Category World News

Washington, DC – Authorities in the United States have identified the two National Guard members shot in Washington, DC, in what the FBI is investigating as an act of “terrorism”.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Thursday named 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe as the West Virginia National Guard members who were shot a day earlier, just blocks from the White House.

She said both service members had gone through surgery and were in critical condition. They had been deployed to the US capital as part of what President Donald Trump has described as an anticrime initiative.

“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” Pirro told reporters at a news conference.

The attacker has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who came to the US in 2021 shortly after the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan.

Pirro said Lakanwal was a resident of Washington state and had driven across the country before the attack.

He has been charged with three counts of assault with intent to kill and possession of a firearm. He remains hospitalised after sustaining wounds that officials said did not appear to be life-threatening.

Pirro, a former Fox News host, added the charges could be upgraded if either of the National Guard members do not survive.

Kash Patel, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said the attack was being investigated as “terrorism” and a search warrant has been executed at Lakanwal’s home.

Speaking earlier on Fox News, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the wounded personnel were “fighting for their lives”.

“Everyone, pray today for these two soldiers, these two Guardsmen, the man and woman,” she said. “But if something happens – I will tell you right now, I will tell you early – we will do everything in our power to seek the death penalty against that man.”

The attack came at a time of heightened scrutiny over Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Washington, DC, and other US cities.

Trump has said the deployment is needed to respond to high rates of crime in the US capital. Critics have decried the move as an incendiary show of force out of step with the needs of the federal district.

A judge last week ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard was illegal but delayed enforcement of the decision until December 11.

After Thursday’s attack, the Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard soldiers to Washington, DC, adding to the nearly 2,200 military members already stationed there.

Revetting Afghans

In the wake of the attack, the Trump administration pledged to “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under [Former President Joe] Biden”.

The administration also announced it was pausing all processing of “immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals”.

On Thursday, Trump administration officials continued to focus on the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was conducted after a deal struck by Trump and the Taliban during the Republican leader’s first term.

During the withdrawal, the Biden administration launched Operation Allies Welcome to quickly relocate Afghans to the US, including those who had worked alongside US forces and Western entities in Afghanistan for more than two decades.

About 77,000 Afghans came to the US under the programme.

On Thursday, John Ratcliffe, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said in a statement that the attacker had worked with the agency “as a member of a partner force” in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar before coming to the US.

The attack has sparked fear for Afghan evacuees in the US and those still seeking relocation from Afghanistan after many were already reeling from the Trump administration’s hardline restrictions on refugees and asylum seekers.

Many Afghans who worked with US and Western forces face threats of reprisals from the Taliban government.

In a statement, Shawn VanDiver, the president of the AfghanEvac humanitarian advocacy group, urged “the media, elected leaders and decision-makers and other people of influence not to demonize the Afghan community for the deranged choice this person made”.

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, echoed that sentiment, saying the “entire Afghan community must not be punished due to the actions of one individual”.

One day after a military coup, military leaders in Guinea-Bissau, a small West African nation, have named a new leader.

General Horta Nta Na Man was named as the head of a one-year transitional government at about noon (12: 00 GMT) on Thursday. He defended the seizure of power in a statement, saying that Guinea-Bissau’s army had taken control in the face of threats to its stability.

On Wednesday, the military arrested President Umaro Sissoco Embalo just hours before the results of a tense presidential vote held over the weekend were due to be announced.

After Fernando Dias and Embalo, the incumbent, both won the election on Sunday. The military leaders, &nbsp, who appeared on national TV to make their announcement, said they were acting to stop attempts to “manipulate electoral results”.

Dias, the country’s electoral commissioner, and other top military figures, were also detained.

Wednesday’s military takeover is the latest in a string of coups across West Africa that have fractured the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is eager to crack down on military interventions and to instil democratic principles of government.

Despite what it described as an orderly and peaceful vote that its observers on Sunday, the bloc condemned the action in a joint statement with the African Union hours after the putsch.

Coastal Guinea-Bissau, wedged between Senegal and Guinea, has experienced nine coup attempts since its independence from Portugal in 1974, with the most recent failed attempt reported in late October.

In recent years, the nation has grown to be a major hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe. Embalo’s critics have accused him of staging crises to stay in power.

What we know about the coup and what it means:

What transpired?

Signs of trouble began when gunfire rang out on Wednesday afternoon near the presidential palace in the capital, Bissau.

Shortly afterward, army officers announced on state television that they had taken control of the country in response to the “discovery of an ongoing plan” that they claimed was meant to “manipulate electoral results.”

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from nearby Senegal, said the army officer leading the coup, Brigadier General Denis N’Canha, had served as the head of the presidential guard before the takeover.

According to Haque, “the man supposed to protect the president himself has put him in jail,” adding that there appeared to be military tries to censor the internet.

