Obituaries

Grammy-winning R&B singer D’Angelo has passed away at age 51 following a “prolonged and courageous battle with cancer”, according to a statement from his family.

On Tuesday, his loved ones released a statement announcing his death. “The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life,” it read.

“We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind.”

D’Angelo, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, was best known for his silky vocals during the 1990s and 2000s, with his record Voodoo earning him the 2001 Grammy for Best R&B album.

His hit single from that album, Untitled (How Does It Feel), not only won him another Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, but it also catapulted him into the mainstream spotlight with its steamy music video, featuring a shirtless D’Angelo singing directly to the camera.

The music publication Rolling Stone has ranked Voodoo as one of its best albums of all time.

News of his passing prompted an outpouring of remembrances from fans, including fellow musicians.

“I never met D’Angelo but I love him, respect him, admire his gift. This loss HURTS!!” singer-songwriter Jill Scott wrote on the social media platform X, adding: “R.I.P. GENIUS.”

Another musician, rapper Doja Cat, offered condolences to D’Angelo’s loved ones. She called him “a true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our generation and generations to come”.

In his music, D’Angelo blended hip-hop grit, emphatic soul and gospel-rooted emotion into a sound that helped spearhead the neo-soul movement of the 1990s.

Earlier this year, the Virginia native celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut studio album Brown Sugar, a platinum-selling offering that produced signature hits like Lady.

That 1995 album earned him multiple Grammy nominations and cemented him as one of R&B’s most original new voices.

D’Angelo’s sultry vocal style — a mix of raspy texture and church-bred fluidity — set him apart from his peers. That voice became inseparable from the striking visuals of the Untitled (How Does It Feel) music video.

Its minimalist aesthetic became a cultural touchstone, igniting conversations around artistry, sexuality and vulnerability in Black male representation.

Beyond his own catalogue, D’Angelo’s artistry shone in collaborations. He memorably duetted with Lauryn Hill on the soulful ballad Nothing Even Matters, a highlight of her landmark 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

He also contributed to The Roots’ 1996 album Illadelph Halflife and was part of the supergroup Black Men United, which yielded one song, U Will Know, for the film Jason’s Lyric in 1994. D’Angelo wrote and co-produced the single.

D’Angelo was in a four-year relationship with Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone in the 1990s.

The pair met while he was finishing the album Brown Sugar and bonded over their similar backgrounds: Both are from the South and both grew up in the church. Stone worked on the album with D’Angelo, and the pair co-wrote the song Everyday for her 1999 debut album, Black Diamond.

Stone described D’Angelo as her “musical soul mate” in an interview with The Associated Press in 1999, adding that their working relationship was “like milk and cereal”.

“Musically, it was magic,” Stone said. “It’s something that I have not been able to do with any other producer or musician.”

They had a son together, the artist Swayvo Twain, born Michael Archer Jr. Stone died earlier this year in a car crash. She was 63.

D’Angelo also has a daughter, Imani Archer.

Among the tributes to D’Angelo’s artistry on Tuesday was a social media post from Tyler, the Creator, who reminisced about combing his local music store on his ninth birthday.

“I had $20 in birthday money and my eyes set on leaving with one thing. VOODOO by D’Angelo,” Tyler, the Creator, wrote on Instagram. “I had no idea that would help shape my musical dna.”

“I couldn’t understand how someone could write something so simple but personal but broad but genius,” he continued. “Thats how special he was.”

The actor and musician Jamie Foxx, meanwhile, offered his memories of seeing D’Angelo perform live at the concert venue House of Blues.

“Your voice was silky and flawless,” Foxx wrote on Instagram, addressing the late D’Angelo directly. “I was also in pure awe of your talents…. roaming around on each instrument, displaying your expertise in every note and every song.”

Foxx added that D’Angelo would be missed forever. “That’s why today real tears run down my face.”

Keaton was best known for her roles in Annie Hall, Reds and The Godfather films.

American actress Diane Keaton, known for her Oscar-winning performance in 1977’s Annie Hall and her role in The Godfather films, has died at the age of 79.

Keaton died in California and her loved ones have asked for privacy, a family spokesperson told People magazine on Saturday.

Keaton, who appeared in more than 60 films, stood out in Hollywood with a personal style that favoured androgynous looks: suits, turtleneck sweaters and her trademark hats.

