#ICE arrests superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district. The superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools — Iowa’s largest school district – was detained Friday morning by immigration agents, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which said the educator was in the country illegally and had existing weapon possession charges.

Superintendent Ian Roberts – an educator with decades of experience who previously competed as an Olympic athlete for Guyana – was arrested as part of a “targeted enforcement operation” and fled after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers approached him, according to statements from DHS and the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

DHS said he was “in possession of a loaded handgun, US$3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife” at the time of his arrest. It’s a violation of federal law to own a firearm and ammunition if an individual doesn’t have legal status in the U.S.

CNN is working to identify Roberts’ attorney.

The school district and DHS presented starkly divergent portraits of Roberts. DHS described him as a “criminal alien” and suggested he was a public safety threat. But at a news conference after his arrest, board president of Des Moines Public Schools Jackie Norris said the superintendent was “an integral part of our school community” who “has shown up in ways big and small” for students and staff. And Roberts disclosed his weapon charge, related to a hunting rifle, when he was hired, a district spokesperson told CNN.

The arrest spurred a protest outside the federal courthouse in Des Moines. “Education, not deportation / Free Dr. Roberts,” read one sign carried by a demonstrator, according to footage from CNN affiliate KCCI. Local education and immigration advocacy groups have rallied behind the superintendent.

The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners issued Roberts a license to serve as superintendent in the state in July 2023, according to Norris.

“There is new information that has been made public that we did not know, and we have not been able to verify,” Norris said.

Roberts oversaw over 30,000 students in the Des Moines public school system, according to the district’s website, and had previously worked at public schools across the country.

Another administrator, Matt Smith, has taken the role of interim superintendent in the meantime, according to a message posted on social media by the district earlier.

“Our priority is to provide a safe, secure and outstanding education for all students and to support our students, families, and employees,” the statement read.

Roberts’ arrest comes amid the Trump administration’s continued crackdown on immigration, which has seen raids on workplaces and arrests of community pillars including a firefighter, a journalist and a pastor.
Superintendent was given final order of removal in 2024, DHS says

Roberts entered the US on a student visa in 1999 and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May 2024, according to the DHS statement. He had existing weapon charges from 2020, the agency added.

Des Moines Public Schools said it was unaware of the order of removal but Roberts did inform the school board of a firearms offence related to a hunting rifle during his hiring process. The district said in a statement Roberts “provided sufficient context and explanation of the situation to move forward in the hiring process.”

Public records show Roberts pleaded guilty to a weapon charge in Pennsylvania in 2022. CNN has been unable to verify whether Roberts has a separate charge from 2020.

The district also said Roberts submitted an employment eligibility verification form and an I-9 as part of the hiring process.

“The district has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been able to talk with Dr. Roberts since his detention,” district spokesperson Phil Roeder said.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said in a statement Robertson’s arrest should be a “wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats.”

ICE’s online detainee locator system shows Roberts was born in Guyana and is being held at a county jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Community rallies behind longtime educator

Roberts was named Des Moines Public Schools superintendent in 2023, according to the district’s website. He was “born to immigrant parents from Guyana, and spent most of his formative years in Brooklyn, NY,” the website reads.

Before becoming an educator, the superintendent was an Olympic athlete and competed in track and field at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Roberts’ long educational career has included positions in New York City; Baltimore; Washington, DC; St. Louis; Oakland, California; and Erie, Pennsylvania, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Among the crowd protesting Roberts’ arrest Friday was district teacher Mary Pat LaMair, who said she was excited to see the display of support.

“I just think it’s really important that we take care of one another, and we seem to be at a spot where that’s not what’s happening,” LaMair told CNN affiliate KCCI. She added, “It’s important for people to know that the general public, I think, is not okay with what’s happening.”

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, was made aware of the incident and is in contact with local and federal authorities, according to KCCI.

The Iowa State Education Association and Des Moines Education Association said they were “shocked” by Roberts’ detention and described the administrator as a “tremendous advocate” in a statement, reported KCCI.

“His leadership and compassion for all students, regardless of background, identity, or family origin, are a beacon of light in one of the state’s most diverse school districts,” reads the statement, according to KCCI. “It is a dark and unsettling time in our country. This incident has created tremendous fear for DMPS students, families, and staff.”

