperm could be used to conceive.

UK regulations say that in licensed clinics, sperm from a single donor can only be used to create a maximum of 10 families.

In previous media interviews, Albon has said he donated because he wanted to help create life.

He claimed not to make any money from it and said he was lucky to break even on travel expenses.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority strongly recommends treatment at a licensed clinic where there are laws and guidance in place to protect and support all patients and donors.

“Using donor sperm from social media groups, websites or apps can have serious risks for the patient, donor and any children born,” it says.

Trump read from 2 Chronicles on Tuesday night, as part of the “America Reads the Bible” event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.

The passage is often invoked by Christian conservatives in the US, and is interpreted to be a call for citizens to repent and for God to bless the nation.

Numerous public figures are participating in the week-long continuous reading of the entire Bible that started 18 April.

The US Constitution bars the government from establishing a national religion; however, the Trump administration has embraced a movement in the country to see Christianity as a key part of the founding of the US and for leaders to follow the Bible. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, for example, cites passages in his press briefings and also leads prayers in his department.

During the week-long reading event, which is timed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of US independence, other prominent conservatives and members of the administration, including Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are sharing passages.

The organisers say it will encourage a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country”.

Trump’s section was taped in the White House’s Oval Office earlier, and was filmed on two cameras that were edited together.

The passage he read includes the line: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

The reading comes as Trump quarrels with Pope Leo XIV, who has criticised the US for waging war on Iran.

On Friday, Trump told reporters that he has “a right to disagree with the Pope.”

Trump’s comment came one day after the Pope criticised those who “manipulate religion” while he was on an official visit to Cameroon.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” the Pope said.

Trump’s reading also comes days after he was criticised by some of his religious supporters for posting an AI-generated image that appears to depict him as a Jesus-like figure healing the sick.

Trump later took down the post, saying that he thought it was meant to show him as a doctor.

He later posted a second AI image that showed Jesus embracing Trump with the caption: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!”

Karex CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters on Tuesday that the company may be forced to raise prices at least 20% to 30%, depending on how long the disruption lasts. Global supply chains have been impacted by the war since the end of February and the chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off some of the materials used in condom production.

“The situation is definitely very fragile, prices are expensive,” Goh told Reuters. “We ​have no choice but to transfer the costs right now to ⁠the customers.”

Based in Malaysia, Karex produces condoms, personal lubricants, gloves, medical catheters and probe covers. The company manufactures male latex condoms including ONE, Trustex, Carex and Pasante, and it can produce over 5 billion condoms annually. Karex also exports to more than 130 countries, according to its website.

Goh told Reuters that along with higher costs for manufacturing and packaging condoms, there are delays in shipping.

“We’re seeing a lot more condoms actually sitting on vessels that have not ⁠arrived ​at their destination but are highly required,” Goh said.

CNN has reached out to Karex to see when the price hikes might take place. Meanwhile, Goh told Reuters that the company has enough supply to last a few months.

As gas prices have surged since the Iran war, oil and gas have gotten the bulk of the attention. Economists fear that rising prices could soon lead to a pull-back in consumer spending and oil shortages could stymie production. That’s particularly true in Asia, which relies heavily on Middle Eastern oil for fuel.

But the war has also hurt production of so-called feedstocks – petroleum byproducts that are used to make plastics and other materials. Among them: naphtha, which is used to make packaging materials, and silicon oil and ammonia, which are key ingredients in condom production.

“You hear a lot about crude oil and the impacts to diesel and gasoline – but feedstocks and petrochemicals are in short supply, too,” said Angie Gildea, KPMG global head of oil and gas, in a separate interview.

For example, 41% of Asia’s naphtha comes from the Middle East, Gildea noted. If the countries that make the stuff we purchase – including Malaysia – can’t access raw materials, they have to raise prices to compensate.

But raw materials aren’t the only problem.

Some countries, including Myanmar and Cambodia, have begun rationing fuel. Some schools in southeast Asia, including in Vietnam, have given stay-at-home orders as commutes have become too expensive for students. Industry analysts fear that is also hurting factory workers’ ability to get to manufacturing facilities, potentially slowing production of key products set for delivery overseas – including to the United States.

Taiwo Oyedele, previously minister of state ​for finance, replaced Wale ​Edun as minister of finance ‌and ⁠coordinating minister of the economy.

Housing and urban development minister Ahmed Musa Dangiwa ​also ​exited ⁠the cabinet, with Muttaqha Rabe Darma ​named ministerial nominee for ​the ⁠role, the statement said.

The school board of the nation’s second-largest school district approved the measure by a 6-0 vote, with one recusal, making the Los Angeles Unified School District among the first in the nation to create systemwide, grade-by-grade limits on classroom screen time.

“Along ​with the cellphone ban the L.A. Unified School District passed in ⁠2024, we hope to be a national leader on these matters,” said ​board member Nick Melvoin, who sponsored the measure, through a spokesperson.

Proponents said ​the policy was meant to strike a balance between instructional needs and growing concerns that excessive screen exposure is harming students’ attention and social development.

The district, which serves about half ​a million students, has relied heavily on laptops and tablets since the ​coronavirus pandemic of 2020 accelerated digital learning.

“While access to and developing skills in technology are ‌critical ⁠in a digital world, excessive screen time can be associated with vision problems, increased anxiety and depression, addictive behaviour, reduced attention span, difficulty managing emotions, lower academic achievement and weaker cognition, according to the American Academy of ​Paediatrics,” the resolution said.

The ​measure cited research ⁠indicating that children 8 to 11 years old who exceed screen time recommendations are at higher risk for ​obesity and score lower on cognitive assessments.

The resolution does not ​immediately ban ⁠devices or mandate a uniform time limit. Instead, it calls on district staff to develop age-appropriate guidelines with input from educators, families and public health ⁠experts. Until ​then, existing school-level rules will remain in ​place.

Sceptics cautioned that screen limits must be implemented carefully to avoid harming students with disabilities who ​rely on technology.

Several hours later, Air Force Two hadn’t taken off, and the negotiations were postponed. President Donald Trump announced that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran, set to expire on Wednesday evening, to allow the regime more time to create a “unified proposal” to end the war.

In between, Trump weighed his options as the world waited to see if the countries were any closer to ending the war. Trump’s decision marked the second time in as many weeks that he has backed off a threat to escalate the war, buying himself more time to wind down a conflict as it approaches the two-month mark.

Vance never officially announced the Islamabad trip, leaving Washington guessing. And Iran never officially committed to attending the talks, leaving the White House in a difficult position to decide whether to send Vance, with no assurance that Tehran would even come to the table.

As the day wore on, signs of a postponement emerged. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior members of the US negotiating team led by Vance, flew to Washington from Miami instead of heading straight to Islamabad. Soon after, Vance made his way to the White House for “policy meetings” as the president and his senior advisers debated what to do next.

In the end, Trump announced the ceasefire extension on Truth Social, his preferred means for war updates since it began in late February. The president said he made the decision at the request of Pakistan, which has mediated talks between Tehran and Washington.

“We have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said.

Notably, Trump this time did not specify how long the ceasefire might last. Earlier this month, he set a two-week deadline for the first ceasefire. That came after conflicting comments in press interviews, during which he said the talks were going well but also warned that he would consider resuming the war if Iran refused to negotiate.

“There is no clear formula” for ending wars, James Jeffrey, a former US ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, told the BBC.

Trump isn’t the first US president to “threaten significant military escalation,” Jeffrey added, “while also putting a good deal on the table.”

Trump’s open-ended statement on Tuesday was more measured than his past social media attacks on Iran. That may signal Trump’s desire to end a war that has roiled the global economy and is unpopular with anti-interventionist supporters in Trump’s Maga base.

“This is a pragmatic decision based on what are quite obvious fractures in the current leadership of the Iranian government,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

But Katulis said Trump’s decision also created more uncertainty about how long the war will last.

“This move begs the question though for Trump about how he can deal with the economic pain that Americans are experiencing and the political pain he’s experiencing from his base,” Katulis said. “He hasn’t answered the questions that are still driving this crisis.”

With the ceasefire extension, the US and Iran now have more time to make a durable peace deal. But major questions remain.

Iran has said that the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is an act of war. While Trump chose not to restart the war immediately, he gave no indication he would end the blockade, which the US hoped would pressure Tehran to back down. So far that hasn’t happened, leaving Trump with fewer options other than ramping up the military campaign.

Iran, meanwhile, has not signalled interest in ending its nuclear program or support for proxy groups in the Middle East — two so-called “red lines” that Trump has demanded be included in any final peace deal.

Trump bought himself more time. But a quick resolution to the war, for now, seems as elusive as ever.

The King warned, in a message recorded at Balmoral earlier this month, that his mother would have disapproved of the current state of the world.

“Much about the times we now live in, I suspect, may have troubled her deeply,” said the King, without revealing any specific concerns, domestic or international.

On Tuesday, which marks the centenary of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, the final design of a traditional bronze statue of the late Queen will be shown to King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The statue, to be sculpted by Martin Jennings, shows the late Queen in her younger years, in the ceremonial robes of the Order of Garter.

The image, which will be 9.84ft (3m) tall, standing on a 11.15ft (3.4m) plinth in St James’s Park, is inspired by the 1955 painting of the late Queen by Pietro Annigoni.

It’s being unveiled 100 years after her birth, on 21 April 1926, when the then Princess Elizabeth was born in a townhouse in Bruton Street in Mayfair.

Lord Janvrin, chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, said the image showed her in her public role; if the statue had shown her on horseback, as had been discussed, it would have been more about her personal hobby.

The memorial committee had to decide how to represent the late Queen to future generations and Lord Janvrin said they had wanted to show her “very strong sense of duty” and sense of public service.

In his video message, the King said the late Queen lived through “remarkable change and yet, through each passing decade, through every transformation, she remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served”.

The memorial project in St James’s Park, designed by a team headed by architect Lord Foster, also includes a bust of the Queen in later years and a bronze statue of Prince Philip.

A bridge across the park will be rebuilt, with a glass balustrade that will evoke a royal tiara.

It’s expected that these memorials, in the central London park near to Buckingham Palace, will be completed in about two years.

As well as the statues in London, there will be a digital section of the memorial project, with a website that will invite people to send in their own memories of the late Queen.

The website Queenelizabeth.com had belonged to the shipping company, Cunard, but has now been donated to the Queen Elizabeth II memorial.

