by Gerald Imray CAPE TOWN, South Africa  — The United States has deported five immigrantsfrom Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa where the king still holds absolute power. Eswatini says it is holding the men in correctional facilities until they can be sent to their home countries, after it became the latest nation to accept third-country deportees from the U.S. The king rules supreme Eswatini is one of a handful of countries that are still absolute monarchies, and the only one in Africa. That means the king has absolute power over government…

by Gerald Imray and Michelle Gumede CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The United States sent five men it describes as “barbaric” criminals to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s largely secretive third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men, also described as violent criminals, are after it took custody of…

by Ope Adetayo LAGOS, Nigeria — Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was buried Tuesday in his northern hometown as thousands of people lined the streets to say goodbye. Buhari died aged 82 on Sunday in London after battling an undisclosed illness that kept him out of public life since he handed over power in 2023. Current President Bola Tinubu and several regional leader attended. Senegal’s President Bassirou Faye described Buhari as a “leading figure in Nigerian and and African political life.” Buhari ruled Africa’s most populous nation twice as a military dictator and democratic president and was one of the…

by Kevin Frekinh WASHINGTON  — Senate Republicans on Tuesday advanced President Donald Trump’s request to cancel some $9 billion in previously approved spending, overcoming concerns from some lawmakers about what the rescissions could mean for impoverished people around the globe and for public radio and television stations in their home states. The Senate vote was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. A final vote in the Senate could occur as early as Wednesday. The bill would then return to the House for another vote before it would go to Trump’s desk for his signature before a Friday…

by Ope Adetayo LAGOS, Nigeria  — Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled Africa’s most populous nation twice as a military dictator and a democratic president, died on Sunday at age 82 and is being remembered as a divisive figure who oversaw one of the country’s most troubled periods. “He inherited unprecedented goodwill and squandered it,” Olive Chiemerie, a Lagos-based writer, told The Associated Press. “His legacy is one of missed opportunities, deepening inequality and a country left to pick up the pieces.” Here are some highlights of Buhari’s presidency: ‘EndSARS’ protests In October 2020, thousands of youths took to…

by Chris Megerian and Illia Novikov WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump said Monday he would punish Russia with tariffs if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days, the latest example of his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump made the announcement during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. “We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” the Republican president said. He said they would be “secondary tariffs,” meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow…

by Opr Adetayo and Chinedu Asadu LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who led the country twice as a military head of state and a democratic president, has died aged 82, his press secretary said Sunday. Buhari died Sunday in London, where he had been receiving medical treatment. He first took power in Africa’s most populous nation in 1983, after a military coup, running an authoritarian regime until fellow soldiers ousted him less than 20 months later. When he was elected in 2015 on his fourth attempt, he became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential…

by Sophia Tareen CHICAGO ( — Boeing reached a settlement Friday with a Canadian man whose wife and three children were killed in a deadly 2019 crash in Ethiopia, averting the first trial connected to a devastating event that led to a worldwide grounding of Max jets. The jury trial at Chicago’s federal court had been set to start Monday to determine damages for Paul Njoroge of Canada. His family was heading to their native Kenya in March 2019 aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 when it malfunctioned and plummeted to the ground. The wreck killed all 157 people on board.…

by Jill Colvin WASHINGTON  — President Donald Trump was on stage at the Iowa State Fairgrounds earlier this month, kicking off the country’s 250th anniversary celebration, when he heard what sounded like fireworks in the distance. “Did I hear what I think I heard?” Trump remarked as he spoke from behind a wall of thick, bulletproof glass. “Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks. I hope. Famous last words,” he quipped, drawing laughs and cheers. “You always have to think positive,” he went on. “I didn’t like that sound, either.” The comments, just days before the first anniversary of Trump’s near-assassination in…

by Cutis Yee, Benard Mcghee, Luena Rudriquez-Feo, Nell Clark  and Sam Budette A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. The judge’s order comes after immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit last week accusing U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. Advocates also accusedimmigration officials of carrying out warrantless arrests and denying detainees access to legal counsel at a holding facility in downtown LA. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security…