The ceremony, held on Saturday, January 17, formed part of Ghana’s broader engagement with Guinea as the country moves to complete its transition to constitutional governance.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s presence underscored Ghana’s support for regional stability and cooperation, particularly at a time when West Africa continues to navigate political and economic reforms.

The Vice President’s visit also reflected Ghana’s commitment to sustained dialogue and collaboration with Guinea in areas including trade, security, democratic governance and regional integration.

The mission carried historical significance, renewing ties that date back to the post-independence era when Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and Guinea’s first leader, Ahmed Sékou Touré, championed Pan-African unity.

Following his overthrow in 1966, Dr. Nkrumah was hosted in Guinea and named Co-President by President Sékou Touré, a gesture that symbolised the deep friendship between the two nations.

According to officials, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang’s participation at the ceremony reaffirmed that shared legacy and signalled a renewed commitment to the partnership envisioned by the two Pan-Africanists decades ago.

The investiture ceremony, held at the Stade Général Lansana Conté, attracted several African and international leaders who gathered to witness Guinea’s new chapter of governance.

Ghana’s delegation included the Chief of Staff at the Office of the Vice President, Alex Segbefia; the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; and the Spokesperson to the Vice President, Maame Ama Pratt, among other officials.

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More than 30 are being treated for serious injuries in the hospital, Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said.

The incident happened near the town of Adamuz, close to the city of Cordoba, when a high-speed train travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed and crossed over onto another track, the rail network operator Adif said.

The derailed train then collided with an oncoming train, travelling from Madrid to Huelva. Andalusian emergency services said at least 73 people in total were injured in the collision.

The incident appeared to be “extremely strange”, Puente added, because the train derailed on a straight stretch of track, which had been refurbished in May last year.

The official cause is not yet known. An investigation is not expected to determine what happened for at least a month.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country will endure a “night of deep pain”.

Iryo, a private rail company that operated the journey from Malaga, said around 300 passengers were on board the train that first derailed, while the other train – operated by Renfe – had around 100 passengers.

The mayor of Adamuz, Rafael Moreno, was among the first on the scene of the accident. He described it as like “a nightmare”.

In a post on X, the Emergency Agency of Andalucía urged any crash survivors to post on social media that they are alive.

The twisted wreckage of the train made it difficult to recover survivors and bodies, rescue crews said.

Cordoba fire chief Francisco Carmona told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE: “We have even had to remove a dead person to be able to reach someone alive. It is hard, tricky work.”

According to Adif, the crash happened about ten minutes after the train left Malaga at 18:40 local time (17:40 GMT). The company said it was setting up spaces for relatives of victims at Atocha, Seville, Cordoba, Malaga and Huelva stations.

All rail services between Madrid and Andalusia were suspended following the accident and will remain closed on Monday. The company said it will keep terminals open overnight for impacted passengers.

The type of train involved in the crash was a Freccia 1000, which can reach speeds of up to 400 km/h (250 mph), a spokesperson for the Italian rail company Ferrovie dello Stato told Reuters.

The Spanish Red Cross has deployed emergency support services to the scene and is also offering counselling to families nearby.

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez from the Red Cross told RNE radio: “The families are going through a situation of great anxiety due to the lack of information. These are very distressing moments.”

Salvador Jimenez, a journalist with RTVE who was on one of the trains, said the impact felt like an “earthquake”.

“I was in the first carriage. There was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed,” Jimenez said.

In his latest update on X, he said he was among a group of passengers waiting in the “freezing cold night” for buses to transport them to a local sports centre.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia said they were following news of the disaster with “with great concern”.

“We extend our most heartfelt condolences to the relatives and loved ones of the dead, as well as our love and wishes for a swift recovery to the injured,” the royal palace said on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen have both offered condolences in statements.

“My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the entire Spanish people. France stands by your side,” Macron wrote on social media.

In 2013, Spain suffered its worst high-speed train derailment in Galicia, north-west Spain, which left 80 people dead and 140 others injured.

“You can see your money there on the public blockchain, but there’s nothing you can do to get it back,” says Helen, who lost around $315,000 (£250,000) to thieves.

She likens it to watching a burglar pile up your prized possessions on the other side of an impassable chasm.

For seven years, Helen and her husband Richard (not his real name), both UK residents, had been buying and stacking up crypto coins called Cardano.

They liked the idea of investing in a digital asset that had the potential to rise dramatically in value, unlike funds saved in more conventional ways. They knew it was riskier, but they were careful to keep their digital keys safe.

But somehow hackers got into their cloud storage account, where they kept information about their crypto wallets and how to access them.

In February 2024, after a small test transfer, the criminals swiftly and silently transferred all the couple’s coins to their own digital wallets.

The couple then watched for months as their money was moved from one wallet to another, powerless to do anything. (The inherent contradiction with cryptocurrency is that all transactions are publicly trackable, but users can be publicly untraceable if they choose.)

Helen and Richard are not wealthy. She is a personal assistant, he is a composer, and they had high hopes for their Cardano investments.

“We’d been buying these coins for so long… We used every scrap of money we could find to buy more,” says Richard. “Aside from my parents’ deaths, this theft is the worst thing to happen to me.”

Ever since, Helen has been on a mission to recover their money. She obtained detailed reports from various police forces and the Cardano developers. Now, even though she has the criminals’ wallet addresses, there is nothing anyone can do to unmask them.

Their plan is to save up enough to engage private investigators to try to trace the hackers.

“It leaves you with a feeling of helplessness,” she says, “but I am going to keep trying.”

An explosion in crypto crime

A survey carried out for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in August 2024, suggested that approximately 12% of British adults owned crypto-assets – equivalent to about seven million people.

Globally, it has been estimated that 560 million people are now crypto owners. But as ownership rose, so did theft. The pandemic ushered in a surge in the value of crypto coins and, with it, an explosion in attacks on the industry.

And 2025 was another bumper year for crypto criminals, with total thefts standing at more than $3.4bn (£2.5bn), according to investigators at blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. The annual figure has remained in the same ballpark since 2020.

Most of the money is being stolen through massive cyberattacks on crypto companies. For example, North Korean hackers swiped $1.5bn (£1.1bn) from crypto exchange Bybit in February 2025.

The losses in this case and the vast majority of others are covered by the deep-pocketed crypto firms, with little impact on individuals. But 2025 also saw an increase in the number of attacks on individual crypto investors.

Chainalysis research says these individual attacks rose from 40,000 in 2022 to 80,000 last year.

Hacking, scamming or coercing of individuals accounted for an estimated 20% of all crypto value stolen – estimated at $713m (£532m).

But the company adds that the number could be far higher, as not all victims will choose to report thefts publicly. When this happens, you could be left on your own.

Many thefts or scams in traditional finance are covered by banks or card companies. In the UK, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service and may be compensated by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

“Crypto remains largely unregulated in the UK and high-risk,” says the FCA. “If something goes wrong, it is unlikely you will be protected so you should be prepared to lose all your money.”

A stark reminder of this comes if you search online for “Binance account hacked” – Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange with a reported 1.4m UK users – but the page on its website offering advice to victims of theft is blocked in the UK.

The company has not been accepting new UK clients since 2023 because it is not authorised by the FCA to operate. Yet criminals don’t care where victims are, and people are being targeted all over the world indiscriminately.

Chainalysis has described these attacks on individuals as the “under-documented frontier for crypto crime”.

They put the volume of crimes down to the number of people entering the crypto world as investors, as the value of coins has risen, and argue that improved security practices at major services could have pushed “attackers toward individuals perceived as easier targets”.

Then there is the fact that the more crypto you hold and the more public you are about it, the more likely you are to be targeted – small-time holders (or hodlers, as the community calls them) are far less likely to be affected.

Burglaries, muggings and ‘wrench attacks’

As for the thieves, they could be anywhere.

In October, blockchain researchers from Elliptic, a crypto analysis company, warned that North Korean state-sponsored hackers are increasingly targeting wealthy cryptocurrency owners. There are plenty of young scammers and hackers from other countries, too.

In December in the US, 22-year-old Evan Tangeman pleaded guilty to being part of a group of crypto thieves calling themselves the Social Engineering Enterprise, who are accused of stealing more than $260m (£194m) between October 2023 and May 2025.

Prosecutors allege they targeted the crypto-rich using hacked databases, tricking victims into thinking they were cryptocurrency exchanges, and persuading them to transfer coins.

Members of the gang, who were all young men mostly in the US, are said to have spent the stolen coins on private jets, expensive cars and luxury handbags that they would give away at nightclubs.

In some cases, prosecutors say, the gang organised home break-ins to steal hardware containing the keys to crypto stashes.

Burglaries and muggings have become so common that there is now a term for them in the crypto community – “wrench attacks” – so called because criminals have been known to threaten victims with spanners.

Last April, crypto criminals in Spain tried to force a man and woman to part with their cryptocurrency.

Spanish police said the man was shot in the leg and he, along with his partner, were held captive for several hours while the criminals tried to access their crypto wallets. Eventually, the woman was released, but her partner remained missing, with his body later found in woodland.

Five people were arrested in Spain in connection with the case, while four others in Denmark were charged.

There have been several similar cases in France, including one when an attempted kidnap was captured on video.

Another case in early 2025 saw David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, a cryptocurrency security company, abducted with his wife from their home in central France.

Days later, police rescued them – but Balland’s finger was cut off during the extortion attempt.

Then, last month, UK police arrested six people after masked men stopped a car travelling between Oxford and London and forced one of the occupants to transfer cryptocurrency valued at £1.5m.

Phil Ariss, director of UK Public Sector Relations at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, has previously said that criminal groups already comfortable with using violence to achieve their goals were always likely to migrate to crypto.

“As long as there’s a viable route to launder or liquidate stolen assets, it makes little difference to the offender whether the target is a high-value watch or a crypto wallet.

“Cryptocurrency is now firmly in the mainstream, and as a result, our traditional understanding of physical threat and robbery needs to evolve accordingly.”

It’s difficult to determine exactly how prevalent “wrench attacks” are, as few are publicly reported. But it appears as though these types of thefts are a small part of the growing issue of personal crypto thefts.

And many criminals rely on tried-and-tested hacking or scam techniques that are becoming easier thanks to the abundance of data stolen in massive cyberattacks on companies.

‘Bitcoin millionaires are becoming so frequent’

“Data is a common problem as Bitcoin millionaires are becoming so frequent, and there are stolen databases that are enriching the target list all the time,” says Matthew Jones, founder of Haven, a crypto security firm.

A data breach at Kering, the parent company of luxury brands including Gucci and Balenciaga, is a case in point, according to one hacker interviewed by the BBC.

In addition to millions of customer names and contact details, the databases show how much money people had spent at the stores.

The hacker the BBC spoke to says he paid $300,000 (£224,000) to purchase the spreadsheets to target the biggest spenders.

He claims to have used the information along with details from another stolen database to scam multiple Coinbase users out of at least $1.5m (£1.1m) in crypto.

The criminal confirmed he was in possession of the stolen data and presented the BBC with $700,000 (£522,000) in Bitcoin, which he says came from one victim.

“I buy hacked databases and cross-reference them with others to check for rich people and for up-to-date phone numbers and emails. I’m still going down the list and tripled my money very fast,” he claimed.

The hacker wouldn’t give any details about himself, other than that he is a student at a US university.

When asked if he considered himself a hacker or a scammer, he said, “Neither, I am only interested in making money.”

Kering did not respond to a request for comment about this, but has previously told the BBC that its IT systems had been secured after the data breach and emphasised that no bank account numbers, credit card information, or government-issued identification numbers had been stolen in the attack.

Matthew Jones from Haven tells me that he himself has had crypto stolen and the experience prompted him to develop a crypto wallet with extra security features.

Features like continuous biometric checking to make sure that only the owner can send coins, and geofencing to block any transactions outside someone’s home or work, are now needed he says. He is also building a panic button into the digital wallet.

“People are walking around with millions of dollars in crypto these days and wallets have no ceiling on how much can be held – or how much can be stolen in one go,” he says.

Being ‘your own bank’

Matthew Jones’s crypto wallet is all about what the industry champions as “self custody”.

Haven’s app is similar to those of Metamask and Trustwallet. Other companies like Trezor and Ledger offer physical devices like USB memory sticks but the idea is the same: you can be your own bank.

But with that added freedom comes added risk as you don’t have any protections at all.

If your coins are stolen from your own self custody wallet, you can’t even go to a crypto exchange to complain.

Asked if the freedom of “being your own bank” outweighs the increasing risks, Jones insists it does.

“Banks aren’t truly answerable to their customers and they hold the power to freeze or close your account based on broad, often vague reasons,” he argues.

He also says he objected to being asked by traditional financial institutions things like why he was moving money out of an account.

Helen and Richard lost all their coins after choosing to be their own bank. The factor that made it particularly painful was the fact that much of the money came from the sale of Richard’s mother’s house, after her death.

“My mother’s money has gone,” Richard says. “All that grafting she had done for my future and it was stolen. We’ve had to sell musical instruments and our car, and we were briefly homeless.”

Yet they aren’t entirely giving up on cryptocurrency. If they get their lost money back, or accumulate enough in savings, they plan to get straight back into crypto investing.

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The rate fell to 5.63 births per 1,000 people in 2025, beneath 2023’s low of 6.39 per 1,000, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday. The drop suggests that a slight uptick in births in 2024 was an outlier rather than a reversal of an otherwise steady decline since 2016.

China’s economy grew 5% in 2025, officials also reported, in line with the government’s annual goal of “around 5%.”

The annual expansion was buoyed by a surge in Chinese exports that offset trade tensions with the US and weak consumption at home. China racked up a record $1.2 trillion-dollar trade surplus last year, despite US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again trade war with the world’s second largest economy.

But the data also showed an economic slowdown in the fourth quarter, with the country recording only 4.5% growth from a year earlier – the slowest quarterly increase since the end of 2022.

Officials hailed the “remarkable stability” of the economy, with statistics bureau chief Kang Yi saying this was achieved despite a “complex and severe situation marked by rapid changes in the external environment and mounting domestic challenges.”