It will build a historical archive of memories, a social history of royal events, and will be supplemented by a digitised version of the “court circular”, which records the working lives of the Royal Family.

There will also be a nationwide memorial scheme, in which a newly created Queen Elizabeth Trust will support local community projects, intended to bring people together.

The King, who will be going on a state visit to meet US President Donald Trump next week, spoke of the late Queen’s legacy of optimism that “goodness will always prevail and that a brighter dawn is never far from the horizon”.

The King called for a “happier tomorrow” to be “rooted in peace, justice, prosperity and security”.

He also recalled how many might remember the late Queen from “a fleeting personal encounter, a smile, a kind word that lifted spirits … or for that marvellous twinkle of the eye when sharing a marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear in the final months of her life”.

The blockade, which began a week ago, is “absolutely destroying Iran”, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding his country was winning the conflict “by a lot”.

His comments come with the temporary US-Iran ceasefire set to end on Wednesday, but with no certainty over whether a second round of peace talks will go ahead in Pakistan.

There is tightened security in Pakistan’s capital in anticipation of a meeting. But US Vice President JD Vance, set to lead the US delegation, has not yet left Washington, while Iran says it has not yet decided whether to attend.

Since the blockade began, US forces have directed 27 vessels to turn around or return to an Iranian port, according to US Central Command (Centcom).

The US also intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship for the first time in the conflict, after it tried to get through the blockade on Sunday.

Videos shared by Centcom were said to show the ship being warned before troops repelled onto the vessel.

Tehran deemed it an “act of piracy” and a violation of the fragile ceasefire between the two countries.

Iran has maintained its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route, for nearly two months, causing global energy prices to soar.

It was briefly reopened on Saturday but quickly closed again, following reports of vessels in or near the strait, including a tanker, being targeted by Tehran.

Trump said Iran had “decided to fire bullets” and called it a “total violation” to the ceasefire agreement.

Iran said it would keep the route shut until the US stopped the blockade of its ports.

There are indications a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran will go ahead, despite Tehran refusing to confirm whether it will send a delegation.

Following the first round of talks earlier this month US Vice-President J D Vance said the US “could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms”, and Iran’s foreign ministry urged Washington to refrain from “excessive demands and unlawful requests”.

The potential second round comes at a crucial moment. Sources told the BBC on Monday afternoon that the US delegation would be leaving “soon” but did not specify a time, while officials told the New York Times that they would depart on Tuesday.

Later on Monday, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said that, “so far”, Tehran had “no plans” to attend.

Vance is expected to be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, as in the previous round of talks.

It is not clear who – if anyone – from Iran’s side will be showing up.

However, in Islamabad, there are signs of preparation for the talks.

Guests at the city’s Serena Hotel, where the previous round was held, have been told to leave in preparation for meetings, while police announced the closure of key roads due to the arrival of foreign delegations.

A senior government official told Reuters news agency that Pakistan was confident it could get Iran to attend the talks.

Speaking to Radio 4’s PM programme, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, who is in Tehran, said that although the situation was unpredictable, there was a better chance the talks would happen.

“There is one rule in diplomacy, which is, you don’t want to be the one blamed for something breaking down.

“If JD Vance is going to be in Islamabad, it will be really hard for the Iranians to not show up.

“And I think the telephone lines are burning with the Pakistanis trying to ensure that both sides get there, because the venue is ready, the security is in place, they are just waiting for teams to arrive.”

The data from fuel theft recovery company Pay My Fuel comes as petrol and diesel retailers say their staff have also faced a jump in abuse because of high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war with Iran.

Since the conflict began, the cost of filling a typical family car with petrol has risen by £14, while a typical tank of diesel has gone up by about £27.

The government said fuel thieves “must face the full force of the law,” while police said forces were taking a proactive approach to the issue.

Josh, a petrol retailer with five garages in the south of England, said he was experiencing about five drive-offs a week now at each garage, whereas it was previously one or two.

He shared CCTV footage with the BBC, which shows drive-offs at all hours of the day and at varying costs to his business.

One evening a motorbike carrying two people pulls up. Footage shows the two remaining on the bike as the driver puts £14.97 worth of fuel in the tank before driving off.

In another video, the driver of a white van fills up with £151.53 worth of fuel before driving away during the morning rush hour. In a third incident, the driver of a white Porsche SUV puts £75.15 of fuel into her vehicle in the middle of the afternoon and fails to pay.

While some of the drive-offs were people with no means to pay, Josh said most were just “pure theft”.

“There just seems to be a sort of public acceptance now that theft is okay,” said Josh, who did not want us to use his surname because of the abuse he said forecourt staff had been facing.

“I’m sure there is a percentage of people that are doing it out of desperation, but the large majority is organised, pre-planned.”

According to data from Pay My Fuel. The number of drive-offs experienced by an average forecourt each week has risen from 2.1 in March 2025 to 3.4 in March this year – an increase of roughly 62%.

The firm, which has systems across 1,400 forecourts to help recover stolen funds, said the average value of a drive-off had risen by 46% over the same period.

“It’s a lot worse,” said the firm’s director, Ian Wolfenden.

“An average drive-off for one of our customers used to be £56, and now it’s gone up to £67. So if you consider they’re losing nearly £70 every two days, it’s not insignificant.”

Wolfenden added that the problem was three or four times as bad in less affluent areas, highlighting east and south-east London, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham as particular problem areas for drive-offs.

Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), said the increase in the price of fuel since the war began had led to a “noticeable increase” in fuel theft.

He said some of the theft was “obviously organised crime”, but other instances were people who said they had forgotten their wallet or purse.

“Some of that could be due to the cost of living,” Balmer said.

The head of the National Business Crime Centre, Superintendent Lisa Maslen, said fuel theft continued to “place a significant and unacceptable strain on fuel retailers, impacting businesses financially and placing additional demand on policing resources”.

She said police forces were taking a “proactive approach to tackling this issue, working to identify offenders, disrupt repeat behaviour and ensure those responsible are held to account”.

The police were boosting collaboration with fuel retailers and cost recovery agencies to help identify patterns and target repeat offenders, Maslen added.

A government spokesperson said: “Fuel theft undermines businesses and their workers. These thieves must face the full force of the law.”

They urged anyone who had witnessed such a crime to report it to the police.

Profiteering claims ‘not helpful’

While the price of fuel came down slightly over the weekend, the RAC said the cost of petrol remained 19.2% higher than at the start of the war, and diesel remained 34.5% above pre-war levels.

Balmer said those increases had been particularly tough for forecourts that bought fuel daily and had to reflect the higher cost immediately, which had led to some abuse of staff.

The PRA said the abuse had been fuelled by the government’s “frustrating” accusations of price gouging and profiteering, which Balmer said had not been helpful.

Last month, the government said the competition watchdog was primed to step in if there was evidence of price gouging at the pump.

At the time, retailers hit back at what they said was “inflammatory language”, but Josh said people seemed to “genuinely believe it”.

“Our staff are seeing quite a lot of abuse,” he said. “They’ve had people calling them thieves, shouting at them, it’s quite intimidating for these guys – they don’t come to work to be shouted at.”

More than half of the pump price of fuel (55%) is tax, and Balmer said in reality retailers made a “very slim margin”.

The government said, “Any form of abuse against someone simply going about their day-to-day work is completely unacceptable.”

The children were aged from one year old to 14 years old, the BBC’s US news partner CBS reports.

Officers said the shooting began about 05:00 (10:00 GMT) on Sunday. The suspect shot 10 people before fleeing in a stolen car, Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon said. Police then chased and killed him.

Two adult women, including the mother of the children, are in critical condition.

The suspect has been identified as Shamar Elkins, Shreveport mayor’s communications director Leigh Anne Evensky told the BBC.

The suspect shot a woman on the street before going to a nearby residence where he killed the eight children, “one of whom was not a kin to him”, according to police.

One of the victims ran to a nearby home and called authorities, police said. They said the gunman acted alone. A ninth child jumped from the roof and was in the hospital, Bordelon said.

Speaking earlier on Sunday, Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said: “This is a tragic situation – maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport.

“We have hurting families, we have hurting police officers, and coroners’ personnel.

“This affects the entire community, so we all mourn with these families.”

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US since January 2024, when eight victims were killed in Joliet, Illinois, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a nonprofit that tracks US gun violence.

GVA defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more victims were shot, not including the suspect.

Speaking at a news conference earlier on Sunday, Bordelon said officers attended a home shortly before 06:00 local time and found the children.

“All of the deceased in this case are juveniles,” Bordelon said.

He said officers determined the call was “domestic in nature”.

After the shooting the suspected gunman carjacked a vehicle and attempted to flee, police said.

Police said officers pursued him into another neighbourhood, Bossier Parish, and fired at the suspected gunman, who is now deceased.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said his heart went out to the entire community.

“I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event can occur,” Smith said.

He added that the investigation was being conducted in coordination with the Louisiana State Police and with assistance from other agencies.

“We are going to be working diligently however long it takes to get some answers to what has taken place,” he said.

Shreveport councilman Grayson Boucher said more than 30% of crimes and 30% of murders in the city were “domestic in relation”, adding: “Now that number has gone up.”

“We’ve more than doubled our homicide in the city of Shreveport because of one act of domestic violence,” he said.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he and his wife were “heartbroken over this horrific situation, and we’re praying for everyone affected”.

“We’re deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers and first responders working tirelessly on the scene,” Landry added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents Louisiana’s Fourth District, has also commented on the “heartbreaking tragedy”.

“We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” he said, adding he was grateful for the quick response of local police.

Police in the eastern region of Burgenland said the poisoned jar of carrot and potato purée had been reported by a customer and that their baby had fortunately not consumed the food.

The jar had apparently been tampered with, police said. Authorities believe at least one more poisoned jar is in circulation and have issued guidance on how to recognise tampered jars.

They have not confirmed that the cases involve an alleged extortion attempt. But the police statement said the warning had come from German investigators and tampered jars had also been seized in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On Saturday, HiPP recalled its entire range of jarred purées sold in Spar supermarkets in Austria, saying consuming them may be potentially “life-threatening”.

The German-based company said the recall of baby food jars at Spar Austria was “not due to a product or quality defect on our part” – and that jars had left its factory in “perfect condition”.

“The recall is related to a criminal act that is being investigated by the authorities,” it said on its website.

“As part of ongoing criminal investigations, isolated cases of tampered HiPP baby food jars have been seized – as previously reported in Austria, now also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“The responsible authorities determined upon examination of these jars that they contained rat poison.”

