In a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, July 5, President John Dramani Mahama, on behalf of the Government and people of Ghana, conveyed a message of goodwill to U.S. President Donald J. Trump and the American people.

The Ministry noted that Ghana and the United States have maintained cordial relations since Ghana attained independence in 1957.

It recalled that the United States sent an official delegation led by then Vice President Richard Nixon to Ghana’s independence celebrations, accompanied by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and diplomat Ralph Bunche, laying the foundation for a long-standing diplomatic relationship.

According to the Ministry, the partnership has expanded significantly over the past seven decades through bilateral agreements spanning several sectors.

It highlighted major milestones in the relationship, including collaboration on the Akosombo Dam, the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), projects under the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC), the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as well as cooperation in education, health, trade and investment.

The statement also referenced several high-level exchanges between the two countries, including visits to Ghana by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton in 1998, George W. Bush in 2008 and Barack Obama in 2009.

It further noted that successive Ghanaian Presidents, including Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and John Dramani Mahama, have undertaken official visits to the United States to strengthen bilateral cooperation.

The Ministry praised the strong people-to-people ties between Ghanaians and Americans, describing them as instrumental in promoting mutual understanding and expanding educational and cultural exchanges.

In his congratulatory message to President Trump, President Mahama expressed confidence that the longstanding relationship between Ghana and the United States would continue to be guided by shared democratic values and common interests.

“As we join in the celebration of another milestone, it is my deep conviction that the enduring friendship and cooperation between our two countries will continue to be shaped by values and common interests, especially in the areas of the rule of law, human rights and democracy, as well as our shared aspiration for economic prosperity, which fosters a close and enduring partnership between Ghana and the United States,” President Mahama said.

President Mahama concluded by wishing the Government and people of the United States a peaceful, joyous and successful celebration of the country’s 250th Independence Anniversary.

The first batch of returnees, comprising 273 people, including 255 adults and 18 children, arrived at Entebbe International Airport aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight as part of a government-coordinated repatriation programme. A second group of 116 returnees arrived at 7:00 a.m., followed by another group of 35 at 8:00 a.m.

While receiving the returnees, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also the Minister of State in the same portfolio, Hon. Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo, described the returnees’ arrival as a moment of great relief for the nation, their families, and the President.

He said President Museveni immediately directed the mobilisation of resources to facilitate the safe evacuation of Ugandans after receiving reports of escalating insecurity and threats against foreign nationals in South Africa.

“The brotherly responsibility of any sovereign government is the safety and security of its citizens, both within our borders and abroad,” he said.

Hon. Kasolo revealed that more than 700 Ugandans have so far voluntarily registered for repatriation.

“No matter the distances you travel, or the challenges you face abroad, you must always remember that Uganda is your home, and the government will never abandon you in times of crisis,” said Hon. Kasolo.

He revealed that three Ugandans lost their lives during the unrest, while the bodies of two victims are yet to be identified and repatriated.

Addressing the returnees, the minister encouraged them to embrace opportunities back home, noting that Uganda’s economy continues to expand.

“You committed no offence in going to South Africa to look for greener pastures, but I must confirm to you that the greener pasture is now here in Uganda,” he said, urging them to take advantage of various government wealth creation programmes.

Uganda’s Ambassador to South Africa, H.E. Paul Omoru Omiat, commended President Museveni and the Chief of Defence Forces and Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for their swift intervention, describing the evacuation as timely and compassionate.

“Most Ugandans returned with nothing, some without even a suitcase, because the situation was not friendly,” Ambassador Omoru said, appealing for government support to facilitate the returnees’ reintegration.

Speaking on behalf of the returnees, President of the United Returnees Organisation, Mrs Lydia Mwesigwa, who lived in South Africa for more than 30 years, expressed gratitude to the government for ensuring their safe return.

“What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned around for our good,” she said.

Mrs Mwesigwa noted that the organisation would support the returnees’ reintegration through Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) and agricultural livelihood programmes.

One of the returnees, Mr Mawanda Sayid Juma, who had worked as a driver in South Africa since 2023, described the challenges many Ugandans faced.

He appealed to the government to assist the returnees, explaining that many were forced to leave behind property and assets accumulated over several years.

The reception was attended by the Acting Director of Defence Public Information, Col Chris Magezi, Denis Kalemba and Ambassador Dickson Ogwal, Moses Kibombo Ssentongo, and other UPDF officers.

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The agency said the suspect, who works as a caregiver in the United Kingdom, was arrested at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the airport on Sunday, June 28, while attempting to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London.

According to a statement released on Sunday by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, a thorough search of the suspect’s luggage led to the discovery of 31 large wraps of cocaine disguised as hands of plantain and packed alongside other food items.

Babafemi said, “A thorough search of her bags resulted in the discovery of 31 big wraps of cocaine which were packaged to appear like plantain hands, weighing a total of 13 kilograms. In her statement, the elderly woman admitted full ownership of the recovered cocaine exhibits.”

He also announced the arrest of a 45-year-old PhD student at the University of Putra, Malaysia, Nwabueze Felix Onyeka, over an attempt to export cocaine concealed inside cartons of Orijin Bitters bound for Kuala Lumpur.

Babafemi said Onyeka was arrested in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State on June 29 after investigators traced him as the alleged leader of a drug trafficking syndicate.

He disclosed that operatives had earlier intercepted 36 parcels of cocaine weighing 5.80 kilograms hidden within the walls of nine cartons of the herbal drink that formed part of a consolidated cargo destined for Malaysia.

According to him, four suspects were initially arrested in Lagos during investigations, including the cargo agent, Alalade Taiwo Azeez; the driver who conveyed the consignment, Ndem Ogbonna Kelechi; a trader at ASPANDA Market, Trade Fair Complex, Okeke Tochukwu Chimezie; and Igwilo Chidi Henry, who allegedly supplied the cartons used to conceal the drugs.

Babafemi said, “The efforts eventually paid off, leading to the unmasking of Nwabueze hiding in his village Aziora, Ozubulu, Anambra State, as the leader of the syndicate.”

In Taraba State, the NDLEA said its operatives arrested a 30-year-old suspect, Daniel Harrison Ugwuoke, along the Zaki-Biam Road in Wukari Local Government Area on Saturday, July 4.

The agency said 43,980 capsules of Tramadol were recovered from two vehicle fuel tanks specially modified to conceal the drugs.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives arrested Boniface Agu, 65, and Monday Nwaeze, 50, during a raid in Gwantu Local Government Area of Kaduna State on July 2, where they allegedly recovered 1.7 kilograms of methamphetamine.

In Ebonyi State, a 65-year-old suspect, Francis Ifara Eja, was arrested with 231.7 kilograms of skunk at Ikwo on July 4, while a 75-year-old suspect, Alhaji Babani, was apprehended with 15 kilograms of skunk at Kurgwi in Qua’anpan Local Government Area of Plateau State on July 3.

The agency also reported that two suspects, Dahiru Mohammed, 65, and Isiya Lawan, 36, were arrested in Gombe State on July 1 with 587 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 556 kilograms at Kuri village in Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area.

Beyond enforcement operations, the NDLEA said its commands nationwide sustained the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, workplaces, worship centres and communities.

According to Babafemi, the awareness activities were conducted at Girls Secondary School, Abagana, Anambra State; Government Technical College, Obe, Enugu State; Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State; and the FCE Staff Demonstration School, Kabuga, Kano State, among other locations.

Commending officers involved in the recent operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), praised the commands for combining enforcement with public enlightenment.

Babafemi quoted Marwa as saying he “commended the officers and men of MMIA, Taraba, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Plateau, and Gombe Commands for the arrests and seizures,” noting that “their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitisation activities,” while charging them and other officers across the country to continue to raise the operational bar.

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A statement from the foreign ministry said Emeka Charles Iroegbu was “reportedly killed” on 28 June by police officers “using gruesome interrogation techniques”, while unidentified assailants had killed shop owner Musa Yunana Joe on the same day.

The authorities in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, are yet to comment.

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the incidents came amid a rise in anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa, which has led to roughly 25,000 citizens from other African countries being repatriated by their nations, including some 700 Nigerians.

Protesters in South Africa have urged the government to do more to curb illegal migration. They say foreigners are taking jobs and unfairly benefiting from public services.

In its statement, Nigeria’s foreign ministry said Iroegbu was reportedly killed in Pretoria by officers from the Tshwane Metro police department.

Joe, killed on 28 June, was attacked outside his shop in the city of eMalahleni, the ministry said.

Abuja said it was placing the South African government “on notice” and that “all options remain on the table… if the uncultured and provocative trend of intolerance and apartheid-style behaviour of South Africa against foreigners is not addressed”.

Nigeria has said it will seek compensation from South Africa for its citizens who have left the country, adding that Abuja had begun documenting businesses and properties left behind by Nigerians.

However, at a media briefing on Friday, South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said her government would not pay compensation and that Nigerians can sell registered properties they left behind on the South African market.

She also said: “We would be interested to know where the drug dens of Nigerians are, so they can show us where they have been holding the drugs so we can clean the drugs in South Africa quite urgently.”

Nigeria’s foreign ministry strongly condemned this comment in their statement on Sunday, calling it “unacceptable”.

“Such derogatory, unprofessional and uncensored generalised public statements by highly placed government officials constitute hate speech,” the ministry said.

Nigeria’s foreign ministry also accused protest groups in South Africa, including March on March and Operation Dudula, of inciting violence and hatred against other Africans.

It warned that those responsible could face regional and international legal action, though it is unclear steps Nigeria would take and whether it plans to raise the issue with the African Union.

Some anti-migrant groups in South Africa had given undocumented foreigners a deadline of 30 June to leave the country.

Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria are among African countries which repatriated some of their citizens ahead of the deadline.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the world – at more than 30% – and anti-migrant sentiment has been rising in recent months.

The continent’s most developed economy remains a magnet for people from poorer countries seeking work often in low-paid jobs.

The actress posted the video on social media on Saturday, July 3, after days of reflection, writing, “I have been contemplating posting this for a while. Anyways, here it is.”

According to Regina, she marked the birthdays of Munir, who turned six, and Khalifa, who turned four, on June 29 by organising a celebration with children, rather than a private family gathering.

The event featured large framed photographs of her sons, birthday cakes, and the distribution of packaged meals and gifts to children who joined in the celebration.

A video from the event also captured an emotional moment as the actress became overwhelmed while reflecting on the occasion.

“This birthday definitely felt very different, special, extremely emotional for me and I give all glory to God,” she wrote.

Regina used the occasion to offer prayers for her children, expressing hope that they would grow in good health, kindness, compassion and under God’s grace.

“My precious jewels, I pray for the grace of God upon your lives. You will grow in good health, kindness, compassion and God’s unfailing grace. Mama will forever adore you,” she wrote.

She also expressed gratitude to her mother, Rita Daniels, describing her as her greatest source of inspiration.

The post comes days after Ned Nwoko shared his own video on June 29 showing how he celebrated the boys’ birthdays.

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In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, July 5, President Mahama extended Ghana’s warm wishes to the Government and people of the United States, describing the milestone as an opportunity to reaffirm the enduring friendship between the two nations.

In a message addressed to US President Donald J. Trump, President Mahama said the strong partnership between Ghana and the United States has been built on a common commitment to democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the pursuit of economic prosperity.

“As we join in the celebration of another milestone, it is my deep conviction that the enduring friendship and cooperation between our two countries will continue to be shaped by values and common interests, especially in the areas of the rule of law, human rights and democracy, as well as our shared aspiration for economic prosperity,” he stated.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Ghana and the United States have maintained cordial diplomatic relations since Ghana attained independence in 1957, with the US being among the first countries to establish formal diplomatic ties with the West African nation.

It said the relationship has grown steadily over the past seven decades through collaboration in trade, investment, infrastructure, education and cultural exchange.

The Ministry highlighted several key bilateral initiatives, including the Akosombo Dam, the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and partnerships in education, health, trade and investment.

It also pointed to decades of high-level engagements between the two countries, noting that former US Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all paid official visits to Ghana, while successive Ghanaian leaders, including Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and President Mahama, have undertaken official visits to the United States.

The Ministry further praised the strong people-to-people ties between Ghanaians and Americans, saying they have helped strengthen mutual understanding and expanded educational and cultural exchanges over the years.

President Mahama also wished the Government and people of the United States a peaceful, joyous and memorable celebration of their 250th Independence anniversary.

“The American dream is back,” US President Donald Trump told a cheering crowd at a delayed rally on the National Mall in Washington before the reputed largest fireworks display ever in the US lit up the night.

The 4 July federal holiday commemorates the 13 US colonies signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to end British rule.

The sharply divided country has seen Trump criticised for making himself central to the milestone and politicising it by launching Freedom 250 celebrations, which are separate from congressionally established America 250 events.

Trump’s remarks – where he hit on recent political themes of rejecting communism, Save America Act legislation he favors and the right to bear arms – wrapped up just before midnight at the Freedom 250 event.

Upon closing, he told the crowd, “this is only the dawn of the golden age of America” with its destiny “written by God”.

The celebration, which included a flyover – one featuring the new Air Force One jet – a concert, and fireworks as well as the speech was delayed by a thunderstorm that forced an evacuation of the National Mall in the early evening.

 power in the east due to extreme weather with another 150,000 in New Jersey, according to tracker Power Outage.

Energy company DTE said that severe weather, including winds over 60mph (97kmph) on Friday evening in Michigan, left more than 350,000 homes in the state without power.

Other states affected include Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York and Wisconsin.

Former presidents reflect

All four living former US presidents also shared messages to celebrate the milestone. President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, recalled the Declaration’s edict that Independence that all people are created equal.

“We chose that path 250 years ago but that’s where the work began, not where it ended,” he said before warning that the nation’s promise of equality for all was still a work in progress.