“In 2025, China’s economy withstood pressure and maintained steady progress, achieving new results in high-quality development,” Kang said in a press conference.

Despite the on-target annual economic growth, the birth figures deal a blow to Beijing’s efforts to reverse the impact of decades of stringent, state-enforced birth control under the now-abandoned “one-child” policy, and persuade more young people to have children.

With the 7.92 million babies born in China last year outpaced by 11.31 million deaths, the overall population dropped by 3.39 million, the data shows. The country’s headcount – still the world’s second-largest, behind India’s – stands at 1.4 billion for 2025.

China’s demographic challenge

China’s changing demographics are seen as a stark challenge by officials, as the country’s labor force shrinks and its population of pension-drawing retired adults grows.

Years of stringent population control under the “one-child” policy, which was scrapped in 2016, have accelerated trends seen in other countries like Japan and South Korea, where falling birth rates have been seen as a result of rising education levels, changing views on marriage, rapid urbanization, and the higher cost of raising kids.

The aging of China’s society deepened in 2025, with the population of those aged over 60 standing at 323 million and making up 23% of the population, up one percentage point from 2024, the data shows.

A staggering half of the country’s population could be over 60 by 2100, according to United Nations projections – a reality with potentially far-reaching implications, for not only China’s economy but also its ambitions to rival the United States as a military power.

Half of China’s population could be over 60 by 2100, according to the UN. Go Nakamura/REUTERS/REUTERS

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has evoked the need for “population security” and made the “development of a high-quality population” a national priority. He’s also overseen a push to automate and upgrade the country’s manufacturing powerhouse, replacing human with robotic labor.

China’s central government last year began offering annual cash bonuses to families with children under the age of three, amended rules to streamline marriage registration, and kicked off a scheme for free public preschool.

Those add to a raft of incentives local governments have tried in recent years to boost birth rates – from tax breaks and financial assistance for buying and renting homes, to cash handouts and extended maternity leave.

Declining births last year relative to 2024 may also have been linked to the Chinese zodiac, with 2025’s “Year of the Snake” considered less desirable for offspring than the previous “Year of the Dragon.”

Analysts expect more policies or incentives to support births and marriage in the year ahead. But many believe it will be impossible to stem the decline, especially as young people struggle to find jobs and eye the high costs of raising children, while women say the uneven burden of childrearing discourages them from starting or expanding families.

Fewer babies may also have a more immediate economic impact.

“Children are ‘super consumers.’ With births at such low levels, China’s domestic demand is likely to remain weak, leaving the economy increasingly dependent on exports,” Yi Fuxian, a demographic expert and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.

Economic headwinds

China’s on-target GDP of 5% shows the resilience of its economy during a year when tariffs on Chinese imports into the US briefly reached triple-digit figures.

But the growth masks deeper challenges for the domestic economy that policymakers are under pressure to address in the year ahead, analysts say.

Expansion slowed to 4.5% in the fourth quarter, the lowest rate on record since economic reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic. The figure was slightly above the 4.4% figure forecast by analysts polled by Reuters, enabling the data to nail the 5% growth target in a year where economic growth started strong and lost momentum.

But while Beijing sought to project an image of resilience, economists remain concerned about weak household spending amid deflationary pressure and an overreliance on exports to drive growth – particularly at a time when governments globally have grown more alarmed by widening trade imbalances.

Chinese manufacturers and exporters made an agile pivot in 2025 to drive their goods deeper into markets across the world, including in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America as their entry in the US market came under pressure from Trump’s levies. Those tariffs now stand at 20% imposed on top of pre-existing duties after a trade truce reached late last year.

Despite strong export-led momentum in the first half of 2025, the economy slowed in latter months, weighed down by tepid consumption growth, falling investment and plunging industrial profits.

In December, retail sales grew only 0.9%, compared with the 1.3% growth in November, highlighting the weakness in consumer spending.

Over the year, investment in housing, manufacturing and infrastructure slowed to a historic low, contracting 3.8%, according to the data released Monday – the first annual decline on record. Within that, real estate development declined by 17.2% amid a persistent property sector slum.

One bright spot for the economy was “strong AI & tech investments and robust financial market activities,” the Economist Intelligence Unit analysts said in a note Monday.

“Authorities did not rush a stimulus toward year-end because the 5% target was within reach, helped by strong exports,” they wrote.

In an apparent response to speculation that Donald Trump is considering an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei, Pezeshkian said in a post on X: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”

The Iranian president also blamed the US for the protests that have rocked Iran over the last two weeks and led to thousands of deaths among demonstrators.

“If there are hardship and constraints in the lives of the dear people of Iran, one of the main causes is the longstanding hostility and inhumane sanctions imposed by the US government and its allies,” Pezeshkian said.

Trump, in an interview with Politico on Saturday, called for an end to Khamenei’s nearly 40-year reign, calling him “a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people”.

The latest wave of unrest in Iran began on 28 December when widespread anger over soaring inflation, a collapsing currency and economic hardship spilled out of Tehran and into cities across the country, rapidly transforming demonstrations over living costs into broad anti-government protests demanding regime change.

As the movement grew, Iranian authorities responded on 8 January with a near total shutdown of internet and phone services, cutting off most global connectivity in an effort to suppress communication, obscure the scale of the unrest and stifle independent reporting, leaving many Iranians isolated from the outside world.

Last Tuesday, Trump urged Iranians to keep protesting and to “take over your institutions”, telling them “help is on its way”, as reports grew that a strike on Iran was imminent.

On Wednesday the US came close to launching military strikes on Iran but ultimately pulled back as Trump opted to pause amid mounting regional and diplomatic pressure.

The US news website Axios reported that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had warned Trump that Israel was not prepared for Iranian retaliation and questioned the effectiveness of a US strike. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had also urged restraint, according to Axios, citing the risks to regional stability.

“It was really close,” a US official told Axios, adding that the order to strike never came.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump thanked Tehran’s leaders, claiming they had called off scheduled executions of 800 people, including that of Erfan Soltani, 26, the first Iranian protester sentenced to death since the unrest began.

Soltani, a clothing shop employee, was arrested in Karaj, a city north-west of Tehran, after participating in protests and was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to rights groups. Since his arrest, his family had received little news about his condition besides a brief, scheduled visit before his expected execution.

Over the weekend, Soltani’s family were able to visit him and establish that he was alive. “I am relieved to know my cousin Erfan is alive,” said Soltani’s cousin Somayeh, who lives in Germany. “However, I am worried because I received news that he has been tortured under custody and hasn’t received medical attention yet.

“I appeal to the international community to please bring attention to his detention conditions. I also appeal to European politicians to please sponsor his case to demand medical assistance for Erfan. I am also deeply worried for the thousands of other protesters in custody.”

At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing “terrorists and armed rioters” of killing “innocent Iranians”.

During a speech on Thursday, Khamenei acknowledged for the first time that thousands of people had been killed, “some in an inhuman, savage manner”. He blamed the US for the death toll, railing against Trump, whom he called a “criminal” for his support of the demonstrations, and calling for strict punishment of the protesters.

On Sunday, monitors said some internet access had been restored in Iran. “Traffic data indicates a significant return to some online services including Google, suggesting that heavily filtered access has been enabled, corroborating user reports of partial restoration,” Netblocks said in a social media post.

An Iranian official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue told Reuters some of the heaviest clashes and highest number of deaths had been in the Iranian Kurdish areas in the country’s north-west. Kurdish separatists have been active there and flare-ups have been among the most violent in recent periods of unrest.

The Human Rights Activists news agency said 24,348 protesters had been arrested in the crackdown.

No protests have been reported for days in Iran, where the streets have returned to an uneasy calm. Instead, some Iranians chanted anti-Khamenei slogans from the windows of their homes on Saturday night, the chants reverberating around neighbourhoods in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan, witnesses said.

AFP, Reuters and AP contributed to this report.

Trump granted a slew of pardons on Friday, including one for Adriana Camberos, who was convicted for a second time after Trump commuted her sentence during his first term. The latest pardon was for a 2024 conviction related to a scheme the Justice Department said involved deception in her resale of wholesale groceries and other goods. Camberos’ 2021 pardon centered around unrelated fraud.

While the move falls squarely within presidential clemency powers, it is unusual.

“A president absolutely does have the power to grant the same person two different pardons on two different cases, even if they’re sequential. The pardon power itself is essentially unlimited,” said CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

While rare, Jeffrey Crouch, an associate professor at American University, pointed out that Trump, during his first term, “granted a form of clemency twice to the same person.”

There are two forms of clemency available to a president: a pardon and a commutation, both of which only apply to federal charges. A pardon fully erases a federal conviction while a commutation lessens the sentence.

“He commuted Roger Stone’s prison sentence in July 2020 and then granted him a full pardon in December 2020,” Crouch told CNN in an email. “And he commuted current Pardon Czar Alice Marie Johnson’s prison sentence in June 2018 and then granted her a full pardon in August 2020.”

Last year, Trump issued a second pardon to Dan Wilson, a militia member involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, covering separate firearm offenses that were not included in Trump’s initial sweeping pardon of January 6 rioters. The White House said the gun charges were ultimately related to the January 6 investigation.

President of pardons

More broadly, the acts of clemency for Camberos – pardoned for two unrelated crimes years apart – underscore an emboldened Trump who has escalated his use of clemency, far outpacing his first term and even his most recent predecessors. One year into his second term, Trump has issued roughly 1,609 pardons and clemencies, compared to 148 in four years during his first term.

Setting aside the approximately 1,500 January 6-related pardons, Trump has still granted a stunning 100 times more clemencies than he did at this point in his first term (just one in 2017).

Former President Joe Biden did not issue any pardons or clemency grants during his first year in office. But over the course of his presidency, Biden granted roughly 80 individual pardons, according to the Department of Justice, and granted a record 4,245 commutations, according to Pew Research Center. A large portion of those addressed non-violent drug-related offenses.

Trump has used his pardon power much more liberally than Biden – nearly 21 times as many pardons. Former President Barack Obama granted 212 pardons over his two full terms, according to the Justice Department’s official clemency records. While Obama issued more individual pardons than Trump did during his first term, Trump’s second-term actions, particularly the sweeping pardons tied to January 6, dramatically expand his overall use of the pardon power, surpassing Obama’s.

“It is unusual historically to see pardons granted this early and this frequently in a presidency,” Honig said. “Most presidents tend to wait until the very end of their presidencies, often, often granting the bulk of their pardons on their last day in office. Donald Trump is just granting pardons on a rolling basis.”

Doing so “might be actually a credit to him because it shows that he’s willing to take on whatever political consequences come with it,” Honig added. “You know, it’s always been seen as a little bit of a sneaking-out-the-door type phenomenon to drop your pardons on the last day.”

Trump’s pardon czar

One of the key officials leading the way for Trump has felt the firsthand impact of the president’s clemency. Trump named Alice Marie Johnson as White House pardon czar – a first-of-its-kind role – in February.

Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender, served 21 years of a life sentence after she was convicted on drug-related charges. Trump commuted her sentence in 2018 and in 2020 granted her a full pardon. Johnson emerged as a top criminal justice reform advocate, and became close with the president’s daughter and former adviser, Ivanka Trump.

“You’ve been an inspiration to people and we’re going to be listening to your recommendation on pardons,” Trump told Johnson at a Black History Month event at the White House announcing her appointment.

He continued: “You’re going to find people just like you. … You’re going to look and you’re going to make recommendations, and I’ll follow those recommendations, ok, for pardons.”

January 6 rioters, political allies and donors

Guided by Johnson in close coordination with the Department of Justice and White House counsel’s office, Trump’s second-term pardons have fallen into a few key categories.

There’s the January 6 pardons, granted on Inauguration Day, and in a category of their own. Trump issued a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to nearly every person who was convicted of attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, marking the end of a sweeping four-year Justice Department probe. That included Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right Proud Boys, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison, along with members of other far-right extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and those who violently attacked police officers.

Then there are other actions Trump’s taken to go after what has called injustice and politically-motivated persecutions.

In November, Trump pardoned a long list of political allies who supported or were involved in plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, among dozens of others. It was framed, according to Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin, as “(ending) a grave national injustice.”

And the president granted clemency to Mark Bashaw, an officer who formerly served at the Army Public Health Center and was convicted by a special court-martial of violating lawful orders to comply with Covid-19 mitigation measures, per the Army Times.

Then there are the clemency actions that have shown a pattern of rewarding individuals with close ties to financing Trump’s political orbit.

For example, a family member of Julio Herrera Velutini, who received a pardon from Trump on Friday related to misdemeanor charges, has close financial ties to Trump-related political entities. Herrera’s daughter, Isabela Herrera, has donated millions of dollars to the Trump-aligned Super PAC, MAGA Inc., according to campaign finance filings.

There was also a pardon for Trevor Milton, the CEO of now-defunct hydrogen and electric truck firm Nikola, which the president said was in part because he believed Milton was persecuted for supporting Trump’s political ambitions. Milton and his wife notably donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund, according to public records.

Some of Trump’s actions have focused on tech and cryptocurrency deregulation. Trump, a former crypto skeptic who did a 180 on the alternative financial assets while running for a second term, has pledged to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”

Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023 – a prosecution that press secretary Karoline Leavitt said was part of the Biden administration’s “war on cryptocurrency.” The Trump family has also established direct financial links to Binance through its crypto empire.

He also granted a pardon to Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace, who had been serving a life sentence on charges related to the e-commerce site that the Justice Department had once described as “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today.”

And Trump pardoned a trio of founders of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX: Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed.

There’s also been a pattern of clemencies granted to political leaders and other VIPs.

Trump pardoned the former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was sent to prison on corruption charges surrounding his time in office. Blagojevich appeared on Trump’s reality show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” in 2010.

Another contestant from that season, baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, received a pardon for a 1995 tax evasion charge.

There was a pardon for the billionaire British investor Joe Lewis, the former owner of Tottenham Hotspur, who had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. And clemency for former New York congressman Michael Grimm, who served seven months in prison for tax evasion a decade ago.