N’Canha, on state TV, announced that officers had formed “the High Military Command for the Restoration of Order”.

The High Military Command, according to his statement, “decides to immediately remove the president of the republic and to suspend all of the republic’s institutions until new orders are issued.”

He claimed that the alleged plot to destabilise the country was being coordinated by “some national politicians with the participation of a well-known drug lord and domestic and foreign nationals”, without giving further details.

The soldiers added that the media coverage and the ongoing electoral process had been suspended. They also closed off the country’s land, sea and air borders and imposed a nighttime curfew.

The Associated Press reported that heavily armed, masked soldiers were operating at checkpoints and that the roads leading to the palace were closed off. A palace official told the AP that a group of armed men had attacked the building, leading to a gunfire exchange with presidential guards. Gunshots were also reported by officials close to the National Electoral Commission.

Hundreds of people fled on foot and in vehicles, seeking shelter as shots rang out, the AFP news agency reported.

Who has been arrested and where are they now?

President Embalo claimed that he had been arrested in his office at around 1 p.m., in a “coup” led by N’Canha, the head of the presidential military office, according to French news outlet Jeune Afrique. Embalo stated that he had not been subjected to violence. Additionally, the president stated in a phone call to French television station France 24: “I have been deposed.

Military officials have not provided any information about where the president is being held.

According to Embalo, the army’s chief of staff, General Biague Na Ntam, his deputy, General Mamadou Toure, and its minister of interior, Botche Cande, are all being detained at the army headquarters.

Reuters, quoting anonymous sources, reported that opposition candidate Dias of the Party for Social Renewal, as well as Domingos Simoes Pereira, former prime minister and the head of the main opposition PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), had been arrested.

Pereira and Dias’ arrests were confirmed by PAIGC in a Facebook statement on Wednesday, along with the announcement that Octavio Lopes, a lawyer, was also being detained. Pereira had been preparing to stand as the main opposition candidate in the election, but his PAIGC party was barred after the electoral commission said it had failed to submit its application on time. Pereira endorsed the obscure Dias in the election afterward.

Was Embalo facing a legitimacy crisis?

Yes, Embalo, 53, had a legitimacy crisis in the months leading up to the coup and his position has been hampered by political infighting. The former army general was first elected in 2019, backed by a coalition of parties known as Madem G15, which had separated from the then-ruling PAIGC party.

In the decades that followed, PAIGC, which declared its independence from Portugal in 1974, has ruled the country.

However, after Embalo was sworn in, in February 2020, the opposition challenged his victory and the Supreme Court did not recognise him as president until September 2020.

In February and December of this year, the president was the target of what he termed “tried coups,” which included arrests of military personnel.

Embalo’s critics, however, have accused him of fabricating crises in order to crack down on dissent. For instance, Embalo ordered the dissolution of the opposition-controlled parliament following the December 2023 coup attempt, which started as a clash between an army unit and the presidential guard. Parliament has not reconvened since, and Embalo has ruled through decrees.

In the midst of unrest with opposition groups, President Embalo announced in March that he would run for office once more.

He said he aimed to make history in the turbulent country by being the first leader in 30 years to secure a second consecutive term. However, opposition groups claimed that he had delayed elections until November because his term had originally expired in February 2025 and that they did not recognize his presidency. A Supreme Court ruling said Embalo’s term ended in September.

After the party was denied the opportunity to vote on a technicality in October, PAIGC also accused Embalo of using force. It was the first time in the country’s history that the former governing party had been excluded from elections.

What was the outcome of the election?

In the lead-up to Sunday’s tightly contested elections, Embalo campaigned on stability while the Pereira-backed Dias campaigned on change. Votes were thwarted despite accusations of corruption and hate speech from both sides, but they were unaffected.

On Tuesday, however, both Embalo and Dias declared victory in the elections.

Following the coup, PAIGC claimed that the military intervention was meant to prevent Dias’ victory from the electoral authority.

PAIGC “considers this fact as manoeuvres to disrupt the electoral process, which was already in the final stage of dissemination of provisional results”, the party said. It urged the electoral commission to publish the election results, which “award Dr. Fernando Dias da Costa with a significant victory and guaranteed him victory right away.”

On Wednesday, the Bissau-Guinean civil society coalition, Frente Popular or Popular Front, also accused Embalo and the army of staging a “simulated coup” to block the release of election results.

The organization stated in a statement on Wednesday that “this maneuver aims to prevent the publication of the election results scheduled for tomorrow, November 27.” It claimed Embalo’s statements to international media were proof of this.

The group claimed that the deposed president intended to hold new elections in which he intended to run once more after naming a new president and interim prime minister.

Was Embalo’s administration resolute?

Beverly Ochieng, West Africa analyst at the intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera that the constant infighting had made Embalo’s government vulnerable.

The legislature, judiciary, and various government institutions have been declared nonoperable or operating at capacity during Embalo’s presidency, she said.

