US warns citizens to leave Mali immediately

US warns citizens to leave Mali immediately
People gather at a petrol station due to shortage of petrol in Bamako, Mali earlier this month. (Reuters)
Updated 6 min 15 sec ago

US warns citizens to leave Mali immediately

US warns citizens to leave Mali immediately
  • Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have imposed fuel blockade and ramped up attacks

WASHINGTON: The United States warned Americans in Mali on Tuesday to leave the country immediately using commercial flights, as its government comes under increasing pressure from Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, who are imposing a fuel blockade.
Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin militants announced a blockade on fuel imports to the landlocked West African country in early September. They have since attacked convoys of fuel tankers attempting to enter the country or reach the capital, Bamako.
The government on Sunday ordered the suspension of school and university classes throughout Mali for two weeks due to the fuel shortage.
“Persistent infrastructure challenges in Mali including continued disruptions of gasoline and diesel supplies, the closure of public institutions such as schools and universities nationwide, and ongoing armed conflict between Malian government and terrorist elements around Bamako increase the unpredictability of Bamako’s security situation,” the US embassy in Mali said in a statement.
Analysts have described the fuel blockade as part of a pressure campaign on Mali’s military-led government by militant groups, who want to cut off the country’s economic oxygen.
The airport in Bamako remains open, the embassy said, advising Americans to depart using commercial flights rather than traveling over land to neighboring countries due to the risk of “terrorist attacks along national highways.”
US citizens who choose to remain in Mali should prepare contingency plans, including for sheltering in place for an extended period, it said.
The embassy is not able to provide support to Americans outside the capital.
On Friday, the State Department authorized the departure of non-emergency US government personnel and family members from Mali due to safety risks.
The travel advisory level for Mali is level 4, or “do not travel.”


Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade

Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade
Updated 6 sec ago

Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade

Iran proposes regional currency to boost trade
  • Iran regards its geographical location as a bridge between Asia and Europe
  • Pezeshkian says if regional countries unite, they can overcome obstacles

TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday proposed that Iran and its regional trading partners establish a shared currency to boost commerce amid crippling Western sanctions.

Years of international sanctions, largely imposed by the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program, have severely weakened Iran’s economy.

The latest measures were reimposed by the United Nations in September, after months of stalled nuclear diplomacy.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Tehran, Pezeshkian said religious and cultural ties in the region could create conditions for closer communication and cooperation.

“Even a common currency could be adopted in the region to help promote economic development,” he told a meeting with Tajik Interior Minister Ramazan Rahimzada, according to the presidency’s website.

Founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkiye, the ECO now has 10 members, including five Central Asian countries, and aims to strengthen regional trade.

Sitting at the core of the Middle East and with a population of more than 91 million according to the World Bank, Iran regards its geographical location as a bridge between Asia and Europe.

Tehran is pursuing economic opportunities despite sanctions over its nuclear program.

Western countries, led by the US and supported by Israel, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a claim Tehran denies.

Pezeshkian said that if regional countries unite economically and culturally, they can overcome obstacles imposed by external powers.


Flight is diverted to Boston after a passenger stabs 2 teens with a fork, authorities say

Flight is diverted to Boston after a passenger stabs 2 teens with a fork, authorities say
Updated 47 min 34 sec ago

Flight is diverted to Boston after a passenger stabs 2 teens with a fork, authorities say

Flight is diverted to Boston after a passenger stabs 2 teens with a fork, authorities say
  • The Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, on Saturday was diverted to Boston
  • The man stabbed the teen’s clavicle with a fork and then stabbed another 17-year-old boy in the head

BOSTON: A man from India stabbed two teenagers with a fork, slapped a female passenger and a crew member and mimicked shooting himself during an international flight, authorities said.
The Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday was diverted to Boston, where the 28-year-old man was arrested and charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a 17-year-old passenger awoke to find the man standing over him.
The man stabbed the teen’s clavicle with a fork and then stabbed another 17-year-old boy in the head, causing a laceration.
The man, who entered the U.S. on a student visa, doesn't have lawful immigration status, authorities said.
Information on the case, including whether he has an attorney, was not available in the federal court system Tuesday and the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn't respond to a request for further details.


Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says US visa revoked

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says US visa revoked
Updated 28 October 2025

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says US visa revoked

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka says US visa revoked
  • “I want to assure the consulate... that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka said
  • Soyinka previously held permanent residency in the United States

LAGOS: The United States consulate in Lagos has revoked the visa of Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate said Tuesday.
“I want to assure the consulate... that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka, a famed playwright and author who won the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, told a news conference.
Soyinka previously held permanent residency in the United States, though he destroyed his green card after Donald Trump’s first election in 2016.
He has remained critical of the US president, who is now serving his second term, and speculated that his recent comments comparing Trump to former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin might have struck a nerve.
Soyinka said earlier this year that the US consulate in Lagos had called him in for an interview to re-assess his visa.
According to a letter from the consulate addressed to Soyinka, seen by AFP, officials cited US State Department regulations that allow “a consular officer, the Secretary, or a Department official to whom the Secretary has delegated this authority... to revoke a nonimmigrant visa at any time, in his or her discretion.”
Reading the letter aloud to journalists in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, Soyinka said that officials asked him to bring his passport to the consulate so that his visa could be canceled in-person.
He jokingly called it a “rather curious love letter from an embassy,” while telling any organizations hoping to invite him to the United States “not to waste their time.”
“I have no visa. I am banned,” Soyinka said.