The Directors Council — a nonprofit group serving Des Moines’ Black community — identified Roberts as a board member and offered him their “full support” in a post on Facebook.

Roberts “has been a trusted partner, a dedicated advocate for equity, and an unwavering supporter of families and youth in Polk County,” reads the post. “His contributions to both The Directors Council and the wider community are immeasurable, and we stand with him during this uncertain moment.”

In a video statement posted on their Facebook page, organizers from the Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice said news of the superintendent’s detention was shocking and scary for immigrant communities.

“We know in advance that our families right now are afraid that if they go to pick up their kids, if they send them to school, if immigrant agents are going to go take their kids out of school,” Elizabeth Balcarcel said in the video statement. “There are many questions, many doubts.”

The Des Moines School Board has scheduled a special closed-session meeting on Saturday to discuss the arrest and Roberts’ status with the district.

Dozens’ of civilians killed in Niger airstrikes: witnesses.

Dozens of civilians were killed this week after Nigerien airstrikes against jihadists near the country’s western border with Mali, witnesses told AFP on Friday.

Niger has faced frequent attacks from Islamist militant fighters linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, with the military junta in power struggling to quell the violence.

On Monday, “army strikes targeted terrorists travelling on motorbikes and there were dozens of civilian deaths in Injar,” one local resident told AFP.

Another local corroborated the account.

Injar is located some 200 km (124 miles) northeast of the capital Niamey. It’s in the vast Tillaberi region bordering Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups are active.

Locals have regularly reported deadly attacks by militants on motorbikes, who also demand money and steal livestock.

Niger state television RTN said only that “unfortunate events” in Injar caused casualties and injuries, without specifying a toll.

Media outlet Les Echos du Niger quoted unnamed witnesses as saying there were “several dozen casualties... in the army’s aerial operations”.

Military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani sent the governor of the western Tillaberi region, Colonel Main Boukar, to Injar on Thursday “to offer his condolences and compassion” to those affected.

He was seen on RTN visiting the injured and told locals that they should comply with a ban on motorcycle use so civilians are not mistaken for militants.

In January 2024, several civilians were killed in military airstrikes targeting columns of jihadists after an attack on a military post in Tyawa, near the border with Burkina Faso.

Guinea Supreme Court confirms vote to change constitution.

Guinea’s Supreme Court on Friday confirmed the result of a referendum to approve a new constitution in the junta-ruled country, saying it was backed by an overwhelming majority of voters.

The final tallies -- 89.38 per cent in favour and 10.62 percent against -- confirmed the provisional vote results announced on Tuesday evening.

Opposition parties had called on voters to boycott last Sunday’s referendum, accusing Gen. Mamady Doumbouya of using it to stay in power.

Earlier on Friday, they had filed a request to the court to annul the result. The request was rejected.

The court’s confirmation paves the way for elections to be held in December.

The signs suggest that Doumbouya will run for the presidency, despite an earlier promise that he would not.

Guinea, an impoverished nation in west Africa, has long been blighted by coups and violence from authoritarian regimes.

When the military toppled president Alpha Conde in 2021, they initially said they would return the country to civilian rule by 2024, before reneging on that commitment.

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk called Thursday on the military regime to lift bans on opposition parties and media outlets.

He also criticized what he said was a broader assault on fundamental rights in Guinea since the coup, referring to a rise in arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances.

Two men sentenced to prison in #Zambia for plotting to kill the president with witchcraft.

LUSAKA, Zambia — A judge in Zambia on Monday sentenced two men to two-year terms in prison with hard labour after they were convicted of plotting to kill the president using witchcraft.

The men, a Zambian and a Mozambican national, were convicted under a colonial-era witchcraft law last week.

The court found that they had been in possession of charms, including a live chameleon, an animal tail and 12 bottles of concoctions and had intended to use them to put a spell on President Hakainde Hichilema with the intention of killing him.

Leonard Phiri, 43, and Jasten Candunde, 42, pleaded for leniency from the magistrate who sentenced them.