The actress shot to fame in the 1970s with her role as Kay Adams, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy as well as her collaborations with director Woody Allen.

Keaton frequently worked with Allen, portraying the titular character in Annie Hall, the charming girlfriend of Allen’s comic Alvy Singer.

“It was an idealised version of me, let’s put it that way,” Keaton said about the film in an interview with the United States TV network CBS News in 2004.

The film also garnered Oscars for best picture, best director and best original screenplay, cementing Keaton’s place as one of the industry’s top actresses and an offbeat style icon as well.

She made a total of eight films with Allen, including 1979’s Manhattan.

Her star-making performances in the 1970s were not a flash in the pan as she would continue to charm new generations for decades, thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers, with whom she made four films.

A BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, Keaton scored Oscar nominations three other times for best actress for Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.

Her many beloved films included The First Wives Club, Father of the Bride, The Family Stone and the Book Club movies.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles on January 5, 1946, Keaton was romantically involved with Allen, Pacino and Warren Beatty (her Reds costar), but she never married.

“I think I was really afraid of men and also very attracted to extremely talented people that were dazzling,” she told Elle magazine in 2015. “I don’t think that makes for a good marriage with a person like me, someone who just didn’t adjust well.”

Keaton is survived by her two children, Dexter and Duke, whom she adopted in her 50s.

US President Donald Trump to address Arizona service for assassinated ally.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial service in Arizona for Charlie Kirk, the right-wing United States activist and founder of Turning Point USA who was shot dead this month.

The event will take place on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, which seats more than 63,000 people. Organisers said additional space has been arranged nearby to accommodate overflow crowds.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several other Republicans will address the gathering, which Turning Point USA has called Building a Legacy: Remembering Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s widow, Erika, who recently became the organisation’s chief executive, is also expected to speak.

The Department of Homeland Security has classified the service as an event of “the highest national significance”, a designation usually reserved for occasions such as the Super Bowl. Officials said tight security measures are in place due to Trump’s attendance and the political tension surrounding Kirk’s killing.

Kirk, 31, was killed on September 10 during a university event in Utah. Police charged a 22-year-old suspect with murder, saying he carried out the attack alone and killed Kirk because he had “enough of his hate”.

Kirk was a polarising figure who called for the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and whips against immigrants at the US-Mexico border; suggested Islam is a danger to American society; and claimed there was “no factual data to back up global warming”.

The US right-wing viewed Kirk as a major figure in the Trump movement who played a pivotal role in building support for the US president and conservative causes among young people.

Trump has been accused of exploiting Kirk’s murder for political gain by linking the killing to what he calls “left-wing extremism” despite law enforcement dismissing claims of a wider alleged assassination plot. His remarks have drawn criticism from opponents who accused him of inflaming political divisions.

Kirk established Turning Point USA in 2012 at the age of 18. The organisation has grown into one of the largest right-wing groups in the US with influence across high schools, universities and social media platforms.

Redford was a liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, the Sundance Kid.

Robert Redford, the Oscar-winning actor, director and godfather for independent cinema as Sundance founder, has died at the age of 89.

Redford died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved,” publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement Tuesday.

No cause of death was provided.

The iconic actor and director is best known for his acclaimed performances in All the President’s Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The tousled-haired and freckled heartthrob made his breakthrough alongside Paul Newman as the affable outlaw in the hippy Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in 1969.

Redford made hearts beat faster in romantic roles such as “Out of Africa,” got political in “The Candidate” and “All the President’s Men” and skewered his golden-boy image in roles like the alcoholic ex-rodeo champ in “The Electric Horseman” and middle-aged millionaire who offers to buy sex in “Indecent Proposal.”

He never won the best actor Oscar, but his first outing as a director – the 1980 family drama “Ordinary People” – won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

Despite their chemistry and long personal friendship, Redford was never to team up again with Newman, who died in 2008.

“Butch Cassidy” made blue-eyed Redford an overnight star but he never felt comfortable with celebrity or the male starlet image that persisted late into his 60s.

“People have been so busy relating to how I look, it’s a miracle I didn’t become a self-conscious blob of protoplasm. It’s not easy being Robert Redford,” he once told New York magazine.

