The summit, scheduled for Sunday, August 30, is being hosted by Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, who serves as the AU Champion for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa.

Central to the discussions will be the proposed adoption of a comprehensive Decision, Action Plan and Implementation Matrix on Conflict Prevention and Resolution.

African leaders are also expected to examine the effectiveness of existing continental peace and security mechanisms and identify ways to improve coordination, response, implementation and funding under the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and the African Governance Architecture (AGA).

The extraordinary meeting comes as several regions of Africa continue to grapple with security and political challenges, including conflicts in Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, instability across the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, and the ongoing insurgency in northern Mozambique.

President Mahama and other heads of state are expected to explore practical measures to strengthen regional stability and enhance Africa’s collective ability to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts.

The session forms part of the AU’s broader efforts to reinforce African-led approaches to peacebuilding, conflict prevention and sustainable security on the continent.

The Kenya Revenue Authority said its decision to raise the duty with effect from ​August 20 aimed to curb under-declaration and undervaluation ​of imports, which it said disadvantages compliant ⁠businesses and local manufacturers.

Traders say the change would ​raise the cost of clearing goods and hurt small ​businesses that rely on consolidated shipments to reduce import costs.

“We are standing for our citizenship and our right to do ​business and our right to build our future,” ​said Muturi Kariuki, who joined the demonstrations.

Kariuki was among the traders ‌who ⁠closed their businesses in order to protest. Others did so for safety reasons, traders said.

Police did not immediately respond to calls or requests for comment.

The ​duty change raises ​the minimum ⁠customs benchmark for a consolidated 40-foot container to 3.2 million Kenyan shillings ($24,700) from ​2.5 million shillings.

The authority said the 3.2 ​million ⁠shilling figure was a minimum reference point, not a fixed value for every container. Importers whose goods ⁠exceed that ​value must declare their actual ​worth and pay the applicable duties.

The move comes after trade talks between the US and Canada collapsed last week, and the US imposed new 50% tariffs on $20bn (C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods. Canada will implement “dollar for dollar” counter tariffs next month.

Trump said the move to rename the lake, which straddles both countries, was effective immediately. He has broad discretion over how the US recognises landmarks but other countries do not have to follow.

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said “things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever”.

Text of the executive order says it gives the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the name change with the Geographic Names Information Service – the official repository of domestic geographic names in the US.

Carney noted that the name Lake Ontario could be traced back more than 400 years, adding that it preceded the formation of the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.

“We know that the United States is changing. Their trade relations, their foreign policy, their national monuments, their hydronyms.

“Canadian women and men also know that things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever.”

There is no universally recognised international body setting the names of international waters.

When Trump took to the White House in 2025, he signed a similar order that changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Mexico has rejected the name change, arguing a single country cannot rename a shared body of international water.

It also led to a legal dispute between Mexico and tech giant Google, which renamed the gulf in its maps application.

In that case, Google Maps users in the US see “Gulf of America”, while those in Mexico see the “Gulf of Mexico”. Those in other countries see the “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.

The White House at the time also blocked Associated Press reporters from presidential events over the news agency’s refusal to adopt the name “Gulf of America” in its coverage. The AP sued the Trump administration in response, and that legal battle is ongoing.

Canadian officials dismissed Trump’s move to rename the lake.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote: “It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever.” Other premiers and ministers made similar statements.

The names of four of the Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – originate from indigenous words. Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French word. Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, borders both the Canadian province and the US state of New York.

There was a mixed reaction from US politicians.

Trump’s Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum applauded the move, writing: “We’re on it, Mr. President!”

“The places and waters that border our nation and support our economy should reflect the greatness of the United States,” he said, adding that the US Geological Survey “maps our country for the world to see, and we are PROUD to implement your Executive Order to rename LAKE AMERICA”.

But Democratic lawmaker Debbie Dingell of Michigan, the US state that borders four of the five Great Lakes, said that she would introduce a bill in Congress to nullify the name change, calling Trump’s order “idiotic”.

She wrote: “The Great Lakes are a shared treasure that generations of Americans and Canadians have worked together to protect”.

Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state, the sole US state bordering Lake Ontario, would not be calling it Lake America.

As he signed the order on Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump said it was not a direct message to Canada, but that America’s northern neighbour “has been ripping us off for a long time on trade”.

US-Canada relations have fallen to new lows, with insults thrown back and forth over the past week.

But there was a hint on Thursday that there was room for a return to the negotiating table.

Canadian US trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, said the US had withdrawn some of its demands around labelling requirements in French, one of the sticking points. The US has maintained it never made demands about language.

Both sides have accused the other of demanding last-minute changes that caused the breakdown in trade negotiations.

The Claude-maker argued in the lawsuit that Defence Secretary Pete Hegeth overstepped his authority with the new designation. It followed Anthropic’s refusal to allow the military to use its AI models for purposes including surveillance or autonomous weapons.

US district judge Rita Lin said in the ruling that citing national security “is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics”.

The BBC has contacted the Pentagon, White House and Anthropic for comment.

Anthropic’s lawsuit called the government’s actions both “unprecedented and unlawful”. The designation calling them a supply-chain risk cited a law intended to protect military systems from foreign sabotage.

It marked the first time an American company had been publicly designated as such.

The Claude-maker said its models were not reliable enough to be safely used in weapons systems for the military. It added that it opposed its use for domestic surveillance as a violation of rights.

The Pentagon said at the time that private companies should not be able to constrain military action.

The White House had previously said Anthropic was “a radical left, woke company” attempting to control military activity” and argued the military was beholden to the US Constitution, “not any woke AI company’s terms of service”.

Anthropic’s executives estimated that the move could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm.

South Africa has been hit by a wave of protests demanding that undocumented migrants leave the country – the latest unofficial deadline set is 30 September.

Tens of thousands of Africans have been voluntarily repatriated in recent months, some saying they have been the targets of intimidation and attacks.

While cracking down on illegal immigration, the South African government has said that those who have taken the law into their own hands have been arrested.

South Africa is Africa’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities.

But illegal immigration has become a highly contentious political issue, with protesters accusing undocumented migrants of placing pressure on South Africa’s public services, as well as being involved in crime.

In a message explaining why he would not be performing at the Macufe festival in Free State province next month, Keïta said he could not “ignore the reports of xenophobic violence against our African brothers and sisters.

“When I see migrants attacked, I do not see ‘politics’. I see people looking for work, safety, and dignity.”

The 77-year-old star added that this did not reflect the country that he knew and that cancelling the appearance was “a rejection of hate” rather than a rejection of South Africans, leaving the door open for a return at some point.

In its response, the Free State’s culture department said it “regrets the decision taken by the renowned musician”.

It emphasised that the Macufe festival was a celebration of African unity.

Keïta, known to some as the “Golden Voice of Africa”, was a pioneer who helped put African music on the global map and after 50 years in the music business remains influential.

News of the cancellation of his concert came as the first group of 173 Tanzanians returned from South Africa as part of a voluntary repatriation programme.

For some of them the flight home from Durban, which has seen some of the biggest protests, marks the end of decades spent in South Africa.

Abdul Idi, who went there in 2006 hoping to build a better life, said he was grateful to have returned safely after what he described as difficult and dangerous circumstances in South Africa.

“Foreigners are not wanted there,” he said on arrival at Dar es Salaam’s international airport on Wednesday night.

Another returnee, Rashid Ramadhan, said he had spent 30 years in South Africa.

The 53-year-old explained how he and others had been forced out of their accommodation in Durban and had been living outside for the past two months, with their jobs gone and life becoming increasingly difficult.

More than 160,000 people have left the country on similar repatriation schemes since May, according to a count by the AFP news agency. Malawians, Zimbabweans, Zambians, Ghanaians and Nigerians are among those who have returned.

The anti-migrant group March and March has announced a second wave of nationwide protests set for 30 September.

Earlier this month, the group called on leaders attending the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit in Durban to “fetch your people”.

March and March says its September action will be bigger and better organised than the demonstrations on 30 June, which were accompanied by violence in some areas.

Those returning to their home countries from South Africa often need support, having abandoned their livelihoods and many of their possessions.

But Ghana’s government has rejected a donation of about $1.7m (£1.25m) from MTN Ghana, a subsidiary of South African telecoms giant MTN Group, offered to support Ghanaians repatriated from South Africa.

Ghana’s foreign ministry said that the government was committed to funding the evacuation and reintegration of its repatriated citizens.

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Jerusalem Magistrates Court said Yona Schreiber was experiencing a psychotic episode when he pushed over and kicked the French nun in the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem in April. It ruled that he was not criminally responsible for his actions and ordered him to be sent to a psychiatric hospital for up to six years.

Video of the attack caused outrage, and deepened concerns after a rise in harassment of Christian clergy and pilgrims by Jewish extremists in the Old City.

The victim, who hit her head on a stone block, suffered a bruised face and leg.

Schreiber, 36, had been charged with assault motivated by hostility towards a religious group.

According to the district psychiatrist’s report, Schreiber “was in a psychotic state at the time of the act and is not substantively fit to stand trial”.

The prosecution accepted the psychiatrist’s opinion and asked for Schreiber to be acquitted and committed to hospital.

Judge Ofir Tishler said that although Schrieber had attacked the nun, he was ordering his acquittal due to his mental health.

At the time of the attack, the French Consulate in Jerusalem said it strongly condemned Schreiber’s “aggression”.

The director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School, where the nun is a researcher, called the assault an “act of sectarian violence”.

Israel’s foreign ministry denounced the attack, calling it a “shameful act [which] stands in direct contradiction to the values of respect, coexistence, and religious freedom upon which Israel is founded and to which it remains deeply committed.”

“Israel remains firmly committed to safeguarding freedom of religion and freedom of worship for all faiths, and to ensuring that Jerusalem remains a city where every community can live, pray, and practice its faith in safety and dignity,” the ministry said on X.

While the violence of the attack on the nun is unusual, in the past few years in Jerusalem’s Old City there have been regular cases of religious Jews spitting and acting aggressively towards those wearing Christian religious dress or symbols.

Church properties have been vandalised and there have also been bitter disputes caused by settler takeovers. Church leaders accuse Israel of trying to change the status quo – long-standing agreements on ownership and responsibilities – at their holy places.

A 2025 report by the Rossing Center, a Jerusalem-based organisation which aims to foster better inter-faith relations in the Holy Land, describes a “recent surge in overt animosity towards Christianity”, putting this down to “a continued deepening of polarisation and ultra-nationalist political trends”.

The Treasure of Villena is a unique trove of almost ten kilos of gold, bowls, bottles and bracelets dating back to the Bronze Age.

Police are still assessing exactly how many items were stolen in the raid, which took place in the early hours of Friday morning. The museum confirmed to the BBC that rings, bowls and bracelets were among the items seized.

It is the latest high profile heist on a European museum. Last year, thieves staged a brazen robbery at the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight.

The operation at Villena Museum was “super fast and super professional”, a spokesman for Villena town council said.

The city council said the robbery began with a diversion. Around 05:15 local time (03:15 GMT), the alarms went off at the local sports centre, sending police there first, Spanish media reported.

The museum’s alarm then went off around 05:20. It took the thieves just four minutes to sweep through museum and leave the building before officers arrived.

The Mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdán, said the thieves “stole a large part of the treasure,” specifically all the gold, El Pais reported.

The museum’s collection, which dates back to around 1,000 BC, is mainly gold items, but there are also pieces of silver, iron and amber.

It consists of more than 60 bronze age objects, including 29 bracelets, 11 bowls, three bottles and other miscellaneous pieces.

The town is “devastated,” Cerdán said. “They’ve taken most of the treasure.”

“I’m even trembling. The truth is that for those of us from Villena, this destroys us. It’s part of our heritage, of our wealth,” the mayor said.

The collection was discovered in 1963 by archaeologist Jose María Soler in a vessel sunk in a dried-out riverbed in Villena.

The Villena council spokesman insisted there had been “no failure” by the museum.

“All security systems were activated.”

The past year has seen a series of raids on European museums. In October 2025, thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris in broad daylight, stealing jewellery worth $102m (£75m) before escaping on scooters, in a heist that took about eight minutes.

Last week, four works “of extraordinary value” by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy’s culture ministry said.

Earlier this month, Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth over $10.4m (£7.6m) which were stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma.

Among those who have spoken out is renowned female footballer Nchout Njoya Ajara, who has called for an end to the “tragic wave” of targeting women. The government has also raised concern about the rise in attacks.

