Vue lecture

Cameroon’s Aging President Returns From Monthslong Stay Abroad

Paul Biya, 93, had been in Switzerland since early June. The prolonged absence stirred questions about his health and plans for succession.

© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

President of Cameroon Paul Biya’s motorcade is greeted by supporters as it passes through Yaoundé on Thursday after his arrival back in Cameroon following a 73-day absence.
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Liberia Agrees to Take 1,200 Deportees From U.S.

The arrangement is one of the largest known deals that the Trump administration has struck to expel migrants who cannot be sent back to their home countries.

© Annie Risemberg/Associated Press

The first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive in Liberia on Thursday, the country’s government said in a statement. It asserted that its agreement with the United States was “not a transaction with a quid pro quo.”
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No Way Out

The U.S. is building an archipelago of overseas detention sites where deportees are often held indefinitely without charge.

© Moises Saman/Magnum, for The New York Times

Roberto Mosquera is being held in a maximum-security prison in Eswatini.
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How a Ukrainian Bank Worker Came to Face Life in a Russian Prison

Artem Murdid, his mother and his girlfriend are accused of terrorism. They say they did nothing wrong.

Artem Murdid during a trip with friends to a beach on the Sea of Azov in the Zaporizhzhia region in 2019. He says he was tortured into confessing to Russian terrorism charges.
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Syrian Convicted in Austria of Civil War Abuses Is Detained in Syria

Musab Abu Rukbah, a former police chief, left Austria after appealing his eight-year sentence for crimes committed during Syria’s civil war.

© Marylise Vigneau for The New York Times

Musab Abu Rukbah, right, and Roman Valach, one of Mr. Abu Rukbah’s lawyers, leaving a Vienna courtroom after a hearing in June.
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Will Sudan’s El Obeid Become the Next El Fasher? What to Know.

Taking El Obeid would allow the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to consolidate its hold on western Sudan, a significant strategic goal.

© Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Women gathering for a hot meal in al-Rahmaniyah camp for displaced people near the city of El-Obeid in the southern Kordofan region of Sudan last month.
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Afghan Women Erased From Public Life in Five Years of Taliban Rule

Decrees restricting the rights of women and girls to study, work, travel and act independently now threaten to damage Afghanistan permanently, experts say.

© Tomas Munita for The New York Times

A market in Kabul, Afghanistan, last year. Most women say they have to get a male relative’s permission to leave the house.
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Hegseth Says Anti-Cartel Coalition Will Do ‘Bad Things to Bad People’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Latin American military leaders gathered in Panama to ramp up their efforts alongside U.S. forces.

© Matias Delacroix/Associated Press

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at a forum of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition in Panama City, Wednesday.
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He Was Deported to Eswatini in Southern Africa. He May Never Go Free.

As the Trump administration sends a growing number of immigrants to countries they have no connection to, some find themselves imprisoned with no way out.

© Moises Saman/Magnum, for The New York Times

Roberto Mosquera in detention in Eswatini.
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Seized on Their Way to Gaza, Activists Tell of Abuse in Israeli Custody

In interviews, more than 20 people who tried to break an Israeli blockade described beatings, electric shocks and other abuse after being captured. Israel denied the accusations.

© Ozan Kose/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Arno Meyns, a Belgian activist, at Istanbul’s airport in May after being released and deported by Israel. He said he was beaten in custody.
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Pakistan Starts Sweeping New Crackdown on Journalists

With a protest movement in Kashmir challenging its authority in the region, Pakistan restricts independent reporting by local and foreign media.

© Asim Hafeez for The New York Times

Political campaign posters last month in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
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