Spar has also removed the brand’s baby food from its stores in other countries as a precautionary measure.

Austrian authorities have told consumers to look out for damaged or open lids, a missing safety seal, an unusual or spoiled odour, or a white sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the glass jar.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety warned parents whose babies had consumed the brand’s food to consult a doctor if their children showed signs of bleeding, extreme weakness or paleness.

Customers have also been asked not to consume HiPP jars purchased at Eurospar, Interspar and Maximarkt, and to return them for a refund.

There are more than 1,500 Spar shops across Austria.

Police previously stressed baby food sold in other shops remained unaffected by the recall.

HiPP’s baby formula was also unaffected.

Retailers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also preemptively removed all HiPP baby food jars from sale.

The incident comes just a few months after two other baby brands had to issue wides-scale recalls of infant formula over contamination fears.

In January and February, Nestle and Danone issued recalls of their baby formula brands in more than 60 countries, including in the UK, after babies fell ill.

Specific batches were understood to have been contaminated with toxin cereulide, which can trigger nausea and vomiting when consumed. The toxin is not destroyed by cooking or when making baby milk.

The UK’s Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) said in February that at least 36 infants in Britain had suffered food poisoning due to contaminated baby formula. None of the infants’ conditions were life-threatening, the UKHSA said.

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals exported 44,000 barrels per day of petrol in March 2026, outpacing domestic imports and producing a surplus of roughly 3,000 barrels per day. It is the first time in Nigeria’s history that Africa’s largest oil producer has crossed into net exporter territory on refined fuel.

The reversal is striking. Nigeria has long held the uncomfortable distinction of being a major crude exporter that could not refine enough for its own population. Fuel imports were a given, a structural fixture of the economy that drained foreign exchange and left the country exposed to global supply disruptions. That era appears to be ending.

Dangote himself credited the policy environment under President Bola Tinubu’s administration for creating the conditions that made large-scale domestic refining viable, including reforms that restored investor confidence in the energy sector. The 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery, the largest single-train facility of its kind in the world, received about 565,000 barrels per day of crude in March, the second-highest intake since it began operations in late 2023.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s petrol imports collapsed. Market intelligence firm Kpler put March imports at 41,000 barrels per day, the lowest level ever recorded. The numbers tell a clean story: as the refinery ramped up, imports fell, and the surplus started flowing out.

Some of that surplus is now reaching places it never has before. The Dangote Refinery shipped a 317,000-barrel petrol cargo to Mozambique in March, its first delivery to East Africa. A follow-up cargo is scheduled to arrive in Beira in April, reflecting growing appetite from East African buyers who are moving away from Middle East supply amid ongoing geopolitical disruptions.

The implications spread well beyond Nigeria’s borders. Analysts say the export milestone should strengthen Nigeria’s external balance by pulling in foreign exchange earnings and easing pressure on the naira. Nigeria’s entry into global refined product markets also adds a new competitive voice to trade flows, with potential ripple effects in Europe’s already oversupplied petrol market.

The Dangote Refinery has been building toward this moment since it processed its first crude. It began by cutting Nigeria’s import bill, then displaced traders who had built businesses around the country’s refining gap, then started reaching into West Africa, and now East Africa. The trajectory points in one direction.

Nigeria is no longer just an oil producer that happens to need fuel shipped back to it. That shift, after decades of delay, has a name attached to it.

Bohemian Rhapsody was a troubled production, to put it mildly. The original star, Sacha Baron Cohen, departed and the original director Bryan Singer was fired. But the biopic of Freddie Mercury and Queen went on to make more than $900m (£660m) at the box office and win four Oscars.

Given that success, it seemed logical when the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, Graham King, revealed in 2019 that he would be making another biopic of a music megastar: Michael Jackson. In short, King was following Queen with the King of Pop.

His new venture, Michael, had one obvious difficulty: Jackson had been accused of child abuse. In 1994, he reached an out-of-court settlement with one of his accusers, Jordan Chandler, and he was acquitted of molesting a 13-year-old boy in a criminal trial in 2005.

Lawyers for the estate of Jackson and its executors, who are among the producers of the biopic, tell the BBC that they “firmly and unequivocally believe in Michael Jackson’s innocence, which was unanimously adjudicated by a jury and supported by extensive evidence”.

All the same, the allegations remain a part of Jackson’s life story, complicating the attempt to turn his life into a nine-figure Hollywood blockbuster. But given current demand for the pop star, it’s likely to be a big hit, too. Industry analysts are predicting that Michael will be even bigger than Bohemian Rhapsody.

If King had any initial doubts about the wisdom of giving Jackson the Bohemian Rhapsody treatment, they may have been allayed by the rise in his popularity since his death of a prescription drug overdose, aged 50, in 2009.

On Spotify, he currently has 64.8 million monthly listeners and 40.5 million followers, making him the streaming service’s 27th biggest artist in the world. His life and music are also the basis of a Cirque du Soleil spectacular, Michael Jackson ONE, which has been running in Las Vegas since 2013, and a Tony-winning jukebox show, MJ The Musical, which has been on Broadway since 2022. The biopic would just be the latest addition to the glittering Michael Jackson industry.

It was announced in January 2023 that Michael would be written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day). It was later confirmed that the starry cast would include Colman Domingo, Miles Teller and Nia Long, and that the lead role would be played by Jackson’s own nephew, Jaafar Jackson. And, as mentioned, its producer knows a thing or two about exultant pop biopics. In 2024, a spokesperson for the new film told the BBC in a statement: “From the beginning the Michael Jackson estate put their trust in Graham King, stepping out of the creative process.” 

A complicated legacy

So why is Jackson such a hot property, despite the accusations that once tainted his image? “There are several things at work here,” Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, pop critic at the Financial Times, tells the BBC. “One is the lack of definitive legal proof [that Jackson committed any crimes]. Another is the branch of public relations dedicated to reputation management or rehabilitation. Jackson is now seen as a victim himself, bullied by his father, warped by fame, dying too young. And finally, most importantly, there’s the fact that he’s the ultimate pop star – a brilliant vocal stylist, a dancer to rival Fred Astaire, an entertainer with an indelible sense of his own sound and look.” 

“Another factor,” adds Ed Potton, culture commissioning editor at The Times, “is whether you’ve seen the Leaving Neverland documentary.”

This Emmy-winning four-hour documentary features the testimonies of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, two men who allege that Jackson had sexually abused them when they were children. It was broadcast in two parts on HBO in 2019, just a few months before the announcement that King would be making his biopic.

In a letter to the BBC, lawyers representing the Jackson estate call Leaving Neverland and its 2025 sequel “one-sided hit-pieces attacking Michael Jackson”.

The documentary’s director, Dan Reed, tells the BBC that he had read an early draft of the Michael screenplay that “contained many falsehoods, a great many inaccuracies and also just outright lies about the facts of his relationship with Jordan Chandler and Jordan Chandler’s parents”. Lawyers representing Jackson’s estate tell the BBC that because Reed had not seen the finished film, his comments were “irrelevant and misguided”. They added: “As the film was years away from completion at the time statements were made, they were false and defamatory speculative assertions”. 

The film’s revisions and reshoots

The film did indeed take years to complete. The production was delayed by the Sag-Aftra strike in 2023, but things got underway in the early months of 2024. King suggested at the time that the film would address some of the controversy relating to its subject. “Behind the unrelenting scrutiny and the accusations and the grinding media spotlight, [Jackson] was simply a man,” the producer said at Las Vegas’s CinemaCon in April 2024. “A man who lived a very complicated life. The movie will get into all of it…”

The film charts Jackson’s rise from family-band member to solo superstar, climaxing with a triumphal concert from the Bad tour in 1988. Nothing controversial is featured

According to a recent article in Variety, the film would certainly “get into” some of it. It “was supposed to explore the impact of the allegations on Jackson’s life, with much of its third act devoted to the [Jordan Chandler] scandal”, said the article.

But somewhere, the plan was changed, according to articles in The New York Times, Variety, and elsewhere.

band member to solo superstar, and his escape from the control of his abusive father (Domingo). It climaxes with a triumphal concert from the Bad tour in 1988. Nothing controversial is featured.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that after shooting was complete, Jackson’s estate’s lawyers realised that the scandal couldn’t be included. When Jackson had settled with Chandler in 1994, one of the conditions was that Chandler couldn’t be portrayed or referred to in any film. New scenes were written, and there were 22 days of additional shooting in June 2025. The release date was pushed back from 2025 to 2026, said The Hollywood Reporter.

Variety reported that the reshoots cost between $10m and $15m, with the bill being settled by Jackson’s estate. But if the revisions have turned the biopic into a purely positive celebration of its subject, that may come to seem like money well spent.

There is even the possibility that some of the discarded footage will be used in a sequel. A spokesman for the film studio, Lionsgate, told the New York Times that “the unusual circumstances gave us the opportunity to shoot more material for what is effectively a Part One – the making of a king – while preserving the opportunity to tell more story in a subsequent film or films”.

A grey Toyota struck two pedestrians on Langs Road in the Ascot Vale suburb just before 17:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Saturday, Victoria Police said.

One pedestrian died at the scene and the second was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police said the circumstances surrounding the collision had not yet been established and the arrested man was due to be interviewed.

Local media reported the crash happened outside the Melbourne Showgrounds, which had been hosting the two-day Supanova Comic Con & Gaming event.

Pictures of the scene showed a police cordon around the vehicle which appeared to have visible damage.

Det Insp Craig McEvoy told 9News that the driver had been arrested by an off-duty officer who received assistance from the public.

He said it was unclear whether the incident was intentional, but police would be investigating all avenues, including whether drugs or alcohol were involved.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported an eyewitness, Tom, said he “heard a screech and a guy mounted the kerb at an erratic speed, hit a couple people”.

He said the car U-turned back down the street towards him before it stalled, and he claimed to have stopped the driver from fleeing.

Thousands of people had reportedly been expected to attend the event, which describes itself as the “home of Australia’s pop culture fandom”.

Celebrities including Lord of the Rings actor Andy Serkis and Harry Potter actress Bonnie Wright were announced as guests at the expo.

Tehran has effectively blocked the key oil shipping channel since the US and Israel attacked the country on 28 February. A ceasefire between the US and Iran is due to expire on 22 April.

US President Donald Trump said a naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a peace deal was agreed between the two countries but that it was “a great and brilliant day for the world”.

