International
Trump bans citizens of Chad, Congo, 10 others from entering US

US President, Donald Trump has signed a new proclamation barring citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States, citing national security concerns.
The full travel ban affects nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The restriction will take effect on June 9, 2025.
In addition to the full bans, the proclamation imposes partial restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
There are some exemptions, including athletes travelling for major sporting events, some Afghan nationals and dual nationals with citizenship in unaffected countries, according to the BBC.
Trump stated that the measure is intended to prevent individuals considered potential security risks from gaining entry into the US.
“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen,” he said in a video message posted on X on Wednesday.
According to the White House, the countries facing the harshest restrictions were deemed to have a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” poor cooperation on visa-related security measures, and inadequate systems for verifying travelers’ identities.
The administration also cited issues such as poor record-keeping of criminal histories and high visa overstay rates as contributing factors.
The new directive builds on Trump’s broader immigration crackdown initiated at the beginning of his second term.
On January 20, the president signed an executive order mandating stricter security checks for foreign nationals and instructing federal agencies to review which countries should face entry suspensions due to inadequate vetting procedures.
This move echoes Trump’s controversial travel ban during his first term, which initially targeted seven predominantly Muslim countries and was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban was later repealed by President Joe Biden in 2021, who described it as “a stain on our national conscience.”
International
South African Court Halts Burial of Former Zambian President Mid-Ceremony

In a dramatic turn of events, a South African court has intervened to halt the burial of a former Zambian president, president Edgar Lungu, temporarily suspending the proceedings mid-ceremony.
Lungu, who died on June 5 while seeking medical care in South Africa, was a rival of President Hakainde Hichilema, who wanted to lead a state funeral for his predecessor in Zambia.
Lungu’s family opposed the plans and blocked his body from being repatriated, saying he would not have wanted Hichilema at his funeral.
Zambia in turn filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the burial in South Africa.In a ruling delivered as Lungu’s widow and other mourners were already gathered in the church, a Gauteng region High Court judge said that, after an agreement between the parties, “respondents undertake not to proceed with the funeral or burial of the late president”.
The case will be heard on August 4, he said, in a decision that was carried by national broadcaster SABC — which also showed live images of people gathered for the service for Lungu, president from 2015 to 2021.
The adjournment “is extending the pain, the grief, that the family and the people are going through”, Zambian lawmaker Chanda Katotobwe, part of the delegation present at the memorial service, told SABC News.
The cause of the former president’s death at age 68 was not announced. He had been receiving specialised treatment in a clinic in Pretoria, his Patriotic Front party said.
International
Cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 EVs, sinks in the Pacific Ocean
The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

A cargo ship that caught fire earlier this month in the Pacific Ocean has sunk, its manager has said.
MINT reports that The Morning Midas, which was left abandoned as it caught fire, was carrying about 3,000 vehicles, among which around 800 were electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries, which are generally safe but can overheat and ignite if damaged.
The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.
Zodiac Maritime in a statement further said that the damage caused by the fire was compounded by heavy weather, and subsequently water entered inside the vessel, causing it to sink.
Credit: MINT
Crime
JUST IN: Russia attacks Ukraine, kill 11

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.
The attacks came as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the sidelines of the NATO defence alliance summit.
He is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.
Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.
“This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,” Zelensky said after the attack.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a “rejection of peace” from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.
“It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,” Andriy Sybiga said.
Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.
Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.
– Toddler killed –
Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.
The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.
Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.
“The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,” he said.
One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.
Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.
AFP
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