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President Muhammadu Buhari got yesterday from United States President Donald Trump some commendation and a challenge – to stop killings in some parts of the country. The killings are generally seen to have been sparked by herdsmen-farmers clashes, but they are now believed to be terrorism-related. Buhari said he would work to end the killings. Trump said his administration was committed to fighting terrorism and human trafficking. Buhari is the first leader from sub-Saharan Africa to be received by the U.S. President nearly 15 months into his term. The discussions between the two leaders centered on security challenges, including the nearly decade-long Boko Haram insurgency, trade and investment, procurement of military hardware and corruption. The leaders however side stepped the alleged description of some African nations as “shithole countries.” Trump said: “Nigeria has a reputation for very massive corruption. I also know that the President (Buhari) has been able to c...

Police have increased a reward for information leading to the culprit who shot at least two deer with arrows in the US state of Oregon. Police say the deer are "able to feed and walk around" and have not suffered life-threatening injuries despite one deer having an arrow through its head. Wildlife officials are searching for the animals to remove the arrows. On Sunday a reward for the suspect's arrest climbed to $2,000 (£1,450) after a local hunting group got involved. Warning: Images below are graphic. Oregon State Police say they received a tip on Friday that "there might actually be a third deer with an arrow stuck in it". Images shared by officials showed an arrow stuck through a deer's head and another deer with an arrow protruding from its body. The initial reward being offered through the state's anti-poaching programme had been $500 for information involving cases of "illegal possession, killing, taking, and/or waste...

A BBC reporter has been killed in an attack in the eastern Afghan province of Khost. Ahmad Shah, 29, had been working for the BBC Afghan service for more than a year. His death follows a day of deadly attacks in Afghanistan in which several other journalists were killed. In a statement, BBC World Service Director Jamie Angus said Shah was a "respected and popular" journalist. "This is a devastating loss and I send my sincere condolences to Ahmad Shah's friends and family and the whole BBC News Afghan team," he said. "We are doing all we can to support his family at this very difficult time." Khost police chief Abdul Hanan told BBC Afghan that Shah had been shot by unidentified armed men. He said police were investigating the motive. Locals told the BBC that Shah had been on his bicycle when the attack happened. He was then taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries. He was in a normally safe area he was familiar with when the ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revealed what he says are "secret nuclear files" proving Iran covertly pursued nuclear weapons. He said thousands of pages of material obtained by Israel showed Iran had deceived the world by denying it had ever sought nuclear weapons. Iran agreed in 2015 to curb its nuclear energy programme in return for the lifting of sanctions. It maintained that it had only been pursuing nuclear energy. Tweeting earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared to accuse Mr Netanyahu of "fooling people". US President Donald Trump has long threatened to scrap the deal, which was reached under his predecessor, Barack Obama. European powers have said they are committed to upholding the accord. What 'proof' did Netanyahu produce? Speaking in English from Israel's defence ministry in Tel Aviv, Mr Netanyahu showed off what he said were "exact copies" of documents obtained by Israeli intelligence...

Avengers: Infinity War made history with a $630m (£457m) global opening weekend take, according to estimates. Industry tracker Exhibitor Relations made the estimate, even though the film has not yet opened in China. If confirmed, the superhero sequel would overtake The Fate of the Furious's $542m global opening weekend haul, a record set in 2017. The film is also seen taking the all-time domestic opening record, making $250m in the US alone. Official figures will come out on Monday, but this would put Avengers ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens' $248m take. Infinity War, directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, cost between $300m and $400m to make. The film tracks a range of Marvel superheroes in their battle against villain Thanos. Actors including Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman and Chris Pratt, star in the sequel, the first of two parts. The conclusion is set to be released in May 2019. Avengers: Infi...