At least 50 women have been killed between January and April this year, compared to 77 last year, according to official figures.

In the latest case on Tuesday, a 44-year-old woman was killed in a hotel room in the capital, Yaoundé. She was allegedly stabbed to death by a 22-year-old who was later arrested.

“Being a woman in Cameroon should never be a risk. In the face of the tragic wave of femicides that has hit our country in recent days, silence is complicity,” Ajara said.

In a statement, the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party said it was outraged by the “tragic recurrence of domestic femicides” and accused the government of being passive about the issue.

The femicide cases, most of which are attributed to domestic violence, have been reported in different parts of the country.

In a video published by state media, the minister for Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, condemned the “worrying” rise in the number of the killings, and said the government was working to address the problem.

She mentioned a bill to protect women against gender-based violence, which she said was being reviewed by the prime minister.

But civil society and women’s rights groups have denounced what they perceive as the government’s delay in turning the bill into law.

A parliamentary session, the last one for the year, is due to be held in November. However, Viviane Tathi, whose organisation documents cases of femicide in the country, told the BBC she was not sure that the bill would be passed at the session.

“We are worried because the November parliamentary session focuses on budgetary debates…So, we don’t know by what magic this bill will be passed,” she said.

She has called for the creation of a special court to handle family disputes, which lead to domestic violence.

The gunmen, who struck at 02:00, split into groups to surround residents: one at the village entrance, one in the centre and one at the back.

“They opened fire without a care in the world, shooting indiscriminately,” the 55-year-old quietly tells the BBC World Service.

It was one of many attacks that have caused havoc in the mainly Muslim community where residents live in fear of being kidnapped for ransom.

Fatima explains how the raids unfold: “You could have 100 motorcycles, and each one could be carrying three people.”

About 70 people, including children, were killed from the village of Bia Buki in June, according to Fatima.

She describes how the attackers also targeted villagers as they fled and children were injured falling into ditches. Among the dead were her husband and six of his seven siblings.

Fatima is one of an estimated 800,000 Nigerians who the UN says have been displaced in the country’s north-west. One of the main reasons people have left their homes is violence.

Some attacks have been carried out by militant Islamist groups, but the majority in this region are by gangs, locally referred to as bandits, who often move around on motorcycles and attack quickly then ride away, escaping before security forces arrive.

Thousands of people have joined government-backed vigilante groups to fight, and the BBC spoke to one who said his armed group had killed many bandits.

But the gangs keep attacking in what appears to be a deteriorating pattern of violence and abductions that is spreading southwards.

Fatima says when the bandits attacked her home, she ran into the nearby forest with other villagers to hide: “The forest became our sanctuary. We ran with our kids, if you couldn’t find your child you’d take your neighbour’s child.”

She says people slept in the forest before moving on to the state capital, Gusau, “where we found a little bit of peace”.

Fatima now lives in an informal camp in Gusau with her seven children, who are aged between nine and 30.

Dozens of women sit in groups on the dusty ground of the makeshift compound, many wearing brightly coloured hijabs. More than 1,000 people are here, she believes.

Conditions are tough with “no proper place to even lay your head”. Food is scarce and assistance arrives irregularly.

Fatima describes two occasions where “good Samaritans” brought rice or potatoes. Children are sent out to gather firewood to sell so families can buy food, but 22 have been kidnapped by bandits, she says.

Gesturing towards a nearby building, Fatima says that there “you will find 100 or more women… maybe just two or three have had breakfast.

“When we had peace, we had our own wealth, but now the tables have turned and we have become beggars.”

Her eyes fill with tears and she cries for a few minutes, wiping her face with her hands.

Despite being 16 miles (25km) from her village, the threat Fatima fled has not disappeared.

When she first arrived at the camp, the sound of gunshots kept her awake at night. Things have since quietened, she says, crediting patrols by the army and government-backed vigilantes, but the atmosphere is still tense.

The bandits are mostly people from the Fulani ethnic group, who traditionally make their living by raising animals. Some of them have swapped cattle trading for kidnapping and extortion, which is seen as a faster, easier way to make money.

They attack towns and villages or ambush travellers, abducting people for ransom, stealing whatever they want – and sometimes killing those who resist. They also force communities to pay protection money, only allowing farmers into their fields if they hand over large sums of cash.

Attacks are now more frequent than ever. In the bandit heartlands of north-west Nigeria, the number of incidents recorded by the international conflict monitoring group Acled rose 78% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2025.

One security consultancy estimates that kidnappers across Nigeria collected nearly $5.8m (£4.3m) in ransoms over the past year as the number of abductions surged. SBM Intelligence estimates that 7,825 people were kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026, a 66% increase on the previous year.

The increase in bandit activity appears to be a key driver in this trend.

Malik Samuel at Good Governance Africa, a research and advocacy non-profit group, says that “there is no region in northern Nigeria currently that does not experience one form of mass abduction or the other”.

Nigeria’s battle with bandits is just one part of a more complex security situation facing the country.

As well as the bandit gangs in the north-west, there is an Islamist insurgency in the north-east, separatist unrest in the south-east and clashes in central regions, where the main grievance is over access to land and water for grazing and farming and where ethnic and religious elements have also fuelled some of the unrest.

Most analysts agree that armed groups have waged campaigns of violence that affect all communities, regardless of background or belief.

Schools are a common target. When the Islamist Boko Haram militant group infamously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the north-eastern village of Chibok in 2014, it made global headlines.

At the time the group forced its captives into sexual slavery, domestic servitude or used them as suicide bombers.

But a range of groups across Nigeria now use kidnapping to raise funds, focusing on soft targets such as schools, churches, mosques and remote villages.

This was mainly confined to the Boko Haram strongholds of the north-east or the bandit zones of the north-west – areas that are largely Muslim.

Then, in May this year, gunmen on motorcycles attacked three schools in Oyo state, south-west Nigeria, one of the few regions that was previously considered relatively safe. Thirty-nine children, the youngest just two years old, were abducted along with seven teachers. One teacher was killed during the raid, another’s murder was filmed and shared online.

After 56 days, the remaining 44 hostages were released. The government said it refused to pay a ransom and that the children were released after an operation by security forces. Three men were sentenced to life in prison for the attacks and confessed to being members of an affiliate of Boko Haram.

The abduction spread fear throughout the south-western town of Oriire, with parents in the community pulling their children out of school.

“There is fear because many residents have run away and are yet to return,” says the traditional ruler of the area, Oba Tajudeen Abioye, whose niece was among the kidnapped children.

“And for those of us who are left here, we are relying on the security officials, the soldiers” who were sent to protect the community, he says.

Nigeria already has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children in the world: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) estimates the number is about 19 million.

The multiple, overlapping security issues mean Nigeria’s military and police are overstretched and as a result struggle to tackle the violence.

A 2025 UN report said that police stations were often underfunded and not fully operational, citing independent sources that accused officers of lacking skills in hostage negotiation and forensic investigation.

President Bola Tinubu’s administration has allocated the largest defence and security budget in the country’s history, raising it by 10% in December 2025 compared to one year before. He has recently approved the recruitment of 28,000 new soldiers.

In the meantime communities are still suffering and in Zamfara thousands of residents have joined government-backed vigilante groups to fill the gaps in security.

But there are concerns about their involvement. In 2020 Zamfara banned a large vigilante group over concerns that extrajudicial killings were driving more violence, according to AFP.

The authorities say the new vigilantes are better trained, but Samuel, from Good Governance Africa, calls them a “time bomb waiting to happen”.

“If citizens arm themselves how do you control them at the end of the crisis, how are you able to disarm them?” he asks.

One of the vigilantes meets us outside his group’s headquarters, a single-storey concrete building, and agrees to speak on the condition of anonymity during our visit in July.

He perches on his motorcycle, an AK-47 slung over his shoulder, a scarf across his face as a makeshift balaclava, gold and silver skull rings on his fingers.

“We are some of the people the governor hired to protect the community,” he says, explaining that they are sometimes told where the bandits are and “with the help of God we fight them and defeat them”.

“Let the bandits understand that when they attack a place and kill, they can also be killed,” he adds.

He estimates he has fought bandits at least 20 times and says the calls for his group’s help keep coming.

“It’s hard to go a week without these reports,” he says. “There are regions that became safer… but there are other regions where the same cannot be said.”

He calls on the state governor, whom he supports, to hire and arm more people to take on the bandits. “These people won’t be afraid of you unless you have proper weapons to fight them,” he says.

Fatima also calls for more action: “These kidnappers are in every nook and cranny.

“I am not saying the government has failed but even if it is trying, it needs to do more. There are problems and we think with more effort and more security agents, villages will be peaceful.”

She wants to return home, but is doubtful that will happen as she has heard her village has now been turned into a camp for the gunmen that attacked it.

The local bandit leader has become the de facto authority, and that families look to him to solve domestic disputes, she says.

Another nearby village “is completely empty, not even a chicken lives there… empty villages like that are countless”, Fatima says.

“Even if you go back to our area, it’s just difficulty you will face. There’s nothing there, no food… you farm and when you go to harvest, they stop you or kidnap you.”

The drug, daraxonrasib, sold under the brand name Rasonque and manufactured by Revolution Medicines, appears to be a breakthrough in treating one of the world’s deadliest cancers.

A late-stage clinical trial with 500 patients found those who took the daily pill had an average survival time of 13.2 months, compared to 6.6 months for those on chemotherapy.

The FDA said the drug provided a “critical new option for patients facing an extraordinarily difficult and historically hard-to-treat cancer”.

Daraxonrasib helps prevent the spread of cancer by locking onto and shutting off the mutated KRAS gene, which is in more than 90% of pancreatic tumours and spurs cancer growth.

Each year, roughly 67,000 people in the US are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.

Pancreatic cancer is often spotted late and is notoriously difficult to treat. More than half of those with pancreatic cancer die within three months of diagnosis.

In 2025, the FDA granted the drug a “Breakthrough Therapy” designation, given to treatments for serious conditions that warrant an expedited review.

The agency then approved the drug six months ahead of the regulatory deadline because it “showed unprecedented results in an area of high unmet need”, said Angelo de Claro, director of the the agency’s Oncology Center of Excellence.

The most common side effects of the treatment were rash, diarrhoea, nausea, fatigue and vomiting, the FDA said. About 44% of patients on daraxonrasib experienced severe side effects, compared to 57.5% treated with chemotherapy in the trial.

Former US Senator Ben Sasse, who announced in December he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, is in a clinical trial for the drug and has said it has helped shrink his tumours.

It is believed the mosquitoes arrived at Germany’s busiest airport on a plane, according to German public health officials, triggering an outbreak which was first detected in July.

A spokesperson for airport operator Fraport told the BBC an employee had died as a result of the infection, while public health officials said later on Wednesday that two of the affected individuals had died.

Traps have been installed at the airport, and captured mosquitoes will be analysed in a laboratory to determine their species and origin.

“We have provided comprehensive information to all employees and encourage them to consult a doctor if they experience any symptoms,” the Fraport spokesperson told the BBC.

The outbreak is being investigated by the Frankfurt Public Health Department.

The BBC understands that six male airport workers in different roles and areas of the airport were infected, and officials are analysing blood samples to determine whether they were infected by one mosquito or six different mosquitoes.

Later on Wednesday, public health officials in Frankfurt sent a letter to media outlets which said two of the affected individuals had died.

“For the population of Frankfurt, the risk is considered very, very low. The disease is not transmissible from person to person but is always transmitted by mosquitoes,” the letter added.

It said laboratory tests to determine the source of the infections were not expected to be available for several weeks.

It was reported in July that the outbreak involved four infected workers.

The Robert Koch Institute – a German federal government agency and research institute for disease control and public health – previously said the four employees fell ill between 4 and 6 July and the mosquitoes were brought in by plane.

The institute said malaria in Germany almost exclusively affects long-haul travellers who were infected in malaria-endemic areas, and that malaria transmitted within a German airport is rare.

“The lack of a travel history can lead to a delayed diagnosis. A delayed diagnosis increases the risk of a severe course of the diseases,” the institute said in its epidemiological bulletin.

The last case of airport malaria was in 2023, also at Frankfurt Airport, it added.

Malaria is a disease spread by certain types of mosquitoes that bite humans and is most common in tropical countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The infection, which is preventable and curable, is caused by a parasite and does not spread from person to person. However, symptoms can range from mild to life-threatening.