Political infighting and the banning of PAIGC “likely contributed to a military intervention – even though there is a school of thought that this may have been staged to play up vulnerabilities against Embalo”, Ochieng added.

According to political analyst Ryan Cummings, Embalo’s past actions gave evidence of a fake coup that could result in his reinstatement by the military administration. But, he added, it is also “highly plausible” the military acted alone to avoid a deadlock in a country where 70 percent of the 1.6 million population is poor.

There are growing concerns that Guinea-Bissau’s long-standing conflicts with Embalo and the opposition have caused the country to fall into a political impasse, he said.

Is there a link to the drug trade?

How much does the coup have to do with the nation’s rising reputation as a hub for drugs? The military coup leaders claim there was an effort to “manipulate” the election by “national leaders” working with drug cartels, but have not provided any evidence.

Guinea-Bissau was first warned by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2008 that it was in danger of degenerating into a “narco state.” Since then, major drug busts in the country continue to cement it as a drug-trafficking hub, with dealers found by investigators to be working with help from the military.

Bissau-Guinean, Colombian, Mexican, and Portuguese nationals were detained and given sentences of 16 years in prison following a significant drug operation spearheaded by local security forces and supported by the UNODC.

A 2020 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime warned that the drug trade could increase under the newly elected Embalo because key figures in the military had backed his presidency. Embalo and the drug trade were not directly linked, according to the report.

Ex-navy chief Jose Bubo Na Tchuto was arrested off the country’s coast by US forces and sentenced in October 2016 to four years in prison by a Manhattan court for conspiring to import drugs into the United States. He was the highest-ranking official in the government to receive a drug trafficking sentence.

“The drug cartels ‘ influence is depending on the lack of the legitimacy (of the government)”, political analyst Aly Fary Ndiaye told Al Jazeera. They will be more likely to support or fund those who are in the army in order to open their eyes and help them grow their business if, for instance, we have a military coup.

Election observers from the AU and ECOWAS were still in Bissau when Wednesday’s coup occurred, including former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan and former Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi. The country appears to be oblivious to the delegation’s current situation.

In a joint AU-ECOWAS statement signed by the former leaders, the blocs condemned the coup and called for the electoral process to be resumed. After the delegation had spoken with them, both candidates, according to the statement, had agreed to accept the results of the vote.

“We deplore this blatant attempt to disrupt the democratic process and the gains that have been achieved thus far”, the statement read. We are concerned about the arrests of senior officials, including those in charge of the electoral process. In this regard, we urge the armed forces to immediately release the detained officials to allow the country’s electoral process to proceed to its conclusion”.

During Embalo’s “political overreach,” including when he unilaterally disbanded parliament, analyst Ochieng claimed that ECOWAS was not vocal enough. The bloc, she said, is struggling to instil respect for democratic practices and public institutions because it fails to proactively uphold strict democratic standards, something the militaries are exploiting.

The coup has been criticized by the governments of Ghana and Nigeria. Portugal and Qatar have also called for a resumption of the electoral process.

According to Stephane Dujarric, his representative, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “appeals to all national stakeholders in Guinea-Bissau to exercise restraint and respect the rule of law.”

What happens next?

After swearing in General Horta Nta Na Man for a 12-month transitional period, the military made the announcement on Thursday that borders would be reopened. Not much is known yet about the military leader.

Despite a report from French radio station RFI, PAIGC called for a rally in front of the Ministry of the Interior and that Bissau was still being heavily patrolled by security forces on Thursday.

The calm, though, belies what is likely to be a period of political uncertainty ahead, whether Embalo is reinstated or not, analysts say. Embalo’s return may support conspiracy theories and stoke violent protests among opposition candidates, who are unlikely to support military rule.

Meanwhile, the African Union and ECOWAS will likely pressure the military to return to democratic rule as soon as possible, Cummings said. Both countries have previously suspended and sanctioned coup-bred nations before resuming them once elections are established.

On Thursday, Israel launched a string of airstrikes against southern Lebanon’s Jarmak and Mahmoudiya villages. Since a ceasefire was agreed, the attacks come one year later. Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire.

As the relationship between the two countries continues to be strained, US President Donald Trump has announced he will prevent South Africa from attending the G20 summit in the coming year.

19 of the Group of 20 countries, plus the European Union, and the current African Union, make up the group. The group’s members meet throughout the year, but a country that holds its presidency also holds an annual summit.

Trump made the decision to abstain from the G20 summit that was being held last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has charged that the nation is staging a “white genocide” against white farmers and communities.

The US will host the G20 summit in 2015 as the group’s next leader.

Trump claimed in a post earlier this month that it was “total disgrace” that South Africa’s hosting of this year’s summit, the first to be held in an African country, was “total disgrace.”