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will become the first African leader to be received by US President Donald Trump when he arrives in Washington for talks later. They are expected to discuss shared economic and security interests. But many will also be watching the talks closely after a row over Mr Trump's alleged use of the word "shithole" to describe African nations. Mr Trump denied being a racist  after the reported crude remark. He also denied making the comment What's the agenda for Trump-Buhari talks? The two leaders may be keen to put the scandal behind them to focus on more pressing issues, writes the BBC's Nigeria correspondent Mayeni Jones. At home, President Buhari faces multiple security challenges, including the nine-year-old insurgency by Boko Haram jihadists in the north-east, and mounting insecurity in the middle belt. So fighting terrorism is a priority for both administrations, our correspondent adds. The White House has ...

North Korea's nuclear test site will close in May, the South Korean president's office has said. A spokesman said the closure of the Punggye-ri site would be done in public and foreign experts from South Korea and the US would be invited to watch. Scientists have said the site may have partially collapsed in September. On Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in agreed to work to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons. Their summit came after months of warlike rhetoric from the North. On Saturday,  US President Donald Trump he would likely hold talks with the North Korean leadership "over the next three or four weeks"  about the denuclearisation of the peninsula. What did South Korea say? Presidential spokesman Yoon Young-chan said that Mr Kim had stated he "would carry out the closing of the nuclear test site in May". Mr Yoon added that the North Korean leader had also said he "would so...

Japan's sumo wrestling authority has postponed a decision on the sport's "men-only" policy. The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) met after a recent string of scandals, including when women were made to leave the ring after stepping in to help a man. Women are traditionally believed to be "unclean" and cannot enter the space. JSA director Toshio Takano said they needed more time, calling it "an extremely difficult issue". Why is sumo under fire? In April, Maizuru city mayor Ryozo Tatami collapsed in a sumo ring, known as "dohyo", when he was giving a speech. Women rushed to help the mayor, but  they were ordered to leave by the referee . Local media reports spectators then watched salt being thrown into the ring - a practice performed before a match to purify the space. The Japan Sumo Association faced universal condemnation for the referee's actions, and association chief Nobuyoshi Hakkaku apologised for the "ina...

The son of Guinea's first president Ahmed Sékou Touré has been accused of enslaving a young woman for 16 years at his home in the US. Mohamed Touré and his wife Denise Cros-Touré, both 57, reportedly brought the girl from Guinea to Texas when she was five years old. She eventually managed to escape with the help of neighbours. The couple have been charged with forced labour. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. Mohamed Touré is the current secretary general of the Democratic Party of Guinea (DPG), which was founded by his father. He and his wife forced the girl to do housework and look after their children, and also subjected her to emotional and physical abuse, the US Department of Justice said in a press release. They denied her access to schooling, confiscated her travel documents and forced her to remain in the US after her visa expired , the statement said. A federal court in Fort Worth heard she slept on the floor and was beaten by Mrs Touré wit...

Researchers at Yale University have restored circulation to the brains of decapitated pigs, and kept the organs alive for several hours. Their aim is to develop a way of studying intact human brains in the lab for medical research. Although there is no evidence that the animals were aware, there is concern that some degree of consciousness might have remained. Details of the study were presented at a brain science ethics meeting held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda in Maryland on 28 March. The research has also been reported on this week in the MIT Technology Review. The work, by Prof Nenad Sestan of Yale University, was discussed as part of an NIH investigation of ethical issues arising from neuroscience research in the US. Prof Sestan explained that he and his team experimented on more than 100 pig brains. They discovered that he could restore their circulation using a system of pumps, heaters, and bags of artificial blood. As a result the r...

The daughter of a woman who died covered in faeces on a sofa in the same clothes she had worn for a decade has been jailed. Emma-Jane Kurtz, 41, of Blackwater Way, Didcot, was found guilty of wilful neglect at Oxford Crown Court. Cecily Kurtz's body was found at the family home in 2014 "covered from head to toe" in excrement, police said. Judge Peter Ross said Kurtz would serve at least half of her two-and-a-half year sentence in prison. The rest would be "served in the community subject to licence", he added. Emma-Jane Kurtz was a qualified solicitor who specialised in caring for elderly clients. She was charged in April 2017 with wilful neglect after paramedics removed the body of her mother in July 2014. 'Left to rot' Sentencing, Judge Ross said: "Cecily Kurtz was left to rot. "There was a closing of the door both metaphorically and literally." He said the pictures from the post-mortem examination of Mrs Kurtz ...