Maritime groups say they are still verifying whether it is safe for vessels to travel through the strait, and tracking shows minimal ship movement.

The announcement by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, came on Friday – the first full day of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep of Iran,” he wrote on X.

Iranian state TV later quoted a “senior military official” as saying that the passage of these vessels would be through a “designated route” and that the passage of military vessels through the Strait would still be “prohibited.”

This is likely referring to a map and two routes designated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and widely reported by Iranian media last week.

Some Iranian news outlets have criticised Araghchi’s post. Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, called it “bad and incomplete”, saying such passage would be considered “void” should the US naval blockade continue. Others called for the Iranian authorities to clarify the matter.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed Iran’s delegation in the recent talks with the US in Islamabad, said on X that Donald Trump “made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false”.

On the Strait of Hormuz, he said that, with the “continuation of the [US] blockade”, the Strait “will not remain open”.

Iran is an ally of Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and military group based in southern Lebanon. Israel launched strikes on Lebanon on 2 March in response to those carried out by Hezbollah, which itself was retaliating against the US and Israel for its attacks on Iran.

Meanwhile, Trump said talks with Iran to end the war would continue over the course of the weekend, adding that he did not think there were too many significant differences between the two sides.

It comes after Iran’s foreign ministry said the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred “anywhere under any circumstances”, denying Trump’s claim on Friday that the regime had agreed to hand it over to the US.

Trump also told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that no ground troops would be needed to remove the enriched uranium, saying that the US and Iran would “work together to go get it”.

“And then we’ll take it to the United States,” he added.

About 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually passes through the strait, but the number of ships transporting this has dramatically decreased during the recent hostilities. Iran has threatened to attack tankers and other ships, as well as warning that it has laid mines.

This has sent shock waves across the global economy, causing fuel prices to soar. While the cost of oil plummeted on Friday following Araghchi’s announcement, questions remain about the validity of it and whether a temporary reopening would allow ships to transit through.

“I need further clarification for the shipping industry that there will be no risks for the ships to navigate and it will be in accordance with international law,” Arsenio Dominguez, the head of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), told BBC World Business report.

The IMO has information that some ships have started to sail but that it still needed to verify this as “some ships turn off their identification systems in order not to be targeted”, he said.

Cormac McGarry, director for maritime security at the consultancy firm Control Risks, said he was “no more optimistic than he was yesterday” about the strait reopening, despite Araghchi’s announcement.

He told BBC’s 5 Live Drive that the statement “basically changes nothing” as the implicit threat of mines remain.

“Right now, the scenarios are looking pretty bleak for shipping over the next few weeks,” McGarry added.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Friday that his country and France would lead a multinational mission to protect commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking after a meeting of 49 countries, Starmer underlined the work would be “strictly peaceful and defensive” and would only be put in place once fighting in the region ends.

In today’s media environment, the challenge is no longer simply producing accurate information; it is about ensuring that truth remains visible in a fast-moving and often misleading information space. Trust in journalism is no longer automatic; it has to be earned and, increasingly, demonstrated.

In this context, the DW Global Media Forum 2026 takes on renewed significance. Under the theme “Journalism out loud,” the Forum reflects a growing need for journalism that is not only accurate but also transparent, engaging, and accountable.

During a recent reporting engagement, I observed multiple versions of the same story circulating across social media within minutes of an event unfolding. Some accounts were partially accurate, while others were clearly misleading. What stood out was not only the speed of information but also how quickly audiences formed conclusions before verification could catch up. In those first few minutes, before any official confirmation, the gap between what was happening and what people believed was already widening. In that moment, it became clear that the challenge facing journalism today is not only to report the truth but also to ensure it is understood and trusted.

In many cases, the challenge is not that facts are unavailable, but that they compete with faster, louder, and often misleading narratives.

This is where the idea of “journalism out loud” becomes critical. It is not about being louder than others but about making the journalism process more visible, showing how stories are verified, what is known, what remains uncertain, and how editorial decisions are made. In an age of disinformation and algorithm-driven content, transparency is no longer optional; it is essential.

The urgency of this shift has been reinforced by global developments in digital communication. During recent election cycles across multiple countries, AI-generated political videos and synthetic audio clips have circulated widely online, sometimes shaping public perception before they are verified or debunked. In response, organizations such as Reporters Without Borders have repeatedly warned that the erosion of trust in the media is becoming one of the most serious threats to democratic systems worldwide. In this environment, journalism must not only correct falsehoods but also do so in ways that are immediate, transparent, and accessible.

The Forum’s emphasis on interactive formats, from workshops to live discussions, signals a shift in how journalism is practiced. Audiences are no longer passive consumers of information. They question, interpret, and engage. As a result, journalism must evolve from merely delivering information to fostering understanding.

At the same time, the challenges are becoming more complex. The rise of AI-generated content, particularly in political communication, has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish authentic from manipulated information. In this environment, credibility must be actively reinforced through clarity, consistency, and openness. This also requires journalists to rethink how they present their work, not only as final conclusions but as processes that audiences can follow and evaluate.

Equally important is recognizing that journalism today cannot operate in isolation. Diverse perspectives, collaborative reporting, and inclusive storytelling are no longer optional ideals; they are essential tools for accurately reflecting a complex, interconnected world. Cross-border investigations, data-driven collaborations, and partnerships among newsrooms are increasingly shaping how major global stories are told.

The DW Global Media Forum 2026 is more than a gathering of media professionals. It is a space to rethink how journalism can remain relevant, credible, and impactful in a rapidly changing global landscape. It is also a reminder that innovation in journalism is no longer confined to technology but extends to how stories are structured, shared, and understood.

There is also a quieter shift underway, less visible but equally important. Journalism is no longer defined only by what it reveals but by how openly it explains itself. That shift may not always be dramatic, yet it is where trust is slowly rebuilt.

Ultimately, the future of journalism will be defined not by those who simply report the news, but by those who can make their work visible, understandable, and meaningful to the audiences they serve. 

In that sense, journalism must not only speak; it must be seen to be working. 

In the end, journalism is not measured by how quickly it responds but by how clearly it earns the trust it depends on.

About the author

Moro Mohammed is a broadcast journalist focused on global media trends, digital communication, and the evolving role of journalism in combating misinformation.

This is the first group of an unknown number of people that the US has expelled which the DR Congo had agreed to take in.

The government in Kinshasa has stressed that their stay in the country is only temporary and that Washington is funding “their reception, support and care”.

The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including Ghana, South Sudan and Eswatini, as part of the crackdown on immigration.

Earlier this month, when details of the deportation deal first emerged, the Congolese government said the decision to receive what are known as third-country migrants – that is those who come from neither the sending nor receiving nation – aligns with its commitment to human dignity, to protecting the rights of migrants and international solidarity.

The Congolese authorities also said that the scheme was not a “permanent relocation mechanism or an outsourcing of migration policies”.

The US State Department said that while it did not comment on “diplomatic communications with other governments” the administration remained “unwavering” in its “commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security”.

The US has deported dozens of people to third countries since President Donald Trump came to power in January last year as part of its hard-line approach towards immigration.

“The individuals concerned are admitted to the national territory under short-stay permits, in accordance with national legislation concerning the entry and residence of foreigners,” a Congolese government statement said on Friday without giving any more details about the deportees.

But a source at N’djili International Airport, where the group landed in the early hours of Friday, told the BBC that they were mostly Colombians and Peruvians.

According to a minority report from the US senate’s committee on foreign relations, the Trump administration has “likely” spent more than $40m (£30m) in third-country deportations up to January 2026, although the total cost is “unknown”.

The US has provided more than $32m “directly” to five countries – Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau – it added.

The US is also negotiating a minerals deal with DR Congo to help gain access to the central African country’s vast reserves of key metals such as cobalt, tantalum, lithium and copper.

Under Trump, the US has facilitated a peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda, although implementation remains a challenge.

At the conclusion of a fresh round of talks between the Congolese government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, both sides, who have been fighting in the east of the DR Congo, say they will allow in humanitarian aid, protect civilians and their infrastructure, and begin monitoring a permanent ceasefire.

Delegates at the negotiations in Switzerland, mediated by the US and Qatar, said they were encouraged by their progress toward ending the conflict.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied supporting the M23 despite overwhelming evidence, saying its military presence is a defensive measure against threats to its security by armed groups in DR Congo.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said 24-year-old Tyler Buchanan, from Dundee, and his co-conspirators defrauded companies and their employees through SMS phishing attacks.

These are messages sent to mobile phones luring people to websites that prompt them to provide confidential personal details, including account names and passwords.

Buchanan, who has been in US federal custody since April 2025, is scheduled for sentencing on 21 August, when he will face a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.

Between September 2021 and April 2023, Buchanan and others planned cyber attacks on entertainment, telecommunications, technology, and virtual currency companies, according to the DOJ.

The group sent hundreds of phishing messages to employees of those organisation, then used their stolen credentials to access accounts and steal confidential company information.

Buchanan admitted in his plea agreement that he and several co-conspirators used the stolen information stolen to steal millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency.

A digital device found at Buchanan’s Scotland home showed he possessed the names and addresses of numerous people, including a file that contained cryptocurrency seed phrases and login information for one victim’s account.

In total, the scheme involved the theft of at least $8m worth of virtual currency assets from individuals throughout the US, the DOJ said.

Buchanan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In November 2023, Buchanan was charged by the US along with four American men and boys in their twenties and teens for alleged activity linked to the notorious cyber-criminal collective Scattered Spider.

The DOJ named 21-year-old Noah Michael Urban, who pleaded guilty in April 2025 to three fraud-related counts, as a co-conspirator.

He is serving a 10-year federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay $13m in restitution.

The FBI is continuing to investigate the case, with three other defendants – all based in America and in their 20s – also facing criminal charges.

“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post. However, vessels must transit through a “coordinated route” announced by Iran’s maritime authorities, Araghchi said.

President Donald Trump thanked Iran for opening the strait in a social media post. But Trump said the U.S. naval blockade of Iran’s ports will remain in effect until an agreement is reached with Tehran.

Oil prices plunged more than 11% after the announcement.

Israel and Lebanon agreed Thursday to a 10-day ceasefire starting at 5 p.m. ET that evening. Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon against the militant group Hezbollah, who are close allies of Iran, has been a sticking point in negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7 in exchange for Iran completely opening the strait. But Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused the U.S. of violating the agreement by allowing Israel to continue its campaign in Lebanon.