In one of his more controversial moves, Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted on drug trafficking. Trump received bipartisan criticism for the action, which some lawmakers said was at odds with his administration’s efforts to take aim at drug cartels. But Trump cast Hernández’s conviction as a “Biden horrible witch hunt.”

Trump on Friday pardoned former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation last summer. Vázquez, along with two co-defendants whom Trump also pardoned, was facing time behind bars after the Justice Department brought bribery charges connected to the financing of her 2020 campaign.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Trump has in recent weeks insisted Greenland must come under the control of the United States, saying that “anything less” than that would be “unacceptable.” He argued the US needs the territory for national security purposes, which could in turn strengthen NATO.

His repeated statements have strained diplomatic relations between the US and Denmark, which owns the territory but gives the local population the right to self-determination, while also prompting condemnation from NATO’s European member states.

In Denmark, thousands turned out on Saturday in the cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense to stand in solidarity with the Greenlandic population.

A protest kicked off later in Greenland’s capital of Nuuk. Just before 2p.m. local time there was an estimated crowd of 5,000 – a large proportion of the island’s population of 56,000. People waved banners including “Yankee go home,” and “Greenland is already great.”

In Copenhagen many waved banners with slogans including “Hands off Greenland” alongside the territory’s red and white flag, according to Reuters. The protests across Denmark were organized by Greenlandic organizations in cooperation with the NGO ActionAid Denmark. A statement from ActionAid said the unrest was planned to coincide with a visit of US senators to Denmark.

“We are demonstrating against American statements and ambitions to annex Greenland,” Camilla Siezing, Chair of the Joint Association Inuit – one of the Greenlandic organizations involved in planning the protests – said.

“We demand respect for the Danish Realm and for Greenland’s right to self-determination. Hopefully, we can show that we are many who support Greenland.”

In Greenland on Saturday, protesters were similarly defiant. Asked what her message to the US president was, one female protester in Nuuk, who didn’t give her name, told CNN, “We are not for sale.”

Another protester named Patricia said, “We have seen what he (Trump) does in Venezuela and Iran. He doesn’t respect anything, he just takes what he thinks is his… He misuses his power.”

A male protester, who didn’t give his name, said, “We do not accept this kind of aggression,” referring to Trump’s threats on Greenland.

“My biggest fear is that the US military come here and try to take over our country. But I don’t think it will happen.”

Amid the escalating situation, a US delegation of bipartisan lawmakers were sent to Copenhagen to meet with leaders from Denmark and Greenland.

In a press conference on Saturday, Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who is leading the delegation, said the Trump administration’s “tempo of statements” around Greenland’s potential acquisition was not constructive.

Senator Coons also expressed his respect to the indigenous people of Greenland, telling journalists that it was a “remote and difficult place to live, and that the population of Greenland has managed to carve out of an exceptionally difficult environment, a culture and an approach to living that is worthy of deep respect.”

The US lawmaker sought to highlight the partnership between the US and Denmark, including in the military sphere, saying that the delegation would visit a cemetery later Saturday to lay a wreath for Danish soldiers who fell fighting alongside American troops in conflicts such as the war in Afghanistan.

Reporting from Greenland’s capital of Nook, CNN’s International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson said the visit by the US lawmakers was intended to signal how much Denmark’s military partnership with the US is appreciated. “The visit to that cemetery today to lay a wreath, really for them, will sort of encapsulate how much the United States has valued that partnership, valued the lives laid down by Denmark, by Danish troops,” he said.

Just 36 years old at the time, the broad-shouldered colonel, standing at well over six feet (1.8m), wearing military fatigues, mirrored sunglasses and a red beret certainly made an impression when announcing the coup.

A relatively unknown member of an elite army unit, he declared that the government of ousted President Alpha Condé had disregarded democratic principles and that citizens’ rights were being trampled on.

After more than four years of acting as interim president, and going back on a promise not to run for leadership of the country, Doumbouya, now 41, was sworn in as the elected head of state on Saturday.

The discreet, disciplined and private man won 87% of the vote in December’s election against a severely depleted field.

Ex-Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, now in exile, described the process as a charade which generated “fabricated” results.

While seemingly enjoying some popular support, critics have questioned Doumbouya’s democratic credentials as some political parties have been banned, activists have mysteriously disappeared and media outlets been shut down.

Scrolling back through the social media accounts from the president’s office there is a sense of a carefully curated image.

The army man, now a general, has, for the main, ditched the camouflage in favour of the baseball cap and tracksuit, or a boubou – traditional Guinean attire of loose-fitting robes with elaborate embroidery. The shades though are still at times in evidence.

Pictures show him at the opening of schools, or transport and mining infrastructure or cycling through the streets of the capital, Conakry. The message is clear: this is a man of action who is working on behalf of the people.

“This was presenting an image of someone who can be close to civilians, someone who is a civilian leader and can be representative of the people,” Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst with Dakar-based security intelligence firm Control Risks, told the BBC.

“In some ways this is distancing himself from what brought him to power – a coup – and the fact that his entire career has been in the military.”

In the 15 years before he took power, Doumbouya gained extensive international experience, including being educated to master’s level in France and serving in the French Foreign Legion. He was also in Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Central African Republic and worked on close protection in Israel, Cyprus and the UK.

But the donning of civilian clothes may not be entirely sincere, according to some analysts.

“I’m not sure that he has transitioned from a military man. I think that the military costume will remain even if he is conducting the return to civilian order,” argued Aïssatou Kanté, a researcher in the West Africa office of the Institute of Security Studies.

She referred to a ban on political demonstrations, the exclusion of Doumbouya’s main challengers in December’s election and the suspension of key opposition parties.

Human rights campaigners have demanded to know the whereabouts of two activists – Oumar Sylla (known as Foniké Menguè) and Mamadou Billo Bah – who have not been seen since July 2024. They suspect the men were taken by the military.

Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders has also expressed concern that journalist Habib Marouane Camara has been missing for more than a year. It has described how journalists are now censoring themselves and are fearful about what might happen to them.

Nevertheless, the 2021 coup was widely welcomed in the country and since then Doumbouya appears to have remained a popular figure.

Polling organisation Afrobarometer found that between 2022 and 2024 the proportion of people who trusted the president either “partially” or “a lot” grew from 46% to 53%.

The president-elect may not have a clearly defined ideology guiding him but for Kanté his emphasis on Guineans being in control of their own destiny has become very important.

“It’s what keeps coming up in official speeches – this affirmation of political and economic sovereignty,” she told the BBC.

In his address to the nation a few days into the new year, he struck a conciliatory tone, calling on all Guineans to build a nation of peace and “fully assumed” sovereignty.

In a country that continues to grapple with high levels of poverty despite plentiful natural resources – including the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, which is used to make aluminium – this idea strikes a chord.

The government’s messaging on the development of the vast iron-ore resources in Simandou underscores the possible benefits for the people.

The three billion tonnes of ore available in a remote southern part of the country, which began to be exported last month, could transform the global iron market, as well as Guinea’s fortunes.

The authorities say earnings from the project, partly owned by Chinese miners as well as the British-Australian corporation Rio Tinto, will be invested in new transport infrastructure as well as health and education.

The success or otherwise of Simandou may define Doumbouya’s presidency.

He appears determined to keep some of the processing and added-value parts of the industry in Guinea to ensure greater benefits.

Across the broader mining sector, his government has cancelled dozens of contracts over the past year where it was felt that the companies were not investing in Guinea – a move that has led one UAE-based firm to take the country to an international court.

“This move towards resource nationalism makes him look like a local hero. He looks like he’s really fighting for the rights of his citizens, even if that means business disruptions,” said analyst Ochieng.

The emphasis on sovereignty has also led to a pragmatic approach to international relations, observers say. Unlike coup leaders elsewhere in West Africa, Doumbouya has not outrightly rejected the former colonial power France in favour of Russia.

Neither, despite his background in France and having a French wife, has he been accused of being a puppet of Paris.

Doumbouya very much wants to be seen as someone running things in the interests of the country.

The president has preached a message of national unity and will hope that he can usher in a new era of prosperity for Guinea.

A violent response to the unrest has claimed 3,090 lives, according to US-based Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), with some activist groups putting the death toll far higher. An internet blackout has made it extremely difficult to get clear information.

In a speech on Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said thousands had been killed and blamed the US for the deaths.

US PresidentDonald Trump recently urged Iranian demonstrators to “keep protesting” and threatened military intervention if security forces kill them.

The protests, which began on 28 December over the economy, have turned into calls for the end of the rule of Iran’s supreme leader.

The Iranian government has called the demonstrations “riots” backed by Iran’s enemies.

Protesters have been met with deadly force and videos of security forces shooting at demonstrations have been authenticated by both BBC Persian and BBC Verify.

There has also been a near-total shutdown of the internet and communication services in Iran. On Saturday overall connectivity remained at about 2% of ordinary levels, according to cyber monitor NetBlocks.

There have been fewer reports of unrest in recent days but with internet access still restricted developments on the ground remain unclear.

A woman in Shiraz, south-western Iran, told BBC Persian that “security forces are still patrolling on motorbikes to keep the situation under control, but overall things have gone back to normal”.

During his speech on Saturday, Khamenei also said Iran considered President Trump to be a “criminal” and said the US must be “held accountable” for recent unrest.

He also claimed on social media that “America’s goal is to swallow Iran”.

Trump has not yet responded to the supreme leader and the BBC has approached the White House for a comment.

The US state department said on Saturday that it had “heard reports that the Islamic Republic is preparing options to target American bases”.

It said Iran would be met with “a very, very powerful force” if it launched such an attack and warned Tehran not to “play games with President Trump”.

The US president said on Wednesday he had been told “the killing in Iran has stopped”, but added that he had not ruled out military action against the country.

His comments came after the US and UK both reduced the number of personnel at the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

Officials told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that a partial American withdrawal was a “precautionary measure”.

He gained 72% of the vote, the election commission announced, against 25% for his closest challenger Bobi Wine, who has condemned what he described as “fake results” and “ballot stuffing”. He has not provided any evidence and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Wine has called on Ugandans to hold non-violent protests.

Museveni, 81, first came to power as a rebel leader in 1986 but since then has won seven elections.

The election process was marred by violence and Wine, a 43-year-old former pop star, says that at least 21 people have been killed around the country in recent days.

The authorities have so far confirmed seven deaths.

Access to the internet has been cut in the country since Tuesday, making it hard to verify information.

The authorities say the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence – a move condemned by the UN human rights office as “deeply worrying”.

Wine has demanded that the internet be restored.

Overnight, Wine’s party said that he had been abducted from his home in the capital, Kampala – a claim denied by the police.

Wine later issued a statement on Facebook saying that he had managed to evade a night-time raid by security forces and was in hiding.

He had previously said he was under house arrest.

This has not been confirmed by the police but spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said Wine’s movements were restricted because his home was an area of “security interest”.

“We have controlled access to areas which are security hotspots,” Uganda’s Daily Monitor paper quoted him as saying.

“We cannot allow people to use some places to gather and cause chaos,” he said.

Wine says he represents the youth in a country where most of the population is aged under 30.

During the campaign, he promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argued that he was the sole guarantor of stability in Uganda, a country with a history of conflict.

There were six other candidates but none got more than 2% of the vote. Turnout was 52.5%.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities – security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine’s supporters.

Rusoke, the police spokesperson, dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters of being disruptive.

That’s according to India’s Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), which presently grants over 4,000 scholarships annually across various schemes for students from around 130 countries. More than a quarter of the total, representing 1,100 slots annually, are dedicated to students from 54 African countries under the India-Africa Scholarship Scheme.

In her briefing to a delegation of 27 distinguished journalists, mainly from West and Central Africa and Oceania as part of their familiarization programme in India, hosted by the XP Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Director General of ICCR Nandini K. Singla noted that fostering people-to-people ties through education remains core to India’s values and foreign policy position.

With India’s recent geopolitical rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy, Nandini Singla added that it was time for “brotherly civilisations” – Africa, whose partnership with India has evolved through shared historical experiences and a common development journey to further deepen collaboration to tap into the advancement of India for shared prosperity.

“We are not expecting anything in return..If one part of the world prospers while another remains poor, it eventually affects us all” the diplomat said.

She also explained that currently, amongst the top 10 countries availing the highest number of ICCR scholarships, five are from Africa with a total of 3,020 students from 45 African countries actively pursuing their studies in India under ICCR scholarships, including 727 at Andhra University and 188 at Delhi University alone.

“This is funded by the average Indian citizen,” Nandini Singla stated while adding that “India does not receive overseas development assistance. We stopped taking foreign aid many years ago. What we do in Africa and other developing regions is financed domestically.”

India’s Council for Cultural Relations ICCR has had a longstanding belief that Culture and education are powerful bridges. From its establishment until 1958, the ICCR was under the administrative jurisdiction of India’s Education Ministry.

In April 1970, the country’s Ministry of External Affairs assumed administrative and operational control of the Council in 1970-71 with a view to making the Council an effective instrument of India’s foreign policy.

With 37,000 Africans having received training and education in India over the years under scholarship and capacity-building programmes, this latest bid to support more Africa could lessen the cost burden for many of the countries across the continent which are facing a youth bulge.

Figures so far give Museveni 74% of the vote, with Wine on 23%, based on returns from 81% of polling stations.

Wine’s party said on social media that a helicopter had landed in the grounds of his house in the capital, Kampala, and “forcibly taken him away to an unknown destination”.

The son of the opposition leader said both his parents have been seized by the military, but difficulty accessing the internet in the country has made it difficult to verify this claim.

The local police told the BBC they were not aware of the incident.

Earlier, Wine said he had been placed under house arrest, with security forces surrounding his home, after he alleged fraud had taken place in Thursday’s election.

At that stage, police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told local broadcaster NBS that as a presidential contestant, Wine was “a person of interest”, adding that the heavy security deployment around his home was for his own security.

Some local journalists said security forces had blocked them from accessing the opposition leader’s home in Kampala’s Magere area.