Brent crude futures were down 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $87.43 a barrel at 0330 ‌GMT, in line for a fourth day of declines. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $81.86, in line for a fifth day of losses.

Iran and Oman are working on finalising details of an agreement to control the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source said on Wednesday, after ​Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed on how to share the waterway that connects major Gulf oil ​producers to markets and its revenues.

The strait carried oil and natural gas shipments equal to about one-fifth ⁠of global consumption of the fuels before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran started on February 28. Since Iran worked to shut ​the waterway in response, oil flows have dropped to about one-quarter of their pre-war level, according to ship-tracking data.

“Crude oil edged lower as ​the prospect of the Strait of Hormuz reopening improved amid ongoing talks,” said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, in a note on Thursday, though he cautioned “concerns over shortages in the oil market persist.”

Qatar’s prime minister will head to Iran on Thursday to relaunch diplomatic talks to end the conflict ​which is nearly six months old.

The U.S. has halted its attacks on Iran for about a month and is seeking to impose ​greater economic pressure on Iran, which has raised investors’ expectations for an easing of the Gulf supply disruptions.

Still, the countries are far apart on ‌their demands ⁠to end the fighting and Iran has struck shipping in the Gulf and strait to impose its control on the waterway.

Iranian officials have also said the strait would not open unless the U.S. met under an interim ceasefire agreement that was struck in June and later unraveled.

“At the heart of the dispute remains Iran’s nuclear programme and that is unlikely to be resolved quickly … Iran ​also understands the importance of its ​geographical position and the leverage ⁠that the Strait of Hormuz provides, so the risk of prolonged uncertainty remains,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip Nova.

“As long as the risk to supply remains, some degree of ​war premium can continue to be priced into oil.”

ANZ’s Hynes also pointed to the impact the ​Middle East war ⁠and the Russia-Ukraine war are having on the diesel market. Middle East refineries have been damaged in that conflict and Ukraine has hit several Russian refineries, cutting exports from what was a major global diesel supplier.

The curtailment in worldwide diesel output is showing up in inventory ⁠data. The ​U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that distillate stockpiles, including diesel and ​heating oil, dropped by 2.2 million barrels in the week to August 21 to 103.4 million barrels.

Hynes said this is the lowest distillate stockpile level ever recorded for ​this time of year.

In 1974, after writing and recording I Will Always Love You, Parton was asked if Presley could cover the song. She turned him down after his manager demanded half the rights.

“Of course, I cried all night about that,” she later said of the ordeal in an interview.

But she wasn’t crying in 1992 when Whitney Houston’s power-ballad cover became a hit. Global sales of the song topped 20 million, earning Parton more than $10m in royalties, according to business magazine Forbes.

This is the less well-known side of Parton. While country music and films brought her fame, her entrepreneurial zeal brought her fortune.

The country icon signed deals, started companies, and invested in ideas that Forbes says built her a net worth of $450m by the time she died.

Business lessons from a young age

Parton wasn’t always wealthy. She grew up in poverty and in her 1971 hit Coat of Many Colours describes how she would wear rags which her “mama” had knitted together to school.

In a 2017 BBC interview, she said her father gave her business lessons from early in her career.

“My dad wasn’t an educated man, he wasn’t able to read and write, but my daddy had a great sense of business,” she told the BBC’s World Service in 2017.

“So when I got into the music business, I thought of it as a business. And so I started early on keeping my own songs and my own publishing company.”

While her publishing company helped build her wealth, Parton had plenty of other business ideas.

In 1985, she co-founded a film and TV production company called Sandollar Productions, which helped to make the ‘ 90s cult thriller Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Then there was Dollywood – the theme park in in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in her home state of Tennessee, which she became co-owner of in 1986. It had changed owners multiple times since it was first set up 25 years earlier, and her buy-in exponentially boosted visitor numbers.

She kept improving the park. In 2015, she opened the DreamMore Resort, a four-star hotel and spa down the road from Dollywood. Today, many of Parton’s family members work at the theme park, and it is the biggest employer in its county.

She launched the Dolly Beauty cosmetics line in 2025, and she opened Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop in June this year. The shop offers a signature coffee brand called Cup of Ambition, a nod to her Grammy-winning single “9 to 5”.

Paul Milliken, a reporter from Fox 5 Atlanta who had interviewed Parton many times, said diversification was the key to her business success.

“It’s a lesson that continues from her to this day to young artists,” he told BBC’s Wake Up to Money.

Parton may have been motivated to make money right into her 80s, but she told the BBC in the 2017 interview that she never lost sight of where she came from.

“Being brought up poor means I don’t take things for granted, and no matter how much money I make, I’ll always count my blessings quicker and more often than I count my money.

She has “always realised the value of a dollar”, too.

“Even now, if I go in a store, it’s hard for me to pay a huge amount of money for one item. I say, ‘good Lord’, what could mummy and daddy have done with that!”

Wealth was more than just a means to an end for Parton. It also allowed her to be generous.

She gave millions away to fund child literacy, provide wildfire relief, and create a cure for Covid-19. In 2022, she was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for her charity work.

Talking about her many business and charity ideas in 2017, she told the BBC: “I just wish I was 30 years old so I could start over again and get all this stuff done… I’m gonna’ be working till I fall over bad.”

Parton’s influence and success depended in part on her role as one of the few things on which Americans could agree.

Parton steadfastly refused to taint her beloved brand by weighing in on  politics, twice declining the Presidential Medal of Freedom, once from Donald Trump and once from Joe Biden.

Maike Currie, vice president of personal finance at savings firm PensionBee, told the BBC’s Wake Up to Money that Parton set examples for others.

Fellow country music megastar Taylor Swift’s sound has been compared musically to Parton’s, but Currie said she may also have taken business inspiration from her, deciding to rerecord her songs to own the rights to them.

Currie described Parton as a “brilliant businesswoman, but also an iconic investor and a real example to women about the power of what happens if women are financially independent”.

The star’s success tracks with the advice she took from her father, shared with the BBC in her 2017 interview: “He said: ‘Don’t let other people take advantage of you. You keep your mind on your business’.”

Attorneys from the Justice Department have also asked for President Donald Trump’s name to be put back on the building after it was removed in June following a court order.

“An order blocking the Board from appropriately recognising President Trump,” the lawyers argued, “will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop”.

The venue has been among the storied sites in Washington that Trump has sought to renovate since he returned to the White House in 2025.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that without the renovations the venue “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down”.

They also called the venue “embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital”.

After the “decrepit structure” is taken down, justice department attorney Brantley Mayers wrote, a determination of what to build on the site will follow, including the option of a large outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Potomac River.

The threat to demolish the building comes just weeks after the Kennedy Center board voted to add Trump’s name back to the facade of the venue and to proceed with a two-year closure for proposed renovations.

Many of the board members who voted are Trump allies who were appointed by the president.

In late May, a US judge ruled that the president’s name had been added to the venue unlawfully, as it cannot be renamed without congressional approval.

The judge ordered that the name be removed, and so it was taken down in June.

The case stemmed from a broader legal dispute over the renaming of the cultural institution, which US law designates as a memorial to President John F Kennedy.

It is the latest in series of projects that Trump has taken on since returning to Washington.

He has been renovating the reflecting pool on the National Mall, he wants to construct a 250-foot victory arch, has demolished the White House East Wing to build a ballroom, and has added his name to institutions such as the Kennedy Center and US Institute of Peace.

He was arrested in 2014 along with his brother-in-law Frank Rusagara, a retired brigadier-general, for “spreading rumours” and “tarnishing the image of the country and government”.

Right groups expressed concern over their cases, framing them as a part of a pattern of government repression. Throughout his trial, Col Byabagamba denied the allegations against him, saying they were fabricated.

Byabagamba’s brother David Himbara told the BBC Great Lakes service his family did not know the cause of death as “no-one was allowed to see him in all these years”.

Rights groups have repeatedly accused Kagame’s government of restricting political opposition and silencing critics within Rwanda and abroad.

In 2016, a military court convicted Byagamba and imprisoned him for 21 years, although this was later reduced to 15 years on appeal. Rusagara, who had also been secretary-general of the defence ministry, was given a 20-year sentence.

Rusagara died in prison in March last year. At the time Human Rights Watch (HRW) described it as the “lonely death of a general”, noting that his family had not heard his voice since 2014, days before his arrest.

His family was informed by the authorities that Rusagara had been ill with cancer, the rights group said.

The conviction of the two men had followed a “flawed trial” marked by “serious allegations of torture and witness tampering”, according to HRW.

Campaign group Freedom Now had also previously criticised their detention as “arbitrary” and as having “violated international law”.

Byabagamba leaves behind two sons and a wife.

Ratcliffe travelled to the Russian capital on Tuesday in a rare and unannounced visit.

“There were contacts with the intelligence services,” Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.

“There were no meetings with the president of Russia. That’s all I can say on the subject. Naturally, President Putin is briefed immediately about everything,” he added.

Peskov made the comments in response to a question at his daily press briefing from a reporter at the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, who asked if Vladimir Putin was informed about the CIA chief meetings and “at what level” they were held.

Putin’s spokesman was also asked by the BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg what was the topic of the CIA talks.

“I have nothing to add to what I’ve already said on the subject,” Peskov replied.

It was too early to say what impact this meeting would have over repairing bilateral US Russian relations, he said.

“How much this will impact the overall process of recovering our bilateral relations from the profound crisis they’re currently in, it is premature to say.”

But contacts between intelligence agencies are “a positive phenomenon, a positive process,” Peskov added, saying they often continue “even during the most difficult moments” in relations between the two countries.

Ratcliffe appears to be one of the highest-ranking US officials to visit Russia during President Donald Trump’s second term.

In-person talks between high-level American and Russian officials are rare.

The last time a CIA director visited Moscow was in November 2021 – when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine. Weeks later, the Kremlin launched its full-scale war on Ukraine.

Since then, the US has had strained relations with Russia, which has been isolated on the world stage and faced international economic sanctions.

Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska last year but the meeting did not lead to a breakthrough. Subsequent US-led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to have stalled.

Ahead of the trip, the US told Ukraine that a senior delegation would be travelling to Moscow and asked Kyiv to suspend strikes until they had left, a senior Ukrainian official told CBS.

John Foreman, who served as a British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told Radio 4’s PM programme: “The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up.”

BBC News has contacted the CIA, the White House and Pentagon for comment.

The Queen of Country’s death at the age of 80 was announced Tuesday by her family in an emotional statement.

She was born in a two-room log cabin in rural Tennessee and described her upbringing as “dirt poor,” but went on to become one of the wealthiest performers in country music.

Parton retained ownership of her vast music catalogue, which numbered some 3,000 songs and included indelible hits such as “Jolene,” “9 to 5”, and “I Will Always Love You,” which was famously covered by Whitney Houston. In June 2025, Forbes estimated that her song catalogue alone was worth $120 million.

The singer-songwriter also had a significant stake in her own amusement park, Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Parton died with no immediate family. She never had children, and her husband Carl Dean died last year at the age of 82.

She did, however, have a large extended family, with her death being announced by her nephew, Bryan Seaver.

The family have not yet announced Parton’s plans for her extensive fortune. Still, it is widely expected that it will be used to further the philanthropic interests she supported throughout her life.

During her life, Parton raised millions for numerous good causes, including the American Red Cross and several HIV/AIDS-related charities, and was involved in charitable campaigns ranging from relief from wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains to the American Eagle Foundation’s efforts to preserve the bald eagle.

In 1995, she founded Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library, a program which she described as her proudest achievement. The program mails a new, free book to children from around the world, from their birth until they begin kindergarten.

Parton funded the project in memory of her father. “My own father didn’t get a chance to go to school,” she told CNN in 2016. “He couldn’t read and write, and that hindered him a great deal because he was so smart. It really bothered him a lot.”

At the time of her death, Parton’s Imagination Library was mailing books to almost 850,000 children each month in 1,600 communities across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

“I want to be remembered as somebody who took her work seriously, but not herself,” she told The Independent when asked about her legacy. “Someone who brought books to children all over the world.”

Unless challenged or revised, the State Department is expected to announce in the coming weeks the revocation of so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum or are now seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and two U.S. officials. The action will be taken in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.

“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

He declined to comment on the number of visas that might be revoked, saying “as the process will be ongoing, the number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis.”