The country’s first black president, Barack Obama, reshared excerpts of a recent speech he made at his presidential museum’s opening.

“There’s more to do to fulfil the nation’s founding ideals,” he said. “Every generation must take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further – protecting what’s right, fixing what’s wrong, and making our union a little more perfect.”

The 43rd president George W Bush said “the next 250 years require Americans to be citizens, not spectators”.

Americans need to “take an active interest in the health and welfare of our country and the communities in which they live”, he said.

His predecessor Bill Clinton took a moment to comment on US politics today.

“Today, we celebrate this milestone amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself,” the 42nd president said.

The pair both wore Christian Dior, according to Swift’s longtime publicist, and elected not to have bridesmaids and groomsmen. Instead, Swift’s brother Austin Swift served as her man of honour, and retired American footballer Jason Kelce was the groom’s best man.

The event at Madison Square Garden shuttered one of Manhattan’s busiest corridors and brought out Hollywood’s A-list for what was likely the bash of the century.

Actors Hugh Grant and Jason Sudeikis, singer Benson Boone and model Gigi Hadid were among those spotted.

Hordes of fans huddled outside throughout the day on Friday, some singing Swift tunes and donning concert merch, while others climbed scaffolding hoping to catch a better view of the festivities.

The celebration at the arena kicked off on Thursday with a much smaller event, where a reported 100 people were thought to attend. A permit filed with New York City officials called the event a “pre-party”.

On Friday, a much larger event led to a tent being erected outside the arena that doubled in size.

A stream of blacked-out SUVs pulled through the structure, allowing many guests to shield their arrival while streets in Midtown Manhattan were closed to traffic. Crews at the sport arena set up curtains and gazebos for the massive event.

Swift’s longtime publicist Tree Paine confirmed to the BBC that the two wed on Friday in New York City and offered details from the ceremony.

Around the same time, Madison Square Garden lit up massive signs around the complex reading “JUST&T MARRIED” – a nod to both Taylor and Travis’s names.

Paine said Swift and Kelce wore wedding ceremony looks designed by Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Dior’s women’s, men’s and haute couture collections, in close collaboration with the bride and groom.

“This is the designer’s first couture wedding dress for a world-renowned celebrity,” Paine said in a statement, adding that their shoes were custom made by Christian Louboutin and the bride wore Cartier jewellery.

Throughout the day, excitement filled the air, with a heavy police presence in the stifling heat. Temperatures reached 37C (98.6F).

The New York City Police (NYPD) closed the streets around the arena midday, closing them off completely to vehicles and pedestrian traffic, which were diverted by barriers.

Even with curtains and tents erected to shield guests from the barrage of news cameras and anxious fans, many captured celebrity guests leaving hotels and arriving to the venue.

Model Gigi Hadid, in a pink sparkly dress, and actor boyfriend Bradley Cooper were spotted on the way to the ceremony, while actress Dakota Johnson was also photographed.

Several members of Kelce’s football team were among those seen arriving to the wedding in plain view, while other A-list guests exited their vehicles under the enormous tent for privacy.

Also spotted was TV presenter Graham Norton, who was famously invited to the ceremony when Swift appeared on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show.

Swifties – the singer’s legion of fans – of all ages lined every block in the vicinity of the arena. As more blacked-out vehicles entered the area, the more excited the crowd grew, with several craning their necks to peek at the stars leaving their vehicles.

Some chanted lyrics to their favourite Swift songs or cheered “we love you Taylor”, hoping the pop queen was somewhere within earshot. As the event begun, fans adorned with Swift memorabilia climbed city scaffolding and cheered for anyone who walked past.

On Thursday, a stream of black SUVs pulled up to the venue with guests dropped off under a white canopy tent. High-profile friends of the couple, from actress Lena Dunham to frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, were spotted in formal attire for the rumoured rehearsal dinner.

The two-day celebration – featuring the takeover of part of America’s biggest city – has been dubbed the wedding of the century and has attracted the sort of global attention usually reserved for royal weddings.

On its own, taking over Madison Square Garden – an iconic fixture in NYC – is a feat requiring millions. Then the couple also closed down the area, which includes one of the city’s primary transit hubs.

The spectacle showcased the power the couple holds, with Swift widely recognised as one of the world’s most powerful and famous people.

Their two-day wedding celebrations led news broadcasts, lit up the Empire State Building in NYC and spurred millions in online betting markets as details of their nuptials left people speculating for weeks.

Pop culture critic Kristen Meinzer told the BBC that their marriage was meaningful because Swift and Kelce are from two important worlds when it comes to pop culture and American identity.

“We worship at the throne of music and football, these are all the things we love in America married together,” she said.

New York City also has a long-standing ethos of treating celebrities as part of the fabric of everyday life rather than as spectacles too.

“We aren’t people who run up to our celebrities, we usually leave them alone,” Meinzer added.

The Pennsylvania-born singer has been based in New York since 2014 – when she bought two adjoining Tribeca penthouses for $20m (£15m) and combined them into one massive living space.

She fell in love with the city after discovering she could go shopping without being bothered, saying that she was “physically different since” moving there. The move also inspired her 1989 album track Welcome to New York.

Kelce, who is based in Kansas for his American football career, was introduced to the Big Apple when he started dating Swift in 2023.

The couple likely spent tens of millions of dollars to rent out the iconic arena, planning experts told the BBC.

Ahead of the festivities, the billionaire singer and wealthy athlete donated $26m (£19.5m) to more than 20 charities – though made no mention of a wedding.

To many, though, the 20,000-capacity arena – which hosts concerts and sports matches with beer-drinking fans – felt like an unusual choice for a wedding, though the venue does boast an unusual level of privacy because of its lack of windows and underground access points. But many said that, if anyone could transform the arena into a wedding wonderland, it would be Swift.

“I thought it was going to be more gardens, more flowers, more tropical. Something more fancy, something more Taylor Swift,” Canadian teen Emily told the BBC outside the venue.

New York resident Rose said it was “sort of absurd” that the couple shut down the busy streets around the arena, but believed the ceremony would be beautiful “because it’s Taylor Swift”.

“I hope it’s a beautiful wedding… but I think they should do it somewhere that’s less inconveniencing to [the] general populace of New York City,” she laughed.

Fans broke out into cheers outside Madison Square Garden when the just-married signs lit up outside the arena.

Fan Tara Rosales was one of the many who were unconvinced the wedding would actually take place at the famed arena.

“I knew that she was going to get married in New York but I had no idea where. So I can’t believe it, I’m actually shook and I’m so excited,” she said.

“She’s never an inconvenience. Taylor can do whatever she wants.”

This question has dominated Indian social media and headlines after the eastern state of West Bengal announced last week that eggs would be replaced with vegetarian alternatives in some government school lunches as part of a pilot project.

The scheme, better known as the midday meal programme, provides free cooked lunches to children in government and government-aided schools.

For millions of underprivileged children, it is the most nutritious – and sometimes only – meal they eat all day. The scheme has long been credited with improving nutrition, reducing hunger and encouraging children to stay in school.

The row erupted after West Bengal’s recently elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government said meal preparation for schools run by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation would be handed to International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), the Hindu group best known as the Hare Krishna movement.

Meals will be prepared by Iskcon’s Annamitra Foundation, which serves only vegetarian food, replacing eggs with other sources of protein, an Iskcon official said last week.

The project has not yet begun and it is unclear whether it will be expanded to other schools. Iskcon told the BBC that discussions were still under way and nothing had been finalised.

But it has already reignited a familiar debate across India: what belongs on a school lunch plate?

Nutrition campaigners say eggs are among the cheapest and most effective sources of protein for growing children, especially those from poorer households. Attempts by several state governments – many led by the BJP – to replace or limit eggs in school meals have repeatedly sparked controversy.

Critics say governments are letting religious or ideological beliefs dictate nutrition policy by removing eggs. Supporters argue that carefully planned vegetarian meals can provide the same nutrients.

The opposition All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which ruled West Bengal until May, has accused the newly elected BJP government of trying to “impose vegetarianism” on schoolchildren.

Others say substitutes such as soybeans or kidney beans, suggested by an Iskcon official, are not widely eaten in the state and may not be readily accepted by students.

Some politicians and activists have proposed a middle path: let students choose between eggs and a vegetarian alternative.

Eggs have long been considered one of the cheapest and most efficient sources of high-quality protein. They usually cost around eight rupees ($0.08; £0.06) each and have been part of Bengal’s food culture for generations.

Defending the decision, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the project was aimed at providing students with “good and pure food”.

“You don’t have to say Hare Krishna [the movement’s devotional chant]. No one will force you,” he said, rejecting criticism that the move was driven by the BJP’s Hindu nationalist ideology.

Iskcon says the criticism is misplaced. Through the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which it founded, it provides school meals to about one million students across 16 states, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and parts of Delhi.

Radharaman Das, Iskcon’s Kolkata vice-president until last week, told local media that the organisation takes special care to ensure its meals are nutritious and hygienic.

He said the vegetarian menu would provide enough protein and vitamins to match the nutritional value of eggs.

Das has since been removed from his organisational posts, although Iskcon has not publicly explained the decision.

The BBC has contacted Iskcon for further comment.

The row has also renewed focus on India’s school meal scheme.

Launched nationwide in 1995, and rooted in a school feeding programme begun in Madras (now Chennai) in 1925, it has grown into one of the world’s largest, serving more than 110 million children.

The federal government sets calorie and protein targets, but states decide how to meet them. As a result, there is no single national menu, and meals vary across the country.

In Bihar, children are typically served rice with pulses or chickpeas, plus an egg once a week. In Tamil Nadu, school lunches often include rice, sambar (lentil-vegetable stew), vegetables and eggs.

Other states serve only vegetarian meals. In Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, menus usually feature rice- or wheat-based dishes with pulses and vegetables, sometimes accompanied by milk, paneer (cottage cheese) or fruit.

How meals are prepared also varies.

In many government schools, they are cooked on site by dedicated staff. Elsewhere, state governments contract non-profit organisations to prepare and distribute meals that meet prescribed nutritional standards and state menus.

For nearly a decade, students in Kolkata’s government schools have been served an egg on some days of the week, alongside rice, pulses and vegetables. Now, that could change.

Reactions have been mixed. Some primary school students told the BBC they welcomed the change as a break from familiar meals. Others were disappointed, saying they looked forward to the days eggs were served.

Chaitali Mitra, 37, whose daughter attends a government school, said school meals are better with an egg.

“It would reassure me that my growing child’s protein needs were being fulfilled,” she added.

For nutrition experts, the debate is less about food preferences than whether vegetarian substitutes can match eggs for nutrition at the same cost.

Fareha Shanam, a nutritionist at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, says eggs are among the most complete and affordable sources of protein.

“Eggs contain all nine essential amino acids that the body needs,” she said, noting that pulses – while also nutritious – contain more fibre and a higher share of non-essential amino acids.

“Eggs are also rich in vitamins D and B12, making them an efficient source of nutrition for growing children.”

Foods such as paneer can provide similar nutrition, Dr Shanam says, but they are far more expensive than eggs, making them difficult to serve regularly in a publicly funded programme.

“For many children, the school meal is the most nutrient-dense food they get all day,” says Dr Vamshi V, a consultant in internal medicine at Gleneagles Aware Hospital in Hyderabad.

Dr Vamshi says replacing eggs without carefully matching their nutrients could leave children short of essential protein and micronutrients. The effects may not be immediate, she says, but over time they can impair growth, learning and immunity.

For teachers in government schools across the country, it all comes down to a simple reality – for many underprivileged children, these meals are indispensable.

“The mid-day meals have been among the biggest reasons for students getting admissions in primary schools,” says a primary school teacher in Delhi who did not want to be named.

Many children, she said, come to school hungry and wait eagerly for lunch every day.

Meanwhile, in Bihar, teacher Bimla Singh* says the choice should be left to children, as it already is at her school. Every Friday, students are offered an egg, while those who do not eat eggs receive a banana instead.

“No one is forced to eat one or skip the other,” she added.

In December, US and Nigerian forces launched a joint operation in the Lake Chad Basin area, which involved strikes against militants on Christmas Day, followed by the deployment of about 200 soldiers two months later.

Senior Islamic State (IS) leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was killed during the months-long mission.

On Thursday, the US said the operation had been a success, while Nigeria’s military spokesperson told the BBC the withdrawal of US soldiers would “not affect our momentum in any way”.

Despite the operations, jihadist groups continue to stage attacks, especially in north-eastern Nigeria.

Maj-Gen Michael Onoja said intelligence-sharing between the two countries would continue, which the US military also said in its briefing.

Military cooperation between Nigeria and the US increased after Washington accused Nigerian authorities of not doing enough to protect vulnerable groups against Islamist militants, and alleged there was a “Christian genocide” in the country.

Nigeria has firmly rejected this claim, saying the violence is complex and affects people from all communities.

Organisations monitoring political violence in Nigeria say most victims of the jihadist groups are Muslims because they mostly operate in the north of the country, where most people follow Islam.

Earlier this year, the US said it would deploy about 200 troops to support Nigeria’s counter-insurgency efforts, while stressing that its forces would not take part in ground combat.

Announcing that most of these troops had now left, General Dagvin Anderson, Commander of US Air Forces in Africa, said on Thursday that the operation had been successful and that IS’ leadership in Nigeria had been “significantly degraded”.

IS has radically shifted in recent years, with around 90% of its attacks now taking place in sub-Saharan Africa, analysts say. Its Nigeria-based branch is by far the most active.

Anderson said that the group’s local command structure and its wider global network had both been disrupted by the joint operation, limiting its ability to communicate.

Despite the withdrawal, US military personnel stationed in Nigeria before the Lake Chad Basin operation have remained in the country, military spokesperson Major General Samaila Uba told the BBC.

Nigeria faces multiple security challenges. Along with Islamist militants, banditry and criminal violence plague the country, having spread from the north into parts of central and southern Nigeria.

