United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken into custody Ghana’s former minister of finance, Kenneth Ofori-Atta, according to a statement from his legal team. The lawyers confirmed on Wednesday that Ofori-Atta was detained over issues relating to his immigration status in the United States, where he has reportedly remained for more than a year while receiving medical care. “The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as of…

Federal agents shot and killed a woman during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday, triggering outrage from state and local officials and renewed scrutiny of federal immigration tactics. The woman was identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a US citizen, poet and mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota. She was shot during an operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which had deployed…

President Donald Trump has directed the United States to pull out of 66 international organisations, marking one of the most far-reaching retreats from multilateral engagement in recent US history. The decision, announced on Wednesday, was confirmed in a White House Fact Sheet dated January 7, 2026, which stated that Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum ordering the withdrawals as part of a broader effort to realign America’s foreign commitments with what…

The United States has announced plans to assume indefinite control over the sale of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, a move that marks a significant shift in Washington’s long-standing restrictions on the South American nation’s energy sector and its broader geopolitical strategy in the region. According to the White House, the plan will initially involve the sale of between 30 million and 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, with all proceeds deposited…

Brigitte Bardot, the French film star who later became a prominent animal rights activist, has been laid to rest following a funeral service in Saint-Tropez attended by Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader and one of her favoured political figures. Bardot died aged 91 on 28 December at her home, La Madrague, in Saint-Tropez. Her death was confirmed by her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, who said she died of cancer. He…

Nick Reiner, the son of film director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, is due to appear in court on Wednesday to be arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of his parents. The 32-year-old has been in custody since last month, after Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele, 70, were found dead at their home in the Los Angeles area. Prosecutors allege that Nick…

Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming after the state’s Supreme Court struck down two near-total abortion bans on Tuesday. The court ruled that the bans violated the state’s constitution, which affirms the right of competent adults to make their own healthcare decisions. In a 4-1 decision, the justices found that the laws, which included the nation’s first ban on abortion pills, breached a 2012 state constitutional amendment. The amendment had…

xAI highlighted Grok’s image-generation capabilities, even as the tool faces mounting criticism from regulators, lawmakers and campaigners.

A mass rally by ultra-Orthodox Jews against military conscription turned deadly in Jerusalem on Tuesday when a teenage boy was killed after a bus drove into the crowd. Israeli police said the driver was detained, and an investigation is underway. An 18-year-old who became trapped beneath the bus was pronounced dead at the scene by Magen David Adom emergency services. Video footage from the scene showed a bus driving into…

Donald Trump and his advisers are examining “a range of options” to acquire Greenland, with the White House saying the use of the US military is “always an option”. In a statement on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president views Greenland as a national security priority for the United States, citing the need to deter adversaries in the Arctic. She said Trump and his team were…

The United States has announced new travel measures that may require Nigerians applying for B1/B2 (business and tourism) visas to pay visa bonds of up to $15,000. The policy, introduced by the US Department of State, targets applicants from countries classified as high-risk for visa overstays. Of the 38 countries listed in the updated notice released on Tuesday, 24 are in Africa, with Nigeria included. Under the new rules, which…

Three days after US President Donald Trump launched a major military operation in Venezuela, he announced on Tuesday that the country’s interim authorities had agreed to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States, a deal he said could be worth up to $2 billion at current market prices In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had directed Chris Wright,…