His wavy blond hair and boyish grin made him the most desired of leading men, but he worked hard to transcend his looks – whether through his political advocacy, his willingness to take on unglamorous roles or his dedication to providing a platform for low-budget movies.

Intensely private, he bought land in remote Utah in the early 1970s for his family retreat and enjoyed a level of privacy unknown to most superstars. He was married for more than 25 years to his first wife, before their divorce in 1985. In 2009, he married for a second time, to German artist and longtime partner Sibylle Szaggars.

He used the millions he made to launch the Sundance Institute and Festival in the 1970s, promoting independent filmmaking long before small and quirky were fashionable. The festival has become one of the most influential independent film showcases in the world.

Redford used his star status to also quietly champion environmental causes such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Wildlife Federation.

“Some people have analysis. I have Utah,” he once remarked.

Although he never showed an interest in entering politics, he often espoused a liberal viewpoint. In a 2017 interview, during the presidency of Donald Trump, he told Esquire magazine that “politics is in a very dark place right now” and that Trump should “quit for our benefit”.

In 2001, Redford won an honorary, or lifetime achievement, Oscar.

British boxing icon Ricky Hatton has died at 46, sparking tributes from across sport.

Former boxing world champion Ricky Hatton has died aged 46, Greater Manchester Police in the United Kingdom have confirmed.

Hatton, who was known to fans as “the Hitman”, was discovered at his home in Hyde, near Manchester, early on Sunday morning. Police said: “Officers were called by a member of the public to attend Bowlacre Road, Hyde, Tameside, at 6:45am [05:45 GMT] today where they found the body of a 46-year-old man. There are not currently believed to be any suspicious circumstances.”

The Manchester-born fighter became one of Britain’s most celebrated boxers, winning world titles at light-welterweight and welterweight. During a 15-year professional career, he secured 45 wins from 48 bouts before retiring in 2012.

Hatton’s death prompted an outpouring of tributes from the sporting world.

Former England and Manchester United midfielder David Beckham posted on Instagram: “Ricky was one of a kind. Just heartbreaking.” Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury wrote: “RIP to the legend Ricky Hatton. There will only ever be one Ricky Hatton. Can’t believe this – so young.”

Football figures also paid respect to the lifelong Manchester City supporter. Before City’s Premier League match against Manchester United on Sunday, the Etihad Stadium held a minute’s applause, with fans chanting his name.

City manager Pep Guardiola described him as “a true champion” and “part of the Man City family”. Wayne Rooney, who once carried Hatton’s belts into the ring, said on X that he was “devastated”, calling him “a legend, a warrior and a great person”.

Hatton’s career featured memorable victories over Kostya Tszyu and Jose Luis Castillo, while his only defeats came against boxing greats Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

In recent years, Hatton remained close to the sport. He attempted a comeback in 2012, fought in an exhibition with Marco Antonio Barrera in 2022, and earlier this year announced plans to face Eisa Al Dah in Dubai. He also spoke openly about his battles with depression and featured in the 2023 documentary Hatton, which explored his personal struggles and mental health.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States has confirmed that one of its most famous space explorers, Jim Lovell, has died at age 97.

In a statement on Friday, Transportation Secretary and NASA administrator Sean Duffy confirmed that Lovell passed away at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Lovell is perhaps most famous for his 1968 voyage on the Apollo 8 space flight, which made history as the first voyage to take human beings past the Earth’s gravitational field and around the moon.

For that flight, which took more than six days to complete, Lovell served as command module pilot, alongside astronauts Frank Borman II and William Anders. They circled the moon 10 times before returning to Earth.

Lovell was the last surviving crew member from that flight.

He also was a key figure on the doomed 1970 Apollo 13 flight, which was meant to conduct the third lunar landing.

But the flight met disaster when its oxygen tank exploded in space, endangering all on board. It was unclear whether Lovell, the most experienced astronaut on the flight, and his two colleagues, John Swigert Jr and Fred Haise Jr, would return from the voyage alive.

As mission commander, however, Lovell helped steer their lunar module back to Earth in a death-defying splashdown. It was his last space flight, and he has been praised for his calm under pressure.

“Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success,” Duffy said.

“From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.”

We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran.