Zambia’s witchcraft law, passed in 1914, defines practicing witchcraft as pretending to exercise any kind of supernatural power, sorcery, or enchantment intended to cause fear, annoyance, or injury. The maximum sentence is three years in prison.

The trial also had a heavy dose of political intrigue, with prosecutors alleging the two men were hired by a brother of a former lawmaker to curse Hichilema.

Police said the men were arrested in a hotel room in the capital, Lusaka, last year after a cleaner reported hearing strange noises. They were found with a chameleon in a bottle and the other items.

Many traditional beliefs have survived in Zambia alongside its official Christian religion. A 2018 study by the Zambia Law Development Commission found that 79 per cent of #Zambians believed in witchcraft.

The belief in witchcraft also is prevalent in many other African countries.

The Associated Press

#Ethiopia prepared to inaugurate Africa's largest hydroelectric project on Tuesday that has promised to revolutionise the country's energy sector but that has sparked diplomatic rows with downstream neighbours.

Umar Bulama lay among the corpses, hoping that Boko Haram fighters would mistake him for one of the dead after a brutal weekend attack on a northern Nigerian town.

Pressing his face “into the blood-soaked sand”, Bulama, 34, was lucky: he survived Friday’s assault on the northeastern town of Darul Jamal near the Cameroonian border.

The town was mostly abandoned after a Boko Haram assault about a decade ago, and people like Bulama had only started returning earlier this year, as the government moves to close down displaced persons camps.

But the night raid, in which the attackers torched homes, was a stark reminder that wide swathes of rural Nigeria are still outside government control, with authorities saying at least 63 were killed -- and local sources putting the toll around 90.

Eventually, Bulama, who sells firewood for a living, walked for hours until he reached a military checkpoint near the town of Banki.

“I escaped... but I left my neighbours behind forever,” he said.

#UN experts slam ‘widespread impunity’ in Burundi. United Nations experts on Monday voiced deep concerns about a surge in serious human rights violations in Burundi, including attacks against political opponents.

“These violations were allegedly committed by state agents or by individuals acting with their complicity,” they said, “in a climate of widespread impunity”.

The experts said that between January 2024 and May 2025, Burundian civil society organizations documented at least 200 cases of sexual violence, including child rape.

They also documented 58 enforced disappearances, 62 acts of torture, 892 arbitrary detentions, and 605 extrajudicial executions.

“We deplore the fact that these serious human rights violations are being used to intimidate the population during election periods, for the benefit of the ruling party,” the experts warned.

In a June election in the Great Lakes nation, the incumbent CNDD-FDD party swept 96 per cent of the vote and all 100 seats in parliament.

UN experts are independent figures appointed by the Human Rights Council, mandated to report their findings. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.

President Evariste Ndayishimiye took the reins of the country in 2020 after the death of his predecessor, Pierre Nkurunziza, who ruled with an iron fist for 15 years.

Ndayishimiye has switched between signs of seeking to open up and toughening his control of the country including through attacks on human rights, according to non-government groups and UN experts.

#Ethiopia’s record of detaining journalists and attempts to control the media has caused concern as the country prepares for high-stakes election in 2026. Rights groups warn of a growing crackdown.

Former president Jacob Zuma has hailed KwaZulu-Natal police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as a “highly qualified whistleblower”, just like his controversial former spy boss, Arthur Fraser.

#War-displaced Sudanese return to shattered Khartoum eager to rebuild lives and homes.

Al-Tayeb had been displaced with her son Mohamed al-Khedr and their family at least four times since the civil war in the North African nation broke out over two years ago. They were displaced in different areas in Khartoum, yet nothing has ever felt as comforting as their house in the Al-Qawz district of Khartoum City.

She misses the photographs of her parents and late husband which were lost when her home was damaged by fire in March, along with all her other possessions. The loss of her home left her in tears and deep sorrow, she told The Associated Press.

The family was first displaced to the Hilaliya area, in Gezira province, taking nothing but the clothes they were wearing, until the RSF made advances in the province and forced them to return to Al-Qawz.

Al-Tayeb said RSF fighters then expelled her and her family, and they had to flee to east Khartoum onto Shendi and then Om Durman city.

“They looked very strange — indescribable — and their appearance was frightening,” she said of the RSF fighters who raided her home.