The strait has remained almost completely closed during the U.S.-Iran ceasefire as the two countries disputed the terms of the agreement. Just a few commercial vessels are transiting the waterway daily.

Negotiations between Vice President JD Vance and Ghalibaf last weekend in Pakistan failed to produce an agreement to permanently end the U.S. war with Iran. Trump said U.S. and Iranian negotiators could meet again this weekend in Pakistan for a second round of talks.

By the time a neighbour alerted police, and he was taken to hospital, the damage was irreversible.

“The herbalist brought charcoal, put something on my hands, tied my hands [along] with my leg, put pepper there inside the charcoal, then covered me with a bedsheet,” recalls Friday, now aged 19.

Doctors were forced to sedate him and operate on him. Friday woke up to find his left hand amputated, while the fingers on his right hand were either amputated or permanently scarred.

“I cried, and I cried,” Friday tells the BBC.

In the years that followed, people stared at him on the streets or taunted him.

“I wish they knew me, like, when I was born,” he says.

Alongside his grief was a steely determination to keep going.

Yet his academic ambitions were nearly interrupted two years ago, when he tried to sit Nigeria’s university entrance examination, run by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The system’s biometric fingerprint process could not accommodate someone like him, as it could not capture his scarred thumbprint or the prints of the other two scarred fingers.

Thankfully, he got lucky as one of his guardians, along with disability rights campaigners, pushed officials to accept his toe print as verification of his ID.

Friday is now studying English and literary studies at a university in Nasarawa, a state which borders the capital, Abuja.

He is the first in his family to enrol at university.

“Not everyone has someone to push for them,” he says. “Some people will just stop trying,” Friday says.

Scarlett Eduoku, a radio presenter in the northern state of Kano, has faced similar obstacles and says most identity verification apps fail to scan her face. She lost her left eye when she was 18 months old.

This is a constant headache and also means she could not upgrade her SIM card from 3G to 5G remotely.

Instead, she had to travel to the headquarters of her phone provider in Kano’s city centre.

More than 35 million Nigerians, roughly 15% of the population, are estimated to live with some form of disability, according to the executive secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), Ayuba Burki-Gufwan.

Landmark legislation was passed by parliament in 2019, prohibiting discrimination against disabled people and guaranteeing them access to public services.

The legislation led to the establishment of the NCPWD to advocate for their rights, but change has been “more or less at snail’s speed”, Burki-Gufwan tells the BBC.

He remains optimistic, however, saying that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step”.

Burki-Gufwan points to some gains – Jamb has dropped examination fees for people with disabilities and has created dedicated centres for students with different needs.

A university in Nasarawa, the Federal University of Lafia, has also waived up to 75% of all fees for students living with disabilities.

“All of a sudden, the university witnessed a huge upsurge [in enrolment],” Burki-Gufwan says, “because every person with a disability wanted to benefit.”

Lagos-based special educator Chukwuemeka Chimdiebere says Nigeria has to step up efforts to address the needs of disabled people.

“Inclusion is not a favour. It is a responsibility,” he tells the BBC.

Accessibility, he explains, goes far beyond things like building ramps.

It means sign-language interpreters in classrooms, learning materials for visually impaired students, trained teachers and digital platforms designed with different users in mind.

“Many persons with disabilities are not limited by their impairment. They are limited by systems that were never designed with them in mind,” Chimdiebere says.

Abiose Falade, 48, an author in the south-western city of Ibadan, uses a wheelchair and says that disability “is part of the circle of life”.

“It can happen to you earlier, it can happen to you later. Sometimes it can be permanent, sometimes temporary. But disability is part of the dynamics of how God created us.”

Falade did not see herself as being different from anyone else until she enrolled on school at the age of 10.

“I was introduced to the world and its intricacies,” she says. “Persons with disabilities were not exactly part of what the world wanted.”

She feels like this to this day: “There’s a list of places I can go and a list I can’t.

“When I want to go out, I take someone with me so that when people start staring, sointing, I don’t notice. It’s easier than facing it alone.”

The physical environment compounds the challenge.

In many Nigerian cities, pavements are uneven or interrupted by features like the wide gaps in open drainage channels designed for maintenance access, while dropped kerbs are few and far between, making them difficult or impossible to navigate. In rural areas, the absence of pavements means wheelchair users must rely on roads that are often unpaved or unsafe.

Public buildings rarely have ramps, and wheelchair users struggle to enter banks, hospitals or government offices without assistance.

Making things worse is the fact that Nigeria has to import every wheelchair, hearing aid and mobility device.

“If nine out of every 10 people with disabilities require some form of assistive device and none are locally manufactured, then we have a huge challenge on our hands,” Burki-Gufwan says.

Advocates are calling for 1% of budgets to be reserved for persons with disabilities at every level of government. They say limited public funding and competing priorities affect how quickly accessibility measures can be implemented, even where there is willingness.

Expanding inclusive infrastructure and assistive technologies would require significant investment, though advocates say that stronger commitment and enforcement of existing laws are just as critical as funding.

Opeyemi Ademola, 28, a project manager in Lagos, has a disability which is not visible.

He lives with mixed hearing loss. So every meeting requires intense concentration, and noisy environments leave him mentally drained.

“People assume that if you can speak fluently, you don’t experience communication challenges,” he says.

“But accessibility is not about ability. It’s about support.”

Simple adjustments, like written summaries after meetings and captions on video calls, could make a big difference, he says.

Burki-Gufwan hopes that one day there will be “true accessibility” for people with disabilities.

“It means no one is left behind – in employment, in education, in political participation,” he says.

Back on campus, Friday is settling down as a student.

Between lectures and assignments, he is learning new ways to write again, to live independently away from home and to make new friends.

He is showing Nigerians that obstacles and prejudice can be overcome, and people with disabilities can succeed like everyone else if given the opportunity.

They were “found to have engaged in posts and activities praising crime and criminals and negatively affecting public order”, police said.

At least 16 people were injured in a shooting at a high school in the country’s southeast on Tuesday, before another nine were killed in a shooting at another school in the city of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday.

Hundreds have gathered near the city’s main mosque for the funerals of the young victims, which are being held on Thursday.

One victim has been identified as 10-year-old Zeynep. Her uncle, Mahmut, told the BBC that she was a clever girl who respected others. He said: “Now she is an angel, she flew away.”

Another bereaved relative at the funerals told the BBC he wanted more protection in schools following the attack.

The aunt of another victim, Shura, told the BBC she had learned that her 10-year-old niece had been killed when her name was read out on the news.

Three Turkish government ministers are also expected to attend the funerals, the BBC understands.

The shooting in Kahramanmaras saw at least eight students and one teacher killed, Turkish officials said, with 13 others wounded, including six in critical condition. A 14-year-old attacker was also killed during the incident, which took place at Ayser Calik Secondary School.

The suspect had planned for the attack in advance, the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement

It said: “During the examination of digital materials, a document dated April 11, 2026, was found on the suspect’s computer indicating that he intended to carry out a major operation in the near future.”

The suspect had referenced US mass killer Elliot Rodger in a photo on his WhatsApp profile, according to police. Rodger, a 22-year-old American, murdered six people before taking his own life in California in 2014.

Turkish media reported that the attacker, believed to be a student, entered two classrooms and had five guns and seven magazines with him.

Tuesday’s attack, which saw 16 injured, took place at the Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in Siverek district.

The attacker, who was an ex-student in his late teens, fired “indiscriminately with a shotgun” before killing himself with the weapon, local governor Hasan Şildak said.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said that 95 individuals had been arrested following government concerns over online behaviour after the attacks.

They have been accused of sharing footage relating to the attack despite the broadcast ban, sharing content that could create fear, praising crime and encouraging offences, and circulating misinformation.

Restrictions have also been imposed on 1,104 social media accounts, Gürlek said.

Another 67 people have been taken into custody after being accused of sharing posts indicating that attacks would be carried out at other schools.

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Malema’s lawyer said he would be appealing against the decision to prevent the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from being taken into custody. The length of the sentence could also see the 45-year-old disqualified as a Member of Parliament.

Standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as the magistrate read out the sentence.

Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a weapon in a public space, and reckless endangerment.

The charges relate to an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema firing several shots into the air with a semi-automatic rifle during his party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

In his defence, Malema told the court the firearm was not his and that he fired the shots to rouse the crowd, South African news site SowetanLIVE reported at the time.

After being found guilty last October, Malema told supporters outside the court in East London that “going to prison or death is a badge of honour.”

“We cannot be scared of prison [or] to die for the revolution. Whatever they want to do, they must know we will never retreat.”

He also vowed to challenge the judgment up to South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.

Malema’s prosecution came after Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a contentious relationship with him and the EFF, opened a case following the viral video.

The visit comes shortly after President Mahama launched his flagship Free Primary Healthcare Programme in Dodowa on Wednesday, April 15.

He is expected to join a number of African leaders and senior officials at Thursday morning’s ceremony, which formally ushers in President Sassou N’Guesso’s new term in office.

The visit is also seen as part of Ghana’s broader effort to deepen diplomatic and economic relations across the continent, particularly with countries in Central Africa.

President Mahama is scheduled to return to Accra later the same day after the ceremony.

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The broadcaster needs to make £500m savings over the next two years, and interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies did not rule out axing entire channels or services.

“We need to look at everything, and at a scale of £500 million, inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Media Show.

He said the corporation would give more details later this year about how its services would be affected.

“For audiences, the job in hand now over the next three or four months is to work through how we make those changes without damaging the services that we know are critical to the BBC across radio and television and online,” he said.

He also acknowledged that the job cuts would be “really difficult news” for staff.

Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, warned that “cuts of this magnitude” would be “devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole”.

The BBC currently has about 21,500 full-time equivalent employees.

In an email to staff on Wednesday, Talfan Davies said: “As you know, the BBC is facing significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to with pace.

“Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing. This is being driven by a number of factors: production inflation remains very high; our licence fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent.”

He also imposed tighter controls on spending on recruitment, travel, management consultancies, and attendance at conferences, awards and events.

‘Difficult decisions’

The BBC is currently negotiating with the government about its future, and that of the licence fee, ahead of the renewal of its royal charter at the end of 2027.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the BBC, “like every institution”, has to make “difficult decisions”.

“That is something that I know the leadership of the BBC take very seriously, including exploring commercial options and other revenue raisers that can help to sustain the BBC’s finances,” she told Radio 4’s World at One programme shortly before the announcement.