The former Ayatollah’s body is currently lying in state at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, ahead of his burial in his hometown of Mashhad next Thursday.

Iranian authorities said 12 to 20 million people were expected to attend the ceremonies, which are part of what they are calling the “funeral of the century”.

It comes as Iran and the United States observe a fragile ceasefire after signing a preliminary deal to halt their conflict in June.

Footage showed Khamenei’s coffin, bearing the colours of the Islamic Republic, being carried aloft at the Grand Mosalla on Friday.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian was among those paying their respects after the coffin was placed at the vast religious complex.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has mediated peace talks between the US and Iran, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and the Afghan Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi were in attendance.

Representatives from Iraq, Armenia, Turkey and several Gulf states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman among them, have also arrived for the processions.

There will be an official funeral ceremony in Tehran on Saturday, which the Tehran-based Mohammad Rasulullah Corps is leading, as part of six days of ceremonies.

Khamenei’s body will lie in the Grand Mosalla for three days, alongside the remains of family members who were also killed in the US and Israeli strikes in February.

Mohammad Rasulullah Corps commander Hassan Hassanzadeh said Khamenei’s coffin would be displayed on an elevated platform, with crowd flows designed to allow visitors to enter and leave within 15 to 20 minutes.

The supreme leader was killed during joint Israeli and US strikes on Iran in late February, precipitating a major regional war in the following months.

Speaking on Friday night in the US, President Donald Trump acknowledged the week of mourning taking place in Iran, adding that the country was “dying to settle” as negotiations to end the war continue.

“We gave them [Iran] a week off for a funeral because we’re nice,” he told a crowd gathered at Mount Rushmore for his address on the eve of 4 July celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of US independence.

Authorities have ordered public and private offices in Tehran to close from Saturday through Monday, while traffic restrictions will shut down most of the city centre to private vehicles, AFP reported. The airspace over Tehran was partially closed on Friday and will be fully closed on Monday.

On Tuesday, events will move to Qom, just south of Tehran, where a senior Shia cleric will lead funeral prayers at Jamkaran – one of Iran’s most prominent and symbolic religious sites.

Khamenei’s body will then travel to Najaf in Iraq on Wednesday. Following a procession at the shrine of Imam Ali, Shia Islam’s first imam, ceremonies will continue in Karbala before the body returns to Iran.

Iranian officials say the Iraq events follow requests from Iraqi groups, with some analysts seeing them as representative of Khamenei’s influence across the Shia Muslim world and Iran’s religious and political ties across the region.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Baghdad to coordinate the arrangements, saying the funeral had a “symbolic importance”.

On Thursday, Khamenei will be buried in the city of his birth, Mashhad, at the Imam Reza Shrine, the mausoleum of Shia Islam’s eighth imam and Iran’s most important pilgrimage site, which attracts millions of visitors each year.

Ceremonies will continue across the country for 40 days, with commemorative events planned until the first anniversary of Khamenei’s burial.

Khamenei was succeeded by his son, Mojtaba, who has not been seen in public since becoming supreme leader.

Key questions around the ceremony centre on whether Mojtaba will attend the funeral.

Last week, secretary of the organising committee, Ali Akbar Pourjamshidian, said any decision on Mojtaba’s attendance would be announced by the offices of the armed forces commander-in-chief and the supreme leader.

Questions also remain about who will lead the funeral prayer, as in Shia tradition the role carries religious and political significance.

The court ordered the couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, to be whipped with a rattan cane 21 times each for kissing without being married. At least 100 people witnessed the caning, carried out by a group of people wearing robes and hoods on a stage in Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh.

The couple were arrested in April after a livestream from 27 February, in which they kissed in a car in Banda Aceh, went viral and prompted reports to local sharia authorities.

Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces a version of Islamic law. The country’s secular central government granted the province the right to implement religious law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist war.

In 2015, Aceh expanded the law to apply to non-Muslims, who account for about 1% of the province’s population.

The law allows up to 100 lashes for morality offences including adultery and gay sex. Caning is also allowed to punish people for gambling and drinking, and for women who wear tight clothes or men who skip Friday prayers.

The couple caned on Thursday were sentenced to 25 lashes each, which was reduced to 21 as they had already spent four months in prison.

The court also seized a mobile phone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok live video as evidence to be destroyed.

Four other people were also publicly caned on Thursday for online gambling and adultery.

Amnesty International Indonesia said the public caning in Aceh was a form of human rights violation that was cruel, inhumane and degrading to human dignity, carried out despite the fact Indonesia had ratified a convention mandating the abolition of inhumane punishments.

“Such behaviour might be considered inappropriate because social media is viewed by people of various age groups, including children. But is it a crime that warrants imprisonment or even caning? That would be excessive,” said Usman Hamid, the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

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Cardiology Centre at KATH to be completed by August 2026 – Medical Trust Fund Administrator

The convict, 40-year-old Kwabena Kissi, was sentenced by the Snaresbrook Crown Court after admitting a charge of fraud by false representation arising from an elaborate deception carried out in July 2022.

Court proceedings heard that on July 5, 2022, Kissi entered a Santander UK branch in Brixton, south London, dressed in a G4S security uniform from a company he had left two years earlier. To conceal his identity, he wore a crash helmet with the visor lowered and a face mask, giving staff the impression that he was a legitimate cash collection officer.

Security camera footage presented during the trial showed bank employees granting him access to a secure area before handing over bags containing cash, believing he had arrived for a scheduled collection.

After receiving the money, Kissi quietly exited the banking hall carrying a briefcase. Investigators told the court that he later changed out of the uniform nearby, transferred the cash into a bin bag and left the area in an Uber vehicle.

Prosecutor Imogen Nelson told the court that the bank’s vault manager, Otis Williams, had prepared £256,000 for collection that day in 11 separate cash bags.

Although one member of staff questioned why Kissi had arrived earlier than expected, he reportedly explained that he had been assigned to “a new route”, an explanation that allayed any immediate concerns.

The deception was only uncovered after Kissi failed to return for a subsequent collection and the genuine G4S cash collection officer later arrived to collect the funds.

The court heard that Kissi departed the United Kingdom for Accra a day after the theft and remained in Ghana for nearly four years, where he reportedly lived with his ailing mother.

However, his attempt to evade justice came to an end when he travelled back to Britain on March 26 this year.

According to investigators, police officers had been monitoring for his return. His arrest was triggered after he booked an Uber using his real name and mobile telephone number—the same handset investigators had linked to the 2022 fraud.

He was arrested shortly after arriving at Gatwick Airport.

During questioning, Kissi initially denied being the suspect and claimed that officers had mistaken his identity. Investigators, however, matched the recovered mobile phone with evidence gathered during the original investigation, linking him directly to the offence.

In April this year, Kissi pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. A separate count of possessing criminal property was subsequently discontinued.

The sentence brings to an end a case that investigators said involved careful planning, the misuse of a former employer’s uniform and the exploitation of established security procedures to gain the confidence of bank staff before making away with a substantial amount of cash.

• The military-led ‌West African countries announced in September their withdrawal from the ICC, denouncing it as “a tool of neocolonial repression”.
• All three are fighting Islamist ​insurgencies that have seized large areas of territory ​and stepped up attacks on military targets this year. ⁠Rights groups have accused militants as well as ​the armed forces of Burkina Faso and Mali of possible ​atrocities.
• The court is the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal, which prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the ​crime of aggression when national courts are unwilling or ​unable to act.
• In a statement published on Wednesday, the presidency of ‌the ICC’s governing body confirmed that Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger had submitted withdrawal letters and initiated the one-year process of withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the treaty that ​established the ICC.
• The ​statement said the ⁠move risked weakening global efforts to end impunity and undermining the pursuit of justice. ​It urged the three countries to remain ​committed to ⁠the statute.
• The statement also said the decision to withdraw does not release a state from obligations incurred while it was ⁠still ​a party to the treaty.

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700 Ghanaians stranded in Pretoria amid renewed xenophobic tensions

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40-year-old Kwabena Kissi walked into a Santander branch in Brixton, south London, on July 5, 2022, wearing a helmet with the visor down, a face mask, and a G4S uniform from a job he had resigned from two years earlier, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

CCTV footage played in court showed staff buzzing him into the secure office, where they handed him bags of cash, believing he was on a routine collection.

Kissi calmly walked out with the money in a briefcase, changed his clothes nearby, transferred the cash into a bin bag, and left the scene in an Uber.

Prosecutor Imogen Nelson told the court that Santander’s vault manager, Otis Williams, had bagged up £256,000 for collection that day across eleven bags.

When one member of staff remarked that Kissi had arrived early, he told them he was on a new route, and no suspicion was raised at that point. Staff only grew concerned when Kissi failed to return for a second pickup and realised something was wrong once the genuine G4S courier turned up for the actual collection.

Kissi returned to Accra a day after the theft and lived here with his ailing mother for close to four years.

His scheme, however, fell apart when he returned to the UK on March 26 this year and made the mistake of booking an Uber using his real name and phone number, the same phone he had used during the 2022 heist.

Police, who had been monitoring for his return, arrested him as he landed at Gatwick Airport. He initially claimed mistaken identity, but officers matched the handset to the one used in the original fraud.

In April, Kissi admitted fraud by false representation. A second charge of possessing criminal property was dropped.

His lawyer, Piers Walter, told the court Kissi had gone to Ghana to care for his mother, who was in financial difficulty at the time and has since died of heart failure.

Judge Rosa Dean said she was sceptical that caring for his mother was the real reason for the trip, telling Kissi the evidence pointed to him fleeing to evade detection. She said he had exploited his “inside knowledge” of the bank’s collection routine and left staff badly shaken, though she noted she was glad none of them faced disciplinary action over the fraud.

Detective Constable Stuart Ponder, who led the Metropolitan Police investigation, said CCTV and phone evidence linked Kissi to the getaway vehicle, and that officers feared he might never return to the UK once he left the day after the heist. He said the case showed the force’s commitment to pursuing high-value thefts regardless of how long it takes.

Myjoyonline learnt on Wednesday from a report by The New Indian Express that the three Nigerians allegedly entered the country on medical and tourist visas before engaging in the illicit drug trade.

According to the report, operatives of the Anti-Narcotic Wing of the Indian Central Crime Branch arrested the suspects after they allegedly obtained the drugs from another Nigerian based in Delhi.

The Nigerian suspects were identified as Ambemo Victor, 37; Chime Moses, 36; and Karikari Ames, 33.

The report stated, “The Anti-Narcotic Wing of CCB has arrested four people, including three Nigerian nationals, in two cases of drug peddling in the city.

“Sleuths of the ANW seized 10.27 kg of MDMA crystals and 2.044 kg of hydroponic ganja worth around Rs 23 crore from the accused.

“Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths raided a house within the Madanayakanahalli police limits and arrested the suspects.

“The sleuths seized 10.27 kg of MDMA crystals valued at Rs 21 crore from their possession.

“The accused had come to India on medical and tourist visas. Preliminary investigations revealed that they procured the drugs from another Nigerian national based in Delhi.”

The latest arrests come barely two months after four other Nigerians were apprehended in India over alleged fraud and impersonation offences.

PUNCH Metro reported in May that three of the suspects, identified simply as Chinedu, Sunday and Jules, were arrested by the Gurugram Police over an alleged social media fraud scheme in which they reportedly impersonated women to defraud victims.

The fourth suspect, 49-year-old Uchenwa, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.

According to the earlier report, police recovered 19 mobile phones, one laptop, and 18 Indian and international SIM cards from Chinedu, Sunday and Jules.

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Xenophobic attacks: South Africa rejects Ghana’s claim over Ghanaian’s killing

Indiscipline hindering Ghana’s development – Ahafo GPCC Chairman

In a statement issued on Thursday, July 2, South Africa’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration, described the account provided by the Ghanaian authorities as “factually incorrect” and inconsistent with police investigations.

The Ghanaian government had earlier indicated that a Ghanaian citizen was fatally wounded on June 30 amid anti-immigrant protests linked to alleged xenophobic attacks in parts of South Africa.

However, the South African government said police investigations show the victim was attacked a day earlier, on June 29, at his workplace in Nyanga, Cape Town, in what is believed to be a criminal act unrelated to the demonstrations.

According to the Western Cape Police, unknown armed men entered a barbershop where the victim was working, demanded money and shot him before fleeing the scene.

Police believe the attack was linked to extortion and said investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest those responsible.

“The Ghanaian national who was fatally wounded was attacked at his place of work on Monday, 29 June 2026, in an incident that the police suspect as a criminal act, which is totally not linked to the alleged demonstrations,” Minister Kubayi stated.

She added that no deaths had been recorded in connection with the anti-immigrant demonstrations, stressing that isolated criminal incidents occurring during the period should not be conflated with the protests.

The Minister expressed concern over what she described as the continued dissemination of inaccurate information by the Ghanaian authorities and urged that such matters be addressed through established diplomatic channels.

“We regret all loss of life on our shores and would like to send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased and assure them that our law enforcement authorities will investigate this matter and bring the perpetrators to book,” she said.

The South African government also rejected suggestions that the killing was an act of xenophobic violence, maintaining that available evidence does not support such a conclusion.

Police investigations into the shooting remain ongoing.

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CDD-Ghana petitions CHRAJ over alleged assault of Nyinahin SHS student

Indiscipline hindering Ghana’s development – Ahafo GPCC Chairman

Emmanuel Sakyi, 31, was twice the legal alcohol limit and on the wrong side of the road when the collision happened in Milton Keynes on 4 December, 2022.

His seven-month-old daughter, Emmanuela, who had been sitting on her mother’s lap on the passenger seat, was seriously injured and died in hospital.

Sakyi, of Garraways, Milton Keynes, was found guilty after a trial of causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced, in his absence, to 15 years in prison on Monday.

