U.S

The Trump administration announced an immediate pause to the U.S. diversity visa green card lottery on Thursday, citing the case of a Portuguese national suspected in a mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor who, officials say, entered the country through the DV1 program in 2017. Homeland security chief Kristi Noem said in a social media post that Claudio Neves Valente, 48, “entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green…

Trial of Capitol Fire Accused Questions U.S. Experts' Findings A team of U.S. fire experts may return to the stand as the trial intensifies over the blaze that severely damaged parts of the Capitol Building, the heart of the Liberian Legislature, on December 18, 2024. During Tuesday's hearing, sharp divisions emerged between the prosecution and defense regarding the interpretation of the investigation findings. This discord prompted the judge to approve the request for the three retired U.S. fire chiefs to testify. The…

South Africa arrests, orders deportation of 7 Kenyans linked to U.S. Afrikaner refugee program JOHANNESBURG — South African authorities have arrested and ordered the deportation of seven Kenyan nationals accused of working illegally at a Johannesburg center that processes refugee applications for a controversial U.S. resettlement program prioritizing white Afrikaners. The arrests on Tuesday followed intelligence reports that the Kenyans entered the country on tourist visas and took up employment after South Africa’s Home…

Trump Expands Travel Restrictions, Targeting 15 Additional Countries President Donald Trump has expanded United States travel restrictions to include an additional 15 countries, predominantly in Africa, a move that is poised to exacerbate tensions in U.S.-Africa relations and disrupt travel, education, and business connections across the continent. Among the newly added countries, 11 are African: Angola, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A young rickshaw driver who had recently won the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery was shot and killed late Sunday in Mogadishu’s Dayniile district, police and relatives said, shattering plans to migrate with his pregnant wife and intensifying concern over attacks on transport workers. Police identified the victim as Abdirisaq Abukar Mohamed. Family members said he was driving his three-wheeled motorized rickshaw when gunmen opened fire, striking him in the chest and throat. He died at the scene. Somali police…

BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said talks in Berlin with envoys for U.S. President Donald Trump were “not easy” but delivered “real progress” on security guarantees that could underpin a path to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Meeting for a second day with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelensky said the discussions were “productive” and “detailed,” while acknowledging that “we still have different positions” on core issues, including territory. Kyiv’s…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A rickshaw operator was shot dead late Sunday in Mogadishu’s Dayniile district by an armed man believed to be a Somali government soldier, relatives and witnesses said, in a killing that has revived public anger over military accountability in the capital. The victim, identified by family as Abdirisaq Abuukar Mohamud, was killed in the Barwaqo area of Dayniile. The assailant was allegedly a member of the Somali National Army, reportedly among troops trained in Eritrea, according to relatives.…

Somali influencer deported from U.S. returns to Mogadishu under threat, stoking migrant fears MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Somali social media influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers has been deported from the United States after months in immigration detention, returning to Mogadishu amid renewed fears for his safety and mounting anxiety across Somali migrant communities in the American Midwest. Mahad Mohamud, 36, widely known online as “Garyaqaan,” or “The Lawyer,” was removed from the U.S. last month after…

ISIS gunman kills 2 U.S. troops and a U.S. civilian in Syria ambush; attacker dead, CENTCOM says Two U.S. service members and a U.S. civilian were killed and three other service members were wounded when a lone ISIS (Daesh) gunman ambushed a joint operation in Syria on Dec. 13, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Saturday. The assailant was engaged and killed at the scene, according to a CENTCOM statement posted on X. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the civilian killed was a U.S. interpreter. CENTCOM did not…

Turkey starts building Somalia spaceport, a strategic equatorial launch site drawing global scrutiny Turkey has begun constructing a satellite and rocket launch site on Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, a bold step that Ankara says will accelerate its space ambitions and that outside observers say is already drawing intense attention from rival powers. The spaceport — publicly backed by Baykar chairman Selçuk Bayraktar — is being developed under Turkish state authority on a roughly 30-by-30-kilometer coastal tract. Turkish…