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JOHANNESBURG — The acting head of South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on Thursday urged residents to report suspicious behaviour in their communities — singling out neighbours who suddenly drive “flashy cars” — as the unit released findings from a probe into corruption at the Department of Home Affairs. Leonard Lekgetho said the SIU’s investigation, authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2024 after a whistleblower complaint, uncovered syndicates operating inside the visa and permit system. Evidence indicates…

DNA from glove yields no match in search for Nancy Guthrie as Arizona abduction probe enters 17th day A promising DNA lead in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie failed to produce a match in a national database, delivering a setback to investigators as the search for the 84-year-old mother of NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reached its 17th day, authorities said. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, working with the FBI, said a DNA sample taken from a glove recovered last week did not return a “hit” in CODIS, the Combined DNA Index…

Nine dead, 27 wounded in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., school shooting; suspect also dead, RCMP says Nine people were killed and 27 wounded in a mass shooting that centered on a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said, marking one of the deadliest acts of violence in the province in recent years. The suspected shooter is also dead, police said. RCMP said seven people were killed at the school. Officers found six victims shot dead during a sweep of the building; a seventh person with…

Barcelona beats Elche 3-1 to stay four points clear in La Liga as Torres and Rashford score Barcelona retained its lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-1 win away to Elche on Saturday night, a result built on early incision from Lamine Yamal and finished off by Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford. The victory lifts Barcelona to 55 points, four ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, which plays Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. Yamal opened the scoring early, settling Barcelona into a rhythm that soon produced a flurry of chances.…

Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy-winning actor celebrated for indelible turns from “Home Alone” to “Schitt’s Creek,” has died at 71. She died at her home in Los Angeles following a brief illness, her agency, CAA, said in a statement. Further details were not immediately available. The Canadian-born O’Hara was an alumna of Toronto’s Second City Theatre and one of the creators of the sketch series SCTV, where she helped shape a generation of offbeat, character-driven comedy. Her career took off at Second City in the 1970s, where she…

LOS ANGELES — Catherine O’Hara, the Emmy-winning Canadian-born actor whose range stretched from the anarchic brilliance of SCTV to the beloved roles of Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek, died at her Los Angeles home following a brief illness. She was 71. Her death was confirmed by her agency, CAA, which said further details were not immediately available. O’Hara’s death prompted a wave of tributes across the industry, led by Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin McCallister opposite O’Hara’s anxious, fiercely devoted mother, Kate,…

MOGADISHU — Twenty-four Somali children returned home after receiving life-saving heart surgeries at Niguarda Hospital in Milan, a milestone in Somalia–Italy medical cooperation showcased at an appreciation ceremony in the capital on Saturday. The patients were treated under a program coordinated by the Hormuud Salaam Foundation, which convened Somali officials, Italian clinicians and diplomats, and partner organizations to recognize those who helped deliver specialized pediatric cardiac care not available in Somalia.…

MOGADISHU — Former Somali Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments Omar Ali Rooble accused federal security forces of raiding and demolishing parts of his family home in Mogadishu late Monday, alleging the operation was a politically motivated land grab tied to senior government figures, including President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. In a statement released Tuesday, Rooble said troops accompanied by demolition equipment arrived in a convoy of military vehicles and moved to seize a property he maintains legally belongs to his…

NAIROBI — Thirty-one years ago this week, a Nigerian diplomat walked into a modest office at Wilson Airport and asked two Kenyan pilots to do something almost no one could know about. The mission: fly the body of Somalia’s ousted ruler, Mohamed Siad Barre, from Lagos to his hometown of Garbaharey for a swift Islamic burial — quietly, safely and without alerting authorities across half a continent. For the first time, one of those pilots, Hussein Mohamed Anshuur — a former Kenya Air Force captain and co-founder of Bluebird…

Oslo — Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado vowed to return her Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuela “at the correct moment” after slipping out of the country under a decade-old travel ban and arriving in Norway hours after Friday’s ceremony. Machado, 58, reached Oslo early Saturday following a clandestine journey that her camp says began by boat from Venezuela to Curaçao and continued by private plane to Norway. She missed the prize ceremony, where her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, accepted the award and…