Hundreds of traders were yesterday displaced when officials of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offence Unit (Task Force) supervised demolition of popular Ile-Epo Foodstuff Market in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, LCDA. The officials, who were well armed, supervised the market demolition ensuring that none of the traders interfered with the exercise. Saturday Vanguard gathered that the demolition was embarked upon by the State Government, the council, in conjunction with the developer, Total Value Integrated Limited, to pave way for a modern market. The project is expected to be completed in 12 months from commencement date. On completion, the market would have banking hall, police post, car park, a garage where trailers from the North would offload their wares, fire station, among others. When our correspondent visited the scene, bulldozers were sighted pulling down structures within the market while structures in areas inaccessible by bulldoz...

Kim Jong-un has become the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea by crossing the military line that has divided the peninsula since the end of the Korean War in 1953. In a moment rich with symbolism and pomp, South Korean leader Moon Jae-in and Mr Kim shook hands at the border. Mr Kim said he hoped for "frank" discussion in a warm opening exchange. Just months ago North Korean rhetoric was warlike, but now they may discuss a peace treaty and nuclear weapons. Much of what the summit will focus on has been agreed in advance, but many analysts remain deeply sceptical about the North's apparent enthusiasm for engagement. An unscripted moment The whole of South Korea stood still for the moment the leaders shook hands on both sides of the border in the demilitarised zone that divides the countries. Then audiences watched in surprise as Mr Kim invited the South Korean president to step briefly across the demarcation line into North Korea, before t...

US comedian Bill Cosby has been found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, each of which carries a potential 10 years in prison. The actor, 80, has been on trial for drugging and assaulting ex-basketball player Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosby, the first major black actor on primetime TV, will remain out of jail until he is sentenced, the judge ruled. He unleashed an expletive-filled rant after the verdict, as prosecutors argued he should be denied bail. It was the second time the actor had stood trial for the allegations, after an earlier jury failed to reach a verdict in June 2017. At the start of the retrial in Pennsylvania it was revealed that Cosby had paid Ms Constand almost $3.4m (£2.4m) in a civil settlement in 2006. Cosby is best known for starring in the 1980s TV series The Cosby Show. Around 60 women over five decades have publicly accused the Emmy award-winning actor of being a sexual predator. But statute of limitation laws mean that only one charge ha...

Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his submarine. Madsen had planned to kill Ms Wall, 30, either by suffocating her or cutting her throat, the Copenhagen court heard. Her dismembered remains were found by Danish police at sea on 21 August last year, 11 days after she interviewed him on board his homemade vessel. Madsen, 47, has said he will appeal against the conviction. He was found guilty of premeditated murder and sexual assault after previously admitting to dismembering Ms Wall's body on the submarine and throwing her remains overboard. His claim that Ms Wall's death was accidental was dismissed by the court. What did the judge say? The case was heard by Copenhagen City Court Judge Anette Burkoe and two jurors. Judge Burkoe said: "It is the court's assessment that the defendant killed Kim Wall. "We are talking about a cynical and planned ...

The only polar bear ever born in the tropics has died in Singapore of age-related ailments. "We have jointly made the difficult but necessary decision to not revive Inuka from anaesthesia on humane grounds," the Singapore Zoo said in a statement. The bear was born at the zoo and at 27, had outlived his counterparts in the wild by more than a decade. But his presence has been a subject of controversy among conservationists and animal rights activists. Recent physical examinations on Inuka revealed that he had been suffering from arthritis, dental issues and ear infections. Weakening limbs also hindered the aging bear's ability to walk. "As much as we would like to keep Inuka with us for as long as possible, our ultimate responsibility is his welfare," said Cheng Wen-haur, Wildlife Reserves Singapore's deputy chief executive officer and chief life sciences officer. "Our decision to let Inuka go was made with the knowledge that his health...