The news of the cuts comes in advance of the arrival of a new BBC director general, former Google executive Matt Brittin, who will officially succeed the recently departed Tim Davie on 18 May.

‘Death by a thousand cuts’

Childs said BBC staff were “already under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds”, and further cuts “will inevitably damage its ability to deliver on its public mission”.

She continued: “At a time of fake news and an industry that is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few multinational corporations, the UK needs a confident, ambitious and sustainably-funded BBC more than ever.

“The government must ensure that Charter Renewal puts the BBC’s funding on a more secure, long-term pathway and prevent our national broadcaster from facing death by a thousand cuts.”

Laura Davison, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said the plans for “more brutal job cuts are wrong, damaging and will cause uncertainty and distress for workers at the BBC”.

She said: “These cuts severely undermine the BBC’s ability to fulfil its purposes: providing quality journalism and programming that informs, educates, and entertains.

“Plans for further cuts follow years of real-terms budget reductions and relentless cost-saving measures that have affected core parts of the corporation. This can’t go on. The BBC cannot provide quality journalism without the talented and experienced workers who make it possible.”

Worth an estimated A$38bn (£20bn; $27bn), Rinehart inherited the iron ore ventures of her father in 1992, before going on to develop mines in the mineral-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA).

Two of her children and the heirs of her late father’s business partners argued they were entitled to a significant share of royalties and mining rights.

On Wednesday, more than 13 years after the legal battle began, a Supreme Court judge ruled that Rinehart must pay past and future royalties to her rival heirs but that the mining rights remain hers.

The legal battle centres around Hope Downs, one of Australia’s largest and most lucrative iron ore projects.

The court heard Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, and his business partner, Peter Wright, who were considered iron ore pioneers in WA, drew up an agreement to manage their joint interests under a business called Hanwright.

During the 51-day trial in 2023, Wright’s children argued that Rinehart had breached that agreement and owed them mining rights and royalties stemming from Hope Downs.

The site is jointly operated by global mining giant Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting, and last year tipped A$832m into Rinehart’s company’s coffers.

Rio Tinto pays 2.5% in royalties to Hancock Prospecting, with Justice Jennifer Smith ruling half belongs to the Wright family.

“Wright Prospecting won half of its case, lost half of its case, and Hancock Prospecting… has won and lost half of its case,” Smith said.

The legal case also involved two of Rinehart’s children, Bianca Rinehart and John Hancock, who claimed that their mother had moved lucrative mining rights out of a family trust into a part of the business they couldn’t touch.

The pair said their grandfather had intended to share the wealth from the mines at Hope Downs with them, but Rinehart had deliberately denied them access to the fortune.

Rinehart’s lawyers argued that she had moved the mining rights out of the family trust after growing suspicious of her father’s business dealings, but her children argued that she did so to keep money from his second wife, former housekeeper Rose Porteous.

Though Rinehart’s children’s claims over the rights was denied, another bid for royalties from Hope Downs by the family of late engineer Don Rhodes was partially granted.

Hancock Prospecting executive director Jay Newby welcomed the court’s decision, saying it confirmed the company’s ownership of Hope Downs and “firmly rejecting” the claims by Wright’s family and two of Rinehart’s children.

A spokesman for Wright Prospecting also welcomed the decision, saying it was “pleased to finally receive a result in our favour”.

Rinehart is one of Australia’s biggest private donors to sports, charities and conservative political parties.

In an exclusive interview with JoyNews, he said conflicts such as the ongoing crisis in the Middle East have had negative spillover effects on developing economies like Ghana.

“The world would have been better off without this war, and emerging economies such as Ghana would have definitely been better off without this war,” he stated.

His comments come amid recent adjustments in global energy markets and ongoing domestic discussions over fuel price fluctuations and subsidy interventions.

Mr. Abu Jinapor also referenced the Russia-Ukraine conflict, arguing that its economic impact on Ghana had been underestimated by some critics at the time.

He said current developments vindicate earlier warnings that global instability significantly affects inflation, fuel prices, and fiscal planning in Ghana.

The country has not had a top envoy in the US since Ebrahim Rasool was expelled last year after he accused President Donald Trump of trying to “project white victimhood as a dog whistle”.

This worsened already strained relations between the two nations, which took a downward spiral after Trump’s return to office last year.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed Meyer’s appointment to the BBC, saying it would be “immediate”.

“I can confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Meyer as South Africa’s ambassador to the US,” he said.

Meyer, 78, played a key role as one of the chief mediators, alongside Ramaphosa, during the talks to end the racist system of white-minority rule known as apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s.

He was the chief representative of the National Party, which introduced apartheid, while Ramaphosa represented the African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela.

During that period, the two enjoyed a fishing trip together and would eventually form a lifelong friendship.

Meyer was part of a group of 32 prominent South Africans the president chose last year to guide the national dialogue, a process aimed at addressing the country’s various challenges.

He was constitutional affairs minister in the last apartheid government and went on to join the government of national unity formed in 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president.

He left just two years later and went on to co-found the United Democratic Movement. He later became a member of the ANC.

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At the 2023 Russia-Africa summit, Ibrahim Traoré, President of Burkina Faso, challenged African leaders when he said, “Why do our heads of state travel the world begging?” About two years later, in September 2025, on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, his Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo echoed similar sentiments when he said, “We didn’t come to the United States to beg. We’ve moved beyond the dynamic of holding out our hands.”

The country’s leaders have said at different times that it was shameful for African leaders to keep begging the international community for financial assistance, while frowning on foreign debt as one that undermines sovereignty. Yet, Burkina Faso under Traore is now more indebted and dependent on international aid than before the coup.

Burkina Faso experienced a military coup in January 2022, when Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, citing the government’s failure to contain escalating insecurity and economic strain. A second coup followed in September 2022, bringing Captain Traoré to power. In the aftermath, the military junta pledged to restore security, stabilise the country, and lay the groundwork for economic recovery. It also promised to boost agricultural productivity, improve self-reliance, and create jobs.

However, data from Burkina Faso’s Directorate General of the Treasury and Public Accounting shows that total public debt has been steadily increasing since at least 2021, rising from 5.998 trillion to 8.311 trillion CFA francs as of the second quarter of 2025—a 38.56% increase in four and a half years. According to government projections included in the explanatory memorandum of the 2026 Finance Law, it is expected to reach 8.784 trillion CFA francs by the end of 2025, representing a further increase of 9.4% compared to 2024.

The external share of this debt, which is loans taken from foreign entities, represents 40.3% of the total, or 3.349 trillion FCFA, an increase of 506 billion FCFA since 2021.

Between 2023 and 2024, this external debt increased by 9%, driven mainly by multilateral debt, which now represents 89.4% of the total outstanding external debt.

Domestic debt, representing 59.7% of the total, comprises nearly 80% securities (treasury bills and bonds) issued on the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) sub-regional financial market. It amounted to 4.962 trillion FCFA in the second quarter of 2025, compared to 3.155 trillion FCFA in 2021.

According to the debt bulletin data, the debt linked to the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is recorded as domestic debt. Its contributions amounted to 369.21 billion FCFA in the second quarter of 2025.

If international partners were to withdraw funding, “there will likely be shortfalls in wage payments, including those of civil servants,” said Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst at Control Risks, a specialist global risk consultancy. “Social services, particularly education and medicines, are likely to be restricted.”

Ochieng also said it could lead to the introduction of new taxes to cover the shortfalls resulting from any such withdrawal or reduction of foreign aid to Burkina Faso.

Major projects rely on development finance

The Burkinabe government’s data also offers some insights into official development assistance (ODA) received between 2021 and 2024. While bilateral aid has declined, multilateral aid has increased.

Bilateral aid fell from $699.65 million in 2021 to $269.21 million in 2024, a drop of 48.4%, attributed to the departure or suspension of disbursements by some partners, including France. However, this was offset by other sources. Multilateral aid reached its highest level since 2015, when it rose to $1.518 billion in 2024. Contributions from international NGOs have almost doubled, rising from $86.57 million to $157.58 million between 2021 and 2024.

The names of donors are familiar. The World Bank remains Burkina Faso’s largest multilateral contributor, with $632.85 million in 2024, up from $586.3 million in 2023. The United Nations comes in second with $543 million.

These institutions did not simply finance abstract budget lines. Four major projects launched between 2024 and 2026 illustrate the concrete nature of the cooperation in strategic sectors of the country. For the Water Security Project, 91.2 billion FCFA out of 92 billion is financed by the World Bank. There is also the Urban Mobility and Development Project (with 118.93 billion out of 124.8 billion externally funded), the ECOTEC Entrepreneurship Support Project (with 98.98 billion out of 106 billion externally funded), and an economic infrastructure rehabilitation project financed by the Islamic Development Bank. These four projects alone represent more than 440 billion FCFA, almost entirely financed by foreign partners.

The total amount of published ODA is $1.94 billion for 2024, but it could be higher, as data relating to contributions from the Global Fund and the United States were not available when the document was provided.

The situation is compounded by increasing budgetary pressure as debt servicing reached 1.17 trillion FCFA in 2024.

Humanitarian needs hinge on foreign support

The spiral of insecurity that has plagued the country for many years has inevitably increased reliance on external partners to address the challenges. In 2025, according to the UN Resident Coordinator in Burkina Faso, 155 partners mobilised $271.3 million to assist 1.7 million people. For 2026, humanitarian needs are estimated at 735 billion CFA francs, nearly half (364.68 billion) of which is covered by external partners.

Furthermore, in February 2026, Burkina Faso and the United Nations concluded a partnership amounting to 850.2 billion FCFA, of which 645.7 billion was earmarked for agriculture and water.

Data compiled from official Burkinabe sources is clear: international financial flows to Burkina Faso have not stopped. But its leaders continue to trumpet a sovereignty rhetoric that mocks foreign financial assistance in Africa as a whole.

“The historical cooperation between Burkina Faso and other Western donors is the cornerstone of humanitarian aid,” said Ochieng. “And as long as current partners maintain pragmatic and non-confrontational relations with the military government, this active cooperation will remain in place.”

Internal fund mobilisation continues

Authorities in Burkina Faso continue to mobilise more local finance, even if current outcomes have been insufficient to meet the country’s financial obligations and its quest for sovereignty.

Extraction of resources such as gold has been ramped up. According to the Prime Minister in a speech to the National Assembly on January 30, 2026, the country produced a total of 94 tonnes of gold in 2025. In previous years, total production stood at 60.8 tonnes in 2024 and 57.3 tonnes in 2023. In 2021 and 2022, production was 67.1 tonnes and 58.2 tonnes, respectively, according to the Ministry of Mines.