Wine told his supporters to ignore the “fake results” that have been announced, saying the authorities have been “stealing the vote”. He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Late on Thursday, at least seven opposition supporters were killed in disputed circumstances in Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) south-west of the capital.

The internet shutdown imposed earlier in the week means news of the violence only emerged on Friday.

MP Muwanga Kivumbi, from Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party, told the AFP news agency that soldiers and police fired tear gas and then live bullets at hundreds of people who were following early results announcements at his home.

“Ten were killed inside my house,” he said.

Human rights activist Agather Atuhaire confirmed this account to the Reuters news agency.

However, local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe disputes this, maintaining police fired in self-defence after “a group of NUP goons” had attacked a police station and planned to overrun a tallying centre.

She told Reuters they were carrying machetes, axes and boxes of matches and said at least seven people had been killed.

Later on Friday, the US embassy issued an alert to its citizens because of reports the security forces were “using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse gatherings”.

Following the 2021 election, in which he garnered 35% of the vote, Wine was confined to his home for several days by security forces.

Electoral chief Simon Byabakama said on Friday that the vote counting had not been affected by the internet blackout as the commission was using a “private system” to transmit results from districts to the national tally centre.

Asked about the timing of the final results announcement, Byabakama said: “We are on course to announce the winner of the presidential election within 48 hours. Before 5 PM [14:00 GMT] tomorrow, we shall have the final results.”

Thursday’s election followed an often violent campaign, with President Museveni, 81, seeking a seventh term in office. He first took power as a rebel leader in 1986.

Wine, a 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician, who says he represents the youth in a country where most of the population is aged under 30, has promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argues he is the sole guarantor of stability and progress in Uganda.

Last week, the United Nation’s Human Rights Office said that the election would be marked by “widespread repression and intimidation”.

During Thursday’s vote, voting was delayed by up to four hours in many polling stations around the country as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines, used to verify voters’ identity, did not work properly.

Some have linked the problems to the network outage.

Although there are six other candidates, the presidential poll is a two-horse race between Museveni and Wine.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities – security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine’s supporters.

Rusoke, the police spokesperson, dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters of being disruptive.

Internet access was suspended on Tuesday, with Uganda’s Communications Commission saying the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence – a move condemned by the UN human rights office as “deeply worrying”.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also sit on the “founding executive board”, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Trump will act as chairman of the board, which forms part of his 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas.

It is expected to temporarily oversee the running of Gaza and manage its reconstruction.

Also on the founding executive board are Marc Rowan, the head of a private equity firm, World Bank chief Ajay Banga and a US national security adviser, Robert Gabriel.

Each member would have a portfolio “critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success”, the White House statement said.

Trump had said on Thursday that the board had been formed, calling it the “Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place”.

Further members of the board would be named in the coming weeks, the White House said.

Sir Tony was UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003. After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN).

It comes after the announcement of a separate 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA) which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control, will head that new committee.

The statement also said that Nickolay Mladenov, a Bulgarian politician and former UN Middle East envoy, would be the board’s representative on the ground in Gaza working with the NCAG.

Trump’s plan says an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) will also be deployed to Gaza to train and support vetted Palestinian police forces and the White House statement said that US Major General Jasper Jeffers would head this force to “establish security, preserve peace, and establish a durable terror-free environment”.

The White House said that a separate “Gaza executive board” was being formed that would help support governance and includes some of the same names as the founding executive board as well as further appointees.

The US peace plan came into force in October and has since entered its second phase, but there remains a lack of clarity about the future of Gaza and the 2.1 million Palestinians who live there.

Under phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed a ceasefire in October, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge.

Earlier this week Witkoff said phase two would see the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

“The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations,” he warned, noting these include the return of the body of the last dead Israeli hostage. “Failure to do so will bring serious consequences.”

However the ceasefire is fragile, with both sides accusing each other of repeated violations.

Almost 450 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since it came into force, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, while the Israeli military says three of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups during the same period.

Humanitarian conditions in the territory remain dire, according to the UN, which has stressed the need for the unrestricted flow of critical supplies.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 71,260 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

He noted that the absence of a substantive US ambassador in Ghana for the past year is a cause for concern.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Mr. Jinapor said the situation “speaks volumes” about the current state of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

He urged the government to tone down rhetoric and adopt a more measured approach to diplomacy, stressing the need to strengthen and deepen ties with the US through constructive engagement.

“Our bilateral relationship with the United States has a rich history. Currently, the US has not had a substantive ambassador in Ghana for about a year, which speaks volumes about our diplomatic relationship. This situation is concerning. Every foreign policy should promote national interests. Although we are a non-aligned country, it seems the government is leaning in another direction,” he said.

Mr. Jinapor emphasised that as a developing country, Ghana’s priority should be national development rather than involvement in global power rivalries.

He called on the government to focus on positioning Ghana in a way that promotes economic growth and long-term development, and to avoid being drawn into major geopolitical tensions.

“It is important for the government to take a step back, reduce rhetoric, and lower tension. We should engage in measured diplomacy to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Ghana and the US. As a developing country, our priority should be national development and positioning ourselves in a way that fosters progress and emancipation,” he said.

“We cannot afford to be preoccupied with conflicts involving major powers or larger geopolitical issues. Our utmost priority should be how we position Ghana to ensure that our national interests are promoted effectively,” he added.

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The development was disclosed in a Facebook post by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, January 15.

According to the Ministry, Burkina Faso’s Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. David Kabré, paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to discuss practical ways of deepening educational ties between the two countries.

Beyond student admissions, the discussions also addressed language barriers, with Burkina Faso proposing the training and deployment of teachers to improve English language instruction in the Francophone country.

In response, Minister Iddrisu assured the Ambassador of Ghana’s commitment to the initiative and announced plans for a Labour Exchange Programme. Under the programme, Ghanaian teachers will be deployed to Burkina Faso to teach English, while Burkinabè teachers will come to Ghana to teach French.

The initiatives are expected to boost cross-border academic exchange, promote bilingual education, and further strengthen regional integration between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

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The Uganda Communications Commission ordered mobile service providers to shut down public internet connections from 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday in order to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Security forces have detained hundreds of opposition supporters in the run-up to the election and repeatedly fired live bullets and tear gas at campaign events in support of Museveni’s leading challenger, pop star Bobi Wine.

REPORTS OF ARBITRARY ARRESTS

The U.N. Human Rights Office said in a report on Friday that Uganda’s police and military had used live ammunition to disperse peaceful rallies, carried out arbitrary detentions and abducted opposition supporters ahead of the vote.

A Ugandan government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Museveni’s government has defended the security forces’ actions as a justified response to what it called lawless conduct by opposition supporters.

“The UCC acknowledges the operational challenges this directive may impose and appreciates your full cooperation in upholding national stability during this sensitive period,” the UCC said in the letter dated Tuesday and addressed to Licensed Mobile Operators and Internet Service Providers.

The 81-year-old Museveni, who came to power in 1986 after leading a five-year rebellion, is Africa’s third-longest ruling head of state.

He has changed the constitution twice to remove age and term limits, and his dominance of Ugandan institutions means there is little prospect of an election upset in the East African country of 46 million people, political analysts say.

WATCHDOGS HAVE SPOKEN OUT ABOUT RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Uganda’s internet went out at 6 p.m. local time, a Reuters witness confirmed.

The government also early on Tuesday ordered two local rights groups to cease operations before Thursday’s election, which the United Nations Human Rights Office says is taking place in an atmosphere of repression and intimidation.

The two groups had denounced the alleged arbitrary detention and torture of opposition supporters and journalists.

The state-run National Bureau for NGOs said in a letter to one of the groups, Chapter Four Uganda, that it was found to be involved in activities “prejudicial” to Uganda’s security and “should cease operations … with immediate effect”.

Robert Ssempala, who heads the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-U), told Reuters he had received the same letter ordering his organisation to stop operating.

Stephen Okello, head of the state NGO bureau, confirmed to Reuters that he had written the letters.

REPORTS OF ARBITRARY ARRESTS

The U.N. Human Rights Office said in a report on Friday that Uganda’s police and military had used live ammunition to disperse peaceful rallies, carried out arbitrary detentions and abducted opposition supporters ahead of the vote.

A Ugandan government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Museveni’s government has defended the security forces’ actions as a justified response to what it called lawless conduct by opposition supporters.

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Officials say Bello Turji leads one of many armed gangs which terrorise predominantly Muslim northwest Nigeria, killing and abducting residents, farmers, students and motorists for ransom.

Violence in Africa’s most populous country has attracted the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused the government of failing to prevent the killing of Christians. Nigeria says gangs and militants target both Christians and Muslims and that Christians are not systematically persecuted.

Residents of the northwestern Tidibale community say Turji suspects a tip-off from the community to security forces led to recent military operations that killed one of his men.

Turji visited Tidibale three days ago and killed three people to enforce his order to the community to leave, said Basharu Altine Guyawa, Sokoto state coordinator of the Movement for Social Justice and Good Governance.

“He told them if anyone remains when he returns, they will be killed. He said he will not spare even a chicken,” Guyawa said.

Islamist militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram are also active in the region, where insurgency has persisted for 15 years. Last month, the United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in the northwest.

The Sokoto police spokesperson said residents were fleeing Tidibale community for fear of attack and that more police had been deployed to the area.

Local authorities have been evacuating people by truck to Isa, about 50 km (30 miles) away. Muhammad Ibrahim, secretary of the community security committee in Isa, said more than 3,000 people have been moved, including into the town’s schools.

“There is a humanitarian crisis. Educational activities have stopped,” Ibrahim said.

Tidibale lies about 100 km east of the state capital Sokoto. Local activists warn that dozens of villages have been abandoned as violence by armed gangs escalates in Nigeria’s northwest.

“The past three weeks were horrific. Killings and abductions have persisted,” said Usman Musa, a father of 15 who fled to Isa. “The government has ignored us. I want them to flush these bandits out.”

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Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Point of View during a discussion on geopolitics, global tensions, and Trump’s foreign policy posture, Professor Antwi Danso argued that the United States’ aggressive projection of power and democracy is increasingly undermining its own interests.

According to him, America’s long-standing reliance on diplomatic pressure, alliance politics, and sweeping sanctions to compel other nations has triggered a global backlash.

He noted that countries such as China and Russia, once sidelined in global decision-making, are now reasserting themselves and redefining their influence on the world stage — a shift he said has become a major source of frustration for Trump.

Professor Antwi Danso also highlighted the declining dominance of the US dollar, pointing out that more countries are exploring alternatives to dollar-based trade. He cited Saudi Arabia’s recent move away from exclusive dollar transactions, despite its historic 1974 agreement with the United States that entrenched the petrodollar system.

“The forceful nature of America’s thrust into the world with their democracy and domineering character is now balancing back at them in all facets,” he said. “They have relied on diplomatic cohesion and sanctions to cow the world, and the consequences are now evident.”

He added that China and Russia’s renewed confidence and strategic reassessment are unsettling Washington, especially at a time when the dollar’s dominance is being challenged globally.

“These are some of the issues itching Trump to want to bring America back to dominance,” Professor Antwi Danso concluded, “but the methodology being pursued is wrong — extremely wrong.”

At 08:00 local time (05:00 GMT), the BBC observed that things had yet to get going at five polling stations in the capital, Kampala, an hour after voting was due to start.

The delays have been blamed on failures of biometric identification kits, which some have linked to the network outage.

In the presidential race, Yoweri Museveni, 81, who has ruled the country for nearly four decades, is seeking a seventh successive election victory as he faces a challenge from a charismatic pop star.

Where voting has been taking place, there are reports that the biometric machines used to verify voters’ identities are still malfunctioning in some areas.

“Some biometric machines are not working. I don’t know if it’s the internet,” a ruling party official told AFP news agency.

Delays have also been caused by polling materials and equipment failing to arrive at some stations on time.

“We arrived early at the polling station, but the voting equipment has not yet arrived,” a voter in Kampala told state-run UBC TV.

The problems appear to be affecting areas that are seen as pro-government as well as areas that are seen as pro-opposition.

The poll is essentially a two-horse race between Museveni and singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, but given the president has won the six previous elections, analysts say he is likely to further extend his time in power.

Wine, 43, has promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argues he is the sole guarantor of stability and progress in the country.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities – security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine’s supporters.

Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters, particularly those belonging to Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party, of being disruptive.

The former leader of a guerrilla army, Museveni has benefitted from two constitutional amendments – removing age and term limits – that have allowed him to keep running for office.

Wine, real name Robert Kyagulanyi, lost to the president in the 2021 elections. According to the electoral commission, he gained 35% of the vote compared to Museveni’s 59%, although Wine dismissed the results, alleging fraud.

Alongside Museveni and Wine, six other presidential candidates are on this year’s ballot papers.

Voters will also chose a new parliament, with 353 seats up for grabs.

For many of those voting on Thursday, the economy is the key issue.

The majority of the population is under 30 and although the average income is steadily rising, there are not enough jobs for all the young people looking for work.

There are also concerns about poor infrastructure and disparities in access to quality education and healthcare.

During the campaign period, opposition supporters have faced escalating harassment, including arrest on politically motivated charges, according to both the United Nations and Amnesty International.

Wine’s rallies, unlike those of Museveni, have been disrupted by security forces.

Amnesty has described the use of tear gas, pepper spray, beatings and other violent acts as “a brutal campaign of repression” ahead of the vote.

In addition, the head of Uganda’s electoral body told the BBC he has received threats warning him against declaring certain results.

“Some people say if you don’t declare so-and-so as president, you will see. I tell them that I am not in the business of donating votes,” said Simon Byabakama, vowing that only the voters would decide who won the election.

The 2012 elections were also characterised by violence – dozens of people were killed in protests and the security forces were responsible for at least some of these deaths, a BBC investigation found.

Since Saturday, security has been heightened in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.

Officers have been marching in formation and conducting patrols, while armoured vehicles have been stationed at various locations.

Some Kampala residents have travelled to rural areas, saying they believe it is safer there during the election period.