The revocations would not necessarily result in their immediate deportation, the officials said. Most of those with asylum cases currently pending would be recategorised but would lose their status as business or tourism travellers, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the revocations are not final yet.

Since President Donald Trump took office for his second term last year, his administration has steadily ramped up restrictions on visa applicants — demanding more information about their social media histories, requiring the posting of expensive bonds for the processing of visas, and outright banning the issuance of visas to citizens of certain countries.

In a social media post on Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau called out people who he said try to use tourist and business visas to get into the United States and then apply for asylum.

“People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims,” Landau wrote on X. “Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration law.” Landau cited the case of a Colombian citizen who came to the U.S. in 2015 on a tourist visa and then applied for asylum.

B1 visas are generally issued for business trips and B2 visas are generally issued for tourism, family visits or medical care. It was not immediately clear from the documents or the officials how many of these visa holders are seeking or have sought asylum in the United States and would be affected by the revocations.

Current applicants for B1 and B2 visas are asked to affirm that they will not apply for asylum in the United States and prove that they intend to return to their home countries.

In the past 18 months, the State Department has revoked about 175,000 visas for people who have been convicted or accused of crimes ranging from drunken driving to rape and robbery, as well as for people who have spoken out publicly against U.S. policies, particularly in the Middle East.

The administration has also moved to crack down on so-called birth tourism, a practice the administration claims is used by foreign pregnant women to come to the United States to give birth so that their child will benefit from birthright citizenship. Trump has tried several times to end birthright citizenship, but those challenges have been rejected by courts, including the Supreme Court.

The State Department documents obtained by the AP suggest screening of current B1 and B2 visa holders began after the State Department received information about asylum requests from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, identified the shooter as 44-year-old Alan Smith. Smith’s parents, who were also killed, had asked him to move out, but he returned on Sunday and opened fire, Ireland said.

The victims represented four generations of the blended family, ranging from a great-grandmother in her 90s to a 7-year-old girl, according to Jennifer Mercer, a neighbor and family friend who set up an online fundraiser to help cover funeral costs and other expenses, and was authorized to release these details.

Police said they responded to the home on Sunday evening and heard gunshots coming from out back, just before the house was completely engulfed in flames. Investigators confirmed Tuesday there were eight victims, including four children, and that the suspect had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and later died.

Brad Ireland said he had been briefed by investigators who told him Alan Smith shot himself.

Among those killed were Ireland’s ex-wife, Megan Ghekiere, and their two children, Owen Ireland, 13, and Chloe Ireland, 7. Also killed were Ghekiere’s two step-children with her current husband: Landon Ghekiere, 15, and Charlotte Ghekiere, 12.

“The one thing we do know is that Charlotte was the hero,” Mercer said. “Charlotte called 9-1-1 and she tried to save her family. And that’s something the family does want out there.”

She described the family as “very loving and close,” and said the children all got along and that their parents remained amicable even after divorcing.

“I feel like our entire community is devastated, even people that never knew any of them,” Mercer said.

Alan Smith had lived with his parents for years before being asked to move out a couple weeks ago, Ireland said. He unexpectedly returned to the home on Sunday evening, when the Smiths had gathered for a weekly family dinner.

Ireland said Alan Smith opened fire, killing his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and four children before setting the house on fire. He tried to flee before being confronted by law enforcement, he said.

“There were many red flags and many people spoke out,” said Ireland, who lives in Arizona. “No one listened.”

Alan Smith was a “hermit” who spent most of his days in his room on his computer, Ireland said.

“No one knew what he did in there 24/7,” he said.

Alan Smith had attended Eastern Washington University but had been unable to find or hold a job. A search of criminal records in Montana and Washington found no record Alan Smith had ever been arrested or charged with a crime.

Ireland said that to his knowledge Alan Smith had never been violent, though he could be verbally abusive.

David Hiller, a neighbor who lives three doors down from the home, heard what he thought were fireworks just after 6 p.m. on Sunday, and didn’t think much of the noise until another neighbor called to warn him about a shooting on the cul-de-sac.

Hiller then rushed outside to find police in tactical gear sheltering behind vehicles, some with long guns, while plumes of black smoke rose from the home.

The 54-year-old shared his brief resignation letter on his Instagram account, saying he wanted to respect the president’s wishes. Sources in his office and the presidency confirmed the move.

Nchimbi said he would retire from public life at the end of next week, less than 10 months after being sworn in, making him the first vice president to step down in the history of the East African nation.

He was Samia’s running mate in last October’s disputed presidential election, which saw hundreds killed in post-poll unrest.

The pair were sworn in last November after winning 98% of the vote.

Violent protests in the wake of voting led to the deaths of at least 500 people, according to an official enquiry.

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

“I have become convinced, without doubt, that the president wants changes, and I have therefore decided to fulfil my promise,” Nchimbi wrote in his resignation letter, referring to the pledge he had made to Samia that he would go if she wanted another deputy.

He thanked the president and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party for the trust they had placed in him, and to Tanzanians for their support during his time in public service.

Nchimbi said he was leaving office in accordance with the country’s constitution and would continue to be a “good citizen of Tanzania”.

The vice-president has made some controversial remarks in recent weeks, which may point to the possible fallout with President Samia.

Last month, he urged Tanzanians to “fight for a new constitution”, arguing that there was an opportunity to secure one before 2030.

He also linked a new constitution to ways of addressing injustice, strengthening human rights, good governance and democracy.

Nchimbi previously served as secretary-general of CCM. He also held several senior positions in government, including both minister of information and home affairs, before becoming Tanzania’s ambassador to Brazil and later Egypt.

In a social media post, St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena said no rental agreement had been signed with the concert promoters. “Accordingly, the concert cannot take place on our site.”

West would have been the first major Western performer to play Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The rapper is trying to rehabilitate his image after years of antisemitic remarks, for which he recently apologised.

Gazprom Arena acknowledged it had received complaints about West’s planned appearance and stressed that it “was not and is not” responsible for his booking.

The stadium said in its statement that the sold-out concerts, scheduled for October 10 and 11, had been organised by the Moscow-based Say Agency.

Posting on its Telegram channel, Say Agency said the stadium’s announcement had come as a surprise.

“We learned about [it] at the same time as you did, through the media,” the agency wrote. “As of now, the Ye concert has not been canceled,” it added in a follow-up message.

“We are trying to contact the venue to find out the reason for the post and resolve the issue. We will keep you updated.”

The BBC has contacted West’s publicist for a comment on the uncertainty over his Russian shows.

In its statement, Say Agency said it announced the concerts earlier this month based “on an official letter that was approved by” Gazprom Arena.

The stadium subsequently sent a rental agreement, Say Agency claimed, and the agency acknowledged the contract had not yet been signed but said the deadline to do so did not expire until later this week.

Last week, Gazprom Arena had posted enthusiastically about the concerts on social media, calling Ye “the most influential musical artist of our time”.

Fans reacted to its latest announcement with disappointment.

“This was the shortest concert of my life,” responded one, under Say Agency’s Telegram post. “It’s a shame that the government is putting obstacles in your way,” added another.

There is no indication that authorities intervened in the shows, but there has been opposition to West’s booking from some Russian politicians.

Vitaly Milonov, a notorious conservative lawmaker, suggested the star should perform traditional Russian songs instead of his planned setlist, reflecting the anti-Western views of many nationalists.

“Maybe after this he’ll stop his disgusting antics and become a normal person,” Milonov added in a video statement.

West’s antisemitic remarks began in 2022, when he made a series of offensive comments on social media that led to his accounts being suspended. Fashion brands like Adidas and Balenciaga also ended their relationships with the star.

The musician went on to declare he was “a Nazi”, releasing a song called Heil Hitler and selling T-shirts featuring the swastika.

This January, West apologised in a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, writing: “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.”

Reflecting on a “four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour”, he said he was “deeply mortified” by his actions and that his bipolar disorder meant “you’re manic [and] you don’t think you’re sick”.

However, some questioned the timing of his statement – which coincided with the release of a new album, Bully, and the start of his world tour.

He held his first major concert in the United States in more than five years in Los Angeles in April, but planned shows in England, France, Italy and Poland have been cancelled over his past behaviour.

Say Agency acknowledged the controversy in a Telegram post last week, but defended its decision to bring West to Russia.

“Not everything Kanye West said should be forgotten,” it said.

“Many people are talking about Kanye today. Many are trying to criticise him for words spoken during difficult times.

“But it’s easy to judge based on a single statement. It’s more difficult to listen to a person who has been changing the industry for decades. We listened, and we want to remind you.”

Brent crude futures fell $1.78, or 2.0%, to $86.80 a barrel by 0027 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $1.49, ​or 1.8%, at $80.87. Both benchmarks lost more than 3% on Tuesday.

“The market continues to react to ​developments surrounding navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and hopes for progress in talks ⁠between Iran and Oman have triggered selling,” said Mitsuru Muraishi, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

“That said, uncertainty ​over the outlook has prompted bargain buying, limiting further losses, and prices are likely to remain range-bound for the ​time being,” he added.

Iran said it had restarted talks with Oman to manage the Strait as it faces heightened economic pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iran and Oman have been in on-and-off talks for weeks about controlling traffic through the waterway, which ​handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war began in February.

The two countries ​said on Tuesday that they discussed “a joint temporary navigational corridor” through the strait and agreed to clear it of mines.

Despite ‌the ongoing ⁠tensions, the U.S. is beginning to send personnel back to some diplomatic missions in the Middle East that were evacuated or downsized amid tensions with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The move suggests Washington sees a lower risk of the conflict with Iran escalating in the near term, though some embassies will ​initially operate below full capacity.

On ​Monday, Washington expanded sanctions aimed ⁠at cutting off Iran’s economic lifeline, threatening to punish countries that continue to do business with Tehran, though it said it would not impose penalties immediately.

Separately, an ​oil tanker was struck on Tuesday by an unidentified projectile and disabled about 9 ​nautical miles (17 km) ⁠northeast of Oman’s Ash Shishah, which lies at the entrance to the strait, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.

In the U.S., the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude oil inventories rose by about 4.2 million barrels in the week ended August 21, market sources said.

Analysts polled by Reuters estimated crude oil stockpiles ​would rise by about 600,000 barrels on average. Official data from the EIA, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, ​are due at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Prince Harry confirmed he was stepping down after being president for the charity, African Parks, for six years before becoming a member of its board of directors in 2023, but said he remains a “supporter of its mission”.

Last year the organisation admitted human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in Congo-Brazzaville.

Prince Harry’s resignation comes shortly after it was announced he was relocating with the Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet from California to the UK.

Prince Harry’s spokesman said “the Duke is proud of his 10 years with African Parks and fully supports the ongoing strengthening of its board.

“His commitment to conservation in Africa continues, and he remains a supporter of African Parks’ mission.”

African Parks manages around 20 national parks and protected areas across 12 countries.

It was subject to an independent human rights investigation into allegations guards managed and paid by the charity had beaten, raped and tortured indigenous people in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park.

The charity said in 2025 it had improved its safeguarding processes both in the Odzala-Kokoua National Park and institutionally.

Announcing a “governance refresh of its board of directors”, the charity thanked Prince Harry for his association, saying he had “brought global attention to the urgent need for biodiversity protection for the benefit of people and wildlife, and has contributed greatly to promoting philanthropy for the cause of conservation in Africa”.

It added: “The duke remains deeply committed to this cause, and remains a strong supporter of African Parks’ work.”

The charity’s website says Prince Harry served as part of the expert team that helped implement the first phase of the 500 Elephants project, which was “one of the largest and most significant elephant translocations in conservation history”.

It saw wildlife experts move elephants from a park in Malawi to help increase population in areas where they have been heavily poached.

Prince Harry has said helping move elephants to safer homes was an “amazing” experience.

The Sussexes are back in the spotlight after the revelation last week they were returning to the UK this month after enrolling their children to start at a British school in September.

No change is expected to the official status of Prince Harry and Meghan and they will remain as private individuals.

Their pending return to the UK has raised questions on their security arrangements.

Last year, Prince Harry lost a legal challenge over the levels of security he and his family are entitled to while in the UK.

It is unclear what provisions will be made for their security once they return to the UK.

The couple’s plans while they are in the UK are also unclear.

The BBC learned the Duchess of Sussex was in talks to return to acting with a role in Netflix series The Gentlemen, which would be her first significant acting role since her marriage to Prince Harry.

In early 2020, the Sussexes left the UK and stepped back from their royal duties before settling in California in March that year.