The force is now hunting for the fugitive after the sentencing hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court.

It has warned members of the public not to approach him.

Sakyi was driving his grey Peugeot 508 when it struck a green Fiat 500 between the Bond Avenue and Fenny Lock roundabouts.

During his trial, jurors heard how Sakyi drove for a “considerable distance on the wrong side of the road”.

He then failed to respond to the driver of an oncoming Fiat, who flashed her lights and sounded her horn in an attempt to avoid the crash.

Sakyi fled the scene on foot but was later arrested by officers outside his home.

Emmanuela was taken to Milton Keynes University Hospital and was pronounced dead at 03:32 GMT on 5 December.

A post-mortem examination revealed she died from “blunt force abdominal trauma”.

Det Sgt Ed Crofts, from Thames Valley Police’s serious collision investigation unit, appealed for the public’s help in tracing him.

“This is a devastating case where a child’s life has been lost.

“Our inquiries are focused on ensuring Sakyi faces the consequences of his actions,” he said.

“Anyone with information on Sakyi’s whereabouts is asked to call 101 or make a report online, quoting reference 20260622-2396.”

Police described Sakyi as described as black, of medium build and about 5ft 3in tall (1.6m).

They advised anyone who sees him should not approach him, but instead ring 999.

Vitaly Klitschko declared Friday a day of mourning and said around 90 people were injured. He said an ambulance station was among the places hit in the strikes.

Although previous attacks have killed more people, this latest barrage deployed the largest number of weapons on the capital and hit locations over a very wide area of Kyiv.

Several neighbourhoods were evacuated as strikes rocked buildings throughout the city, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was preparing an attack.

Moscow said its forces hit what they called military plants in retaliation against attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Russia would “continue to increase pressure on the Kyiv regime in order to achieve our set goals”.

Ukraine accused Moscow of targeting civilian areas and said it would be wrong to equate the actions of the “aggressor and a country defending itself”.

Children were among the “significant number” of casualties, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s ​military administration, said.

“The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians,” he said early on Thursday.

Among the places hit by the strikes were a high-rise apartment building with part of the building blown off in south-east Kyiv.

In a video posted on Telegram, Klitschko said rescuers were trying to find, among others, a 15-year-old girl and her family.

‘This is not retaliation’

On the city’s left bank, in Darnitskyi district in south-east Kyiv, two missiles hit a residential area directly, causing devastation.

One missile left a giant crater next to a kindergarten and the buildings all around have been gutted by fire, their metal balconies twisted.

The second missile landed a few steps away and hit the end of a 9-storey block of flats. It has collapsed, sliding off the face of the building, into a heap of concrete. One local told the BBC that several people were missing and they may have been sheltering in the basement.

There are smashed cars, shattered windows and a thick layer of grey ash coating everything and everyone.

Rescuers have been trying to dig through the rubble to reach them as relatives watch, in tears.

Svitlana, who lives next to the building that was hit, told the BBC she was hiding in the corridor during the air raid and heard the explosions.

“It wasn’t scary,” she shrugged, “Because I’ve been through it all before.” She then revealed that she had been badly injured in another Russian strike on another town which killed her mother. Two years later, her son was killed in action fighting for Ukraine.

Oleksiy, his face covered in cuts and blood, told the BBC he had stepped outside to smoke after he heard the first missile, then the second one landed and he was hit by flying glass.

“This is not retaliation by Russia for Ukrainian strikes,” he said, dismissing Moscow’s explanation for its latest attack. “They started this war. This is a residential area. And they targeted it.”

The attack on Kyiv lasted more than 11 hours and came in several waves starting with a drone strike on Kyiv’s historic quarter, setting off a fire in a hotel in the city centre.

At 01:00, dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles were fired. A brief lull preceded another dozen of cruise missiles at 03:00, followed by a swarm of drones which targeted the capital until dawn.

Residents of Kyiv who have lived through four-and-a-half years of war say they have perceived a change in the pattern of Russia’s assaults on the capital over the last two months. Attacks may now happen less frequently – albeit still every few days – but last longer, and seem more powerful and widespread.

Ukrainian military experts described the latest barrage as one of the most challenging assaults for the country’s air defences in recent months.

Aviation expert Bohdan Dolintsev told Ukrainian media that Russia’s technique of using multiple types of weapons within the same time window, and wearing down Ukraine’s defences creates an exceptionally complex challenge for Ukraine’s air defence systems.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 74 missiles and 496 drones overnight, mainly targeting the capital.

While the country’s air defences were able to repel most of these, 25 ballistics missiles and 12 drones struck 33 locations.

In the wake of the attacks, Ukraine urged allies to send more air defence systems. Zelensky appealed to Washington to grant Ukraine licences to manufacture Patriot defence missiles.

Russia also hit military bases in central and eastern Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defence.

It claimed to have targeted Ukrainian defence and energy infrastructure in response to what it called “terrorist attacks launched by the Kyiv regime against civilian infrastructure” in Russia.

Kyiv has recently launched long-range attacks on Russian power stations from Moscow to the Black Sea.

The attacks led to a rare confession by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country was facing fuel shortages.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said it would be “immoral” to justify the Russian strikes by saying they were a response to Kyiv’s long-range attacks on Russia. “In this war, there is an aggressor and a country defending itself,” he said.

Russia controls approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, mostly seized in the first few months of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Twana Jamal was given a five-year jail sentence in France in 2016, where authorities described him as one of the most successful people smugglers ever caught.

Prosecutors said the Iraqi Kurd, aged 36 at the time, had earned up to £100,000 a week for moving illegal immigrants across the Channel.

Following a tip-off this year, we traced Jamal to the village of Blaby and witnessed him working, driving a car without a licence and apparently using a false name.

Jamal’s presence in the UK raises serious concerns about whether existing border controls are effective in checking asylum seekers who have committed serious crimes overseas.

Immigration officers have told the BBC that since the UK left the European Union, it has become more difficult to check criminal records from some other countries.

We have found more than 20 active smugglers who have reached the UK – some with overseas convictions, and some claiming asylum using false names.

The man known as ‘Pasha’

Our exposure of Jamal came about as part of a BBC investigation which led to the arrest of a leading people smuggler, Kardo Jaf. That story is told in the BBC Radio 4 podcast, To Catch A King.

We received a tip-off that Jamal, another major figure in the trade, was now living and working in the UK. He was described as driving a BMW and looking “very very rich”.

Like Jaf, Jamal was linked to the so-called Ranya Boys, one of a small number of Kurdish gangs who European law enforcement agencies say have come to dominate cross-channel people smuggling over the past 15 years.

Jamal’s trial in France gave us key details about his background. Prosecutors said that from about 2012 until 2016, he had been operating out of the Grand Synthe camp near Dunkirk, charging his customers £4,500-£5,000 to cross to the UK.

At that time, the mode of travel preferred by cross-channel smugglers was freight lorries rather than small boats.

The court also heard that Jamal’s nickname in the camps had been “Pasha” – a Turkish word meaning someone of high rank.

Jamal claimed in the French court that his had been a case of mistaken identity, but he was found guilty and told he faced deportation back to Iraqi Kurdistan after his release.

Despite having served time in a French jail, however, he entered the UK and, when confronted, told us he had applied for asylum and was “still waiting”.

There are several legal barriers to criminals claiming asylum in the UK. The law says anyone who has spent 12 months or more in prison overseas should face a mandatory refusal.

However, it could be that Jamal’s criminal record was not checked, or that he used a false name.

When he was tried in France, the court heard that, as well as “Pasha”, he used several aliases – so many, prosecutors said, that he would write his assumed name inside his baseball cap to remember who he was supposed to be.

‘This city is ours’

We narrowed the search for Jamal with several sources – one of them arranged a call with Jamal under a false pretext and recorded their conversation.

Jamal said he was now based in Leicester, and boasted: “We know everyone in this city, this city is ours.”

He was making “good money”, he continued, and told our contact there was work to be had “moving cigarettes” from a warehouse.

Jamal also admitted driving a car without a licence, but said he was not worried about being investigated or caught.

“No-one touches us here,” he said. “Even the police won’t stop you.”

From this information, we searched for companies in the Leicester area that might be linked to Jamal, and found two mini-marts in Blaby – a village of about 6,000 people on the outskirts of the city.

The mini-marts, both named Candy Corner, are metres away from each other on opposite sides of the high street (by chance, one of them also stands next door to the constituency office of the local Conservative MP).

Over several days last month, we watched comings and goings at the brightly coloured stores, which sell vapes and sweets until late in the evening.

We had a photo from Jamal’s 2016 court appearance in France, which showed him flanked by police and wearing a weightlifter’s vest.

Before long, we saw someone who looked identical, now dressed very smartly in jeans and what appeared to be a cashmere coat.

To confirm it was Jamal, we made an undercover visit to one of the shops where he was staffing the till, and started a conversation.

He introduced himself as “Sultan”, and we noticed he had a tattoo on the back of one hand, which matched one seen on Jamal’s social media (where he calls himself Sultan Pasha).

If he was claiming asylum he should have been neither working nor driving, but we watched him doing both over several days.

‘I don’t care’

Finally, we confronted Jamal at one of the mini-marts, as he swept the pavement outside.

He told us he had never had any involvement in people smuggling and had not been jailed in France. Jamal claimed to have been in the UK since 2009.

When we produced the picture of him in a French courtroom in 2016, he did not deny it was him. However, when we put it to him that it was proof he had been arrested, he replied: “I don’t care.”

Jamal also denied he was working at the mini-mart where we now stood, even though we had seen him behind the till, as well as moving stock in and out of the store.

He refused to tell us his name, although he said the Home Office and immigration service knew it.

When we asked him why he was driving in a car without a valid licence, Jamal’s response was simply: “So what? Did I hit you?”

Sufficient checks?

Jamal’s case is not isolated. Our investigation has found more than 20 other people smugglers living in the UK. Law enforcement officers in Europe have confirmed 15 of those cases – including some with convictions from courts in France, Germany and Belgium.

We learned about one man convicted in France, who is now living in Manchester selling used cars and thought to be still involved in people smuggling.

Another man, also with a French conviction, is based in Blackpool. He has claimed asylum under a false name and boasts on social media of being given leave to remain.

Since Brexit, the UK no longer has a data-sharing agreement with many countries in the EU, making it more difficult to check criminal and immigration records of asylum seekers, according to Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union.

“If we were able to share databases, even if just with our nearest neighbours, with Germany, with Belgium, with Holland and France, say – then, yes, we’d know that they had a conviction for people smuggling,” she said.

Asylum seekers are fingerprinted on arrival in the UK and checked against UK police databases, but these would not necessarily show a conviction from another country.

The Home Office told us: “All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks.”

This point was also made last November by the Minister for Border Security, Alex Norris, who added that to protect the integrity of the checking processes, details about the checks “are not disclosed publicly”.

The Home Office went on to say that the UK has “a number of agreements with countries which enable the sharing of criminal record information”, and that immigration enforcement action is currently at its highest level in history, with arrests for illegal working up 83%.

The feature – which will let people chat without revealing their phone numbers – is expected to be rolled out to WhatsApp’s three billion global users over the next few months.

In a notice, the government asked WhatsApp to explain why action shouldn’t be taken against it under Indian law “for launching a feature that may increase cybercrimes”.

In a statement, WhatsApp said that the feature is not yet live and that it has built in safeguards, including reserving high-profile usernames and ways to detect impersonation and scams.

With more than 850 million users, India is the biggest market for WhatsApp, owned by Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta.

The move is the latest in a series of steps by Indian authorities to scrutinise how global technology companies design and operate their products in the country.

The notice, sent on Wednesday by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said it had taken note of WhatsApp’s announcement this week allowing users to reserve unique usernames and, once fully introduced, contact other users by exchanging usernames instead of sharing their phone numbers.

The ministry said it believed the feature “may materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks” by allowing criminals to contact potential victims without disclosing their phone numbers.

It also warned that the feature could “facilitate impersonation and identity spoofing”, including of individuals, government authorities, financial institutions and public agencies, by permitting usernames that closely resemble genuine ones.

The notice – a copy of which the BBC has seen – also asked the company “not to roll out this feature until the consultation on this point is achieved to the satisfaction of the government”.

The notice cites provisions of India’s Information Technology Act and the country’s technology rules governing intermediary due diligence, identity theft and impersonation offences.

Cybercrimes and digital fraud are a big concern in India, where millions use digital platforms and payment options every day but often without enough awareness of online safety.

Nearly 102,000 cybercrime cases were registered in 2024, the latest year for which federal data has been published, up by 18% from the previous year. Nearly three-quarters of those cases involved online fraud.

A Meta spokesperson said the company only planned to roll out the feature in phases later this year.

“To protect against impersonation, we have held the highest-profile names – think public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified Meta accounts – so they can only ever be claimed by their legitimate owners and lookalike derivatives of known names are held as well,” said the spokesperson.

The company said users would still need a phone number to create a WhatsApp account and that it had built multiple safeguards into the feature as “layers of defence against scams”.

“Other users need to know the exact username to message you, we will limit how many new people an account can contact, block repeated attempts to guess someone’s username key, and have systems to detect and remove activity showing common impersonation and abuse patterns,” the spokesperson said.

It also said recipients would be shown information about first-time contacts, including whether they were a new account, already in their contacts, shared common groups or were based in another country, to help them decide whether to respond.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights organisation, has criticised the government’s notice, saying it had “no clear basis in law”.

In a statement, the organisation argued that the notice amounted to an attempt by the government to decide what software features a company could launch, even though the laws cited by the ministry did not give it that power.

“The power to require prior permission for a feature is not in the [Information Technology] Act, not in the Rules, and cannot be created by a notice,” it said.

The notice is the latest in a series of changes or announcements by India aimed at increasing oversight of global technology companies.