“Because Ugandan elections are often violent, I decided to re-register my polling centre in my home village,” one man told the BBC. He wished to remain anonymous.

“I’m glad I made that decision, because as you can see now, there is a heavy and intimidating security presence in the city. So while I will still vote in my village, I am also staying away from this security scare.”

Polls are due to close at 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Thursday, although anyone in the queue at this time will be allowed to vote.

The result of the presidential vote will be announced by the same time on Saturday, the electoral commission has said.

Beijing on Wednesday reported the world’s largest-ever trade surplus – the value of goods and services sold overseas compared to its imports – at $1.19tn (£890bn).

It’s the first time China’s full-year trade surplus has exceeded $1tn, surpassing 2024’s record of $993bn.

China’s monthly export surpluses passed $100bn seven times last year – a sign that Trump’s tariff campaign has barely affected its overall trade with the rest of the world.

Trade with the US did weaken, but this was offset by a rise in Chinese exports elsewhere, especially to Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Wang Jun, the deputy director of China’s customs, said during a press conference on Wednesday that the figures are “extraordinary and hard-won” given the “profound changes” and challenges in global trade.

He noted a rise in exports of green technology, artificial intelligence-related products and robotics.

The huge surplus can be explained by strong overseas demand for Chinese goods as trade with global partners, including South Asian countries and others in Africa and Europe, grew, as well as a weak domestic market.

China’s economy has been weighed down by a property crisis and rising debt, making businesses more hesitant to invest and consumers more cautious about spending.

As a result, there is less of a need to import goods, and imports rose by just 0.5%, according to the new figures.

Meanwhile, a weaker yuan, a strong supply of goods and inflation in Western countries have also made Chinese exports more attractive.

The results are a “mixed blessing” for Beijing, said trade policy analyst Deborah Elms from the Hinrich Foundation.

China has benefited from sales and from more jobs created by its business abroad, but its goods could face “greater scrutiny” in foreign markets under pressure to compete with its products, she said.

China’s success will likely continue in 2026 as Chinese goods and services become more deeply entrenched in global businesses, said Elms.

These latest figures will be seen in Beijing as a sign that China has customers all around the world, besides the US, but Wang warned that China faces an uncertain external environment.

Several countries have raised concerns that their markets are being flooded with low-priced Chinese products that they cannot compete with.

Businesses are also bracing for another year of turbulence and tariff tensions from the Trump administration.

In April last year, Trump caused turmoil in the global economy by announcing sweeping tariffs on goods from more than 90 countries. Some of the most severe tariffs were reserved for China, which exports more to the US than any other country.

An escalating war of words between the world’s two largest economies saw threats of blanket triple-digit tariffs.

At the time, trade experts saw this as a test of China’s reliance on the US market, which Beijing insisted was just one of many places that Chinese businesses could sell to.

Both sides managed to pause hostilities after a meeting between Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in October, avoiding a complete breakdown in trade relations.

Other, more moderate tariffs remain in place, which have severely dampened Chinese exports to the US.

U.S. President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria “a country of particular concern” in November, promising military action if it failed to crack down on the killing of Christians.

The U.S. then launched an airstrike in Nigeria on Christmas Day that Trump said targeted Islamist militants.

The Nigerian government has said it is working hard to tackle Islamists and other violent groups, which have attacked both Muslim and Christian civilians, and denies there is any systematic persecution of Christians.

It hired Washington-based consulting firm DCI Group for an initial six months for $4.5 million, with a similar amount due for a subsequent six months, according to a December 18 filing with the U.S. Department of Justice posted on the DOJ website.

Nigeria’s presidency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

HIGHLIGHTING CHRISTIAN PROTECTION, BUILDING TRADE TIES

A DCI spokesperson confirmed the filing, which appeared in Nigerian media on Wednesday.

“We are pleased to support the Nigerian government in communicating its ongoing and expanding efforts to protect Christians and people of all faiths from radical jihadist groups and other destabilizing elements, and in building trade and commercial ties which benefit both of our countries,” the spokesperson said in an emailed response.

On its website, DCI describes itself as “seasoned political operatives, communication strategists” and “experts at re-framing external narratives, and in delivering the right message to the right audience.”

Nigeria faces a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mainly Christian farmers in a volatile area stretching across the middle of the West African nation.

Trump said the Christmas Day attack killed multiple Islamic State militants, who he said had been targeting Christians. And in an interview with the New York Times published last week, he raised the prospect of more strikes.

In a sign of cooperation between Washington and Abuja, the U.S. military’s Africa Command said on Tuesday that it had delivered critical military supplies to Nigeria to bolster its operations.

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His clarification follows a US government announcement indicating that immigrant visa processing for nationals of about 75 countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, would be temporarily halted, a development that raised concerns among prospective travellers.

Ambassador Smith explained that the directive does not apply to non-immigrant visas, particularly B1–B2 visas, which cover business and tourism travel.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, January 15, 2026, he stated:
“The US State Department confirms that B1–B2 visas will continue. Only immigrant visas are being paused.”

The US State Department said the suspension is scheduled to take effect on January 21 and will remain in place while consular officials conduct a review of visa screening procedures under existing “public charge” regulations.

The review is intended to strengthen assessments of whether immigrant visa applicants are likely to become overly dependent on US public welfare systems.

The temporary pause affects countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean, including Ghana, Nigeria, Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Thailand and Yemen, among others.

Ambassador Smith’s assurance is expected to calm fears among Ghanaians planning short-term visits to the United States for business, tourism, conferences and family engagements, as those visa categories remain fully operational.

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A State Department spokesperson confirmed that consular officers have been instructed to pause the issuance of immigrant visas while the review is ongoing.

The suspension will take effect on January 21 and will remain in place indefinitely.

According to a memo seen by Fox News Digital, the pause affects 27 African countries, 22 in Asia, eight in Europe, 13 in North America and the Caribbean, three in South America, and one in Oceania.

The African countries affected include Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, and Yemen.

The suspension impacts thousands of prospective immigrants and comes amid ongoing debates over U.S. immigration policies and national security measures.

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He said the second phase would also see the reconstruction and full demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups.

“The US expects Hamas to comply fully with its obligations,” he warned, noting these include the return of the body of the last dead Israeli hostage. “Failure to do so will bring serious consequences.”

Under phase one, Hamas and Israel agreed a ceasefire in October, as well as a hostage-prisoner exchange, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and an aid surge.

The formation of Gaza’s 15-person transitional government, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), was earlier announced by Egypt.

It will operate under the supervision of a “Board of Peace”, which will be chaired by Trump, according to the 20-point plan unveiled by the president three months ago.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 71,430 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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The development was announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a post on X on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, after a high-level bilateral meeting between Ghanaian officials and a US delegation led by Acting US Ambassador, Rolf Olson.

The meeting, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reviewed Ghana–US relations, assessed progress made in 2025, and outlined priority areas for cooperation in 2026.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly—340 to 54—to extend AGOA, describing the decision as a major win for Ghana’s export-led growth agenda.

“The US conveyed another great news, specifically relating to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) — the House of Representatives voted massively on Monday to extend AGOA by three years,” he said.

AGOA, which expired on September 30, 2025, has for over two decades served as a critical trade framework for Ghana, providing duty-free access to the US market for key exports. Products such as cocoa derivatives, processed fruits, apparel, and other manufactured goods benefited significantly from the preferential access.

The Foreign Affairs Minister noted that the extension would have a direct positive impact on local industries, particularly the garment and textile sector.

“This positive development will boost local garment production and create more jobs,” he stated, expressing confidence that the US Senate would grant final approval in the coming days.

The meeting also highlighted improvements in trade and economic cooperation, including Ghana’s successful exemption from a 15 per cent tariff imposed during the Trump administration on certain unprocessed and semi-processed agricultural products.

Additionally, Ghana’s exemption from US visa sanctions and proposed $15,000 visa bonds applied to other countries was reaffirmed.

“Ghana will continue to be exempted from visa sanctions,” Mr Ablakwa said, describing the move as a reflection of the strong bilateral ties between both countries.

On sports diplomacy, the US assured Ghana of special measures to fast-track visa applications ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a step expected to ease current appointment backlogs.

Both sides also commended enhanced security and law enforcement collaboration, which resulted in the extradition of nine suspects from Ghana to the US in 2025, with further cooperation ongoing.

Describing the engagement as highly productive, Mr Ablakwa said it underscored the growing momentum in Ghana–US relations.

“We are impressed with the incredible positive velocity of our Ghana–US bilateral relations,” he said, adding that Ghana plans to begin negotiations in 2026 toward a bespoke trade agreement with the United States to further deepen economic cooperation.

The approval makes FAB the first Atlantic Bank from Ghana to extend its operations into Liberia, reinforcing its ambition to build a strong regional and global banking presence. The license reflects the bank’s robust governance, operational capacity, and long-term growth strategy.

FAB said its entry into Liberia will focus on supporting trade, entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion by providing modern, customer-focused banking solutions tailored to the local market. The bank also plans to leverage its award-winning digital platforms to deliver efficient and reliable services.

A two-time Digital Bank of the Year, FAB intends to use its proven digital expertise to enhance customer experience and drive innovation in the Liberian banking sector.

The expansion underscores the bank’s commitment to strengthening regional economic ties while offering trusted and innovative banking services beyond Ghana’s borders.

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The crane, which was being used to build an elevated high-speed railway, fell onto the moving train as it was travelling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province, causing the train to derail and catch fire, according to Nakhon Ratchasima province’s Public Relations Department.

The accident occurred in Nakhon Ratchasima. The department there announced the rise in the death toll.

The department said in a Facebook post that the fire was under control and that rescuers were searching for people trapped inside the train.

Transport Minister Piphat Ratchakitprakan said there were 195 people on board the train. He said he ordered an investigation into the accident.

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The heads of the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada are among 11 senior bankers who have signed a statement highlighting the importance of independence in setting interest rates.

“Chair Powell has served with integrity, focused on his mandate and an unwavering commitment to the public interest,” they said.

The Department of Justice is conducting the probe. President Donald Trump has said he did not “know anything” about the investigation.

The probe is linked to testimony Powell gave to a Senate committee about renovations to Federal Reserve buildings.

It follows a year of relentless attacks on the Fed chair by Trump, who has pushed the Fed to lower borrowing costs more aggressively.

As well as criticising Powell’s decisions on interest rates, Trump has made personal comments, calling the Fed chair a “major loser” and a “numbskull”.

Commenting on the Fed chair, the global central bankers said in their joint statement: “To us, he is a respected colleague who is held in the highest regard by all who have worked with him.”

Until the weekend, Powell had stayed largely silent in the face of Trump’s attacks but on Sunday, he publicly pushed back and warned that the independence of the US central bank was at stake.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation,” Powell said.

The Fed has cut interest rates three times since September, leaving its key lending rate at around 3.6%.

But policymakers are divided about what to do next. Some are worried additional reductions could stoke inflation, which continues to bubble.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% over the 12 months to December, according to official figures published on Tuesday. That was the same rate as in November and remained higher than the Fed’s 2% target.

In their joint statement on Tuesday, the international financial institutions said: “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve.

“It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability.”

Powell, who Trump nominated as Fed chair in 2017 during his first term in the White House, is set to step down in May.

Trump is expected to name his successor in the coming weeks.

Several Republicans have spoken out against the justice department’s move against the Fed.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would oppose the nomination of Powell’s replacement by Trump, and any other Fed Board nominee, until the matter was “fully resolved”.

The committee must approve the next Fed nominee so if Tillis keeps that pledge, it could delay the nomination of any Trump pick to replace Powell.

His Republican colleague on the committee, Senator Kevin Cramer, said he thought Powell was a poor Fed chairman but did not believe he was a criminal. To restore confidence in the Fed, he added, the investigation should be swift.

Another Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, described the investigation as “an attempt at coercion”.

Powell has also been backed by three former chairs of the Fed – Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. A number of other eminent former officials have publicly declared their support for him and the bank’s independence.

Yellen, who was Powell’s immediate predecessor, said the criminal investigation was “extremely chilling”, adding that investors should be concerned.

“You have a president that says the Fed should be cutting rates to lower rate payments on the federal debt… It is the road to banana republic,” she told CNBC.

The signatories in full are:

• Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England
• Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank
• Erik Thedéen, governor of Sveriges Riksbank
• Christian Kettel Thomsen, chairman of the Danmarks Nationalbank
• Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank
• Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia
• Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada
• Chang Yong Rhee, governor of the Bank of Korea
• Gabriel Galípolo, governor of the Banco Central do Brasil
• François Villeroy de Galhau, chair of the Bank for International Settlements
• Pablo Hernández de Cos, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements

The H200, Nvidia’s second-most-advanced semiconductor, had been restricted by Washington over concerns that it would give China’s technology industry and military an edge over the US.

The Commerce Department said the chips can be shipped to China, provided there is a sufficient supply of the processors in the US.

President Donald Trump said last month that he would allow the chip sales to “approved customers” in China and collect a 25% fee.

Nvidia’s spokesperson told the BBC that the company welcomed the move, saying it will benefit manufacturing and jobs in the US.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said its revised export policy applies to Nvidia’s H200 chips, as well as less advanced processors. Chinese customers must also show “sufficient security procedures” and cannot use the chips for military uses.

The H200 chip is a generation behind Nvidia’s Blackwell processor, which is considered to be the world’s most advanced AI semiconductor and remains blocked from sale in China.

Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told the BBC on Wednesday that Beijing has consistently opposed the “politicisation and weaponisation of tech and trade issues”.

“We oppose blocking and restricting China, which disrupts the stability of industrial and supply chains,” he said. “This approach does not serve the common interests of both sides.”

Nvidia has been caught in a geopolitical tug-of-war between the US and China – two sides of a global AI race.

Trump reversed the chip-selling restriction last July, but demanded that Nvidia pay a cut of its earnings from China to the US government.

Beijing then reportedly ordered its tech companies to boycott Nvidia’s China-bound chips and prioritise domestically produced semiconductors.

That move was designed to bolster China’s tech industry, though experts have consistently said that China’s chips still lag behind those in the US.