The actor’s daughter, Kira Taiwo, announced his death on Sunday evening during a live session on her Instagram page.

The development comes days after Kira disclosed that her father was battling stage four cancer.

Taiwo Hassan was a prominent figure in the Nigerian film industry, particularly known for his roles in Yoruba-language movies and his contributions to the growth of Nollywood.

Before his death, efforts were reportedly made to secure medical treatment for the actor. Among those said to have offered financial assistance was the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Adeola Olamilekan, popularly known as Yayi.

Also read:

• Why I always play witch, wicked roles in Nollywood movies – Patience Ozokwor

• Popular Nollywood actress dies at 40 after health battle

The fee, first temporarily imposed by Trump last year, dramatically raises the cost of visas that are heavily relied on in the tech, education, and research sectors.

A federal judge in June ruled that the fee was illegal and blocked the Trump administration from collecting it.

A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing that decision while another court considers whether a judge properly rejected a challenge to the fee by a major business group.

Trump’s temporary fee increase expires in September, one year after it was issued. ​The proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, posted in the Federal Register on Monday, would make a ⁠$103,265 fee permanent. It could be finalised by the end of the year.

The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers with training in speciality fields and offers 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees, approved for three to six years. Those visas typically carried fees of $2,000 to $5,000 before Trump’s order.

The fee would not apply to visas granted to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who make up a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of current visas.

DEBATE OVER VISA PROGRAM

Trump, a Republican, and other critics of the H-1B program say it is abused by many companies that replace ​American workers with cheaper foreign labour.

But business groups and many individual companies have said the visa program is needed to address a shortage of qualified American workers for certain jobs and to allow U.S. businesses to recruit top talent.

About 70 employers had paid the $100,000 fee on a total of 85 visa applications as ‌of late ⁠February, according to court filings.

In imposing the fee, Trump invoked the president’s authority under immigration law to restrict the entry of certain foreign nationals deemed detrimental to U.S. interests.

The fee is being challenged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobbying group, Democratic-led states and a coalition of unions and employers. Those lawsuits could be amended to challenge the rule proposed this week once it is finalised.

LEGAL CHALLENGES MOUNT

The lawsuits claim that Trump’s power to restrict entry does not allow him to override the law that created the H-1B visa program.

The states and groups that sued also say that the Department of Homeland Security cannot impose fees, taxes, or other means of generating revenue for the United States without permission from Congress.

The Trump administration has maintained that the fee is not a traditional tax and that courts have little power to question the president’s authority to restrict entry into the country.

Amid Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, employers last year registered for about 344,000 H-1B visas, down more than 25% from 2024 and to fewer than half of the 794,000 visas sought in 2023, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The Trump administration has also ordered enhanced vetting of H-1B applicants and proposed a new ⁠visa selection ​process that would favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers.

Earlier in August, the Department of Homeland ​Security, in a separate rule, added fees of up to $4,500 to applications to extend the stay of H-1B workers or to transfer employees based in other countries to the United States.

Casualties and Emergency Response

Seven other individuals sustained injuries during the violent encounter. The wounded victims included three peacekeepers, two members of the South Sudan National Police Service, and two civilian staff members of the mission. In response to the crisis, UNMISS deployed a Quick Reaction Force to secure the location and bolster emergency medical and operational support.

Condemnations and International Law

The leadership of the United Nations mission strongly condemned the bloodshed. Anita Kiki Gbeho, the head of UNMISS, issued a direct statement regarding the tragedy. “Such deadly violence targeting UNMISS personnel who are serving to support peace in South Sudan is unacceptable,” Gbeho said. The mission emphasised that attacks against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, including international humanitarian law. Gbeho added a direct call to action, stating, “I call on relevant authorities to conduct a thorough and prompt investigation to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.” Also, Gbeho noted, “I extend my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the peacekeepers who lost their lives and wish those injured a speedy recovery.”

Broader Conflict and Security Crisis

Violence remains widespread across South Sudan amid an unresolved political and military crisis. Government forces have long clashed with fighters and militias loyal to opposition leader Riek Machar. Machar was suspended from his position as vice president following treason charges and other legal accusations that he maintains are politically motivated. Although a 2018 peace agreement was signed between President Salva Kiir and Machar, that accord has effectively collapsed. The ongoing instability has heightened international concerns over a potential return to full-scale civil war, even as authorities face mounting pressure to stabilise the region.

Diplomatic and Security Outlook

As regional monitors and international bodies urge immediate restraint, the path toward lasting stability depends heavily on renewed political dialogue, strict adherence to international humanitarian law, and the unconditional protection of humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel working on the ground.

A State Department spokesman said it was ​coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security “to identify and revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners ​who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but ⁠then file for asylum to stay here permanently.”

The State Department statement did not specify the number ​of visas that will be revoked in the process.

The Associated Press put the number of foreigners whose business ​and tourism visas are planned to be revoked at up to 200,000, which, if materialised, would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history. The AP cited State Department documents and two U.S. officials.

The State Department will revoke ​so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum or ​are now seeking asylum, the AP report added.

The B1 and B2 nonimmigrant visas are issued for business and tourist travel.

The visa ⁠revocations would not necessarily result in immediate deportation, the AP report said, adding that most of those with asylum cases currently pending would be re-categorised but would lose their status as business or tourism travellers.

Earlier on Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau alleged on X that the American immigration ​system “has long been swamped by ​frivolous asylum claims.”

The ⁠State Department said earlier this month that under the Trump administration, it has revoked more than 175,000 visas of foreign nationals.

Trump has pursued an immigration crackdown that ​includes visa and green card revocations and an aggressive deportation drive. He says ​the crackdown ⁠aims to improve domestic security.

Rights groups say the crackdown has violated free speech and due process rights and created an unsafe environment, particularly for ethnic minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.

While Trump campaigned in ⁠2024 on ​a platform of stopping illegal immigration, his administration has also ​made legal immigration more difficult – for example, by imposing new and expensive fees for applicants of certain work visas.

The government’s crackdown ​has faced legal challenges.

British Prime Minister Andy ‌Burnham and European Council President Antonio Costa were among the foreign dignitaries present for celebrations of the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s break from the Soviet Union.

Burnham, making his first visit to the Ukrainian capital as prime minister, was due to announce British support to help Kyiv boost its domestic production of long-range missiles.

He was also scheduled to co-chair a virtual meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” — ​a group of countries backing Ukraine — with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The leaders were expected to discuss Ukraine’s request for more ​air defence systems to stop Russian ballistic missiles pounding Ukrainian cities.

Wearing a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt, Zelenskiy thanked several foreign leaders ⁠for travelling to Kyiv to show their support. He vowed to find a solution to what he called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “ballistic terror”.

“Ukraine absolutely wants peace, but it ​is not ready to simply surrender,” Zelenskiy said in his video address posted on Telegram, which showed him standing in front of the golden-domed St Michael’s monastery.

Zelenskiy said that ​Russia’s demand – repeatedly rejected by Ukraine – that Kyiv cede the remaining part of the eastern Donbas area that is not in Russian hands after 4-1/2 years of war would not be enough to stop Russian aggression.

“Ukraine is different, and it does not give away what is its own,” he said.

ZELENSKIY ASKS FOR MORE MISSILES

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and swathes of Ukrainian territory ​have been laid waste, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

U.S.-led peace talks to bring a lasting end to the war stalled as Ukraine refused ​Russian demands to cede more territory, and fighting continues along a 750-mile (1,200-km) front line.

Zelenskiy highlighted the achievements of Ukraine’s defence industry during the war, including strikes with naval drones and mid- and ‌long-range strikes ⁠deep inside Russia, but said there was more work to do.

He urged Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point to accelerate production of its Flamingo cruise missile to take the fight to Russia this winter.

Burnham signalled on Monday he would allow the use of classified British technology for Kyiv to start production of European SCALP long-range cruise missiles by Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the use of classified British technology would “add fuel to the fire”, and has warned London of “consequences” for supplying drones to Kyiv.

TRIBUTE TO UKRAINIAN PEOPLE

Russia’s advances on the ​battlefield have slowed this year and Ukraine ​has recaptured some land in the ⁠southeast. But Moscow’s forces are threatening the strategic eastern city of Kostiantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk which forms part of Donbas, together with the Luhansk region.

Exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of anti-ballistic missiles, Russia has also stepped up its campaign of air ​strikes at cities far from the front line this summer.

Ukraine has also increased its long-range attacks on Russian refineries and logistics ​infrastructure, aimed at undermining ⁠Moscow’s war effort. It hit four logistics hubs owned by Russia’s second-largest online retailer Ozon in southern Russia in drone strikes on Monday, the company said.

Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine’s war effort was complicated by a $27-billion defence funding gap this year. He also warned that Russian could look to mobilise some 300,000 additional troops after parliamentary elections in September.

Paying ⁠tribute to the ​people and soldiers defending Ukraine in the war, Zelenskiy called on allies to give it “everything” needed to ​stop the war. “We are not asking you to fight for us,” he said.

Urging allies to bring Russia to the negotiating table and hit it with more sanctions, Zelenskiy said he hoped that the United States ​will lose “all the contradictions and phobias” regarding Russia. “China must no longer remain silent,” he added.

The two-day forum, which will be held at the Kigali Convention Centre, is being organised by the African School of Governance (ASG) and is expected to bring together about 1,000 leaders from Africa and beyond.

Approximately 80 percent of participants are expected to be young people and emerging leaders.

Among the prominent figures expected at the forum are former South African President Thabo Mbeki, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Opoku-Agyemang.

Other participants include former Gambian Vice President Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, known for her work in promoting women’s and youth rights, democratic governance and peacebuilding, as well as Monica Geingos, widow of former Namibian President Hage Geingob.

The forum is being held under the theme, “From Pan-Africanism to Meta-Africanism.”

According to the organisers, the gathering seeks to open a new chapter in Africa’s development by moving beyond the traditional emphasis on political unity and independence towards building strong institutions, developing homegrown solutions and implementing programmes that deliver tangible results.

On the first day, former President Thabo Mbeki is expected to deliver a keynote address on the vision of Meta-Africanism.

President Paul Kagame, one of the founders of the African School of Governance, will join Vice President Opoku-Agyemang and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn for a discussion on translating the objectives of African unity into concrete action.

Discussions on the second day will focus on African ownership and management of the continent’s natural resources, as well as people-centred development.

Key strategies expected to be highlighted include facilitating movement across Africa, establishing a single African air transport market and creating an African institution to assess the creditworthiness of African countries.

The ASG says the forum is designed not simply to revisit Africa’s longstanding challenges but to showcase solutions already delivering results, connect the people implementing those solutions and shift the continent from rhetoric to action.

The Africa Mindset Reset Forum is being held for the first time this year and is built around seven transformations intended to reshape how Africa approaches its development.

The broader objective is to encourage a new generation of African leaders to take ownership of the continent’s development and translate the ideals of Pan-Africanism into practical and measurable outcomes.

Dr Yamson said MTN Ghana should have issued its own statement earlier, despite a condemnation already issued by the South Africa Ghana Business Chamber.

“I apologise that we haven’t done that.”

He was responding to criticism that corporate institutions, including MTN, had remained silent while Ghanaians and other African nationals faced attacks in South Africa.

Dr Yamson said the corporate sector in South Africa had spoken against the attacks.

“The corporate sector in South Africa has been very outspoken against it. The MTN chairman spoke directly, and he condemned it in no uncertain terms.”

He also said the South Africa Ghana Business Chamber had issued a statement condemning the attacks.

But he acknowledged that MTN Ghana was expected to speak directly because of its size and influence in Ghana.

“If you come to Ghana, MTN is big, and therefore, everybody would expect MTN to come out and issue a statement.”

He stressed that MTN Ghana had no connection to the attacks.

“Let me say now here that we condemn it unreservedly. We have nothing to do with it. We dissociate ourselves from it completely.”

Dr Yamson said more than 120,000 Ghanaians are shareholders in MTN Ghana and stressed the company’s identity as a Ghanaian corporate entity.

“MTN Ghana is a corporate citizen of Ghana. It is not MTN South Africa.”

He also criticised South Africa’s handling of the attacks, saying the country could not promote African integration while treating African migrants with hostility.

“What is happening in South Africa is bad. And I can tell you that we are angry.”

He said he was particularly angry because of the contradiction between South Africa’s continental ambitions and the treatment of other Africans.