Lovell’s life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyond—a journey that continues today. https://t.co/AjT8qmxsZI pic.twitter.com/jBlxzgrmSk

— NASA (@NASA) August 8, 2025

Known by the nickname Smilin’ Jim, Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1928.

He began his aviation career in the 1950s as part of the US Navy, where he completed a four-year tour of duty as a test pilot in Maryland. During his naval service, he logged more than 7,000 hours of flying time.

Then, in 1962, he was selected by NASA to be an astronaut. His first space flight took place as part of the Gemini project, a series of flights designed to improve space travel in order to pave the way for the later Apollo moon missions.

At first, Lovell was a backup pilot for Gemini 4. But he got his break with the Gemini 7 mission in 1965, which was only the 12th crewed flight the US had sent to space by that point.

He was paired with Borman, his future Apollo 8 colleague, for that launch, and together, they made a rendezvous in space with Gemini 6 — a first-time feat for two crewed flights.

Lovell was also on the spacecraft for the final mission of the project, Gemini 12, which paired him with Buzz Aldrin, then a rookie.

With the Gemini missions complete, NASA turned its attention to putting a man on the moon.

Lovell and his colleagues on Apollo 8 helped make that possible, with NASA dubbing the circumnavigation “man’s maiden voyage to the moon”.

“We could actually see the Earth start to shrink,” Lovell would later tell the TV channel CSPAN. “It reminds me of being in a car, looking out the back window, going inside a tunnel and seeing the tunnel entrance shrink as you go farther into the tunnel. It was quite a sensation to think about.”

“You had to pinch yourself: Hey, we’re really going to the moon.”

In 1969, Apollo 11 would make good on the promise of Lovell’s mission, achieving the first successful moon landing of a crewed flight. Lovell’s former colleague Aldrin joined Neil Armstrong in being the first human beings to plant a foot on the moon.

Lovell was meant to land on the moon himself. He was 42 at the time of his flight with Apollo 13, which was likewise charged with completing a lunar landing.

But two days into the 10-day mission, the crew heard an explosion. “OK, Houston,” Lovell’s colleague Swigert radioed back to Earth, coining a famous phrase. “We’ve had a problem here.”

Lovell communicated that the spacecraft was “venting something out into” space. That turned out to be oxygen leaking out of an exploded tank. Another tank remained, but it was damaged, as were the fuel cells. That, in turn, risked leaving the astronauts without electricity.

The fate of the three astronauts on board the Apollo 13 mission, including Lovell, captured international attention.

The crew ultimately transformed their lunar module into a “lifeboat” and faced dangerous levels of carbon dioxide as they looped around the moon to boomerang back to Earth.

Lovell ultimately co-wrote a book about his experience, Lost Moon, and the American actor Tom Hanks played him in a 1995 film adaptation, called Apollo 13.

Lovell himself made a cameo appearance opposite Hanks.

During his final days, Lovell met with Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, who wrote about the meeting on social media.

“Yesterday, I was honored to meet one of my personal heroes, Navy Veteran and astronaut Jim Lovell,” Collins said. “Jim’s remarkable leadership during the historic Apollo 13 mission is an inspiration to all!”

Upon learning of Lovell’s death, Collins joined in the outpouring of condolences: “Astronaut and Navy Veteran Jim Lovell was a legend, plain and simple.”

Lovell is survived by his four children.

Myint Swe headed Myanmar as president from 2021 to 2024 following the military’s power grab.

Myint Swe, who has served as Myanmar’s military-backed president, has died aged 74 after a long medical leave, according to state media.

The news of his death was announced on Thursday in a statement from the government.

“President U Myint Swe passed away at 8:28am this morning,” the statement said, adding that Myint Swe will receive a state funeral.

A former general, Myint Swe became president of Myanmar in 2021 when the military overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Before the military takeover, he held several senior leadership posts, including the post of first vice president during a period of semi-democratic rule that ended in 2021.

The coup handed power to Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s military, with Myint Swe serving as a figurehead leader carrying out ceremonial duties.

Min Aung Hlaing stepped in as “acting president” of Myanmar last year when Myint Swe went on medical leave due to the effects of Parkinson’s disease, according to reports.

At the time of his death, Myint Swe was struggling with “weight loss, loss of appetite, fever and a decline in cognitive function” and had been admitted to a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, according to state media.