In February, the government amended its rules to require social media platforms to remove unlawful content within three hours of being notified, replacing the previous 36-hour deadline.

Last month, authorities also temporarily banned Telegram during the retest of a national medical entrance examination.

The government argued that features such as username-based interactions and concealed phone numbers created challenges for law enforcement, a position the platform unsuccessfully challenged in court.

They follow Google’s launch of cloud services for the Johannesburg region in 2025.

Here are ​the details of the new initiatives that Google, ​owned by Alphabet, announced at the first Africa Cloud ⁠Summit in Johannesburg.

• Google will establish a connectivity hub in South ​Africa’s Eastern Cape, the first of four planned connectivity hubs ​on the continent.
• The facility will link Africa to Australia via the Umoja subsea cable and to India through a new route, strengthening internet ​resilience and capacity.
• Africa’s first applied AI lab in Ghana will ​pair local startups with Google researchers and provide early access to its ‌AI ⁠models.
• A more than $1 million programme in partnership with UK actor Idris Elba’s Akuna Group will train underrepresented creators in AI-driven storytelling.
• Google’s Economic and Community Development programme and WeThinkCode have committed ​to build a ​3 million ⁠rand ($183,468) digital innovation centre in Soweto, Johannesburg.
• Google also said its startup accelerator programme will back ​15 South African firms as part of Google’s ​pledge ⁠to back 50 African ventures between 2024 and 2028.
• “The AI opportunity for Africa is significant, and Google is committed to doing ⁠our ​part, working with Africans to help Africa ​realise it,” James Manyika, Google’s senior vice president for research and technology, ​told reporters.

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The 79-year-old told NBC in an interview that aired on Wednesday that he received the diagnosis “not long” after an honorary Oscar designation in 2022. While his movements, speech and memories have since slowed, Glover said he still remains active.

“I can live with it in a sense,” Glover said in the pre-taped interview. “I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different and changing.”

A four-time Emmy winner, Glover is best known for his role in the Lethal Weapon series and The Color Purple film.

In the interview with former NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that aired on The Today Show, Glover and members of his family said they want to help change the stigma around the disease by speaking out about his condition.

“I think it’s really important for him to have control of his own narrative, of his own life story,” Glover’s daughter, Mandisa, said. “That’s really important. And the time is now. What better time but now for him to speak for himself?”

Glover is just one of some 7 million people in the US over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s disease – a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behaviour. Symptoms tend to become more severe and interfere with daily tasks.

Older black Americans such as Glover are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s or another dementia as older white Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association in the US, which notes that research hasn’t yet identified the cause for the discrepancy.

In the NBC interview, Glover reflected on his acting career, which he began in his early 20s and has since racked up more than 170 credits.

He rose to fame in the 1980s with his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh alongside Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon films.

Glover was also known for his roles in films including Places in the Heart (1984) and The Colour Purple (1985).

With a passion for social justice, the actor launched a production company to develop and fund politically relevant films.

“We have challenges in the world,” Glover said in Wednesday’s interview. ” I think art becomes a reframe, a way of looking at that, you know?”

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The four, one from the United States, one from Switzerland, and two from France, are members of the controversial Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), also sometimes known as Lefebvrevites after SSPX’s founder Marcel Lefebvre.

The Society rejects key modernising reforms introduced by the Vatican in the 1960s and 1970s, including permission to hold Mass in languages spoken by the congregation, rather than only in Latin.

Pope Leo made a last-minute appeal to SSPX leaders earlier this week not to proceed with the ordination, describing it as a “schismatic act”, which could “tear the seamless garment of Christ”.

But on Wednesday morning, under cool grey Alpine skies, the society defied the Pope – regarded by millions of Catholics as God’s representative on Earth – and proceeded with the ordination.

At least 15,000 people gathered in Écône to watch hundreds of robed priests – carrying candles and crosses, and dispensing incense – progress through the village into a pasture where a large tent had been set up.

There, the four candidates for bishop prostrated themselves before an altar, their heads buried in red velvet pillows. Ceremonial organ music played, the ordination vows were taken, of course, in Latin.

But for these four men, their time as bishops may be very short.

The last time the Society ordained new bishops, in 1988, they were immediately excommunicated.

Although Pope Benedict XVI repealed the excommunication in 2009 in an unsuccessful attempt to heal the rift, Pope Leo is also expected to exclude the new bishops from the Catholic Church.

To some, the Vatican’s objections to SSPX may seem exaggerated; after all, many Churches have separate branches, some more conservative than others. But ordaining bishops without the Pope’s consent is regarded as a serious violation of the unity of the Church.

The split is not just about SSPX’s desire to conduct Mass only in Latin.

The Society, founded by controversial French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970, has always wanted to preserve a kind of medieval mystique in which priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Mass itself are seen as somehow closer to God, and therefore separate from ordinary people.

SSPX has consistently defied the Vatican over multiple policies designed to make the Church more accessible and egalitarian, including establishing ties with other religions, recognising the right to religious freedom, and participating in debates over big social and political questions.

It even objected to the Vatican’s decision to have priests face the congregation when holding Mass, preferring the medieval practice of facing the altar, with their backs to the congregants.

SSPX’s Superior General, Davide Pagliarani, denied trying to sustain the rift, telling the congregation in Écône the ordination was taking place “precisely because we love the Pope as the vicar of Christ, as the head of the Church… we don’t want to see the Pope humiliated any more, on the side of false shepherds representing false religions”.

The defiance poses a challenge to Pope Leo, who is relatively new in post.

Although the Society is small, with an estimated 600,000 followers compared with the Catholic Church’s more than 1.4 billion members, it is now represented in dozens of countries, including the US, where it has an enthusiastic following in Kansas.

And SSPX clearly has funds. The ordination was live-streamed on YouTube in seven languages.

The thousands who turned up to witness it were offered baseball caps commemorating “Écône2026”. There were even novelty gift packs of Swiss wine, costing $92 (£80), each bottle labelled with a picture of a mitre, the bishop’s crown-like hat.

So although Pope Leo has made it clear he views the new bishops as illegitimate, and their ordination as a clear attack on the Catholic Church, he may not want to do anything further to make his feared schism any worse.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said all contacts of two cases identified in South Africa had now completed their follow-up period, with no additional cases reported.

“Quarantine and follow-up periods have also been completed for everyone in Spain and the Netherlands, including the MV Hondius crew members,” he wrote on X. As of June 25, 30 contacts were still under follow-up, he said.

“The total number of cases remains at 13, including three fatalities.

The situation remains stable, and the outbreak is nearing its end.” WHO “expresses gratitude to all countries involved in the response for their cooperation,” Tedros added. The outbreak of the South American Andes variant of the virus on the small cruise ship sparked global concern.

In total, around 150 passengers, crew members and accompanying experts from 23 countries were on board the Hondius. The WHO believes the chain of infection may have originated with a Dutch couple, who could have contracted the virus ashore in Argentina before boarding the ship.

The ​search is continuing, and ​authorities fear the death toll could rise, ​Coulibaly said.

Neighbouring Ghana has ​also been hit by ‌heavy ⁠rains, with at least 12 people killed after large ​parts ​of ⁠the country and the capital, ​Accra, were ​flooded.

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In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, July 1, the government said it received the reports with “profound shock and sadness” that the 40-year-old Ghanaian was fatally shot in Khayelitsha on Monday, June 30, during demonstrations linked to ongoing xenophobic attacks.

“The Government of Ghana condemns, in the strongest terms, this senseless act of violence and the rising tide of xenophobia targeting African nationals, including Ghanaians, in South Africa. The taking of any life is unacceptable, and those responsible must be brought to justice without delay,” the statement said.

According to the ministry, the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria, acting on its instructions, has formally lodged Ghana’s protest with South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation and filed a complaint with the South African Police Service after confirming the identity of the deceased and informing his family.

The ministry disclosed that an autopsy has since been conducted on the body at the request of the Government of Ghana.

It said Ghana is demanding a full, transparent and expedited investigation into the incident, leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.

The government also urged the South African authorities to strengthen security for Ghanaian nationals living in affected communities.

“The Ministry, through its High Commission in Pretoria, has formally registered Ghana’s protest with the South African authorities and has reiterated our expectation that South Africa, in line with its international obligations, will guarantee the safety, dignity and rights of all foreign nationals on its territory, including Ghanaians,” the statement added.

The ministry further recalled that Ghana has already submitted a petition to the African Union Commission over xenophobic attacks against African nationals in South Africa and expects the matter to be treated with urgency at the Commission’s next statutory meeting.

Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to repatriate Mr. Bashiru Isak’s body to Ghana for burial.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended its condolences to the bereaved family and advised Ghanaians residing in South Africa who did not participate in the government’s repatriation exercise to remain vigilant, avoid high-risk areas and contact the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria through its emergency lines whenever they are in danger.

It reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to pursuing all diplomatic, consular and multilateral avenues to protect the lives and welfare of its citizens abroad and to prevent similar attacks in the future.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa told the BBC that the issue would be discussed between the two governments “at the highest levels”.

Acting High Commissioner to South Africa Alexander Ajayi said on local television on Tuesday that the government had begun documenting businesses and properties left behind by Nigerians.

One Nigerian trader waiting to be repatriated told the BBC he had lived in South Africa for nearly a decade and had abandoned his business and home because he feared for his safety.

Oghodero Erejor Wilson, 32, said he was losing “everything because of fear”.

“I left everything in my house including clothes.”

He is among hundreds of Nigerians still waiting to be evacuated from South Africa. More than 600 Nigerians have already been repatriated in recent weeks.

The South African authorities say those who have been flown home were in the country illegally – though this is disputed by Nigeria.

About 25,000 nationals of other African countries have left South Africa following a wave of protests in recent weeks by groups demanding that the government does more to curb illegal migration.

Some anti-migrant groups had given undocumented foreigners a deadline of 30 June to leave the country and organised marches attended by thousands of people on Tuesday. These were largely peaceful but there were isolated incidents of violence against foreigners.

The South African police say that about 900 people were arrested, mostly for immigration-related offences and looting.

The BBC has asked South Africa’s government for comment on Nigeria’s compensation demand.

Nigeria’s acting high commissioner said he had asked all of those who had left South Africa “to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties”.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Ebienfa told the BBC that all claims would be verified before any formal request was made.

“We have not severed ties with South Africa, we are still engaging them at the highest level, we will sort those details using our usual diplomatic channels,” he said.

Wilson, the trader, said he had run a clothing business in the South African city of Centurion in Gauteng province for several years.

But he said he had now closed his shop and fled to stay near the Nigeria High Commission in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.

Scheduled to leave on the next repatriation flight to Nigeria on Friday, he estimates the goods left in his shop are worth more than 16,000 rand ($975; £735).

Wilson said his residency documents had expired in 2021 and he had been unable to renew them.

He said he was not very hopeful about the prospect of getting compensation.

“If South Africa government can compensate it, it will be nice, but I know they won’t,” he said.

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The victim, who is said to have lived and worked in South Africa for about 20 years, was reportedly inside his shop when he was shot on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, as demonstrations linked to a nationwide anti-immigration campaign turned violent in parts of the country.

He is survived by three children, with the eldest reportedly 10 years old.

The Ghana High Commission says arrangements are currently underway to repatriate the body to Ghana to enable burial and other necessary family rites.

The incident forms part of a wider wave of unrest tied to growing anti-immigration sentiments and protests in South Africa, which have in some instances escalated into violence against foreign nationals and their businesses.

Authorities in South Africa have not yet released full details on the circumstances surrounding the shooting or confirmed any arrests in connection with the incident.

The Ghanaian mission has assured that it is engaging relevant authorities to ensure full investigations into the killing and to support the bereaved family during the repatriation process.

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The child, named as Klieber Morán, was pulled from wreckage in La Guaira state, interim President Delcy Rodríguez said. Rodríguez described the child’s rescue as a “source of hope for our people”.

It comes as UN warned that tens of thousands of people were urgently in need of food and shelter.

The death toll from last week’s quakes – with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 – has risen to 1,943 with more than 10,000 people injured and tens of thousands more unaccounted for.

The massive tremors probably damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings, according to an initial assessment of satellite data from Nasa.

The Jordanian civil defence said Klieber had been given first aid treatment, taken to a hospital and his vital signs were good. He was being treated in the capital Caracas, Venezuelan Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said.

The rescue comes well after the initial three-day period immediately after the quake during which experts say people trapped under debris have the best chance of being found alive.

La Guaira is one of the hardest hit areas, with many local people trying to carry out rescue efforts themselves.

The UN’s refugee agency said on Tuesday that food shortages were widespread, basic services had broken down and communications had been largely severed in La Guaira.

“Community tensions are rising as access to assistance remains constrained,” the UNHCR said in a statement on its website.

Daniela Armas, an 18-year-old vendor in La Guaira who was injured falling from a motorbike when the quakes struck, told AFP that some supplies were being distributed “but sometimes people nearly kill each other for food… it’s like a cockfight.”

The UNHCR said that it needed an initial $15m to “scale up protection, core relief items, and temporary shelter support for 30,000 earthquake-affected people over six months”.

Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) said health services were under “extreme pressure.”

“There’s an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases” such as measles and diphtheria due to low vaccination coverage, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.

Jorge Rodríguez said Klieber’s rescue showed there was still hope of continuing to find people alive and that domestic and international teams were still searching through rubble. Shelters were already open in La Guaira and other states, he added.

International rescue teams from the US, Mexico and dozens of other countries searched for survivors with trained dogs and heavy equipment.

Some international aid is arriving in the country. A UN spokesperson said a 47-tonne shipment of humanitarian supplies arrived on Tuesday including emergency health kits for urgent medical care, supplies for safe births, newborn care and disease prevention.

Meanwhile Venezuelans have begun burying the dead who have been found so far. Many more are waiting for the remains of loved ones who are presumed dead.