He also condemned calls for retaliation against South African businesses operating in Ghana. Dr Yamson said such action would ultimately hurt Ghanaians.

“If you target MTN Ghana, you can target it, but at the end of the day, you are destroying something that you should protect.”

He said MTN Ghana has 120,000 Ghanaian shareholders and that about 98% of its employees are Ghanaian.

He also pointed to the company’s contribution to Ghana’s economy. “MTN is the biggest taxpayer in this country.”

He said MTN Ghana operates under Ghanaian law and has not wronged anyone in Ghana.

“MTN Ghana has not done anything to anybody in Ghana, here in Ghana. Has not reneged on any of its commitments in this country.”

Dr Yamson further revealed that MTN Ghana had planned to provide financial support to Ghanaians returning from South Africa.

He said the board initially decided to set aside GH¢10 million as a welcome-back package.

“When the issue broke, I can tell you, the board immediately decided that we will set aside ¢10 million to welcome for as a welcome back.”

But the company later reconsidered the approach after realising that immediate assistance alone would not be enough.

“What we then began to decide is that, and many of them, some I understand they were allowed only two suitcases when they are on their return. So how do we create a fund that we will use to help these people to start life all over again?”

He said the company planned to add another GH¢10 million to create a fund to support the returnees in rebuilding their lives.

“I think the mistake that we made was not to have engaged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately about this.”

“Sometimes when you are big, your internal bureaucracy can also delay a few things. But we have not forgotten. We will do it.” “We’ll do it in a big way. We’ll do it in a way that will make more meaning.”

He also commended other organisations that had already supported the returnees.

“For those who did it, Telecel and the others, I really congratulate them. Pentecost Church, I congratulate them.”

Coastguard, military, and civil protection teams, backed by two helicopters, continued searching for the missing.

The boat, which ​set off early on Thursday with 15 mostly young people ​on board, sank off the Tunisian coast, and so far ⁠only one person was rescued alive, the head of a migrant rights ​group said on Saturday.

The man who survived said he had been adrift ​at sea for 48 hours before being rescued by a commercial vessel.

Among those on board were seven members of the same family and a man with his ​pregnant wife, the head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights told ​Reuters.

All of the migrants were from the Ben Guerdane area in southeastern Tunisia, and ‌dozens ⁠of young people gathered late on Saturday in the town near the Libyan border to demand that search operations be accelerated.

Police fired teargas to disperse the protesters.

The central Mediterranean route from the North African coast is ​one of the ​world’s deadliest migration ⁠routes, used by migrants from Africa and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe, often in overcrowded or ​unseaworthy boats.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and dozens of ​other ⁠human rights and humanitarian groups said in a statement last month that a migration agreement between Tunisia and the European Union had fuelled and normalised serious ⁠abuses ​against migrants and asylum seekers in Tunisia.

The ​groups called on the EU to suspend funding for migration and border-control activities involving Tunisian security ​forces.

Police ​spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said the attackers stormed ⁠Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of ​the Borgu local government area at about 2 p.m. (1300 ​GMT) on Friday after first attacking Gidan-Zana and Kpenya villages.

“The developing report indicated that no life was lost, while ​joint security detachment has been deployed to ​the area for assessment and rescue operations,” Abiodun said in ‌a ⁠statement.

He said police could not confirm figures.

Local residents told Reuters that more than 60 worshippers were kidnapped in the attack which appeared coordinated and ​occurred simultaneously in ​Dekara and ⁠three other communities in Borgu while residents were observing Friday prayers. Reuters ​could not immediately verify the account ​independently.

Mass ⁠kidnappings for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal ⁠gangs, ​locally known as bandits, frequently ​raid villages, schools and highways.

The deceased, identified as Vainess Kanyama, reportedly confronted Christin Ntundwe over the alleged relationship with her husband.

According to a report by Zambia Daily Mail, fight broke out, of which the side chick beat the wife to pulp near a market. She sustained injuries to her face and bled from her nose.

The victim was rushed to the hospital where it was confirmed she was brought in dead.

The matter was subsequently reported to the police.

Family of the deceased confirmed that she had been living with her husband in the same area before she decided to confront Ntundwe, who also resides in the area.

One of Kanyama’s daughters, who was reportedly with her during the confrontation, later rushed home to alert relatives after finding her mother unconscious.

A post-mortem examination subsequently established that Kanyama died from blood clots on both sides of the brain, according to the family.

Her relatives called for justice and urged the authorities to apprehend the suspect, who is reportedly on the run.

The deceased leaves behind three children, with her youngest reportedly aged five.

Police investigations into the circumstances surrounding her death are ongoing.

The 38‑year‑old was killed in what has been described as an ambush in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape on Friday.

Officials said Tete was in his car waiting for the gate to his house to open when two armed suspects in balaclavas emerged from a vehicle and fired “multiple shots” at him and a 27‑year‑old female passenger, who remains in hospital.

South Africa’s minister of sport, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, said: “South Africa has lost one of the finest fighters it has ever produced.”

The two suspects fled the scene and a major investigation has been launched, McKenzie added.

Tete held the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019, as well as the IBF super-flyweight title in 2014.

Tete beat Liverpool’s Paul Butler in 2015 in one of the eight times he fought in the United Kingdom.

He also holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight, ending his match with Siboniso Gonya inside 11 seconds in 2017.

Tete last fought in July 2022, beating Briton Jason Cunningham by knockout In London, but it was later ruled a no-contest after he failed a drugs test.

He tested positive for anabolic steroid stanozolol and was given a four-year ban by the UK Anti-Doping Agency.

His ban ended on 29 July, 2026 and after his death, manager Mla Tengimfene confirmed he had been training for a comeback fight.

Tete had 29 wins in 34 fights, with four losses and one no-contest.

‘Wonderful boxer’ – Inoue & more offer tributes

Japanese fighter Naoya Inoue said Tete was a “wonderful boxer”.

“I hope the world is peaceful. And please, rest in peace,” he said.

John Riel Casimero, who took the WBO bantamweight belt from Tete in November 2019, said he was “shocked” and “heartbroken” over his death.

“We shared the canvas and pushed each other to be our absolute best inside the squared ring. A true warrior and champion. Rest in peace, champ. Prayers with your family and loved ones,” he said.

Tete’s manager Mlandeli Tengimfene confirmed the fighter had been preparing for a return to the ring on 29 November.

“Zolani is gone at a time we thought he was going to resuscitate his career,” he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

“The news is devastating, I must say.”

Sanctioning body the WBO said it mourned the passing of its former champion.

“We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, loved ones and the entire South African boxing community during this incredibly difficult time,” a social media post said.

“Rest in peace, champion.”

The attackers, who were reportedly wearing military-style clothing, targeted communities in the Borgu Local Government Area after Friday prayers.

Police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said more than 40 people were also killed in the attacks on Dekara, Gidan Zana, Sabon Gida and Masaka villages.

He said authorities suspect the attackers were bandits – criminal gangs involved in kidnapping and looting for ransom across parts of Nigeria.

These latest attacks are separate from an earlier series of abductions in the same area.

Earlier this month, police said 145 people had been rescued after being abducted from four villages in Borgu – Konkoso, Kasuwan-Daji, Tungan-Makeri and Shafachi.

They were among 308 people the authorities said been rescued in a major security operation, including more than 160 people abducted in neighbouring Kwara State.

The attacks highlight the continuing security challenges in Niger State and across north central Nigeria, where armed groups have exploited remote forests and weak security presence to carry out raids and kidnappings.

The Borgu area has also been linked to the activities of Jihadist groups operating in parts of north-western Nigeria and across the border region.

Local officials say Jihadist fighters have in recent months entered communities and imposed religious restrictions.

Shetiman said the latest attacks had raised fears that some of the gunmen may be trying to recruit young people.

The security situation has remained particularly serious in Borgu.

Last week, more than 20 people were killed in the local government area, according to local officials.

In November 2025, gunmen also abducted more than 200 pupils from a school in Papiri, in Niger State. The children were released about a month later.

Despite repeated military and police operations, large parts of Niger State remain difficult for security forces to access, allowing armed groups to operate from forested areas and carry out attacks on isolated communities.

Judge Jeannette Vargas of Manhattan said in her ruling on Friday in the Southern District of New York that the policy was “patently unlawful” and conflicted with federal immigration law, which explicitly stripped the secretary of state of authority over consular officers’ adjudication of immigrant visas.

“The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” she wrote.

Vargas, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by immigrant rights groups Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together, along with applicants for immigrant visas and US citizens sponsoring family members from the designated countries.

The suspension, which took effect in January of this year, affected applicants from Latin American countries including Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay; Balkan nations such as Bosnia and Albania; South Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh; and many nations in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

The Department of State said applicants from those countries were “at a high risk for becoming a public charge and recourse to local, state and federal government resources in the United States”.

President Donald Trump has pursued an aggressive immigration crackdown during his presidency that he argues is aimed at improving domestic security. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, the freeze was one of several restrictions the administration has imposed in rapid succession, following a broader travel ban covering 39 countries that took effect January 1, and a pause on diversity visa issuance in late December.

Rights groups have suggested that the crackdown violates free speech and due process rights, particularly for minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.

The State Department has not yet commented on the ruling.

Sounding the alarm that the outbreak is “spreading faster and wider” than ever before, the UN’s Senior Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis reported that more than 2,500 people have now died.

The official called for more funds to be put to work to try to control the spread, noting that the existing pool of money will run out within weeks.

Efforts to stem the epidemic since the outbreak began in May have faced several challenges.

Conflict and a lack of government control and infrastructure in the eastern DRC have disrupted the effort. Where health workers – many of whom have died after contracting the virus – and facilities are able to operate, they have come under attack by frustrated and frightened locals, Harneis said.

More than 260 attacks on health workers have been reported in the past six months, and eight health workers have been killed. More than 160 healthcare workers have fallen ill, with 43 dying.

Aid workers have said many locals believe conspiracy theories that the ⁠⁠outbreak is a hoax, and have reacted angrily when health restrictions prevent them from personally burying loved ones.

Efforts to control the outbreak have also been complicated by the lack of a vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which causes severe haemorrhagic fever.

Existing security concerns are also hampering the battle to stop the spread.

“All of this is happening in an area that has had three decades of ⁠⁠conflict and is generating huge humanitarian needs,” Harneis said.

The UN official warned the epidemic could spread to neighbouring countries without a ramped-up response and urged more staffing and resources to reach remote areas.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis is on trial in Las Vegas, charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon over the killing of the rap superstar in 1996. On Thursday jurors heard a recording of a police interview with Davis in 2008.

Prosecutors allege that although Davis did not fire the gun that killed Shakur, he ordered the shooting and supplied the deadly weapon to further criminal conduct for the gang he helped lead.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty.

His lawyer Michael Sanft has argued that what his client had previously said of his involvement cannot be believed.

Shakur’s murder is a cold case that has gripped the public’s fascination for 30 years.

Prosecutors allege Davis planned the 7 September 1996 shooting after his nephew Orlando Anderson was involved in a fight with Shakur in Las Vegas hours earlier. They argue that Davis believed the attack on his nephew could not “go unanswered”.

Central to the case are testimonies by Davis in the formerly secret 2008 police interview and, later, in a 2019 memoir he co-authored called Compton Street Legend.

Prosecutors on Thursday played the 2008 interview Davis conducted with Los Angeles Police detectives Daryn Dupree and Greg Kading, who were investigating the death of another rapper, Chris Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G.

Davis described the moment the Cadillac he was a passenger in stopped alongside the car Shakur was in.

“Yeah, if we would’ve been on my side, I would’ve blasted,” Davis said, according to a transcript.

According to the transcript, Davis said in the interview he passed his gun back to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, but Smith did not want the weapon.

Anderson, who was also in the back seat, took the weapon and started firing, Davis said.

Anderson died a decade before the interview, having denied any involvement in Shakur’s murder.

One of the detectives, Kading, told Davis in reference to a deal for his information: “Nothing you say today can be used against you.”

But prosecutors say any agreement was negated when Davis went public with his version in his memoir several years later.

The prosecutor said the book shows Davis was “mad” after his nephew was involved in a fight with Shakur in a Las Vegas casino, with Davis writing: “Them jumping on my nephew gave us the ultimate green light to do something to their ass.”

In the memoir he claimed he was inside the vehicle when Tupac was shot, and “tossed” the gun used to kill him into the backseat.