Throughout 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang continually lobbied Washington to allow the sale of the firm’s high-powered chips to China, arguing that global market excess is essential for America’s competitiveness.

Some officials in the US, however, have expressed concerns that the chips would benefit Beijing’s military and hurt America’s progress in AI development.

While Beijing is likely concerned about domestic firms becoming over-reliant on Nvidia, local firms will be eager to secure H200 chips – at least until homegrown alternatives get better, said semiconductor analyst Austin Lyons.

Nvidia will also be happy to get any revenue from China, even if it comes at a lower margin due to the US government taking a cut of the sales, Lyons added.

Trump’s “unique” proposal to collect a cut of Nvidia’s sales could also set a precedent for his negotiations in other trade tariffs, said Marc Einstein from Counterpoint Research.

“It will be interesting to see if this tariff model expands to other sectors.”

The Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, said that what he called terrorists were behind the deaths of both protesters and security personnel. The official did not give a breakdown of who had been killed.

The unrest, sparked by dire economic conditions, has been the biggest internal challenge to Iranian authorities for at least three years and comes amid intensifying international pressure after Israeli and U.S. strikes last year.

Iran’s clerical authorities, in power since a 1979 Islamic Revolution, have tried to take a dual approach to the demonstrations, calling protests over economic problems legitimate while enforcing a harsh security crackdown. They have accused the U.S. and Israel of fomenting unrest and said unnamed people they call terrorists have hijacked the protests.

A rights group had previously identified hundreds of people killed and said that thousands had been arrested.

Communications restrictions including an internet blackout over recent days have hampered the flow of information.

Videos of nighttime clashes between demonstrators and security forces over the past week, including several that were verified by Reuters, have shown violent confrontations with gunfire and burning cars and buildings.

The sight of the newborn and her mother being winched to safety by helicopter amid the deluged landscape became one of the defining images of the Mozambique floods of 2000 – the country’s worst ever.

Reflecting on Rosita’s life, President Daniel Chapo described her as a symbol for girls in the country.

In February 2000, hundreds died, and hundreds of thousands of others were forced from their homes after the Limpopo River burst its banks in southern Mozambique.

Rosita’s mother, Carolina Cecilia Chirindza, was one of those caught up in the crisis.

“It was a Sunday afternoon about four o’clock, and the waters began rising,” the Red Cross quoted her as saying later in 2000.

“The water was coming right up to the house, and was getting stronger and stronger, so like everyone else in the village, we headed for the trees.

“I put my two small children on my back and tried to climb up. It was very difficult.

“There were 15 of us all together, and we were there for four days. We prayed and prayed.

“We had nothing to eat, and the children cried and cried, but we could do nothing for them.”

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Carolina went into labour, and shortly afterwards, she and the newborn were spotted by a South African military helicopter that was helping in the rescue operations.

The two became symbols of the disaster’s aftermath, and they travelled to the US later in 2000 to speak to Congress and raise awareness of what had happened.

On Monday, confirming the news of Rosita’s death at 25, her sister Celia Salvador told the BBC that she had “passed away after a prolonged illness. I’m extremely sad. She died of an illness I am unable to explain what it was.”

According to other family sources, Rosita had been battling against the blood disorder anaemia for years. As a result of the worsening of her condition, she had been in hospital for more than two weeks, where she eventually died on Monday morning.

“My God. Very bad news. My condolences to the bereaved family,” the president told the BBC.

“She was a symbol for girls in Mozambique. That’s why I extend my condolences to all the Mozambican people, especially to Mozambican girls.”

Rosita grew up with her family and graduated from high school in the same rural area – Chibuto – where she was born. She herself had a daughter five years ago.

Political analyst Charles Mangwiro described her death as a “wake-up call for the government to improve service delivery in the entire health system in the country.

“You cannot expect to survive when health professionals complain every day about unpaid salaries for months and about the shortage of essentials like protective materials and antibiotics.”

Despite recruiting more health workers in recent years, analysts continue to describe an overstretched health system short of basic drugs and equipment.

Chibuto Mayor Henriques Machava told the press that conversations were underway with the family to formalise the funeral arrangements, which, according to him, would be handled by the municipality.

The visit comes just weeks after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was seized in Caracas by US forces.

But Trump declined to endorse Machado, whose movement claimed victory in 2024’s widely contested elections, as its new leader.

The US instead backed Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice-president.

Machado said last week she hoped to thank Trump personally for the action against Maduro and would like to award him the Nobel Prize.

Trump called it “a great honour”, but the Nobel Committee later clarified that it was not transferable.

Earlier, Trump had expressed displeasure over Machado’s decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour the president has long coveted.

Asked on Friday whether receiving Machado’s prize might change his view of her role in Venezuela, the president said: “She might be involved in some aspect of it.”

“I will have to speak to her. I think it’s very nice that she wants to come in. And that’s what I understand the reason is,” he said.

Earlier this month, after Maduro’s ouster, Trump had said Machado “doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country”. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” he said.

The US has so far backed Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s interim president.

Trump describes Rodríguez as an “ally”, and she has not been charged by US officials with any crimes.

“Delcy Rodríguez and her team have been very cooperative with the United States,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.

But Machado has maintained that her coalition should “absolutely” be in charge of the country.

Machado has said nobody trusted Rodríguez, telling CBS that the interim leader was “one of the main architects… of repression for innocent people” in the South American country.

“Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played,” Machado said.

The former legislator, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, described US military action in Venezuela as “a major step towards restoring prosperity, rule of law and democracy in Venezuela.

Rodríguez has rebuffed Trump’s claims that the US was in charge of Venezuela.

“The Venezuelan government rules our country, and no one else does,” she said in a televised speech. “There is no external agent governing Venezuela.”

Trump said on social media that the tariff was “effective immediately”, without offering details of what constituted “doing business” with Iran.

China is Iran’s largest trading partners, followed by Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and India.

The new tariff comes after Trump threatened to intervene militarily if Tehran killed protesters. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that military options, including air strikes, were still “on the table”.

“Any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

“This Order is final and conclusive,” he added.

The White House did not share additional information about the tariffs, including which countries’ imports will be hit hardest.

Anger over the plummeting value of the Iranian currency, the rial, sparked protests in late December, which have grown into a crisis of legitimacy for Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified the deaths of nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel in Iran, while sources tell the BBC the death toll could be much higher. Thousands more have reportedly been arrested.

However, an internet blackout since Thursday evening has made it difficult to obtain and verify information. The BBC and most other international news organisations are unable to report from inside Iran.

Trump has threatened to intervene, and said on Sunday that Iranian officials had called him “to negotiate” – but added “we may have to act before a meeting”.

International sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme have had a severe impact on the country’s economy, which has also been weakened by government mismanagement and corruption.

On 28 December, shopkeepers took to the streets of Tehran to express their anger at another sharp fall in the rial’s value against the US dollar on the open market.

Iran’s currency has sunk to a record low over the past year while inflation has soared to more than 40%, resulting in sharp price rises for everyday items like cooking oil and meat.

This is usually dubbed a ‘blood moon’, this huge change in colour occurs when the Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, casting its largest shadow over the lunar surface. Now, unlike solar eclipses, which require protective eyewear to observe safely, a lunar eclipse is accessible to anyone with a clear nighttime sky and a good view of the Moon.

But, this particular eclipse has got millions of views on social media already because of the rumours online that it will bathe the Moon in a reddish hue for 82 minutes and be visible to nearly six billion people. While some details, such as the exact duration of the blood-red phase, vary a bit between sources, astronomers agree that this event will be one of the most unmissable sky-watching opportunities of 2026.

The Science Behind the Super Blood Moon

The science behind this is absolutely enchanting. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of its shadow, completely envelops the Moon. In March 2026, the full ‘Worm Moon’ will pass into this umbral shadow, blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface and beginning the eclipse.

Now, as sunlight passes through the edges of Earth’s atmosphere, shorter blue wavelengths are scattered out, while longer red wavelengths are bent and refracted into the shadow. These red wavelengths paint the Moon in shades ranging from brick-red to coppery orange, which is why so many cultures refer to this phenomenon as a blood moon. This effect is similar to the red hues seen at sunrise and sunset, only on a much grander scale.

Moreover, astronomers measure eclipses by several phases. First, there is the penumbral eclipse, when the Moon enters the outer part of Earth’s shadow and dims slightly. Next comes the partial eclipse as the Moon begins to move into the full umbra. Finally, during totality, the Moon glows red as it lies entirely within Earth’s shadow. Now, for the March 2026 event, totality is calculated to last around 58 minutes and 19 seconds according to the most precise astronomical data, though some reports suggest the red-hued phase could feel extended to roughly 82 minutes depending on atmospheric conditions.

Furthermore, this eclipse is part of a well-studied cycle known as a Saros series, a sequence of similar eclipses that recur roughly every 18 years. The 2026 eclipse belongs to Saros series 133 and represents the 27th in that series. Because the Moon’s orbit around Earth is a bit elliptical, its apparent size can vary from one eclipse to another. In this case, the Moon is not at its closest point to Earth, so it does not appear a lot larger in the sky, but the alignment is still exact enough to create a full eclipse.

When, Where and How to Watch the Blood Moon

There is some good news for everyone. The total lunar eclipse on 3 March 2026 will take place over many hours and is visible from much of the globe. Because Earth’s night side must face the Moon for the event to be visible, regions such as East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific and parts of North and South America will see at least parts of the eclipse when weather permits. Those in Europe, Africa and the Middle East may catch glimpses depending on local times and the Moon’s position in the sky.

Also, according to detailed eclipse predictions, the penumbral phase will begin at around 08:44 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on 3 March. The Moon will then enter the partial eclipse phase soon after 09:50 UTC, and totality is expected from 11:04 UTC until about 12:02 UTC, when the Moon will be fully immersed in Earth’s shadow. This translates to local viewing times that change a lot depending on where you are. In East Asia and Australia, for example, the eclipse will be visible late in the evening on 3 March, whereas in North America it will happen in the early morning of the same day.

So, for those who want to catch it, the good news is that no special equipment is needed to enjoy the sights with the naked eye. A clear sky, low city light area and an unobstructed view of the Moon rising or setting in your local area are all you require. However, if you own a good pair of binoculars or a basic telescope, they will improve the view of the lunar surface as it darkens and then slowly regains light.

The prime minister, accompanied by senior government officials, laid the cornerstone for the construction of the mega airport near Bishoftu town in the Oromia regional state, about 40 kilometers southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Speaking at the ceremony, Abiy said the mega airport project is part of Ethiopia’s broader strategy to sustain rapid aviation growth and strengthen the country’s position as Africa’s leading air transport gateway.

“I would like to congratulate you all for being part of this great day and attending such a joyful ceremony, marking the beginning of Ethiopia’s move toward modernization, prosperity and enthusiasm for change,” Abiy said.

He noted that the new airport will have the capacity to accommodate 60 million passengers per year when its first-phase construction is completed in four years, and 110 million passengers annually when fully completed.

The Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, which has the capacity to handle around 25 million passengers annually, will soon reach its maximum capacity at the current pace of growth, according to the Prime Minister.

“The first phase of the airport project will have two huge passenger terminals, two parallel runways, parking areas accommodating 180 airplanes, a hotel, and a cargo terminal that can handle 1.5 million tonnes of goods annually, as well as an aircraft maintenance hub,” said Mesfin Tasew, group chief executive officer of Ethiopian Airlines Group.

According to the Tasew, the first-phase project will also include the construction of a multi-lane modern highway linking the new airport with Addis Ababa, as well as a 38-kilometer high-speed railway with operating speeds of 120 to 200 km per hour.

Once completed, Ethiopia’s new mega airport is expected to strengthen Ethiopian Airlines’ global competitiveness, enhance Africa’s connectivity under the African Continental Free Trade Area, expand trade and tourism corridors, and position the East African country as a major intercontinental aviation hub.

This photo taken on Jan. 10, 2026 shows the construction site of the Bishoftu International Airport, near Bishoftu town in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia, on Jan. 10, 2026.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday officially launched the construction of the Bishoftu International Airport, which is expected to become Africa’s largest aviation hub upon completion.

Demonstrators – reported to be supporters of the exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi – replaced it with the Lion and Sun flag, a symbol associated with Iran before the 1979 revolution.

The incident follows a fresh call to action from Pahlavi late last night, in which he again urged Iranian security forces to defect and appealed to Iranians living in Western countries to reclaim embassies for the people.

He said Iran’s diplomatic missions should display the national flag rather than what he described as the “disgraceful banner of the Islamic Republic”.

It comes after a protester climbed onto the balcony of the Iranian embassy in west London on Saturday and pulled down the official flag and briefly replaced it with the Lion and Sun emblem.

Iran reacted with its foreign ministry summoning the British ambassador in Tehran, state TV reports.

• As our chief political correspondent reported in our previous post, the BBC understands the UK’s ambassador to Iran held talks at the country’s foreign ministry yesterday

Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has accused Western governments of failing to meet their obligations to protect diplomatic premises.

He said they had neglected their duty to ensure the security of Iranian missions, describing the protest at the London embassy as “absolutely unacceptable”.

Yomi, who was left unconscious after a sudden severe headache, is currently receiving urgent medical attention in Marrakech.

The development was made public in a now viral post shared on his Instagram page on Tuesday evening.

However, updating the public about the state of his health, he appreciates the emergency team in Marrakech for their swift response.

Sharing a video of him on a hospital bed, he wrote “Today reminded me how fragile our breath is and how quickly everything can change.”

“Life truly lives in seconds. A sudden headache nearly took me out, but by God mercy & the swift help of the emergency team in Marrakech, I’m here resting and recovering.

“I give thanks to God for preservation, and for everyone He used to reach out, pray, and check on me. May we never take health, time, or one another for granted. Every moment is grace”, he stated.

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A further six people – including wedding guests and family members – who were staying there also died in the blast. More than a dozen people were injured.

The explosion took place at 07:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday, causing the roof to collapse.

Parts of the walls were blown away, leaving piles of bricks, large concrete slabs and furniture strewn across the floor. Injured people were trapped under the rubble and had to be carried out on stretchers by rescue workers.

