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Texas executes Charles Thompson for 1998 double murder, the first U.S. execution this year Texas on Wednesday put to death Charles Thompson, 55, by lethal injection for the 1998 murders of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, marking the first execution in the United States this year and renewing attention to the nation’s use of capital punishment. Thompson was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. Central time at a state prison in Huntsville, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. He was sentenced to death for killing…

Mohamed Salah’s first goal since November arrived with emphatic timing, capping a restorative week for the Egypt star and sealing Liverpool’s direct passage to the Champions League round of 16. Salah curled in a 50th-minute free kick to make it 3-0 in a 6-0 rout of Qarabag at Anfield on Wednesday, a result that locked Arne Slot’s side into third place in the new 36-team league phase. The margin mattered. Under UEFA’s revamped Champions League format, finishing in the top eight secures a bye to the last 16 and avoids the…

European Union foreign ministers agreed to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the bloc’s list of terrorist organizations, a move that aligns the powerful force with groups such as the Islamic State organization and al-Qaida and signals a sharp shift in Europe’s approach to Tehran. “Repression cannot go unanswered,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media, adding that “any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.” The IRGC, created after Iran’s 1979 Islamic…

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal authorities arrested 16 people in Minnesota, including a Somali American woman who went viral for describing her identity as “bananas and rice,” as part of a widening crackdown after protests tied to U.S. immigration enforcement operations, officials said Wednesday. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests, saying the defendants face federal charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding federal law enforcement officers. The enforcement push comes amid escalating clashes between demonstrators…

WASHINGTON — Senior Israeli and Saudi officials are holding separate talks in Washington this week as U.S.-Iran tensions rise and President Donald Trump weighs possible military action, officials said. Israel’s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, met Tuesday and Wednesday with senior officials at the Pentagon, the CIA and the White House, according to people familiar with the meetings. The discussions centered on updated intelligence assessments and potential targets inside Iran should strikes be…

CAF on Thursday announced a string of suspensions and fines against players, coaches and federations after an investigation into the chaotic scenes that marred the AFCON 2025 final in Morocco, and dismissed a Moroccan challenge to the result. The Confederation of African Football’s Disciplinary Board said it had penalized both Senegal and Morocco following a stoppage-time penalty award that provoked protests and a walk-off by the Senegalese team. Head coach Pape Thiaw was hit with a five-match suspension from all CAF…

Somalia hosts Horn of Africa finance ministers in Mogadishu, with energy trade at center of agenda MOGADISHU — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Wednesday closed the 27th Horn of Africa Initiative Forum of finance ministers, the first time the high-level regional meeting has been held in Mogadishu, in a session that put regional energy trade at the heart of economic integration efforts. Officials said convening the forum in the Somali capital signaled growing international confidence in Somalia’s security and…

Major cinema chains in South Africa have pulled a documentary about Melania Trump just before its scheduled release, citing concerns over "the current climate," the exhibitors said Friday. The film, which follows Melania Trump in the weeks leading up to her husband Donald Trump's second inauguration, was withdrawn from listings by multiple theatres only days before it was to premiere, according to distribution notices and exhibitor statements. Organisers did not provide further detail on specific security or diplomatic…

Brutal Separatist Attack Rocks Northwest Cameroon, Escalating Ongoing Conflict Cameroonians have been left in shock following a brutal separatist attack on a remote village in the country's Northwest region, resulting in more than a dozen people dead or injured. Residents describe harrowing scenes of entire families being slain and homes reduced to ashes—an escalation that highlights the relentless violence plaguing the Anglophone regions. According to estimates from the International Crisis Group, the toll of the…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s federal government has canceled an arrest warrant for Jubaland President Ahmed Madoobe, clearing the way for him to attend high-level talks in Mogadishu on Feb. 1 and potentially easing a long-running standoff between federal and regional authorities. The Banadir Regional Court issued the warrant in November 2024 after Madoobe secured a third-term victory in Kismayo, a re-election the federal government deemed illegal under the country’s shift toward a one-person, one-vote electoral system. The order…