Davis has since distanced himself from the book, saying he did not write all of it and that parts were fictionalised to sell more copies.

In the interview played to court, Davis said he repeatedly spoke with Sean “Diddy” Combs and discussed killing Shakur.

The detectives questioned Davis about meetings with Combs during Bad Boy Records tour stops in San Diego, Anaheim, Irvine and Las Vegas.

“Which of those four is it when you talk to him about murdering Tupac?” Kading asked, according to a transcript shown in court, as reported by Reuters.

“It was really about both of them, yeah, either one of them,” Davis responded.

“Tupac and Suge?” Kading asked, referring to Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight, who was with Shakur in the vehicle during the shooting.

“Yeah,” Davis responded.

Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

However, Davis’ lawyer Sanft asked jurors earlier in the trial: “What facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of his interviews or the book?”

“You have to ask yourself the question: If I just say things, is that going to end up being one of those things where I’m going to be handed up for a murder by just repeating that fiction? I keep repeating that? The answer is no. You have to corroborate everything I say in order for it to be true. Otherwise, it’s just that.”

Sanft has also said prosecution witnesses were unreliable and the police investigation was riddled with issues.

A former Las Vegas homicide detective told the jury earlier this week that no witnesses had been able to identify the shooter.

Later, a former member of Shakur’s entourage, James “Mob James” McDonald, gave evidence that even though he was not there to witness the shooting, those who were there that night within Shakur’s circle had quickly communicated who was responsible.

“It was a gang war. People were getting hurt. People were being sought,” he said. “Orlando (Anderson), him and certain other people were being sought because people wanted to kill them.”

Speaking in an interview with TRT World on Friday, President Mahama said Africa must move beyond the political independence achieved by its founding leaders and focus on the economic challenges facing the current generation.

He stressed that Africa’s economic progress should not be viewed as a competition in which the continent’s gains come at the expense of others.

“Africa’s prosperity is not a threat to anybody,” he said.

President Mahama argued that a stronger African economy would create larger markets, expand opportunities, and enable the continent to tackle some of its longstanding development challenges.

He said the push for greater economic self-reliance should, however, not be mistaken for a rejection of international cooperation.

According to him, Africa remains open to working with international partners but wants such relationships to be based on mutual benefit and respect for the continent’s interests.

“We don’t reject partnerships, but those partnerships must be on our terms,” he said.

The President said Africa must build the capacity to set its own development priorities while engaging the rest of the world as an equal partner.

He maintained that greater economic strength would also give African countries a stronger voice in global affairs.

“Africa cannot continue to be a dependent continent. There are things we can do so that we are able to have a better voice in global affairs,” he said.

President Mahama said the challenges confronting today’s African leaders differ from those faced by the continent’s independence-era leaders, including Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

He said while Nkrumah and other founding leaders fought for political liberation, the present generation must focus on achieving economic liberation.

“The challenge that us leaders of Africa today face is not the liberation struggle that was fought by Kwame Nkrumah and our forebears. It is the economic struggle,” he said.

He called for stronger African economies, greater local value creation, and reduced dependence on external support, saying these were necessary for the continent to have greater influence over decisions affecting its resources and future.

Also read:

• African leaders must emulate Mahama’s youthful government – Osman Ayariga

• Ibrahim Mahama supports evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa

The seven claimants, also including Sir Elton John and Liz Hurley, must pay an initial £9.54m by Friday of next week to Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

The judge ruled that the case was a rare one in which the claimants should have to pay far in excess of the costs that had been agreed before trial, criticising how they presented their claims as “unreasonable to a high degree”.

On 7 July, Judge Mr Justice Nicklin dismissed the claims of unlawful information-gathering, which ANL denied.

The Duke of Sussex and the other six claimants have until 2 October to attempt to launch an appeal.

Those other claimants are Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, Sir Simon Hughes, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence.

They had insurance to cover up to £16.2m of Association Newspapers’ costs in the event of losing the case – but Friday’s ruling means the newspaper group could now try to recover up to the £34.5m that it said it had to spend to defend itself. This means the Duke and others could face a bill of some £18m.

Justice Nicklin described the potential £34.5m payment to ANL as “excessive”, suggesting the costs for the group will not rise to that extent.

The judge said: “I regard a claim for costs in excess of £34 million as, on its face, excessive and as giving rise to real concerns as to whether all of the costs now claimed by Associated were reasonably incurred and are reasonable in amount.”

But he added he had “decided not to impose a ceiling on Associated’s recoverable costs”, as it would “be too broad brushed, would risk unfairness, and would be vulnerable to the charge that it was arbitrary”.

The judge also ruled that ANL’s costs should be determined on an indemnity basis, which is more favourable to the publisher in terms of the amount it can recover, aside from where orders had already been made.

He added it was “striking” that “not a single allegation of serious wrongdoing was voluntarily withdrawn” by the group of seven claimants.

He said: “That matters. Serious allegations of criminality or grave impropriety cannot properly be left hanging over individuals in that way.

“If a party no longer advances such an allegation, or no longer has a proper evidential basis for advancing it, the allegation should be withdrawn clearly and in terms.

“The claimants’ failure to do so was not ordinary forensic judgment. It was not a proper or disciplined way to deal with serious allegations. It was unreasonable to a high degree.”

In a statement released on Friday, the publisher called the ruling ” a devastating critique of an attempt to destroy a newspaper and the reputations of its journalists, editors and executives”.

Friday’s decision comes just days after the Duke and Duchess announced their plan to return to the UK, with their children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, enrolled to start school in September.

During the trial, dozens of people gave evidence including Prince Harry and the other claimants. The Duke of Sussex flew in from the US to attend court in person.

Many current and former Associated Newspapers journalists and executives gave evidence denying illegal activity.

Sir Simon Hughes told the BBC he was “disappointed” by the judgement.

“I am now taking the time necessary to consider both the substantive and the costs judgment and whether to pursue appeals against decisions in either judgment or both,” he added.

In a joint statement following the judge’s ruling last month, Prince Harry and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, another claimant and peer whose son Stephen was murdered in 1993, said: “We came to court seeking justice and accountability. But we have received neither.”

“It is a complete and obvious whitewash, but sadly not altogether unexpected”, the pair added.

ANL had asked for more than £9.9 million as an interim payment ahead of future hearings to decide its legal costs in depth.

However, lawyers for the claimants said the interim payment should be just over £7.9 million.

Mr Justice Nicklin previously said the claimants would need to pay the interim payment on 28 August.

In a civil case such as this, the legal convention is that the losing party must reimburse “reasonable” legal fees incurred by the other side – but the judge reserves the right to decide how much they should have to pay. They also have to settle their own legal costs.

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The sign board up ahead has just been changed to show there’s no fuel.

“They say there will be petrol here,” Svyatoslav tells me optimistically. “They just don’t know when. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.”

I ask him why he doesn’t drive off and look for another place to fill up.

“I haven’t got enough in the tank to do that,” Svyatoslav replies.

Even if he had, there’d be no quick fuel fix for Svyatoslav. This week across Moscow, and in other parts of Russia, there have been long queues for petrol.

“Unscheduled repairs at oil refineries,” explain Russian officials.

Those repairs have been triggered by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities. Such long-range attacks sparked major fuel shortages earlier this summer. The targeting of oil refineries has continued apace.

This time the queues in Moscow are even longer than before. The authorities appear to be struggling to resolve problems with refining capacity and logistics.

“The second wave of the fuel crisis is building,” declared broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta this week.

Driving around Moscow this week two things catch the eye: patriotic announcements on giant billboards about Russian Flag Day…and giant petrol queues.

Outside one Moscow petrol station I count 80 vehicles waiting in line.

The search for fuel is now a constant struggle.

“Last night I went to get petrol at 11pm,” says Elizaveta who’s queuing again for fuel. “By midnight I’d reached the front of the queue. Then they shut the petrol station until 2am.”

“I drove into Moscow yesterday from the provinces,” says Lyubov. “It was empty petrol stations all the way.”

To stay calm in the queue Lyubov is stroking her pet dog Agatha.

How does Lyubov view the fuel crisis?

“Everyone says there is a difficult situation in the country,” Lyubov tells me. “Everyone connects this to that situation.”

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 there were no drone attacks on Russian oil refineries – or on any facilities inside Russia. These strikes haven’t forced the Kremlin to U-turn. It’s continuing what it still calls the “special military operation”, Russia’s war on Ukraine.

To ease the crisis, Russia has begun importing petrol.

That is extraordinary for a country widely recognised as an energy superpower and one of the world’s leading exporters of crude oil.

To reduce the fuel shortage the government has also temporarily authorised the production and sale of lower-grade petrol, like Euro 2, which is faster to produce. Euro 2 contains up to 50 times more sulphur than modern Euro 5 and was banned in Russia in 2013.

It comes with a warning.

“For modern cars,” wrote the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, “regular use of lower-grade petrol can increase the pressure on the fuel injector, spark plugs, oxygen sensors, the catalytic converter and soot filter. Euro 2 won’t kill an engine on one re-fuelling. But it sharply reduces the margin of safety.”

It’s not just the targeting of oil facilities which have brought the war home to Russians.

Ukrainian strikes on distribution centres of Wildberries, Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, are causing disruption to shoppers and economic pain for sellers.

This week President Vladimir Putin conceded that attacks on industrial facilities and infrastructure “do inflict damage; this is obvious. We understand this, we see it.”

But the Kremlin leader played down the problems.

“There are no critical consequences from such attacks. There have not been and cannot be.”

In other words, no need for panic.

“It is a disconnect between people’s feelings and the description of reality by Vladimir Putin, the description of his personal reality in his head,” believes Andrei Kolesnikov, a columnist for independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta.

“Maybe he’s trying to hypnotise himself that everything is okay.”

Recent polling inside Russia, including by the Public Opinion Foundation, suggest that anxiety in society is rising. That would suggest that the Kremlin’s message of ‘keep calm and carry on’ isn’t landing.

“This permanent feeling of anxiety is with everyone right now. You feel that something is wrong. Anxiety is the main sentiment,” says Kolesnikov.

“This regime doesn’t demonstrate any model of the future: the nearest future, a middle- term future, a long-term future. We are ‘great’ right now. What are the qualities of this greatness? The petrol crisis? In that sense, the future is aborted. People are trying not to think about the future. The horizon of planning is very short.”

A few minutes’ drive from the petrol station where I’d been chatting with Svyatoslav, I spot another long queue.

But this one is for candyfloss.

The local authorities have set up stalls and put on a street concert to mark Russian Flag Day.

There may be a shortage of petrol. But not of patriotism. Not here.

“It’s my country, my fate, my dream,” croons a singer. “I’m raising my flag. The flag of my country.”

Volunteers are handing out Russian tricolours to people on the square.

“Dear friends, we live in a wonderful country!” declares one of the speakers. “We know that we will always be victorious. I wish you peaceful skies, a good mood, comfort, prosperity and pride in our country.”

Along with the candyfloss there are Kalashnikovs. At one stall children are being shown an array of military hardware, including hand-held rocket launchers. The kids are picking up the weapons and posing with them.

It hints to the growing militarisation of Russian society.

The patriotic presentation is lifting some people’s spirits.

“Difficulties unite us,” pensioner Tatyana tells me. “The harder things are, the stronger we get.”

But the war is very much on people’s minds – especially the Ukrainian drone attacks on the Moscow region.

“When you go to sleep you don’t know if you’ll wake up in the morning,” Angelina tells me. “That’s the only problem. Everything else is fine.”

“The problems we have are high prices, petrol shortages and last night, for the first time, my windows shook…I heard ‘boom boom!’ another woman tells me.

“Right now, it’s important to take care of your psychological state, so that it’s strong and unbreakable. So that, whatever happens, you can say: ‘Oh well, never mind.’

Comments like that suggest that Russians don’t believe they can influence what’s happening around them. All they feel they can do is try to adapt.

Nathan Cofnas, a self-defined “race realist”, was among those to question Arday’s work and achievements – prompting a weeks-long plagiarism row prior to his death on 14 August.

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Cofnas said he was under investigation by Ghent University “for discriminating against Arday”.

The university said a staff member had been notified of a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” and suspended as a precaution.

In a statement regarding Arday’s death, its rector Petra De Sutter and vice-rector Herwig Reynaert said they took “recent public statements made by a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University regarding this matter very seriously”, and had taken “appropriate action”.

