Foreign
Trump To Close US Embassies In South Sudan, France, Others
The US State Department is expected to propose an unprecedented dismantling of Washington’s diplomatic reach, multiple news outlets reported Tuesday, shuttering programs and embassies worldwide to slash the budget by almost 50 percent.
The proposals, contained in an internal departmental memo said to be under serious discussion by senior officials, would eliminate almost all funding for international organizations, including the United Nations and NATO.
The document earmarks 10 embassies and 17 consulates for closure, including missions in Eritrea, Luxembourg, South Sudan and Malta, according to politics outlet Punchbowl News.
Five consulates earmarked for closure are in France while two are in Germany, Punchbowl reported. The list also includes missions in Scotland and Italy.
In Canada, US consulates in Montreal and Halifax would be downsized to “provide ‘last-mile’ diplomacy with minimal local support,” the website reported, citing the document.
Financial support for international peacekeeping would be curtailed, along with funding for educational and cultural exchanges like the Fulbright Program, one of the most prestigious US scholarships.
The plan comes with President Donald Trump pressing a broader assault on government spending, and a scaling back of America’s leading role on the international stage.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce downplayed the reports, telling journalists “there is no final plan, final budget, final dynamic.”
“That is up to the White House and the president of the United States as they continue to work on their budget plan and what they will submit to Congress,” Bruce said Tuesday.
She added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had “reiterated our complete commitment to NATO, as has the president of the United States.”
The American Foreign Service Association called the proposed cuts “reckless and dangerous” while former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul blasted a “giant gift to the Communist Party of China.”
The memo says the State Department will request a $28.4 billion budget in fiscal year 2026, beginning October 1 — $26 billion less than the 2025 figure, according to The New York Times.
Although it has little to say about humanitarian aid, programs tackling tropical disease, providing vaccines to children in developing nations and promoting maternal and child health would go, the Times reported.
The remnants of USAID — the sprawling development agency already crippled and eyed for closure by Trump and Musk — is assumed by the memo’s authors to have been fully absorbed into the State Department, said The Washington Post.
Only Congress — which the majority Republicans still need some Democratic votes to pass most laws — can authorize such cuts.
But the proposals will likely loom large in lawmakers’ negotiations over the 2026 budget.
Government departments were facing a deadline of this week to send the White House their plans for cuts, but the State Department has yet to make any public announcements.
It is not clear if Rubio has endorsed the April 10 memo, but he would need to sign off on any cuts before they could be considered by Congress.
US missions to international bodies such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN’s children’s fund, UNICEF, would be merged with the diplomatic outposts in the city where they are located.
Rubio, meanwhile, wrote on X Tuesday that the State Department had canceled a further 139 grants worth $214 million for “misguided programs,” citing an anti-hate speech project in Britain as one example.
AFP
Ukrainian military intelligence has officially identified two Nigerian men whose bodies were recovered in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine after they were killed while serving with Russian forces, authorities said.
According to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, the deceased were Hamzat Kazeen Kolawole, 42, and Mbah Stephen Udoka, 38, both of whom had signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces’ 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment in the second half of 2025.
The intelligence statement said neither man received formal military training before being sent to the front lines, with Udoka deployed only days after signing his contract.
Their bodies were discovered in late November 2025 following a drone strike that hit their unit during an attempt to advance on Ukrainian positions near Luhansk.
Ukraine’s defence officials have warned foreign nationals against travelling to Russia or taking up employment there, saying such trips carry a risk of being drawn into combat roles with little preparation.
Kolawole is survived by his wife and three children back in Nigeria, authorities noted.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has drawn international scrutiny not only for its humanitarian impact but also for recruitment practices involving foreign fighters on both sides of the conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump is set to travel to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to publicly commend the elite U.S. special operations forces responsible for the high-profile capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
The visit will include time with service members and their families at one of the United States Army’s largest bases, the White House said, underscoring Trump’s effort to highlight the operation as a key achievement of his administration. The first lady, Melania Trump, will accompany him on the trip.
The Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, were detained in a dramatic early-January mission that saw U.S. special forces fly into Caracas under cover of darkness, overpowered defenses and seized Maduro from a fortified compound.
Trump supporters have described the mission as a demonstration of American military capability.
Maduro is currently in U.S. custody, facing charges including drug trafficking. His next hearing is scheduled in New York federal court in March.
White House officials said Trump plans to use the Fort Bragg event to recognize what he calls the “heroic members” of the operation.
The administration has promoted the raid as part of a broader strategy to counter narcotics and regional instability, though critics including some foreign governments have questioned the legality and long-term implications of U.S. actions in Venezuela.
International reactions continue to vary, with some allies viewing the operation as a setback for Venezuelan authoritarianism and others condemning it as a breach of sovereignty under international law.
A Nigerian e-hailing driver has been brutally murdered in South Africa, sparking renewed concerns over the safety of Nigerian migrants and African foreign nationals living in the country amid persistent reports of violent attacks.
The incident was first disclosed by CrimeInSA, a prominent South African crime-monitoring platform, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), where it revealed that the victim, identified as Isaac Satlat, was killed during a violent hijacking in Pretoria.
According to the platform, a dashboard camera captured the fatal attack on the 22-year-old driver, who worked as a driver on the Bolt e-hailing platform.
“A NIGERIAN E-HAILING DRIVER MURDERED IN PRETORIA,” CrimeInSA wrote, adding that “a dash cam captured the fatal attack of a 22 year old Nigerian e-hailing/Bolt driver Isaac Satlat in Pretoria. The young man was hijacked and strangled last night in Pretoria.”
The platform further disclosed that the attackers abandoned both the victim’s body and the vehicle several kilometres away from the crime scene.
“His body and the car were found some kilometers away in Moshongo, Attridgeville just outside Pretoria,” the post stated, referring to the township area of Attridgeville.
The killing has drawn outrage among Nigerians on social media, many of whom described the incident as another tragic example of the dangers faced by foreign nationals working in South Africa’s gig economy, particularly e-hailing drivers who often operate at night and in high-risk areas.
CrimeInSA noted that Satlat was not only working to support himself but was also pursuing his education, revealing that he was a student preparing for a major milestone.
“Satlant was a student and he was due to graduate next month and plans were underway for him to move to Canada to continue with his studies,” the statement added.
The development has once again highlighted long-standing tensions and recurring violent crimes affecting migrants in South Africa, where foreign workers — including Nigerians — have repeatedly raised concerns about targeted attacks, robberies and killings.
As of the time of filing this report, the South African police authorities have yet to issue an official public statement detailing arrests or identifying suspects linked to the killing.
Efforts to obtain comments from law enforcement officials were unsuccessful.
The murder has intensified calls from members of the Nigerian diaspora for stronger diplomatic engagement and improved protection measures for Nigerians living and working abroad, particularly those employed in high-risk sectors such as ride-hailing services.
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