Emergency workers said the blast happened due to gas leakage, which filled the room and then exploded. Three neighbouring houses were also damaged.

The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Yusuf Raza Gilani, called it “a heart-wrenching incident that turned celebrations into mourning.

Hanif Masih, the father of the groom, said his son had been married the previous day, and the newlywed couple, along with family members and guests, were sleeping in the house at the time of the explosion.

Masih said everyone went to bed around 03:00 local time on Sunday (22:00 GMT on Saturday), and woke up to the devastation.

Along with his son, his daughter-in-law, wife and sister-in-law were all killed.

Police said they had cordoned off the area and were investigating the circumstances of the blast. Forensic officers in white suits were sent to comb through the debris.

Deputy police commissioner Sahibzada Yousaf told local media that sniffer dogs and advanced technology were used to ensure everyone was rescued from the rubble.

Many Pakistani households use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders for cooking and fuel. Gas cylinders have been linked to other deadly accidents caused by gas leaks.

Gilani expressed concern about the explosion and said more needed to be done to curb the “unsafe use of gas cylinders”.

“Such incidents demand that relevant departments fulfil their responsibilities seriously and ensure safety measures,” he said in a statement reported by local media.

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Victoria Woodall told an employment tribunal she was subjected to a campaign of retaliation by the company after whistleblowing on the man who was later sacked.

Google UK’s internal investigation found the manager had touched two female colleagues without their consent, and his behaviour amounted to sexual harassment, documents seen by the BBC in court show.

The tech giant denies retaliating against Woodall and argues she became “paranoid” after whistleblowing and began to view normal business activities as “sinister”.

In her claim, Woodall says her own boss subjected her to a “relentless campaign of retaliation” after her complaint also implicated his close friends, who were later disciplined for witnessing the manager’s behaviour and failing to challenge it.

The claim also included Woodall’s allegations of a “boys’ club” culture, including that up until December 2022, Google had been funding a men’s only “chairman’s lunch”.

Google said an internal investigation found no such culture, and the event was ended as it was no longer in line with its policies.

A judgment from the London Central Employment Tribunal is expected in the coming weeks.

‘Swingers’

Woodall worked as a senior industry head in Google’s UK Sales and Agencies team.

In August 2022, according to her claim, she was contacted by a female client who said that, during a business lunch, a manager in the team had boasted about the number of black women he had had sex with.

He said “he and his wife were swingers” and also described how they had sex with two women they met on the beach on holiday, according to summary notes of Google’s investigation submitted to court.

The client said the conversation was unprompted and happened in front of his line manager, who did nothing to stop him, describing their behaviour as “disgusting,” in court documents.

Woodall reported the client’s concerns to her boss Matt Bush, then managing director of the agency team, and Google opened an internal investigation into the manager’s conduct, it adds.

While this investigation was underway, Woodall raised a second complaint from another female client who alleged the same manager had shown her a “picture of his wife’s vagina” while scrolling through photos on his phone, according to her claim.

The report

Google interviewed 12 people as part of its investigation and uncovered further incidents which it found amounted to sexual harassment in breach of company policies, according to emails, notes and a copy of the report submitted to the tribunal.

The manager was found on the balance of probabilities to have sexually harassed two female employees during a work event, where he allegedly touched one colleague’s leg during a conversation and rubbed another colleague’s back and shoulders, both without their consent.

Google also found he had allegedly made inappropriate comments to staff, including telling a female colleague he had met for the first time that he was in an open marriage and that if she had “sex with him in the bathroom, his wife would enjoy hearing about it”.

The manager denied the allegations during Google’s investigation and said he did not think he had shared with his workmates that he has an open relationship with his wife, according to the report.

He was sacked for gross misconduct, court documents show, while his line manager and another senior colleague were recommended for “documented coaching” for failing to intervene. They were both later made redundant.

‘Boys’ club’

Woodall claims that shortly after reporting the sexual harassment in 2022, her boss, Matt Bush, gave her “little choice” but to swap her successful client account with a failing one, which up until that point had belonged to one of the two colleagues to later receive disciplinary action following her whistleblowing.

She described the move as a “poisoned chalice” that had left her vulnerable to redundancy, the court heard.

She says she was then demoted to a subordinate role on a major internal project supporting the other senior manager whose report she had implicated. Her boss later tried to downgrade her performance, among other retaliatory actions, according to her claim.

In his witness statement, Bush says he always supported Woodall’s career and took fostering inclusivity and gender equality in hiring pipelines and promotions very seriously, adding that it was standard practice to regularly move accounts between the team.

‘Way to exit people’

In 2023, Google started a redundancy process that resulted in the departures of her boss and one of the senior managers who failed to report the sexual harassment, according to court documents.

In May that year, Woodall took her concerns about a boys’ club culture and the retaliation she was facing to the top of the organisation.

In her witness statement, she says she met with Debbie Weinstein, then vice president of Google UK and Ireland, after hearing from an HR colleague that she was concerned about the team and the experiences of women.

Following their discussion, Weinstein, now president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, appeared shocked by Woodall’s claims. Court documents show she messaged a member of HR: “Just met Vicki [Woodall]. Holy moly. Want to get you for 10 mins today.”

Then in November 2023, as Google prepared for a broader reorganisation and redundancy process, Woodall claims there was a final push to remove her from the agency team.

That month, Weinstein messaged Dyana Najdi, Google’s managing director for UK and Ireland advertising, to say: “keep pushing…for solution on how you can run a process including agency [Woodall’s team]… gotta use this as a chance to exit people”, according to messages of their conversation submitted to court.

In March 2024, Woodall was made redundant alongside the second senior manager involved in the misconduct investigation, she remains employed by the company, receiving long-term sickness payments for work-related stress, according to her claim.

Google denies that Woodall was made redundant for whistleblowing, adding that her role was one of 26 across the team and the wider department that were closed, according to its defence.

It disputes that Weinstein attempted to make Woodall redundant, saying she was very supportive of her and instigated the investigation into the agency team’s culture.

The company accepts that Woodall’s report of the manager accused of misconduct was an act of whistleblowing, but denies any retaliation against her, saying the subsequent events were perfectly normal business decisions.

Speaking in an interview on TV3 on Saturday, January 10, 2026, the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, disclosed that a significant arrest has already been made on American soil under this new, discreet cooperation framework.

While public and media attention has been fixated on the lengthy and often bureaucratic process of formal extradition, Dr. Srem-Sai revealed that the state has been working “under the radar” with international partners to secure immediate results.

He confirmed that a suspect, who had been “at large” for an undisclosed period, was recently apprehended in the United States.

“I told you that someone who was at large was arrested recently,” Dr. Srem-Sai noted. “The person was in the United States. The U.S. authorities helped us to arrest this person.”

Although the Deputy Attorney-General did not disclose the identity of the individual, the timing and location of the arrest have sparked intense speculation in legal and political circles. The arrest marks a “proof of concept” for the ministry’s new stance, which is that escaping Ghana’s borders no longer equates to escaping its laws.

Dr. Srem-Sai’s comments were designed to dispel the notion that fugitives can hide behind the years of litigation often associated with extradition treaties.

He explained that the state is now drawing a “clear line” between formal extradition and other administrative or immigration-based pathways that can result in the same outcome: the surrender of a suspect.

“Extradition is not the only way that a person will be removed from one country and surrendered to another country,” he stated. “We need to draw two lines here. The formal one is the extradition process, and there are other lawful ways of getting a fugitive to come back.”

The Deputy Attorney-General used the platform to issue a warning to other officials and individuals currently residing abroad to avoid prosecution.

He emphasised that the government’s commitment to accountability is absolute and that no resource is being spared in the pursuit of those who have fled.

“We have been doing our best to ensure that anyone who has run away from accountability is brought back,” he reiterated.

The revelation comes at a sensitive time, as the state is also navigating the high-profile detention of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dr. Srem-Sai’s insistence on “multiple legal pathways” suggests that the government is prepared to use every administrative tool at its disposal—from visa revocations to deportation orders—to ensure that foreign soil remains a hostile environment for those evading Ghanaian justice.

US President Donald Trump directed the strikes on Saturday, which are part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, in retaliation to the IS’s deadly attack on US forces in Syria on 13 December, Centcom wrote on X.

The strikes were conducted in an effort to combat terrorism and protect US and partner forces in the region, according to Centcom.

“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” Centcom said.

The US and its partner forces fired more than 90 precision munitions at more than 35 targets in an operation that involved more than 20 aircraft, an official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The official added that aircraft including F-15Es, A-10s, AC-130Js, MQ-9s and Jordanian F-16s had taken part in the strikes.

The location of the strikes and the extent of any casualties is not yet clear.

“We will never forget, and never relent,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X on Saturday in reference to the military action.

The Trump administration first announced the Operation Hawkeye Strike in December after an IS gunman killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter in an ambush in Palmyra, located in the centre of Syria.

“This is not the beginning of a war – it is a declaration of vengeance,” Hegseth said when announcing the operation in December.

“The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”

Prior to the latest strikes on Saturday, US forces killed or captured nearly 25 IS group members in 11 missions between 20 December and 29 December as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, Centcom said.

In the operation’s first mission on 19 December, US and Jordanian forces carried out a “massive strike” against the IS group, deploying fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery to strike “more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria”, according to Centcom.

That operation, it said, “employed more than 100 precision munitions” targeting known IS infrastructure and weapons sites.

Syria has been in a fragile state since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, which effectively ended a civil war that had ravaged the country for 13 years.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom-de-guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has been serving as the country’s president since his rebel group ousted Assad and solidified control.

The IS has been weakened in Syria, but still remains active, predominantly carrying out attacks against Kurdish-led forces in the north-east in 2025.

This means the US will withdraw from 66 international organisations including the UN climate treaty framework, marking the most extensive retreat from global cooperation in its modern history.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the institutions were “redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty.”

“President Trump is clear: It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat, and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it. The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over,” Rubio said in a statement following the decision.

The withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the 1992 treaty underpinning the Paris climate agreement — leaves the US as the only country outside the global climate framework. Trump, who calls climate change a hoax, withdrew from the Paris agreement shortly after returning to the White House.

Trump’s latest order drew sharp criticism from experts and former Washington officials.

Gina McCarthy, former White House national climate adviser, said the decision was “shortsighted, embarrassing and foolish.” She warned the US was forfeiting its ability to influence trillions of dollars in climate investments and policies.

Climate scientist Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project tracking global emissions, said the withdrawal “gives other nations the excuse to delay their own actions and commitments” on reducing greenhouse gases.

“The people of the US and the international community must come together to stop the Trump administration from dismantling the structures and tools we have fought for and won – imperfect though they may be – to advance climate justice and global justice,” Niranjali Amerasinghe, executive director of ActionAid USA, said in reaction to the decision.

What is the US exiting?

The US will also exit the UN Population Fund, which provides sexual and reproductive health services worldwide. Trump cut funding to the agency during his first term over Republican accusations that it participated in coercive abortion practices in China, claims a 2022 State Department review found no evidence to support.

Other organisations on the withdrawal list include the Carbon Free Energy Compact, United Nations University, International Cotton Advisory Committee, International Tropical Timber Organisation, Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation and International Lead and Zinc Study Group.

The administration has already suspended support for the World Health Organization, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council and UNESCO. It has adopted what officials describe as an “à la carte” approach to UN funding, supporting only operations aligned with Trump’s agenda.

Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, said the approach represents “the crystallisation of the US approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway’”.

Trump administration officials said they want to focus resources on expanding US influence in UN standard-setting bodies where the US competes with China, including the International Telecommunications Union, International Maritime Organisation, and International Labour Organisation.

The withdrawals come as Trump has rattled allies and adversaries with military actions including the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and threats to seize Greenland.

George Ennin, 53, was walking to his security guard job around 2 p.m. Monday when he was suddenly jumped by a complete stranger and stabbed multiple times just blocks from his home.

Ennin, a father of two, was rushed to Lincoln Hospital, but could not be saved, authorities said Wednesday.

Police later charged Sean Jones, a 38-year-old repeat offender with a history of violent assaults in Manhattan and the Bronx, with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession in the unprovoked attack outside 3077 Third Avenue in Mott Haven, police said. 

Ricky Javier, who works at Daisy’s Pizza around the corner, said he heard chilling “screams.”

“I couldn’t see what was happening [but] I saw the attacker running away,” he told The Post. “We live in the Bronx, so you basically get used to it.”

Ennin was the beloved father of two girls, ABC 7 reported.

“This man was one in a million, he was a diamond in the rough,” the victim’s neighbor, Michele King, told the outlet. “He raised two daughters single-handedly.”

Jones fled on foot but was busted by the NYPD in the Bronx on Tuesday afternoon. He was awaiting arraignment on Wednesday.

Law enforcement sources said Jones has 15 prior unsealed arrests dating to 2012, including for robbery, assault, forgery and criminal sale of marijuana — and was the subject of four prior police reports of an emotionally disturbed person.

In one incident in 2013, Jones was charged with biting a cop while being busted in a subway fare-beating case, the sources said. 

Police said he also slugged a 38-year-old woman on East 166th Street and Trinity Avenue in the Bronx on March 12, 2019, and stole her benefits card before running off. 

The Bronx District Attorney’s Office said he pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery on Nov. 22, 2019, and was sentenced to four months of probation as a violent felony offender. 

Ennin’s Bronx neighbors mourned his senseless slaying.

“He was a really nice man, good father,” one downstairs neighbor said. “They were a quiet family.”

The strikes come hours after Moscow repeated that European troops deployed to Ukraine as part of any future peace deal would be considered “legitimate targets,” and the seizing of a Russian-flagged oil tanker by the United States on Wednesday.

Several explosions and a ballistic missile strike on a critical infrastructure facility were reported by authorities in the western city of Lviv.

The missile was “moving at a speed of about 13,000 kilometers per hour along a ballistic trajectory,” a statement from the Air Command “West” of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. It added the type of missile would be determined after its components had been examined.