Al-Tayeb and her son are among roughly 1.2 million people who returned to Sudan between December 2024 and May this year, according to the latest estimates by the International Organization for Migration.
‘Dismantling of the infrastructure’

The UN’s refugee agency says more than 12 million people have been forcibly displaced since the current conflict began in April 2023, with 3.2 million Sudanese seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, pushed many to the brink of famine, and caused several disease outbreaks.

Khartoum was the epicenter of fighting at the start of the war, but the army said it had recaptured the capital earlier this year, including important landmarks such as the airport and ministerial buildings. Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan returned to the capital in March for the first time since the war began when his military-led government had fled Khartoum for the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.

Mohanad Elbalal, cofounder of Khartoum Aid Kitchen, said that in areas recaptured by the military in Khartoum province people are returning to find their homes destroyed, neighborhoods shattered, often with no electricity and scarce food, water and services, but they’re returning to rebuild their homes.

In Khartoum City, electric substations have been destroyed and cables have been torn from the ground.

“In some areas in the Khartoum locality, there’s been a complete dismantling of the infrastructure,” Elbalal told AP. “Hospitals have even had their beds shipped out and stolen, along with mattresses.”

Of the more than 60 electricity and water facilities that have been partially or fully damaged as a result of the conflict, 16 served Khartoum, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data monitoring organization.

Altyeb Saad, spokesperson for the Khartoum province government, said 77 power transfer stations across the province have been looted and destroyed along with generators that distribute electricity to residential areas.

“Khartoum took serious steps towards repairment despite this destruction to rebuild the province,” he said, adding that the first phase of rebuilding is nearing completion. The work has focused on removing corpses, clearing unexploded ordnance and other war remnants, opening blocked roads and sanitizing neighborhoods to prevent disease outbreaks.

Khartoum officials are now focusing on restoring basic services, including electricity, water pumps, pavements, sidewalks, and solar panels. Saad said electricity is expected to return soon to the districts of Bahri, East Nile, and Khartoum.

Sudanese officials estimate that reconstruction of Khartoum will cost billions of dollars. Kholood Khair, founding director of Confluence Advisory, said the capital is likely to face another attack with the ongoing war and that would discourage international donors, who she noted would struggle to find a single trusted governing partner if they chose to help rebuild Khartoum.
No basic necessities

When Al-Tayeb returned to her damaged and empty home, even the gold that she had buried underneath the floors of her house had been stolen. With the RSF gone from their neighborhood, the family still struggles due to the lack of water, electricity and medical care, relying on costly drinking water and solar panels for power.

“There’s no services at all in Al-Qawz. Why did they liberate Khartoum if we’re left for months without basic services or at least make some of it available or provide some help?” she asked.

Her neighbor, Nasser al-Assad, has been displaced five times since the war began but returned to his home on July 26 to find it partially destroyed by shelling. He and his family are struggling to secure basic necessities.

Khartoum hasn’t invested in its rehabilitation and community members worked together to rewire electricity, install solar panels and connect taps to wells in some areas, Khair said.

AP footage this month showed young men in Khartoum taking it upon themselves to clean their neighborhoods. One man was seen clearing the entrance of the Al-Qawz social and sports club, while others swept away charred tree branches, trash and piles of ash.
‘Perfect recipe for organized crime’

Elbalal said a lack of essential infrastructure makes it difficult for people to find jobs, so they are heavily dependent on charity kitchens for food.

“It’s expensive for most people but at the moment most are spending the majority of their income on food because before that wasn’t even possible,” he said. “But they’re not getting the nutritional balance that they need. With the (charity) kitchens and the food they’re able to buy, the food situation is manageable.”

At the height of the conflict, Khartoum Aid Kitchen’s branches across the province served around 4,000 people a day. While that figure is down by half, many still need the kitchens to survive.

Khair said that while returnees to Khartoum are relieved their areas are free of the RSF, they still face insecurity. Acts of robbery, ethnic profiling and illegal occupation of homes continue in the absence of proper civil order and the rule of law.

“The lack of services and increased militarization ... are the perfect recipe for organized crime to take root,” she added.

Hazem Hassan And Fatma Khaled, The Associated Press