Trump reiterates a claim that South Africa has condemned and for which there is no proof, saying that “Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.”

As long as these human rights abuses continue, no US government official will be present. The 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida is a “dream come true” event I’m hosting. he continued.

Trump made the announcement on Wednesday that South Africa would not be invited to the upcoming G20 summit in another Truth Social post.

Trump’s statement: What and why?

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ended the two-day summit last weekend without passing the gift, as customary, to the next nation taking the presidency.

In his closing remarks on Sunday, Ramaphosa said, “This summit officially closes this summit and moves on to the next president of the G20, which is the United States, where we will see each other again next year.”

He claimed Ramaphosa refused to hand the gift to the person despite Trump’s claim that he had sent one from the US embassy in South Africa at the last minute.

Trump also made repeated claims on Wednesday that the US did not travel to the summit because, in his view, the government of South Africa had refused to “acknowledge or address the horrific Human Rights abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.”

They are killing white people and randomly allowing them to rob their farms, to put it more bluntly. Worse of all, he claimed, the New York Times and Fake News Media, which are about to go out of business, won’t say anything about this genocide.

South Africa “refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our US Embassy, who was present at the G20 Closing Ceremony.” Therefore, in my opinion, South Africa will not be invited to the 2026 G20, which will take place in Miami, Florida, the following year.

“We will stop all payments and subsidies to them immediately because South Africa has shown the world that it is not a country that deserves membership anywhere.” I appreciate you paying attention to this issue. the president enlarging.

After China, the US is South Africa’s second-largest single-country trading partner. According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, in total goods and services trade between the two nations reached $ 26.2% in 2024.

What has South Africa done to make a decision?

Trump’s choice was described as “regrettable” in a statement released by Ramaphosa’s office on Thursday.

“South Africa belongs to the G20 in its own right and name. All other G20 members are at their own risk.

South Africa is a sovereign, democratic, and constitutionally democratic nation that does not object to insults from other nations for its contribution to global platforms. South Africa will never disparage another nation or its standing within the global community.

President Trump continues to use punitive measures against South Africa based on false information and distortions about our country, regretting the statement’s conclusion.

The G20 is what?

Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the group was established by 19 nations and the EU as a forum to discuss global economic issues.

Its other members include the African Union, which formally merged with Argentina at the 2023 summit in India, Brazil, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, and the United Kingdom, as well as the African Union, which formally incorporated as a 21st member.

There are also frequently invited guests from other nations, with 42 of them this year. Karol Nawrocki, president of Poland, claimed Trump had already invited him to the meeting in September.

No member state has ever been denied access to the summit up until now.

However, former US President Joe Biden claimed that Russia should be expelled from the G20 because of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but that claim was never fulfilled.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, was escorted to an event instead, prompting Sergey Lavrov, his foreign minister, to show up. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has an arrest warrant for the war in Ukraine.

Maxim Oreshkin, the deputy head of the presidential administration, was present at this year’s meeting in Johannesburg. &nbsp,

Following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Russia was expelled from the Group of Seven (G7), before becoming known as the G8.

Trump may impose a G20 member’s ban on the annual summit.

Officially speaking, not. There is no formal mechanism for a G20 member state to unilaterally outlaw another because it is a group of informal states and bodies.

Trump may still grant South African representatives US visas, which would entail a ban on them from the nation and, consequently, the summit.

Why does Trump assert that there is a “white genocide” in South Africa?

Trump has frequently made allegations that there are white farmers in South Africa who are being killed in what he refers to as “genocide” since taking office in January.

Trump has continued to defend his claims despite being refuted by both South African officials and Afrikaner organizations.

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1994, unfounded rumors of a rumored “white genocide” have been spreading among minority, white communities. They have been popular in far-right circles in the US for ten years and have attracted the vocal backing of Elon Musk, a Trump ally and tech billionaire from South Africa.

Trump bases his assertions on the passage of a new law in South Africa that addresses land ownership disparities. More than 30 years after the end of apartheid, the white minority in the country still owns a third of the land, but South Africa claims the new law doesn’t discriminate against white landowners.

Experts believe that the Trump administration’s decision to cut foreign aid to South Africa in February could pose a serious threat to the country’s HIV response.

In response to the nation’s Expropriation Act, which allows for the seized and redistributed of land, he also signed the Executive Order “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa.”

Trump blasted the alleged government actions that “promoted disproportionate violence against racial dissentioning landowners” and “equal opportunity in employment, education, and business” in the order.

In addition, Trump made an offer to resettle Afrikaners in the US, and in May, 59 white South Africans emigrated as part of a refugee program.

The ICJ’s decision to prosecute South Africa for its genocide of Gaza was also condemned in the order.

Ramaphosa disputed claims of a “white genocide” and said South Africa typically has high rates of violent crime, which affects all ethnic groups during a&nbsp, heated exchange with Trump at the White House in May.