At the makeshift morgue at La Guaira’s port, Wilker Molalla told AFP he was waiting to identify the remains of his sister, her children and the children of his brother.

“There were 11 people in my household,” he said. “Only two of us survived because we were at work.”

Joseph Kwadwo Badu Boateng, who also goes by the name “Dada Joe Remix,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last week, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

Boateng was arrested in Ghana on an extradition warrant on May 27, 2025, and extradited to the United States the following month. He has remained in custody since his arrest.

According to his plea agreement, Boateng and his co-conspirators ran the fraud scheme from 2013 through March 2023, targeting elderly victims in Arizona and other parts of the United States.

Prosecutors say the co-conspirators posed as romantic partners with victims through online dating platforms, text messages and other electronic communications.

They also falsely claimed to have received an “inheritance” of gold and jewels, telling victims that taxes and other fees needed to be paid before the items could be released to them.

Boateng’s sentencing has been scheduled for September 8, 2026, before United States District Judge Angela M. Martinez.

The case involved cooperation between American and Ghanaian authorities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office credited the FBI Legal Attaché in Accra, Ghana’s Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), and the Ghana Police Service’s INTERPOL unit for their support in securing the extradition, alongside the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.

The FBI’s Phoenix Division, through its Sierra Vista office, investigated the case, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona in Tucson is prosecuting it.

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Elegbeje Ado, who is also a pastor, died on Monday, June 29, 2026, after a brief illness.

He was 66.

The founder of Best of Nollywood Awards, Seun Oloketuyi, confirmed his passing in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

Oloketuyi wrote, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Pastor Taiwo Adeshina, a beloved Nollywood legend.

“Your remarkable contributions to the Yoruba movie industry and the lives you touched will never be forgotten. May God grant you eternal rest and comfort your family, friends, and fans. Rest in peace, legend.”

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Thousands of African foreign nationals had already fled South Africa ahead of Tuesday’s “deadline”, and shops closed while foreign workers stayed home in anticipation of further trouble after months of unrest that had brought international condemnation.

At least four people have been killed, and thousands of foreigners have been driven from their homes and seen their businesses and property vandalised.

The leader of the anti-migrant movement said they would hold weekly marches until their objectives are met.

“For ​the next six months, we are asking for our national resources to be used to take the illegal immigrants out of this country. From building to building — they ​must go,” Jacinta Ngobese, leader of the March and March group, said in the port city of Durban.

Among those chanting anti-migrant slogans at ⁠a demonstration in the city was Silindile Xaba, 31.

“People are not working, the jobs are being taken by illegal foreigners. It’s not fair,” she said.

Politicians have been accused of joining ​in the xenophobia to win votes at local elections due by November.

VIOLENCE AGAINST MIGRANTS

Migrants have interpreted the deadline as a physical threat, and there were scattered signs of violence, although many marches ​were peaceful. Police said they had arrested some looters, giving no further details.

In Thembisa, a northern suburb of the main commercial hub of Johannesburg, rioters threw stones at police and suspected migrants, while sporadic gunfire could be heard near the central business district.

National paper the Daily Maverick reported police deploying tactical vehicles and firing shots in Benoni, eastern Johannesburg, after being threatened by 500 protesters.

A police spokesperson did not immediately respond ​to a request for comment. In the township of Soweto, protesters looted shacks of foreign nationals, national broadcaster SABC reported, adding that police had fired rubber bullets to disperse marches in ​Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.

In anti-migrant attacks, which have recurred sporadically in South Africa since 2008, little distinction is made between those who entered legally and those who did not.

March and March says it cannot be ‌held responsible ⁠for spontaneous acts of anger by South Africans.

“Unfortunately, we can’t be in every single community telling them … how to behave,” Ngobese told Reuters in an interview two weeks ago.

Landlords in Durban and Johannesburg had been illegally evicting foreign tenants ahead of the march for fear of their buildings being vandalised, witnesses said, and about 100 Congolese were sleeping on Durban’s streets, according to a Reuters reporter, and their leader said they had been chased out.

The marches drew many thousands of mostly poor or unemployed South Africans who blame foreign nationals for their hardships.

Thousands of police were deployed, and ​the military was on standby, a military spokesperson ​said.

The wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and what ⁠critics say is a failure by police to protect victims, have tarnished South Africa’s post-Nelson Mandela reputation as a defender of human rights and strained ties with other African nations.

Immigrants are blamed for taking jobs, driving crime and putting pressure on public services — claims that social ​scientists say lack evidence.

Three decades since apartheid ended, South Africa remains unequal and a third of people are out of work. Despite ​this, it remains Africa’s largest ⁠economy and continues to draw migrants.

The immigrant population stands at about 3 million or about 4% of the total, according to StatsSA — a relatively low share by global standards.

VIGILANTES ARRESTED, POLITICAL RHETORIC HARDENS

Deputy National Commissioner for Policing Tebello Mosikili said 103 criminal cases had been opened against anti-foreigner vigilantes since March.

Some politicians have echoed protesters’ concerns even as they condemn the violence.

“South Africans’ … deep concerns about illegal ⁠immigration … are real ​, and they deserve to be heard,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement on Monday.

“But the right to ​protest … does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence.”

South African officials note that Western countries face similar tensions over immigration, often fuelled by divisive politics and misinformation.

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The outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no tested ​vaccine or treatment, has infected 1,307 people and ​killed 377 in the Democratic Republic of Congo ⁠since being declared on May 15, the government says.

A ​much smaller number of cases have been reported in ​Uganda, and experts warn of the possibility of it spreading to other neighbours, such as South Sudan.

“If we have the resources ​and we step up, we can contain this outbreak ​and prevent further losses,” said Damien Mama, United Nations Development Programme resident representative ‌in Congo.

“If we do not, this health emergency risks becoming a much deeper and prolonged development crisis across the region and potentially the continent.”

The UNDP outlined three ​scenarios for the ​outbreak. In the best-case scenario, where the epidemic remains contained in the two countries, the cost to Congo’s GDP is $ 1 billion, the report said.

In ⁠the worst-case scenario, the disease spreads to countries including Rwanda and Angola and coincides with higher fuel costs linked ⁠to ​the Iran crisis, cutting continental GDP ​by $3.6 billion and resulting in 328,000 job losses, the report said.

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In a 927-page disclosure, he reported $635m in royalties from a Trump meme coin that has since plunged in value, having launched it days before taking office.

He also reported over $500m in income from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm founded by his own sons and the children of his special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

He earned millions more from real estate and Trump-themed items. But the White House denied he was profiting from the presidency.

The earnings from his latest financial disclosure far outpace those from his previous 2024 disclosure, when Trump reported over $600m in income.

But the White House, which has repeatedly emphasised that Trump has placed his businesses in a trust managed by his sons, again denied any conflict of interest.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the president had proudly made the US “the crypto capital of the world”.

“Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged – or will ever engage – in conflicts of interest,” she said in a statement.

She added: “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade.”

The president himself has also noted that he is not subject to federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Trump once criticised cryptocurrency, famously calling Bitcoin a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen”.

But Tuesday’s disclosure shows his crypto earnings far overshadow income from his real estate business, which first catapulted him to fame.

He earned around $77m from his Mar-a-Lago club and $122m from his golf club in Doral, Florida.

He also earned more than $30m each from golf clubs in Bedminster, New Jersey; Jupiter, Florida; and Turnberry, Scotland.

Trump also earned millions from other business ventures, according to the financial disclosure.

These included $4.7m in royalties from Trump-branded watches, as well as Trump-branded Bibles, trainers, fragrances, and guitars.

First Lady Melania Trump also listed her 2025 income in the disclosure. She made $10.7m from a “license agreement” related to the documentary about her that was released last year.

Another $6m in income is listed for her from the sale of NFTs, which are digital images sold online.

The president listed some $86.5m in income from settlements in various legal actions.

These included $16m from a lawsuit against ABC, $16m from CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive, $24.5m from Meta, $22m from YouTube and $8m from X.

But the White House has said most of that money went toward Trump’s future presidential library or a nonprofit dedicated to the upkeep of park sites in the Washington, DC, area.

According to Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s richest people, Trump has an estimated fortune of $6bn – up from $2.3bn in 2024. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index puts the president’s net worth at $7.6bn.

After his return to the White House, Trump adopted a friendly approach to the crypto industry, even as companies linked to his family issued digital tokens.

The Trump-appointed head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial regulator, is also seen as an ally of the crypto industry.

Since taking office in April 2025, Paul Atkins has shifted the agency away from the strict, regulation-by-enforcement approach of his predecessor.

Last July, the president signed the GENIUS Act into law to make America the undisputed leader in digital assets.

At more than 900 pages, Trump’s annual filing dwarfs those of his predecessors. For example, Joe Biden’s financial report for his last full year in office was 11 pages long.

Speaking on Citi FM, Mr. Quashie said the Ghana High Commission had been monitoring the situation since the early hours of the day and worked with South African authorities to secure the release of all Ghanaians who were temporarily detained.

“We’ve been monitoring the situation since 6 a.m. this morning. A couple of Ghanaians were arrested and all of them, I can confidently tell you, have been released through the intervention of our consular officers,” he said.

According to the High Commissioner, some Ghanaians were stopped during routine immigration checks and asked to produce identification documents. Once they identified themselves as Ghanaian nationals, South African authorities contacted the High Commission to verify their nationality before releasing them.

Mr. Quashie explained that the mission has an existing arrangement with South African law enforcement agencies requiring officials to consult the High Commission whenever a Ghanaian national is detained.

“The agreement is that if any Ghanaian is arrested, the authorities should first confirm with us. We verify whether the individual is indeed Ghanaian and advise accordingly,” he stated.

His comments come amid anti-immigration demonstrations in several South African cities, including Pretoria, where protesters marched through the city demanding stricter enforcement of immigration laws.

The protests have heightened anxiety among migrant communities, with many foreign nationals opting to remain indoors or temporarily relocate over fears for their safety.

Despite the tensions, Mr. Quashie said the High Commission has not received reports of widespread attacks targeting Ghanaians.

He disclosed that only one Ghanaian was involved in an incident after disregarding the mission’s advice to remain indoors during the demonstrations.

“The only case we recorded involved a Ghanaian who admitted that he left his accommodation to visit his shop despite our advice. Unfortunately, protesters confronted him,” he said.

Apart from that isolated incident, the High Commissioner said no Ghanaian had been injured and no Ghanaian-owned property had been destroyed during the protests.

He urged Ghanaians living in South Africa to remain vigilant, avoid unnecessary movement and adhere to safety directives issued by the High Commission and local authorities while the security situation continues to be monitored.

Mr. Quashie also revealed that the High Commission is preparing to undertake another voluntary repatriation exercise next week for Ghanaians who wish to return home in light of the growing anti-immigration tensions.

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Military Response and Rescue Operations

Security forces mobilised rapidly following the initial assault. Troops from Operation HADIN KAI engaged the attackers in a firefight near the DAGGU area. Military officials confirmed that ten victims, including students and teachers, were successfully rescued and remain unharmed. During the intense exchange, one soldier and a member of a local paramilitary support force were killed. Military spokesperson Captain Mohammed Goni stated that troops successfully outmaneuvered the fleeing terrorists, inflicting casualties and capturing seven motorcycles used by the assailants. Ongoing efforts are underway to locate any remaining missing individuals and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Challenges in Assessing Casualties

The exact number of students abducted remains uncertain as officials continue their efforts to account for all those present during the attack. Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso indicated that the situation remains fluid. “For now, we don’t have the number of how many students were abducted. We have about 10 victims who have been rescued,” Daso said. While the military reported the successful recovery of ten individuals, Amnesty International Nigeria provided a different account, claiming that two teachers and one student were killed during the raid. Security agencies are currently scouring nearby forests to track the attackers and ensure the safety of any remaining victims.

Persistent Insurgency in Northeast Nigeria

This incident highlights the ongoing security volatility within northeast Nigeria, a region that has served as the epicenter of a militant insurgency for over 15 years. Major groups, including Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province, frequently operate in this territory. The United Nations reports that the broader regional conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions. Recent military activity has been intense, including a successful operation earlier this month that rescued 300 people from the town of Ngoshe. Additionally, joint operations with international partners recently led to the reported deaths of 175 ISWAP fighters in May.

Calls for Educational Security

The attack has drawn sharp condemnation from human rights organizations regarding the safety of academic environments. Amnesty International Nigeria issued a formal statement following the event, emphasizing the vulnerability of the region’s youth. “Schools should be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life,” the group stated. They further urged the Nigerian government to prioritize the safety of the educational sector. “The protection of children’s lives is paramount, and the Nigerian government has a duty to ensure that the country’s educational sector is not further threatened by armed groups on rampage across northern Nigeria.” Security measures have since been reinforced across the Lassa area to prevent further incursions as officials work to stabilize the community.

The Wider Context of Security Threats

The recurring nature of these abductions underscores the severe security challenges facing Nigeria’s northern regions. Beyond the immediate impact on the victims and their families, these attacks disrupt the fundamental right to education and instill widespread fear in vulnerable communities. As federal and state authorities continue to coordinate responses, the persistent threat posed by militant factions serves as a stark reminder of the complexities involved in restoring long-term stability and ensuring that classrooms remain sanctuaries for learning rather than targets for conflict.

Regional Implications for West Africa

The crisis in Borno is part of a broader trend affecting West and Central Africa, where thousands of schools have closed due to violence. Beyond Nigeria, countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger face similar threats that dismantle local educational infrastructure and endanger millions of students. Regional bodies, including the Lake Chad Basin Commission and the Multinational Joint Task Force, are increasingly emphasizing that military solutions alone are insufficient. There is a growing consensus among regional policymakers that sustainable peace requires integrated strategies combining security operations with community-led development and psychosocial support for displaced children. This holistic approach remains critical to preventing a lost generation across the Sahelian belt.