They said the university stood for “respect for human dignity and opposes discrimination, hatred, and racism”.

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“We attach great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited.

“It goes hand in hand with responsibility and may be restricted in order to protect the rights of others.”

They said Arday’s death should “prompt reflection” and that lessons should be learned “regarding the way we treat one another both within and outside the academic world, particularly when people become the subject of public controversy”.

Cofnas works as a postdoctoral researcher at the university’s department of philosophy and moral sciences, according to his website.

His role at a Cambridge college was terminated in 2024 after backlash to his view that, under a true meritocracy, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”.

Cofnas claimed to have put Arday’s work through plagiarism detection software, which found that “many passages are lifted with minimal editing, sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source”.

He also noted that a retired professor had previously raised concerns about Arday’s subsequent academic articles, which led to two journals issuing correction notes.

Questions were also asked about Arday’s claims that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days, and 300 miles in three days for charity, which Arday said had raised more than £5m for charity, as well as running 600 miles on a treadmill in six days.

Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, was found dead in Battersea, south London, having resigned as a professor of sociology of education the week prior.

Also read:

• Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday found dead amidst plagiarism row

• Jason Arday death ‘tragedy on so many levels’ says PM Burnham

The accident took ‌place near Gorau in Goronyo local government area and rescue efforts are continuing, said Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority.

A Reuters witness ​saw 50 bodies, many wrapped in mats and traditional cloths, ​lying in the forecourt of a community mosque ahead of ⁠their burial in Gorau later on Thursday.

Deadly boat accidents are ​relatively common in Nigeria, where overcrowding, poor maintenance and weak enforcement of ​safety regulations often contribute to disasters on the country’s rivers and waterways, particularly during the rainy season.

One local resident said the boat had been carrying farm owners ​and labourers hired to harvest rice and that more than 70 ​people had been onboard when it capsized. Another resident said there were 57 people ‌on ⁠board.

Yusuf said the bodies of around 40 children had been found.

Nasiru Adamu, a lawmaker at the Sokoto state legislature from the area, said that those onboard were mostly aged between 10 and 15 years old, adding that ​16 people had ​been rescued.

“We ⁠have buried 46 people, and even more dead bodies have just been brought. The death toll is 53,” ​said Sharhabilu Kiliya, one eyewitness.

Mustapha Umar, director of relief ​and rehabilitation ⁠at the state’s emergency management agency, said officials were heading to the scene and would provide further information later.

In January, at least 25 people ⁠died ​when a leaking boat capsized in Yobe ​state, northeast Nigeria.

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• More than 40 missing in Nigeria boat accident

• Dozens feared dead in Nigeria after boat capsizes

The 93-year-old leader arrived at Yaounde’s Nsimalen International Airport aboard a chartered flight from Geneva, Switzerland, after more than 10 weeks away.

Biya, the world’s oldest head ​of state, left Cameroon on June 7 for what the ​civil cabinet described as “a brief private stay in Europe”.

The president, ⁠accompanied by First Lady Chantal Biya, touched down around 4.45 p.m. local ​time (1545 pm GMT) before departing in a motorcade for the Etoudi Unity ​Palace.

He waved through a half-open window to hundreds of supporters of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) who lined the streets of the capital to welcome him home, ​waving party colours and banners praising the president.

Biya’s prolonged absence had fuelled widespread speculation about his health and capacity to govern, despite repeated assurances from authorities that he would return soon. It also raised more questions about political succession in a country where power remains highly centralised around the presidency. 

Opposition politicians had called on the Constitutional Council to examine whether someone should fill in as head of state during the president’s absence. The council did not take any action.

Under Cameroon’s constitution, in the absence of a vice president, the president of the Senate should assume interim duties if the presidency is declared vacant due to death, resignation, or permanent incapacity.

Biya has not appointed a vice president despite the reintroduction of the role last April, ⁠and ​critics say the lack of a clear ​succession framework raises uncertainty about a potential transition in the event he becomes unable to govern.

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The teenager, identified only as Rehan, was allegedly lured to a secluded location on August 6 before being stabbed to death.

Police in Bhopal, India, said the suspects allegedly removed the teenager’s testicles after the killing, believing they could sell them for about 12 million Indian rupees — approximately £92,000.

Investigators believe the group was motivated by a false claim circulating on social media about the supposed value of human testicles.

Police have arrested 20-year-old business student Zoheb Khan, described as the alleged mastermind, while 18-year-old Aamir Qureshi has also been arrested. Three minors have reportedly been detained in connection with the case.

According to investigators, Khan allegedly recruited the group and convinced them that the organs could be sold to buyers in the Gulf for a huge amount of money.

Police further allege that Khan posed as a doctor and claimed to know how to remove the organs. He reportedly purchased a white apron, stethoscope and thermometer online and used them while allegedly training the others.

Rehan, who worked as a street vendor, was reportedly approached at his stall by two youths who offered him 100 rupees to help with an arranged fight. Police believe the offer was used to lure him to the location where he was later killed.

Ayush Gupta, deputy commissioner of police in Bhopal, said four of the accused allegedly took part in the killing while Khan guided them through a video call.

The group reportedly failed to find a buyer for the organs. Police allege that Khan subsequently instructed them to dispose of the organs in separate lakes.

Rehan’s body was recovered from Lower Lake near Dhobi Ghat on August 10, four days after he was reported missing by his mother.

Police said he was identified through a tattoo.

The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to establish the full circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death and the role of each suspect.

Gaël Mocaër and Sebastian Perez Pezzani, who work for audiovisual production company Tony Comiti Productions, were arrested with their Togolese fixer, Fred Venum, while filming for the France 5 documentary programme, Les Routes de l’impossible.

The three were arrested near Kara in northern Togo while filming at a market about 20 kilometres from the Benin border.

They were initially placed under house arrest before being remanded in custody and charged with “false statements” on August 17. They are being held at the Agoè Logopé police camp near Lomé.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed the detention on August 18, saying the two French nationals were the subject of a judicial investigation.

It said French authorities had made three consular visits since July 27 and were working to ensure their rights, health and detention conditions were respected.

RSF said the journalists had entered Togo after obtaining work visas and filming authorisation from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts. Tony Comiti Productions also said they were in good standing and had secured a filming permit and declared their equipment to customs.

However, Togo’s High Authority for the Regulation of Written, Audiovisual and Digital Communication (HARC) said it had received no accreditation request from France Télévisions or the journalists and had not been informed of their arrival or filming activities.

HARC said the courts must determine the circumstances surrounding their presence in Togo, their activities and any alleged offences.

The families of the two journalists have expressed deep concern over their detention, particularly about Perez Pezzani’s health, saying he suffers from serious health problems requiring immediate care.

Both journalists are fathers, with one having a 13-year-old child.

RSF has described the detention as “unjustified and disproportionate” and urged the Togolese authorities to release the three men immediately.

Original report by RFI and rewritten by Albert Kuzor.

The restrictions, known as Conditions of Entry (CoE), were introduced ​by the U.S. Coast Guard in June 2014 and required ​vessels bound for the United States that had recently ⁠called at certain Nigerian ports to comply with additional security measures ​and undergo enhanced scrutiny before entering U.S. waters.

The Coast Guard said Nigerian ports did not maintain effective anti-terrorism measures, citing deficiencies in the country’s legal framework, oversight by its designated maritime security authority, access control, and cargo handling procedures.

Oyetola said the decision followed improvements in the maritime security ​framework and compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. U.S. ‌authorities ⁠could not be immediately reached for comment.

The lifting of the restrictions means vessels calling at Nigerian ports before sailing to the United States will no longer be subject to the additional security requirements ​imposed under the program.

Oyetola ​said the ⁠move would help improve vessel turnaround times, enhance schedule reliability and make Nigerian ports more attractive to ​international shipping lines.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted four ​assessments of ⁠Nigeria’s maritime security systems and port facilities between March 2024 and April 2026, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency said.

Industry participants have long argued that the restrictions increased operating costs ​through additional inspections, documentation requirements and security procedures, while contributing to delays, higher freight ​rates, and increased insurance costs.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Department said the nationalities of the pilot and passengers were yet to be confirmed.

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said the accident happened in Samburu county at approximately 09:13 local time (06:13 GMT).

It said the helicopter was on a scenic flight from a wildlife conservancy in Loisaba to Ewaso Nyiro, a river that flows along several national reserves.

An image shared online shows smoke at the crash site at Mount Ololokwe.

The Kenya Red Cross has told the BBC that the area is not yet accessible, but drones are being used to assess the scene.

The KCAA said the accident involved a Eurocopter EC130 B4 and it was co-ordinating operations.

The transport ministry and Air Accident Investigations Department would lead “investigations into the circumstances surrounding the accident”, it added.

Samburu county is a popular tourist destination with many private wildlife conservancies and is renowned for its stunning scenery.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Kenya.

In February, a helicopter crash in the Rift Valley county of Nandi killed six people, including a member of parliament.

In 2024, the military chief, Gen Francis Omondi Ogolla, died after an army helicopter that was carrying 11 people crashed in the west of the country, with only two survivors.

In June 2021, at least 10 soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed while landing near the capital, Nairobi.

Eight airstrikes hit the Abu Duhur airport runway and storage facility on Tuesday, according to Syrian state TV, although there were no reports of injuries.

Israel, while not commenting on the strikes directly, said Syria “was on the verge of breaching” the security status quo, accusing Damascus of allowing Turkish troops to deploy to the airbase.

Syria and Turkey blamed the Israeli military for the attacks that they said threaten to escalate tensions in the region.

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador in Turkey, who was also appointed as Donald Trump’s special envoy for Syria and Iraq, criticised the attacks in a statement posted on social media.

“We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” Barrack wrote on X.

The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement: “Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo.”

Syria’s foreign ministry called the attacks “an unjustified act of aggression” imperilling regional “security and stability”.

Turkey, meanwhile, did not confirm whether any of its troops moved to the Abu Duhur airbase, which sits 70km from the Turkish border. However, Ankara rejected Israel’s suggestion that it posed a threat.

“The frivolous allegations put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office aim to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Turkey’s Communications Directorate said in a statement quoted by the Anadolu state news agency.

Abu Duhur has been out of service as a dedicated military airfield since 2013. Rebel forces seized control of the base as they swept through the country in December 2024.

Syria has been trying to rebuild its military facilities that were damaged during the blitz offensive that saw Bashar al-Assad’s government overthrown within two weeks.

The Turkish military has provided assistance to Syria since the overthrow of Assad, while Israel continues to view both countries with deep suspicion.

Israel has carried out airstrikes on parts of central and southern Syria since Al-Sharaa came to power, with the latest strikes being the most significant since March.

Barrack said that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the rebel forces against Assad, “has neither adopted not maintained proxy forces” and “repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel”.

The US would continue to offer to host diplomatic discussions between both sides to address “kinetic frustrations”, Barrack added.

Al-Sharaa has forged closer ties with the west since coming to power, particularly the US – signified when he became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House in November last year.

The woman was allegedly assaulted at a karaoke bar in Hangzhou after an official dinner involving executives from several companies and officials.

Local authorities said an investigation had found the woman was sexually assaulted by both men, adding that she had been pushed to the ground by one of them, causing injuries to her lower back.

Both suspects in the case have been dismissed from their positions, the statement added.

Sexual misconduct at drinks events is not unheard of in China, but arrests in such cases – particularly involving public officials – is less common.

In this case, the victim’s injuries and the alleged involvement of a senior official and business executive from a state-owned company have fuelled public anger over what they see as an abuse of power in a workplace hierarchy.

It has been trending heavily on local social media platforms. The case was featured in seven of Weibo’s top 50 trending topics on Wednesday.

The story generated even more attention after authorities released their findings.

One related topic received more than 68 million views, while several others received one to six million views each.

“Going to a drinks gathering does not mean consenting to be harmed, and drinking alcohol does not mean voluntarily consenting to abuse,” one comment on Weibo read.

Many of the social media conversations have also talked about what is known as China’s “drinking table culture” – especially because of reports that the woman was asked to drink heavily before allegedly being taken to the karaoke lounge.

“What is the rationale behind having women accompany men in drinking? Hopefully this practice can be eliminated,” another comment said.

A comment piece in China Women’s  News said just dealing with the individuals involved would not be enough.

It said there was a need to define the “boundaries of business interactions through institutional measures, cutting off the grey areas where power becomes entangled with social obligations”.