Then there was the Patriotic Support Fund, financed by voluntary contributions, taxes on consumer goods, electronic communications, imported products, and mandatory deductions from salaries, the mining development fund, and other sources.

Between 2023 and the end of 2025, this fund mobilised nearly 500 billion FCFA, exceeding the initial target of 450 billion. “This means that we have internal capabilities that were not sufficiently exploited,” said Finance Minister Aboubacar Nacanabo in February 2026. But this fund is primarily intended for the support of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) and the acquisition of military equipment.

According to Ochieng, Burkina Faso is pursuing its goal of financial autonomy in various ways. “For example, in the mining sector, where the majority of operators are foreign, the country has adopted a policy that facilitates increased participation by local entities, and has allowed local banks to finance the expansion of mining activities,” she said.

For now, though, the country continues to rely on loans and support from international organisations to meet its obligations at home, even though this was not what the current military rulers promised when they said it was time to stop begging for help.

This article was produced with support from the African Academy for Open Source Investigations (AAOSI) and the African Digital Democracy Observatory (ADDO) as part of an initiative by Code for Africa (CfA). Visit https://disinfo.africa/ for more information.

Environment Minister Irene Velez announced the decision on Monday, with up to 80 of the invasive species to be euthanised after previous attempts to control the population proved too expensive or ineffective.

“We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems,” Velez said, without pinpointing when the cull would begin.

Colombia is the only country outside Africa to host the semiaquatic mammal. Hippopotamuses were introduced to the South American country by infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, who brought in four in the 1980s to display in his private zoo.

Their number swelled after Escobar died the following decade. A 2022 study estimated that around 170 now roam freely. They have been spotted up to 60 miles from Escobar’s sprawling former ranch, Hacienda Napoles in the Magdalena River basin.

One study suggested that the hippos breed particularly quickly due to Colombia’s lush environment.

Authorities previously tried sterilisation and capturing and sending the animals to zoos as they sought to slow their population growth, but neither approach worked.

They say the hippos, which can weigh over four tonnes, pose a threat to villagers who encounter them and that they compete for food against endemic wildlife like manatees.

Despite the local concerns, the animals have become a tourist attraction. They are a major attraction at the Napoles ranch, which is now a tourist destination. Local vendors offer hippo-themed souvenirs and hippo-spotting tours.

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Animal welfare activists have long opposed suggestions of culling the hippos, insisting it would pose a poor example in a country that experienced decades of conflict.

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When an aggressive male hippo was killed in 2009, a photo of soldiers posing with the animal’s body sparked outrage and halted efforts to rein in the hippos.

The animals cannot be returned to their natural habitat because, stemming from just four hippos, their limited gene pool means they could carry diseases.

Despite the presence of Russian instructors since April 2024, is Niger truly safer than before?

Ever since the men of Africa Corps set foot on Nigerien soil, the junta led by General Abdourahamane Tiani has been lavish in its praise of this new alliance. In official statements, Moscow is now presented as the providential partner, the one stepping in where the West has failed, the one that would honour the country’s sovereignty without humiliating conditions. For example, following the airport attack, General Tiani praised the bravery of the Russian partners, who he said, alongside the Nigerien military, “routed the enemy in the space of twenty minutes”.

And yet, on the ground, armed groups continue to strike. And yet, the contracts remain classified. And yet, no one truly knows what these instructors are doing, or how many of them there are.

The turning point of summer 2023

Everything shifts in July 2023, when the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland overthrows Mohamed Bazoum. The coup does not merely trigger a political crisis, it sets off a sweeping diplomatic avalanche. French soldiers pack their bags and leave. The Americans, for their part, abandon their prized drone base in Agadez, where more than 1,000 American soldiers were deployed at the time of the coup. In March 2024, Niger denounces “with immediate effect” the military cooperation agreement with Washington, deeming it had been “unilaterally imposed”.

Within months, Niger finds itself alone, confronting its own demons: the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara pressing from the west, Boko Haram threatening from the southeast, and a state whose security foundations have just been shaken from within.

It is into this vacuum that Russia moves. On 10 April 2024, the first Africa Corps instructors land in Niamey aboard an Ilyushin-76, with military equipment on board. The outfit, partly heir to the Wagner Group’s methods and doctrine, arrives with a three-part pitch: train Nigerien soldiers, strengthen aerial defence, and improve intelligence capabilities. The programme sounds ambitious. The reality proves far more complicated.

Screenshot of posts on Facebook celebrating the transfer of military equipment to Niger from Russia. The post was copypasted at least 50 times between November 28 and 29, 2024. ‘This important equipment strengthens the defense capabilities of the Republic of Niger and contributes to the consolidation of its sovereignty,’ the report said. Source: CfA through Meta Content Library.

Screenshot of posts on Facebook made in February 2026, reporting the deployment of Russia’s Africa Corps officers alongside the Nigerien army to repel the terrorist attack on Niamey airport. The post was copypasted dozens of times. Source: CfA through Meta Content Library.

Training soldiers, but which ones?

At Niamey’s Air Base 101, training sessions have indeed taken place: drone operation, aerial surveillance, asymmetric warfare tactics, skills the Nigerien armed forces desperately need. Russian technicians are also said to have brought back into service equipment previously acquired but left idle for lack of maintenance.

But therein lies the problem. Of the 100 military instructors deployed in April 2024, military sources cite a gradual return of the majority to operational zones in Ukraine, leaving only around twenty men on the ground, according to the site ActuNiger, Above all, these training programmes remained concentrated in the capital. In the areas where danger is most immediate, the Tillaberi region, the remote stretches of Diffa, Nigerien soldiers still face the same ambushes, with no measurable shift in the dynamics on the ground. According to ACLED, some 1,500 civilians and soldiers died in jihadist attacks from the coup until August 2024, compared to 650 in the year preceding the coup. In 2024, Niger recorded the highest global increase in terrorism-related deaths, with 930 fatalities, a rise of 94%, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2025. Training a handful of battalions in Niamey is simply not enough to alter the face of a war being fought hundreds of kilometres away.

It is precisely this gap between official announcements and field realities that exasperates Moussa Mahamadou, a teacher based in Niamey who has been closely following the security situation for several years. “They talk to us about training, cooperation, and strategic partnership. But I want to see concrete results. Are the people of Tillaberi and Tahoua sleeping better at night? Can the farmers of Diffa go out and tend their fields without fear of being attacked? The answer is no. This cooperation, for now, is nothing but a smokescreen, a political façade that does absolutely nothing to change the daily reality of Nigeriens living under the threat of violence.”

On Monday, December 4, 2023, the Russian delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Lunaus-Bek Yevkurov, held fruitful discussions chaired by the Minister of State for National Defence, Lieutenant General Salifou Mody. Photo credit: A Niamey News

A shield for the capital, an illusion for the rest

On the matter of aerial defence, the Russians have delivered concrete results. In less than a month after the arrival of the first instructors, Russia chartered three cargo flights to deliver military equipment to Niamey, radar systems, an anti-aircraft defence platform, and surveillance equipment. The capital is better protected than it once was, according to official narratives.

But that shield stops at the city’s gates. In the border regions, populations have been living in fear for years. According to FEWS NET (October 2025), the Tillaberi region accounts for nearly 60% of the country’s total security incidents, where attacks by the Islamic State in the Sahel and JNIM are most intense and frequent in the far north-west. The Dosso region recorded a 195% increase in security incidents and nearly 600% more deaths in 2025 compared to the previous year. And even Niamey itself is not impregnable. The attack on the airport on 29 January 2026, claimed by the Islamic State, served as a painful and unambiguous reminder: two ASKY civilian aircraft damaged, a munitions stockpile in flames, and satellite imagery showing partially burned areas near the runway.

This geography of protection, everything for the capital, nothing for the periphery, has not gone unnoticed by Adamou Issoufou, an independent analyst specialising in governance and natural resources. In his view, the concentration of security assets around Niamey is no accident whatsoever. “Look at where this equipment is being deployed. Around the capital, around sensitive infrastructure, around strategic corridors. Not in the villages of Tillaberi. Not in Diffa. Why? Because the real objective is to protect the regime and secure access to the country’s mineral wealth. Niger sits atop uranium, oil, and gold.

The Russians did not come here out of idealism. They came to secure a seat at the table. And the junta, in return, gets the guarantee of remaining in power. Ordinary citizens, meanwhile, are nothing more than spectators to this arrangement.”

Intelligence: when promises meet the reality of the Sahel

The third pillar of the partnership, intelligence sharing, is perhaps the most revealing illustration of its underlying fragilities. The episode did not go unnoticed among specialists. In May 2025, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) abruptly terminated technical intelligence cooperation agreements with Russia and Turkey. According to security sources cited by the Zagazola portal, the General Directorate of Documentation and External Security (DGDSE) assessed that “the equipment and operators deployed by both countries did not meet operational standards”, particularly in the domain of telephone interception. This decision forced Niamey to urgently turn to a Moroccan company specialising in communications interception.

The CNSP shocked its Russian partners by cutting short the intelligence cooperation, but promptly signed in 2025, with Mali and Burkina Faso, a regional agreement to use Roscosmos satellite services, Russian high technology for imagery and geolocation, but without Russian agents on the ground.

Alkassoum Tahirou, a merchant long established in Niamey, has a far more direct way of capturing what he feels. His words, delivered with a quiet and settled bitterness, carry the weight of popular wisdom. “Where we come from, we say that one hare has left and another has arrived. France left, Russia came. But both hares are utterly useless to us, the ordinary citizens. Neither one truly cares about our security, our peace, or our social cohesion. These are arrangements made between the powerful. The farmer from my village who can no longer go to market for fear of being attacked, nobody is interested in him. Not Paris, not Moscow, not even Niamey.”

The ghosts of the contract

What does all of this actually cost? No one truly knows. No contract has been made public. No official figures have been released regarding the cost of the equipment delivered or the remuneration of the instructors. And how many of them are there, for that matter? Between 60 and 100 men, according to diplomatic sources, up to 350 according to other estimates. The junta says nothing.

This silence carries a measurable economic cost. According to Africa Defense Forum, the junta has been forced to cut its budget by 40% since the coup, and has accumulated $519 million in arrears on its international debt. The World Bank estimates that Niger’s economic growth in 2024 was 45% lower than it was before the putsch. It is in this context of financial distress that the junta sought, according to analyst Liam Karr of the Institute for the Study of War, “to barter Niger’s natural resources for loans and weapons.”