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U.S. Embassy in Ghana announces online auction of vehicles, government property

More rains expected this evening as GMet warns of thunderstorms across Southern Ghana

In a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, the Embassy said bidding will open at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, July 6, and close at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8.

According to the Embassy, all bids must be submitted through the official U.S. Department of State online auction platform, where prospective bidders can also access bidding instructions and view the list of available items.

Ahead of the auction, the Embassy will organise a physical inspection of the vehicles on July 1 and July 2, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The viewing will take place at the Embassy entrance near the W. E. B. Du Bois Center in Accra, allowing interested buyers to inspect the vehicles before placing their bids.

The Embassy encouraged prospective bidders to review all auction guidelines and available lots on the official auction website before participating in the online sale.

The auction forms part of the Embassy’s disposal of excess U.S. government property in Ghana.

The U.S. Embassy will conduct an online auction of excess U.S. government property and vehicles. Bidding will open at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, July 6, and will close at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. All bids must be submitted through the official auction website at… pic.twitter.com/dfAsr4KWjg

— U.S. Embassy Accra (@USEmbassyGhana) June 30, 2026

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US Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female school and college sports

Supreme Court rejects Trump’s attempt to limit U.S. birthright citizenship

The court, divided 6-3, ruled that the executive order Trump issued Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, was unlawful. Five justices said the order fell foul of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which has long been interpreted to bestow birthright citizenship on almost anyone born in the United States.

One justice, conservative Brett Kavanaugh, said the order violated federal law but not the Constitution.

It is the third significant Supreme Court loss for Trump in recent months, following the February ruling that invalidated his sweeping tariffs and Monday’s decision that barred him from immediately firing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices Trump himself appointed, and has ruled in the president’s favor in other important cases.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote there was “scant evidence” in favor of the Trump administration’s radical reimagining of the way the law has been understood for decades.

“Citizenship then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” he wrote.

The 14th Amendment was enacted after the Civil War to ensure that everyone, including former slaves, would have those rights, he added. “We keep that promise today,” Roberts said.

Three conservatives would have ruled in Trump’s favor, saying that the 14th Amendment would allow his executive order: Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.

The 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Under Trump’s proposal, birthright citizenship would have been limited to those with at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Babies born to temporary visitors or people who entered the country illegally would not be citizens at birth.

In dissent, Thomas wrote that the 14th Amendment was primarily aimed at formerly enslaved Black people.

“Blacks were entitled to citizenship because they were Americans. They had no other homeland, owed no allegiance to any foreign power, and were subject to no other authority,” he wrote. “The same could not be said for the children of foreign temporary visitors.”

In a separate dissent, Alito said the ruling “preserves a powerful incentive to enter or remain in this country illegally,” adding that it saddles the United States with a “medieval rule” defining citizenship that even the United Kingdom, from whence it emerged, has since abandoned.

The executive order has never been in effect; it was quickly blocked by lower courts after Trump signed it.

“The court’s decision reaffirms a fundamental American promise — if you are born here, you are a citizen. A president cannot change the Constitution by executive fiat,” Cecillia Wang, National Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union, who represents plaintiffs who challenged the executive order, said in a statement.

For more than a century, the 14th Amendment has been assumed to apply to everyone born in the U.S. with a few specific exceptions, such as the children of diplomats.

A federal immigration law enacted decades later uses similar language, including “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The Supreme Court, in an 1898 ruling called United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled then that a man born in San Francisco to parents who were both from China was a U.S. citizen.

In Tuesday’s ruling, Roberts said the arguments embraced by Trump and the dissenting justices echo those made by the losing side more than a century ago.

“But this view commanded only a dissent in 1898, and neither time nor circumstance has changed the fact it is not the law,” he wrote.

Trump’s executive order was challenged in multiple courts by liberal states and civil rights groups representing individuals who would be affected by it. Every court to address the issue ruled against the Trump administration.

In December, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case arising from New Hampshire in which the ACLU represented individual plaintiffs, including babies who would have been subjected to the executive order.

READ ALSO:

US Supreme Court upholds bans on transgender women in female school and college sports

Thousands of anti-migrant protesters march in South Africa amid heavy police presence

The complaint, filed Monday at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in Abuja, was brought on behalf of 27 of at least 60 deportees sent to Ghana since September under Washington’s “third-country” removal policy, which targets people US judges have ruled cannot be sent directly to their home countries.

The complaint said the deportees told authorities ‌they had been granted protections in the US, but most of them were removed within hours or days of their arrival in Ghana to the countries they had escaped. Some were stranded in third countries with no means to continue their journeys.

In cases where Washington is barred from sending people to their home countries – after US judges found they would likely face torture or persecution, for example – it has sent deportees to “third countries”.

“No person should be returned to a place where they face persecution, torture or serious threats to their dignity and safety,” said Oliver Barker-Vormawor, senior partner at Ghanaian law firm Merton & Everett LLP.

The firm filed the lawsuit alongside Cornell Law School’s Transnational Disputes Clinic and the Global Strategic Litigation Council, a coalition of NGOs.

The court is the top judicial body for ECOWAS, a regional bloc of 12 countries.

Deportees ‘hiding in their home countries’ or in ‘limbo’

The complaint alleges Ghana is violating domestic and regional law by “facilitating removals to unsafe countries”, a statement from the advocacy groups said.

Beyond confirming that the agreement with the US relates to West Africans, Ghana has not shared details of the terms.

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Shortly after the agreement took effect, the US reversed visa curbs it had imposed on Ghana.

The advocacy groups said the lawsuit aimed ‌to ‌force Ghana to disclose the terms of the deal with the Trump administration and block Ghana from accepting any future deportees under the arrangement.

A similar lawsuit was filed earlier in June at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to halt US deportations to Equatorial Guinea, which has also served as a way station for African deportees.

That lawsuit was brought on behalf of 14 deportees. They included several still being held in Equatorial Guinea under conditions “amounting to arbitrary and indefinite detention”, according to the indictment.

In the complaint against Ghana, none of the 27 deportees remained in Ghana, the advocacy groups said.

“Many now remain in hiding in their home countries or have fled to third countries where they wait in limbo.”

Beatrice Njeri, a litigator ⁠for the Global Strategic Litigation Council representing the deportees, told the ⁠Reuters news agency they aimed to discourage other ECOWAS members from entering into similar deals with the Trump administration.

Njeri said the group was also seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for each deportee from Ghana, along ⁠with other reparations.

The court considered cases from students in two different states who had challenged bans on participation. The two states, Idaho and West Virginia, enacted laws that required public school and college sports teams to compete in accordance with their sex recorded at birth.

One of the two challenges says the ban violates equal rights protections in the US Constitution. The other says it contradicts civil rights laws.

More than two dozen states have enacted bans since Idaho did so in 2020.

Under those bans, a transgender woman – a biological male who identifies as a woman – is not permitted to compete in female sports at schools and colleges.

Lindsay Hecox, a long-distance runner, lodged a legal challenge against the Idaho law shortly after it was enacted. She was later granted an injunction by both a district court and an appeals court.

State lawmaker Barbara Ehardt, who introduced the law, said at the time of its passing that it would ensure “boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it’s not fair”.

But in the appeals ruling, a panel of three judges found that the Idaho law violated constitutional rights. They said the state had failed to provide evidence that its ban protects “sex equality and opportunity for women athletes”.

President Donald Trump made the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports a regular focus of his 2024 election campaign. Last year, he signed an executive order that aimed to ban transgender women from competing on female sports teams.

Following that decision, the NCAA, the governing body for US college sports, banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

Police officers – backed by private security guards – have been deployed because of fears that protests could turn violent. Anti-migrant groups had set Tuesday as the deadline for undocumented migrants to leave.

Many foreigners have already fled to escape violence and intimidation. South African police say 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Most are from other African countries.

One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was “happy to be going back” but “heartbroken” to be leaving behind four young children.

The Ministry of Police said the protests were largely peaceful across the country, with isolated incidents of looting and attempted looting.

Johannesburg, where one of the protests is taking place, is unusually quiet. Shops in the city centre are closed, while police visibility is high on major streets.

Some protesters threw bricks, breaking the windows of some homes in Yeoville, a suburb in Johannesburg where many African migrants live.

Police said they had arrested five people for the alleged looting of a foreign-owned shop in Johannesburg’s biggest township, Soweto.

About 10 people were also arrested for looting in KwaZulu-Natal province, while a woman was arrested for assaulting a police officer and a man for “intimidation” following reports of a foreign national being beaten up, police said.

Many businesses in central Durban, the main city in the province, are also shut. A police helicopter has been circling the city.

President Cyril Ramaphosa met some of the protest leaders on the eve of the marches in a bid to defuse tensions.

He has repeatedly warned demonstrators to act peacefully, while also accepting the need for immigration reforms.

‘They came with machetes’ – deadline looms for migrants to leave South Africa

“Some foreign nationals who live in South Africa are here lawfully,” he reminded citizens in his weekly newsletter.

“They work, study, raise families, invest in our economy and contribute positively to our society. They too are entitled to the protection of our laws and our Constitution.

“The right to protest and freedom of expression does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence,” he wrote.

There are more than three million documented foreign nationals in South Africa, according to official figures.

The statistics do not record the many more migrants believed to be in the country without papers – a bone of contention for the protesters.

Police said that about 50,000 migrants had been arrested since January for being in the country illegally.

A Soweto resident told the BBC that protesters merely wanted foreigners “to comply” with the laws of South Africa.

She said that with the heavy police presence, she did not believe the march in Johannesburg would turn violent.

Another protester, who is part of anti-migrant group Operation Dudula, said they would “push the police to do their” job if undocumented migrants did not leave South Africa.

Many African migrants moved to South Africa around the time white-minority rule ended in 1994, hoping for a better life.

But with South Africa facing an unemployment rate of more than 30%, anti-migrant sentiments have risen.

Nigeria flew out 269 of its citizens on the eve of the protests, bringing to around 600 the number evacuated so far to the West African nation. More evacuations are expected to take place in the coming days.

Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have also been repatriating their citizens by plane or bus.

Ahead of the deadline, thousands of migrants have been awaiting processing in temporary camps for several weeks out of fear for their safety.

In Durban, which has seen some of the biggest protests, white tents housing mostly Malawians are being dismantled as authorities race to clear the transit camp.

About 7,000 Malawians have already been repatriated, Malawian media report.

Women in colourful sarongs sat on top of their belongings, waiting in line to board a bus home to Malawi.

One man, Nelson Mbewe, said he had gone to South Africa in search of employment to support his family in Malawi.

“But we’ve faced challenges – they’re saying we should go back home because we do not have the right documents,” he told the BBC.

“They say we are ‘makwerekwere'” – a xenophobic slur used to refer to African migrants from other countries – Mbewe said.

“It’s their country, so what can we do? That’s why we have accepted that we just have to [unwillingly] go back home.”

Hassan Phiri, a Malawian who is still waiting to be processed, had a message for the protesters: “All I want to say to South Africans is that we are all one. No matter what is happening, no matter what will happen, Africa must remain Africa.

“Africa can’t be Africa without South Africa… without Malawi, without anywhere,” he told the BBC, adding: “So whatever will happen, we must love each other and stick together as Africa.”

Anti-migrant marches have been authorised in Durban, Johannesburg and other cities.

The authorities have warned organisers to ensure there is no violence but say they are prepared for any potential disruption.

Police say traditional weapons are not allowed. This could lead to tension between protesters and the police because many of the protesters are ethnic Zulus, and take their shields, whips and sticks when they go on marches.

However, police have so far allowed them to carry the weapons, seizing only a machete at a march in Durban.

Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa, and has sometimes led to violence.

According to the African Centre for Migration and Society’s (ACMS) xenophobic violence tracker Xenowatch, two people have been killed this year.

In 2008, more than 60 people died during a wave of rioting against non-South Africans.

A further 49 were injured and women and children were among the victims, according to Unama.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government said civilian homes were hit and described the attack as a “cowardly act” and an “atrocity”.

Pakistan said it had carried out a ground operation along the border and air strikes targeting militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. The two countries agreed to a ceasefire last October following weeks of deadly clashes – an agreement that has since fallen apart.

Casualties were concentrated in Mandokhail, a village in the Paktia province, according to Taliban officials.

Adam Khan, 63, told AFP news agency he “cannot put into words the condition of the children I saw at the hospital, or the screams of their parents and siblings”.

Those killed in one of the strikes included “children, elderly people and women” sleeping in a house, he said.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government put the civilian death toll at 36 and said more than 160 had been injured.

Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said 29 militants had been killed in an operation responding to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people”.

The BBC has not independently confirmed figures from either side.

The attacks come a day after three members of the Sindh Rangers, a Pakistani paramilitary force, were killed at their headquarters in Karachi, according to Pakistan’s military. Three militants also died in the suicide attack, and Pakistani officials said they had arrested a fourth, who was an Afghan.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack.

Both the TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar are banned in Pakistan, and by the UN, because of their involvement in past attacks.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbouring terror groups that carry out cross-border attacks, a claim the Taliban government rejects.

Kabul, in turn, has accused Islamabad of carrying out unprovoked attacks which kill civilians. Pakistan says it only targets militants.

Intermittent border clashes and air strikes in the border area have killed dozens of people in recent months, according to officials in both countries.

In February, clashes between the two countries left dozens of people dead. In March, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed hundreds.

Earlier in June, Pakistan launched deadly air strikes that killed 26 militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government said 13 people, mostly children, were also killed in the strikes.

The planned protests mark an unofficial deadline set by campaigners for all undocumented foreigners to leave the country.

Many have already fled to escape violence and intimidation. South African police say 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Most are from other African countries.

One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was “happy to be going back” but “heartbroken” to be leaving behind four young children.