- ‘Like a dictator’ -

The Trump administration has made visa revocations a hallmark of its wider crackdown on immigration, notably targeting university students who were outspoken about Palestinian rights.
The US embassy in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, did not respond to a request for comment.
“Idi Amin was a man of international stature, a statesman, so when I called Donald Trump Idi Amin, I thought I was paying him a compliment,” Soyinka said.
“He’s been behaving like a dictator, he should be proud.”
The 91-year-old playwright behind “Death and the King’s Horseman” has taught at and been awarded honors from top US universities including Harvard and Cornell.
Soyinka spoke at Harvard in 2022 alongside American literary critic Henry Louis Gates.
His latest novel, “Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth,” a satire about corruption in Nigeria, was published in 2021.
Asked if he would consider going back to the United States, Soyinka said: “How old am I?“
He however left the door open to accepting an invitation should circumstances change, but added: “I wouldn’t take the initiative myself because there’s nothing I’m looking for there. Nothing.”


‘Arrested for singing’: Russia’s case against teen busker stirs anger

‘Arrested for singing’: Russia’s case against teen busker stirs anger
Updated 28 October 2025

‘Arrested for singing’: Russia’s case against teen busker stirs anger

‘Arrested for singing’: Russia’s case against teen busker stirs anger
  • Naoko performed an anti-war song by banned Russian artist Monetochka
  • A flurry of videos in support of Naoko and her band Stoptime have flooded TikTok

SAINT PETERSBURG: Supporters of an 18-year-old Russian street musician arrested after performing anti-war songs in public expressed frustration at the legal case against her as she attended court on Tuesday.
Diana Loginova, known by the stage name Naoko, was fined 30,000 rubles ($400) by a Saint Petersburg court on Tuesday for “discrediting the army” through her performance of an anti-war song by banned Russian artist Monetochka.
Since her arrest, a flurry of videos in support of Naoko and her band Stoptime have flooded TikTok, while other young street performers have expressed solidarity with her in public, despite the risks of fines or jail sentences themselves.
Before that, she and two other band members were jailed for around two weeks each for organizing an unlawful “mass gathering” in connection with one of her performances outside a Saint Petersburg metro station.
Videos published on social media have shown her performing the songs in front of dozens of people, a rare display of dissent in a country where anti-war protest is forbidden.
Following her court appearance on Tuesday, Loginova was taken away in a car alongside police officers to an unknown location.
Independent Russian media outlets reported she could face more severe charges later.
“This sets a precedent: someone being arrested for singing,” said Seraph, an 18-year-old supporter of Loginova near the courtroom.
“Her performances inspired hope. I happened to attend her concert and sang along.”
Russia banned criticism of the army shortly after launching its full-scale military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, and has detained thousands under this charge.
Another of Loginova’s supporters outside the court, 20-year-old Rimma, said she came to “support Diana and everyone involved in creativity.”
“Creative freedom was violated. I attended her concerts. The atmosphere was wonderful. You feel like you’re among like-minded people,” she told AFP.
Ivan, 20, also criticized the charges against Loginova.
“I came to support someone who was detained for nothing, just for singing,” he told AFP.


At least 22 dead in Rio de Janeiro police operation ahead of climate summit events

At least 22 dead in Rio de Janeiro police operation ahead of climate summit events
Updated 28 October 2025

At least 22 dead in Rio de Janeiro police operation ahead of climate summit events

At least 22 dead in Rio de Janeiro police operation ahead of climate summit events
  • “We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism,” Governor Claudio Castro wrote on social media as he announced the operation
  • Authorities said the 18 fatalities that were not police officers were suspected of connections to drug trafficking

RIO DE JANEIRO: At least 22 people, including four police officers, were killed in a large-scale operation against organized crime in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, the state government said, days before the Brazilian city is set to host major events related to the COP30 global climate summit.
“We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism,” Governor Claudio Castro wrote on social media as he announced the operation, which he said involved 2,500 security personnel and 32 armored vehicles across the Alemao and Penha favela complexes.
The complexes are poor, densely populated settlements on Rio’s outskirts. Authorities said the 18 fatalities that were not police officers were suspected of connections to drug trafficking.
Rio will next week host the C40 summit of global mayors and Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which will feature celebrities including pop star Kylie Minogue and four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel. Both are part of the run-up to COP30, the United Nations climate summit taking place in Belem, northern Brazil, from November 10 to November 21.
Large-scale police operations are not uncommon ahead of major international events in Rio, which hosted matches of the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit, and the BRICS summit earlier this year.
Tuesday’s operation was described by the state government as the largest ever targeting the Comando Vermelho gang. At least 56 people have been arrested as authorities sought to serve 250 arrest and search warrants, the government added.
Around 50 health and education facilities had their routines disrupted by the clashes, and bus routes had to be changed to avoid the gunfire.