The most tangible illustration of this opaque barter is the uranium affair. In 2024, the junta revoked the operating licences of Orano, the French company 90% controlled by the state, bringing to an end more than fifty years of nuclear cooperation. By late 2025, according to Le Monde and several French government sources, an agreement valued at an estimated $170 million was reportedly negotiated with Rosatom, the Russian nuclear giant, for the transfer of approximately 1,000 tonnes of uranium yellowcake stockpiled at the Arlit mine.

Niger is the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer. In December 2025, Niger officially signed a memorandum of understanding with Rosatom for the development of new mining sites. This is the probable quid pro quo for a security cooperation whose terms remain unknown.

This silence is far from inconsequential. Specialists in these kinds of security partnerships know all too well that agreements with outfits such as Africa Corps frequently contain deeply uncomfortable clauses, namely legal immunity for foreign personnel, access to natural resources, and discreet economic arrangements operating well below the public radar. In a country where Parliament has been suspended and replaced by a Consultative Council that neither legislates nor holds the executive to account, there is simply no one left to ask the questions that urgently need answering.

The battle of narratives

The Russian-Nigerien cooperation is also being fought in the realm of perception and public opinion. On social media, images of Russian cargo planes touching down in Niamey, or of demonstrators waving flags bearing the red star, are multiplying at a striking pace. Media outlets aligned with Moscow hail each equipment delivery as a historic milestone. The communication machine is well-oiled, effective, and omnipresent.

On the other side, international media outlets continue to highlight the grey areas, the ongoing attacks, and the questions that remain unanswered. The result is a public debate torn in two, where hard facts struggle to find their way through the noise of competing narratives.

It is against this polarised backdrop that a more measured voice deserves to be heard. Hama Danda, a retired civil servant and an attentive reader of the national press, firmly refuses to succumb to the prevailing pessimism.

Seated in the courtyard of his home, he chooses his words deliberately. “People are far too impatient. A security cooperation of this scale cannot be built in a single year, or even two. It takes time to train men properly, to master the equipment, for results to become visible on the ground. I listened carefully to the head of state when he spoke. In his major interview, General Tiani was unambiguous that this cooperation is mutually beneficial, conducted in full respect of Niger’s sovereignty and its political choices. These are not empty words. Our authorities do not lie to the people. We must trust them and allow time to do its work. The results will come.”

Photo credit: Nigerien Ministry of Defence

An alliance to stabilise the country, or to consolidate power?

Some analysts are raising a question that few dare voice openly: what if this cooperation were serving, first and foremost, domestic political interests? Strengthening the defence of Niamey and its strategic infrastructure also means tightening the regime’s grip on the country. In a context where the junta’s legitimacy remains contested on the international stage, securing control of the airspace above the capital is anything but a trivial detail.

Internal Russian government documents consulted by the BBC reveal that Moscow’s partnerships with African juntas rest on a well-tested model: the security of administrative centres and incumbent regimes, in exchange for mining concessions. This pattern, first tested in Sudan as early as 2017, where Wagner secured gold mining concessions in exchange for training the security forces of the Bashir regime – was then refined in the Central African Republic from 2018 onwards, with control over diamond mines granted in exchange for the personal protection of President Touadéra.

The model was subsequently systematised across the Sahel following successive coups. In Mali, the junta invited Wagner in 2021, culminating in 2023 in the signing of an agreement to build the country’s largest gold refinery. In Burkina Faso, Captain Traoré reportedly ceded a mine directly as payment for the deployment of Russian forces. Niger, sitting atop strategic reserves of uranium, oil, and gold, follows the same logic: the revocation of Orano’s licences and the negotiations initiated with Rosatom in 2025 do not represent a rupture, but rather the faithful reproduction of a model that Moscow has patiently refined from one end of the continent to the other.

An unanswered equation, a people left without certainty

The four voices gathered in the course of this investigation paint the portrait of a society divided in the face of an alliance it does not fully comprehend. Between the scepticism of Moussa Mahamadou, who is waiting for tangible proof on the ground; the distrust of Adamou Issoufou, convinced that the country’s natural resources lie at the very heart of the deal; the disillusionment of Alkassoum Tahirou, who sees in the great powers nothing but actors indifferent to ordinary suffering; and the measured patience of Hama Danda, who places his trust in time and in the authorities: the national sentiment is, at its core, profoundly divided.

Three years on from the coup, the fundamental questions remain entirely unanswered. Have the Russian instructors genuinely altered the balance of power against the armed groups? Or does their presence amount to little more than a geopolitical symbol, with limited operational impact on the ground? And at what price, human, financial, and institutional, has Niger purchased this new form of security?

The only available elements point to a mixed assessment: a capital better protected, yet exposed to the first jihadist attack in its history; forces trained in Niamey, but the countryside of Tillaberi and Diffa still drenched in blood; intelligence systems deemed ill-suited, rejected and replaced in haste; and contracts that have never been made public.

In this war of many faces, military, diplomatic, and informational, sweeping announcements rarely precede decisive victories. Niger has chosen its side. What remains to be seen is whether that choice will succeed in bringing peace back to the villages of Tillaberi, Tahoua, and Diffa, or whether it will merely shift the fault lines in a Sahel that shows no signs of settling.

Cet article a été réalisé avec le soutien de l’Académie africaine des enquêtes sur les sources ouvertes (AAOSI) et de l’Observatoire africain de la démocratie numérique (ADDO), dans le cadre d’une initiative de Code for Africa (CfA). Pour plus d’informations, consultez le site https://disinfo.africa/.

The United States-born pope arrived in the capital Algiers at around 09:00 GMT on Monday, an AFP news agency journalist travelling aboard the papal plane said.

He is expected to pay tribute to victims of Algeria’s war of independence from France (1954-1962) later in the day.

The 70-year-old pontiff is on an ambitious 11-day tour of four countries in Africa, urging global leaders to address the needs of the continent where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live, according to Vatican statistics.

Algeria, however, is an overwhelmingly Muslim country with fewer than 10,000 Catholics among its population of some 48 million people. This is the first time it will host a Catholic pope.

The trip is aimed at continuing to “build bridges between the Christian and Muslim worlds”, the archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco, told AFP.

After two days in Algeria, Leo will go to Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea in a whirlwind tour of 11 cities and towns, traversing nearly 18,000km (11,185 miles) over 18 flights. The three sub-Saharan nations the pope is visiting have populations where more than half identify as Catholic.

The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran, has made only one major overseas trip since being elected last May, visiting Turkiye and Lebanon in November and December. He visited Monaco in March.

Pope to deliver 25 speeches in 11 days

Leo’s tour is the 24th by a pope to Africa since the late 1960s.

He is expected to touch on many topics in 25 planned speeches over 11 days, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told journalists on Friday, given that the four nations face diverse issues.

Likely topics include exploitation of natural resources, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, and dangers of  political corruption, said Bruni.

Politics

Monday’s itinerary includes a visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers – with the world’s highest minaret – and the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, overlooking the Bay of Algiers.

Leo plans to pray privately in the chapel dedicated to 19 priests and nuns murdered during Algeria’s 1992-2002 civil war. He will not, however, visit the Tibhirine monastery, whose monks were kidnapped and murdered in 1996, an event still shrouded in mystery.

The Vatican said, during his trip, the pope will also speak about corruption in often authoritarian regimes and the role of political leaders. Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have presidents who have been in power for decades and have been accused of human rights abuses, which they deny.

The biggest event of the itinerary will likely come in Cameroon on Friday, when the Vatican said some 600,000 are expected for a mass in the coastal city of Douala.

Africa as a whole contributed more than half of the 15.8 million new Catholics who were baptised in 2023, or 8.3 million new African Catholics, according to the latest Vatican statistics. The continent also contributes thousands of men to the priesthood and women to religious orders each year, turning a continent that was long on the receiving end of Western missionaries into one that exports its priests and nuns abroad.

According to Vatican statistics, Angola and Cameroon consistently produce some of the largest numbers of seminarians on the continent each year.

Comfortable in several languages, Leo is expected to address audiences in Italian, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish during the trip.

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• Pope Leo says he will ‘speak out loud’ against war after Trump attack

• Pope Leo heads to Africa on ambitious tour to urge help for continent

Donald Trump accused the pontiff of being “WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a Truth Social post, later telling reporters he was “not a big fan”.

The Pope told reporters en route to Algeria that he did not want to get into a debate with Trump but would continue to speak out against war.

He has been a staunch critic of the Iran war, calling Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilisation “unacceptable” and calling for him to find an “off-ramp” to end the conflict.

In general, it is rare for a pope to directly address statements by world leaders.

There are more than 70 million Catholics in the US, about 20% of the population. They include Trump’s Vice-President JD Vance.

Trump’s remarks came as the pontiff embarked on an 11-day trip to Africa, his second major foreign trip since being elected last year.

The US president wrote in Sunday’s post that the Pope “should get his act together” and said he was “weak on nuclear weapons”, apparently referring to Tehran’s attempts to become a nuclear power, cited as one of the reasons for the US and Israel going to war with Iran.

He also suggested that the pontiff was elected “because he was American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump”.

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

Asked by reporters later to explain the post, he said: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job, he likes crime, I guess.”

Trump added: “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in stopping crime, he’s a man who doesn’t believe we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.”

The remarks drew immediate criticism from Catholics, with one expert comparing the comments to the Pope’s relationship with fascist dictators in World War Two.

“Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly,” said Massimo Faggioli, quoted by Reuters.

The Pope has used numerous public addresses to denounce global conflicts and urge de-escalation in the Middle East.

When Trump threatened Iran, saying that “a whole civilisation will die tonight”, he responded by saying the statement was “truly unacceptable”.

In his Easter address, the pontiff said without mentioning any countries directly that people were growing accustomed to violence and indifferent to thousands of deaths.

“Let those who have weapons lay them down. Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace,” he said.

He has also criticised Trump’s hard-line immigration policy, questioning whether it was possible for someone to be “pro-life” – a term normally associated with opponents of abortion – if they agreed with what he described as the “inhuman treatment of immigrants”.

Pope Leo is seen as continuing the humanitarian tradition of his predecessor Pope Francis, who said Trump was “not Christian” during the 2016 election campaign because of his anti-immigrant language.

Trump described the late Pope as “disgraceful”.

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