A speed of 13,000 kilometers per hour is about 10 times the speed of sound. One of the few projectiles capable of such speeds is Russia’s Oreshnik missile, which Putin has boasted travels at Mach 10. Russia first fired an Oreshnik missile at Ukraine in November 2024.

In Kyiv a CNN reporter said that the attack began around midnight, starting with multiple drone strikes on residential buildings.

Streetlights flickered before large parts of the city were plunged into darkness, as a thick fog settled over the streets and temperatures plummeted to –5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit).

Four people were killed and 10 others wounded in the attack, according to the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said “critical infrastructure” had also been damaged.

There was “no information” about casualties following the missile strike on Lviv, mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on Telegram. “Civilian facilities and residential buildings in the city have not been affected,” he said.

Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with drones and missiles in recent weeks, a tactic used in previous winters. The strikes have left tens of thousands of people across the country without power or heating amid freezing winter temperatures. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the aim of such attacks is “to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population.”

The reports came hours after the US Embassy in Ukraine said it had “received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days.”

The attacks also come as Russia doubled down on its longstanding position of declaring Western forces in Ukraine “legitimate targets” on Thursday, days after France and the UK pledged to send troops there in the event of a peace deal. Russia has long opposed the presence of any Western troops in Ukraine.

And on Wednesday the United States forces boarded and seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean following a weeks-long chase on the high seas which has escalated tensions with Moscow and piled further pressure on its ally Venezuela.

Russia condemned the seizure, with its transport ministry arguing “no state has the right to use force against vessels that are properly registered in the jurisdictions of other nations” under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the US has not signed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to comment on the developments related to the tanker, which the US had previously sanctioned for carrying illicit Iranian oil.

An official family statement said that 21-month-old boy Nkanu Nnamdi, who the novelist had with her husband Dr Ivara Esege, died on Wednesday after a brief illness.

Issued on behalf of the family by Omawumi Ogbe, the statement said they were “devastated by this profound loss”, and thanked well-wishers while also asking for privacy and prayers.

Award-winning US-based writer Adichie is known for works including Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah and her 2012 Ted Talk and essay We Should All Be Feminists, which was sampled by Beyoncé on her 2013 song Flawless.

A key figure in postcolonial feminist literature, her work explores themes around gender and immigration.

In 2015, she was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people.

Adichie, 48, had her first child, a daughter, in 2016. In 2024, her twin boys were born using a surrogate.

In 2020, her 2006 novel Half of a Yellow Sun was voted the best book to have won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in its 25-year history.

Speaking to the BBC last year around the release of her novel Dream Count, she stressed how she wanted her books to be read in Africa.

She also explained how the writer’s block she had experienced while pregnant with her first child was “terrifying”.

“It’s a really frightening place to be, because writing is the thing that gives me meaning,” the acclaimed author told Emma Barnett.

In 2022, in a BBC lecture on freedom of speech, the writer said young people were growing up “afraid to ask questions for fear of asking the wrong questions”.

Such a climate could lead to “the death of curiosity, the death of learning and the death of creativity”, she said during one of the BBC’s annual Reith lectures.

“No human endeavour requires freedom as much as creativity does,” she added.

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Officials said sales were expected to start with 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil, and the revenue would be controlled by the US government to maintain leverage over the Venezuelan government.

“We need to have that leverage and control of those oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

It is not clear what portion of the revenues from the sale – which analysts expect to raise about $2.8bn (£2.1bn) – would be shared with Venezuela.

While White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the two sides had struck a deal, Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, said in a statement that negotiations over oil sales were ongoing within the framework between the two countries.

“This process is based on similar rules to those in force with international companies,” it said.

The comments came after US President Donald Trump announced on social media on Tuesday that Venezuela would be “turning over” up to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, to be sold at market price.

The White House said the money would be deposited into US-controlled accounts, which Trump said he, as president, would control and use to benefit the people of Venezuela and the US.

White House officials said on Wednesday that they had already taken steps to start marketing the oil and the administration was working with key banks and commodity firms to execute the sales.

As part of the plan, the US is preparing to “selectively” roll back sanctions, which have restricted sales of Venezuelan crude for decades.

“We’re going to let the oil flow,” Wright told a conference alongside energy executives in Miami. He added that the money would then “flow back into Venezuela”.

“We are not stealing anyone’s oil,” he added later, in an appearance on CNBC, where he said the administration’s first priority for the funds was to stabilise the country’s economy.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the aim was to disburse the money “in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people – not corruption, not the regime – so we have a lot of leverage to move on the stabilisation front”.

Analysts said the impact of resuming oil sales would depend on the details.

But the plan drew swift criticism from Democrats, with Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut calling it “insane”.

“They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint for an undefined period of time as leverage to micromanage the country,” he told reporters. “The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning.”

Venezuela has some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but years of disinvestment, mismanagement and US sanctions have left it with output of only about a million barrels per day – less than 1% of global production.

That supply, which provided critical resources to the Venezuelan government,in recent years has been going primarily to China.

But that too has been disrupted in recent months after the US ramped up strikes and a blockade of Venezuelan tankers as part of its pressure campaign against Maduro.

On Wednesday, Beijing’s foreign minister condemned the US seizure of Maduro and US plans to exert control over Venezuela’s oil resources.

Trump is due to meet oil executives at the White House on Friday.

Analysts said that in the short term, US oil firm Chevron and US oil refineries, which are set up to process the kind of “heavy” crude that is characteristic of Venezuela’s output, are well placed to benefit from increased flow of oil from Venezuela.

Chevron is the last major US oil firm operating in Venezuela, though some other European firms have outposts there.

The redirection of Venezuelan oil to the US could put pressure on Mexico and Canada, which produce similar crude and are currently the main sellers to US refineries.

Oil prices, which are already relatively low amid steady supply and muted demand expectations, slipped further over the last week on the prospect that Venezuela might have increased access to the global market.

But analysts have warned that meaningful expansion of the country’s output will take years and billions of dollars in investment, which firms may be hesitant to undertake, given less risky opportunities in the US and in other countries such as Guyana.

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“It was a Great Honour to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump posted on his social media site. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”

He wrote that the upcoming meeting would take place at the White House.

That came mere days after Trump said in the wake of the U.S. operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend that “Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump added of Petro, “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” Asked whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, ”Sounds good to me.”

Later Wednesday, addressing thousands of protesters that he had mobilised to rally against U.S. military threats, Petro said he had spoken with Trump for roughly one hour.

“I talked about two things: Venezuela and the issue of drug trafficking,” he told the crowd in downtown Bogotá, where demonstrators had just minutes earlier chanted slogans against the United States at Petro’s behest.

Petro explained to the audience that Colombian politicians allegedly linked to narco-trafficking misled the U.S. president about Petro’s record to turn Trump against him.

“Those (people) are responsible for this crisis — let’s call it diplomatic for now, verbal for now — that has erupted between the U.S. and Colombia,” he said.

Trump now suddenly warming to Petro is especially surprising since Colombia’s president called the U.S. operation in Venezuela an “abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty. He also suggested it was committed by “enslavers” and constituted a “spectacle of death” comparable to Nazi Germany’s 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica, Spain.

Colombia has long been among America’s staunchest Latin American allies, a pillar of Washington’s counternarcotics strategy abroad. For three decades, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas.

Still, before Trump’s conciliatory post, tensions had been rising between the U.S. and Colombia for months.

The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the epicentre of the world’s cocaine trade.

Trump began his monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro by ordering dozens of lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched from Venezuela in the Caribbean. He eventually expanded the operations to also target suspected vessels in the eastern Pacific that came from Colombia.

The U.S. in September added Colombia, the top recipient of American assistance in the region, to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. The designation led to a slashing of U.S. assistance to the country.

This is a former regional jail repurposed to house immigration detainees under the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The facility, previously known as the Peumansend Creek Regional Jail, has a capacity of about 336 adult detainees, both men and women.

Mr Ofori-Atta is among those currently being held there, subject to ICE contracts and population levels.

The Caroline Detention Facility is one of two major ICE detention centres in Virginia, alongside the Farmville Detention Centre.

In 2025, both facilities have operated at consistently high occupancy levels, reflecting a broader rise in immigration detentions linked to stricter enforcement measures under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

As of November 28, 2025, the Caroline Detention Facility had exceeded its designed capacity. Data compiled by TRAC Immigration and cited by ABC 8 News shows an average daily population of 346 detainees, 10 more than the facility was built to hold.

The facility has previously faced criticism over detainee management. A 2023 inspection found that it failed to comply with requirements under its Voluntary Work Program, with some detainees working beyond the permitted hourly limits.

Mr Ofori-Atta will also share his new temporary home with criminal offenders. The latest data from the facility shows that 120 of its inmates are classified as criminals.

He will be part of the 226 detainees described as NCDs (Non-Criminal Detainees).

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Trump administration officials claim the woman, identified as Renee Nicole Good, was a “violent rioter” attempting to run over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when one agent fired “defensive shots” into her vehicle.

But city and state leaders, and Democrats nationally, are disputing that account.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey claims that “this was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying”, telling ICE agents: “Get out of our city.”

Multiple videos posted to social media by onlookers appear to show the moment of the shooting, which occurred around 10:25 local time.

From various vantage points, a maroon SUV can be seen blocking a residential street in Minneapolis. A crowd of people, who appear to be protesting, are lining the sidewalk area.

Multiple law enforcement vehicles appear nearby. Immigration agents pull up to the vehicle parked in the street, get out of the truck and order the woman behind the wheel to get out of the SUV. One of the agents tugs at the driver’s side door handle.

Another agent is positioned near the front of the vehicle. It’s not clear exactly where the officer is standing based on the BBC’s immediate review of the videos. That agent opens fire as the maroon SUV attempts to drive off.

Three pops are heard, and the vehicle can be seen losing control and crashing into a white car parked along the street nearby.

The shooting comes amid a major immigration crackdown in Minneapolis by the Trump administration.

US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said the deceased woman’s actions constituted “domestic terrorism” – and that ICE’s operations in the city will continue.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that an ICE officer was “viciously” run over. “It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” he wrote.

The president also blamed the “Radical Left” for “threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis”.

Speaking to the press later in the day, Noem called the loss of life “preventable.

But she repeatedly claimed that the ICE agent fired in self-defence and that Good used her vehicle as a “deadly weapon” against agents. The details are pending an FBI investigation, she said, adding that the same agent injured on Wednesday was also hit by a car in the line of duty in June.

The Minneapolis City Council, however, said that Good was simply “caring for her neighbours” when she was shot and killed.

Minnesota State Governor Tim Walz also pushed back on federal accounts of the incident.

“Don’t believe this propaganda machine,” Walz wrote in response to a Department of Homeland Security post about the shooting. “The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.”

Top Democrats, like former Vice President Kamala Harris and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also released statements Wednesday evening. Harris called the Trump administration’s version of events “gaslighting”.

Protests erupted in several parts of the city as outraged Minneapolis residents condemned the shooting and called for ICE to leave. According to local media reports, the main gathering happened near the scene of the shooting.

A makeshift vigil, displaying flowers and candles, was laid in the snow there, as protesters chanted slogans and delivered speeches.

One group of protesters formed a line blocking the entrance to a federal courthouse with ICE officers standing inside, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The group of around 50 people chanted Good’s name and dispersed after breaking a glass window.

Protests are also taking place in cities outside Minneapolis, with gatherings expected in New Orleans, Miami, Seattle and New York City.

Why is ICE in Minneapolis?

The Trump administration deployed an additional 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis area in recent weeks in response to allegations of welfare fraud in the state, sources told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.

Frey said in the press conference Wednesday that ICE is not making the city safer. “They’re ripping families apart, they’re sowing chaos in our streets,” he said.

The deployment, which began on Sunday, is one of the largest concentrations of Department of Homeland Security personnel in a US city in recent years.

It follows an immigration enforcement campaign launched by ICE in late 2025 to target individuals in Minneapolis who were issued deportation orders, including members of the city’s Somali community.

That community has been criticised frequently by Trump, who has called them “garbage”.

“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” the president has said. “Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks.”

Trump later doubled-down on his remarks after a YouTube video by a conservative online content creator accused day care centres run by Somali immigrants of fraud.

“Send them back from where the came,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December. He also withheld federal child care funds to the state of Minnesota in response.

The Trump administration has sent ICE agents to other cities as well, all part of a widespread crackdown on what it says is unlawful immigration in the US.

The space agency did not provide additional information about the issue or name the astronaut involved.

“Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member,” the space agency said in a statement. “The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”

Two NASA astronauts — Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman — were slated to exit an airlock aboard the International Space Station on Thursday to finish preparing a power channel where a new solar array is set to be installed.

The spacewalk would be a first for Cardman, a 38-year-old geobiologist who was selected for the astronaut corps in 2017.

Fincke, who has been an astronaut since 1996, has participated in nine prior spacewalks. Venturing outside the space station again would make him the sixth American astronaut to conduct 10 spacewalks, said Bill Spetch, NASA’s operations integration manager for the orbiting laboratory, during a Wednesday news briefing.

NASA does not typically share details about medical issues that affect astronauts. Information about the impact of spaceflight on the human body or other medical concerns that occur during missions are generally made public as part of broader scientific studies and research, and specific astronauts are usually not identified.

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Conditions such as space adaptation syndrome — an ailment characterized by vomiting and vertigo that is experienced by many astronauts during their first hours in microgravity — only came into focus after years of research and revelations in academic journals. The condition is common, however, and has affected astronauts dating back to the beginning of spaceflight.

An incident in which an astronaut experienced a case of jugular venous thrombosis, a dangerous condition in which a blood clot can form in a person’s jugular vein, was also revealed in an academic journal. The identity of the astronaut impacted has never been made public.

Additionally, after SpaceX’s Crew-8 mission returned from the space station in October 2024, one of the four crew members experienced a “medical issue” and was flown to a hospital in Florida.

The space agency did not provide further details at the time, saying in a statement only that the crew member was “in stable condition” and “under observation as a precautionary measure.” The identity of the crew member is still unknown.