Johannesburg, where one of the protests is planned, is unusually quiet.

All the shops in the vicinity of where marchers are due to gather are closed, while police visibility is high on the city’s major streets.

Police said that five people were arrested in Johannesburg’s biggest township, Soweto, for allegedly looting a foreign-owned shop.

Five people were also arrested for allegedly breaking into a tuck shop in Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Many businesses in central Durban, the main city in the province, are shut.

Ramaphosa has repeatedly warned demonstrators to act peacefully and responsibly, while also accepting the need for immigration reforms.

“Some foreign nationals who live in South Africa are here lawfully,” he reminded citizens in his weekly newsletter.

“They work, study, raise families, invest in our economy and contribute positively to our society. They too are entitled to the protection of our laws and our Constitution.

“The right to protest and freedom of expression does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence,” he wrote.

There are more than three million documented foreign nationals in South Africa, according to official figures.

The statistics do not record the many more migrants believed to be in the country without papers – a bone of contention for the protesters.

A Soweto resident told the BBC that protesters merely wanted foreigners “to comply” with the laws of South Africa.

She said she had no fears of the march in Johannesburg turning violent because the heavy police presence.

Another protester, who is part of anti-migrant group Operation Dudula, said they would “push the police to do their” job if undocumented migrants did not leave South Africa.

Ahead of the deadline, thousands of migrants have been awaiting processing in temporary camps for several weeks out of fear for their safety.

In Durban, which has seen some of the biggest protests, white tents housing mostly Malawians are being dismantled as authorities race to clear the transit camp.

Women in colourful sarongs sat on top of their belongings, waiting in line to board a bus home to Malawi.

One man, Nelson Mbewe, said he had gone to South Africa in search of employment to support his family in Malawi.

“But we’ve faced challenges – they’re saying we should go back home because we do not have the right documents,” he told the BBC.

“They say we are Makwerekwere” – a xenophobic slur used to refer to African migrants from other countries – Mbewe said.

“It’s their country, so what can we do? That’s why we have accepted that we just have to [unwillingly] go back home.”

Hassan Phiri, a Malawian who is still waiting to be processed, had a message for the protesters.

“All I want to say to South Africans is that we are all one. No matter what is happening, no matter what will happen, Africa must remain Africa.

“Africa can’t be Africa without South Africa… without Malawi, without anywhere,” he told the BBC, adding: “So whatever will happen, we must love each other and stick together as Africa.”

Anti-migrant marches have been authorised for Tuesday in Durban, Johannesburg and other cities.

The authorities have warned organisers to ensure there is no violence but say they are prepared for any potential disruption.

The police say traditional weapons are not allowed. This could lead to tension between protesters and the police because many of the protesters are ethnic Zulus, and take their shields, whips and sticks when they go on marches.

According to the government, more than 12,000 immigrants have been deported or repatriated since a wave of protests began earlier this year.

Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have been organising repatriations by air or bus over the last few weeks – with about 3,500 foreigners volunteering to leave.

South African authorities claim more than 500 Nigerians repatriated did not have correct papers, which Nigeria has disputed.

Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa, and has sometimes lead to violence.

According to the African Centre for Migration and Society’s (ACMS) xenophobic violence tracker Xenowatch, two people have been killed this year.

In 2008, more than 60 people died during a wave of rioting against non-South Africans.

ALSO READ:

• Ghana High Commission urges nationals in South Africa to stay indoors over anti-immigrant protests

• Fear grows in South Africa as anti-migrant ‘deadline’ looms

In a public advisory issued through a video message, Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Benjamin Quashie, assured Ghanaians that the Mission, working together with the Government of Ghana, has put in place measures to safeguard their safety.

He said the High Commission continues to monitor developments closely while coordinating efforts to protect Ghanaian citizens during this period of heightened tension.

Mr Quashie urged Ghanaians who have been accommodated in churches, hotels, and other designated shelters by the High Commission to remain at those locations until further notice.

He disclosed that the South African Police Service has been engaged to provide security at the various safe havens while arrangements are being finalised for another evacuation exercise.

“June 30 is the day of the said demonstration. We urge you all to stay indoors. Don’t open your shops and businesses. Those we have secured accommodation for in churches and hotels should remain there and not come out. The police will be there to protect you. We are set to undertake another repatriation,” he said.

The High Commissioner assured affected nationals that the government remains committed to assisting Ghanaians who wish to return home and called on them to remain calm and comply with the directives issued by the Mission.

“We will keep you posted on the dates and arrangements. I can assure you that this challenge will pass and we will overcome it as a people. Let us be law-abiding,” he added.

The advisory comes as June 30 marks the unofficial deadline reportedly set by some South African groups for undocumented foreign nationals to leave the country amid renewed xenophobic tensions and anti-immigrant protests.

The situation has heightened anxiety among migrant communities, leading thousands of foreign nationals to leave South Africa in recent weeks over fears of possible attacks.

The Government of Ghana has already repatriated hundreds of Ghanaians and has announced plans to undertake another evacuation exercise in the coming days for citizens who have registered to return home.

The military said troops rescued 10 students and ​teachers after tracking the attackers and engaging in a ​firefight, in which one soldier and one member ⁠of a paramilitary support force were killed.

Other students were still ​unaccounted for, and officials were trying to work out how ​many were missing, Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said.

The attackers had fired sporadically as they charged into Government Day Secondary School in the ​town of Lassa in the morning, where students were taking national ​examinations usually sat by 16- and 17-year-olds, Daso said.

The military, police and ‌other security ⁠agencies were searching nearby forests to try to rescue the students, Daso said.

The 10 who were rescued were unharmed and receiving care, while efforts to find others still missing were ongoing, ​military spokesperson Captain ​Mohammed Goni ⁠said.

Nigeria is grappling with overlapping security crises that stretch far beyond the jihadist insurgency in the ​northeast, where Boko Haram and Islamic State ​West Africa ⁠Province (ISWAP) have waged a conflict for more than 15 years.

Borno is the epicentre of the Islamist insurgency, while other parts of ⁠Nigeria ​face mass kidnappings for ransom by ​armed gangs and recurring sectarian violence.

Several thousand citizens of other African countries have already left the country in recent weeks fearing violence.

One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was “happy to be going back” but “heartbroken” to be leaving behind four young children.

As protests have ramped up in recent months, Ramaphosa has repeatedly warned demonstrators to act peacefully and responsibly, while also accepting the need for immigration reforms.

“Some foreign nationals who live in South Africa are here lawfully,” he reminded citizens in his weekly newsletter.

“They work, study, raise families, invest in our economy and contribute positively to our society. They too, are entitled to the protection of our laws and our Constitution.

“The right to protest and freedom of expression does not allow people to threaten or intimidate others, or to engage in acts of vandalism or violence,” he wrote.

There are more than three million documented foreign nationals in South Africa, according to official figures.

Ahead of the deadline, thousands of migrants have been awaiting processing in temporary camps for several weeks out of fear for their safety.

In Durban, which seen some of the biggest protests, white tents housing mostly Malawians are being dismantled as authorities race to clear the transit camp.

Women in colourful sarongs sat on top of their belongings, waiting in line to board a bus home to Malawi.

One man, Nelson Mbewe, said he had gone to South Africa in search of employment to support his family in Malawi.

“But we’ve faced challenges – they’re saying we should go back home because we do not have the right documents,” he told the BBC.

“They say we are Makwerekwere” – a xenophobic slur used to refer to African migrants from other countries, Mbewe said.

“It’s their country, so what can we do? That’s why we have accepted that we just have to [unwillingly] go back home.”

Hassan Phiri, a Malawian who is still waiting to be processed, had a message for the protesters.

“All I want to say to South Africans is that we are all one. No matter what is happening, no matter what will happen, Africa must remain Africa.

“Africa can’t be Africa without South Africa… without Malawi, without anywhere,” he told the BBC, adding: “So whatever will happen, we must love each other and stick together as Africa.”

Anti-migrant marches have been authorised for Tuesday in Durban, Johannesburg and other cities.

The authorities have warned organisers to ensure there is no violence but say they are prepared for any potential disruption.

The police say traditional weapons are not allowed. This could lead to tension between protesters and the police because many of the protesters are ethnic Zulus, who always take their shields, whips and sticks when they go on marches.

According to the government, more than 12,000 immigrants have been deported or repatriated since a wave of protests began earlier this year.

Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have been organising repatriations by air or bus over the last few weeks, with about 3,500 foreigners volunteering to leave.

South African authorities claim more than 500 Nigerians repatriated did not have the correct papers, which Nigeria has disputed.

Xenophobia has long been an issue in South Africa and has sometimes led to violence.

According to the African Centre for Migration and Society’s (ACMS) xenophobic violence tracker Xenowatch, two people have been killed this year.

In 2008, more than 60 people died during a wave of rioting against non-South Africans.

ALSO READ:

• Gov’t prepares to evacuate about 900 Ghanaians from South Africa

• Thousands seek way out as South Africa braces for anti-immigrant protests

Adults with sufficient funds will be asked to pay off the sum over time under new rules in the upcoming Immigration and Asylum Bill, which will be put before Parliament on Tuesday.

It will apply to asylum seekers who have the right to work in the UK, and must be paid off before they can become eligible to settle here permanently.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the changes would demonstrate “asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility”.

She added: “Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so.”

The plans will mean that migrants who work and earn a specific amount will be required to pay back a flat-rate sum, expected to be set at £10,000.

The Home Office has not determined how much they would need to earn before making monthly instalments.

The Home Secretary would have the power to adjust the charge and the repayment thresholds in the future to ensure “they are both fair to the taxpayer and will not force any migrant into destitution”.

Those whose claims have been rejected will also have to repay the costs if their income exceeds the government threshold.

Around £4bn of taxpayers’ money was spent on supporting asylum seekers last year, according to the Home Office.

The average cost of housing an asylum seeker for one night in publicly-owned accommodation is £23.25, and £144 in a hotel – while subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 for each person per week.

The Refugee Council said the “unfair, impractical” plans amounted to an “extra tax on refugees”, and would make it “harder for families to rebuild their lives and stand on their own feet”.

Its director of external affairs Imran Hussain said: “The reason why many need asylum support is because the Home Office itself bans asylum seekers from working while their claims are being assessed.

“Asylum support is only given to people who are at risk of being destitute, so this new financial burden would only harm those who arrive on our shores with nothing.”

The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory questioned how much money the government would actually be able to recoup through the system, pointing to the low rates of employment and earning among refugees.

Dr Madeleine Sumption said: “In 2023, for example, an estimated 13% of people granted refugee status five years earlier were earning at least £20,000, with the rest either not working or on lower earnings.

“The data suggests that unless thresholds were significantly below the minimum wage, a relatively small share of people granted asylum would earn enough to make contributions to the scheme.”

According to the Home Office, a quarter of 16 to 64-year-olds granted asylum between 2015 and 2023 were in employment within the same calendar.

That number rose to 50% two years after refugee status was granted.

Of those who were in employment eight years after receiving refugee status, 37% had been in full-time work with median earnings of £23,000, with just 40% earning more than the minimum wage.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour had “adopted yet another” Conservative policy, adding: “This precise scheme was proposed by us in an amendment to the Immigration Bill last year, which Labour blocked.”

Ministers hope the Immigration and Asylum Bill will bring into force proposals that will create a firm but fair asylum system, and which will reduce the pull factors driving illegal migration.

However, parts of the bill are expected to draw opposition from some Labour MPs opposed to some of the strictest measures it will contain.

Last week, the Home Office revealed it was planning to use more former military barracks to house thousands of asylum seekers after closing 20 more hotels in England.

It also said the new the immigration law would include plans for new “capped safe and legal” routes to the UK for refugees, which would involve organisations like universities, community groups and businesses sponsoring a person to reduce costs for the taxpayer.

It comes after several attacks in and around the Strait of Hormuz, culminating in both nations accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.

The official confirmed to the BBC’s US partner CBS News that vessels will now be able to move through the waterway “freely”, and added that renewed talks aimed at ending the war will continue.

Iran has not commented on the reports that it has agreed to halt strikes in the strait.

On 17 June, the US and Iran signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which included an “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts”.

As part of the MoU, Iran had agreed to use its “best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days”.

But the ceasefire agreed less than two weeks ago has been under threat in recent days because of renewed attacks by both sides.

Strikes kicked off once more on Thursday after an Iranian projectile hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Over the weekend, the US retaliated with a series of strikes on Iran, hitting multiple targets in what US Central Command (Centcom) called a direct response to the “continued aggression” against commercial shipping.

On Saturday, Iran responded with strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. The US has said none of these attacks reached their targets, and there were no casualties or damage.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key waterway for oil and gas shipments, and was effectively closed by Tehran after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February.

On Friday, the US also mediated the signing of a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon aimed at paving the way to a lasting peace.

Due to ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, that ceasefire also looked shaky.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group has rejected the agreement and accused the Beirut government of undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty.

On Sunday, two days after the agreement was signed, the Israeli army said it had struck a 200-metre-long tunnel used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which it said contained hundreds of weapons.

The US was informed ahead of the attack, according to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.

Tehran says hostilities in Lebanon must stop for a wider ceasefire deal to stick.

She stated this while discussing privacy and boundaries in marriage on the ‘Thanks For Coming’ podcast.

Emphasising how she values privacy and boundaries, the actress noted that her earnings are off-limits in her relationships, and she does not expect him to discuss his either.

While insisting that she sees no reason for financial disclosures between couples, she revealed that, unlike other young ladies, she has never daydreamed about getting married.

“Tell a man how much I earn, for what? I can never. And I don’t want him to discuss his earnings with me either. I don’t want to know how much he is earning. I’ve no problem with him going through my phone, but for what?

“I would never ask to check his phone. You know, when young girls sit down and daydream about getting married, I have never done that. All I daydream about is working, making money and being independent,” she said.

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