His death comes just a week after military leader Min Aung Hlaing lifted a state of emergency in the country amid a grinding civil war and called for elections to be held in December.

While the military also nominally transferred authority to a civilian-led interim government in advance of the vote, observers say the change was on paper only, and Min Aung Hlaing has retained ultimate power as head of the armed forces.

Efforts to hold elections are seen as an attempt by the military government to gain legitimacy and de-escalate years of violent political turmoil that have engulfed the country since it grabbed power.

Opposition groups have pledged to boycott the poll.

Myanmar has been in a state of civil war since 2021, when pro-democracy protests escalated into a violent uprising, later compounded by the entry of armed ethnic groups.

The military-backed government has since lost control of large sections of the country.

Estimates in 2024 suggested that it controlled only one-fifth of the country, although the military-held areas include major urban areas.

The country bid farewell to Buhari with military honours and honorific chants of ‘Sai Baba’.

Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari was buried in the backyard of his home in Daura, a town in the northern Katsina state, as supporters climbed trees and shouted “Sai Baba” to bid farewell to the 82-year-old.

A military parade and 21-gun salute honoured the former president on Tuesday at the airport before his body was transported 80km (50 miles) to Daura, where crowds surged to catch a final glimpse as the casket was lowered into the ground.

Buhari died on Sunday in a London hospital following an undisclosed illness. His coffin, wrapped in Nigeria’s green and white flag, was flown into Katsina and met by President Bola Tinubu, senior government officials, and mourners.

Buhari, who first seized power in a 1983 military coup and ruled for less than two years, returned to lead Africa’s most populous country as a civilian after defeating Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election. He served two terms until stepping down in 2023.

President Tinubu declared seven days of national mourning and a public holiday to honour Buhari’s legacy.

While Buhari’s presidency saw some achievements in infrastructure and anti-corruption efforts, his time in office was also marked by economic downturns, worsening insecurity, and a prolonged crisis in Nigeria’s oil sector.

Still, many in northern Nigeria viewed him as a principled and austere leader who tried to steer the country through turbulent times.

Supporters, some in tears, chanted as the casket disappeared from view, marking the end of an era for a man both revered and criticised.

Buhari leaves behind a mixed legacy

Known for his austere style and fiery rhetoric against corruption, Buhari was seen by his supporters as a reformer. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,” he often declared, seeking to position himself above Nigeria’s entrenched political factions.

Yet his presidency struggled to contain rising insecurity. While he promised to defeat Boko Haram and restore order, armed violence spread far beyond the northeast. Gunmen, separatists, and criminal groups operated with impunity across large parts of the country by the end of his tenure.

Still, Buhari leaves behind a legacy as a symbol of democratic change in Nigeria, even if the transformation he promised remained incomplete.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from London following Buhari’s death over the weekend, Alexis Akwagyiram, managing editor at Semafor Africa and a longtime observer of Nigerian politics, said Buhari will be remembered for achieving what many thought impossible: winning power as an opposition candidate.

“He was the first opposition candidate since the return to civilian rule to win at the ballot box,” Akwagyiram said, referencing Buhari’s 2015 victory over Jonathan. “History will remember him favourably for that.”

Yet Akwagyiram was blunt about the failings that marked Buhari’s time in office. He described the former general as “very ineffective” in managing Nigeria’s economy, citing his insistence on maintaining a strong naira, which led to a convoluted system of multiple exchange rates and two recessions during his tenure.

Despite the criticisms, Akwagyiram highlighted why Buhari resonated so strongly with many Nigerians. “He had the personal brand of integrity and honesty,” he said. “In a political climate renowned for corruption, that was appealing.”

Buhari’s austere image and northern support base helped him build a national coalition that twice propelled him to the presidency, a rare feat in Nigerian politics.

“He didn’t try to enrich himself,” Akwagyiram said. “That’s something history will look on favourably.”

Buhari, remembered for an anti-corruption drive and faltering economy, leaves behind a contentious legacy.

Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari has died in London at the age of 82 following a long illness.

“President Buhari died today in London at about 4:30pm (15:30 GMT) following a prolonged illness,” President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson announced on Sunday via the social media platform X.

Buhari made history in 2015 when he became the first opposition candidate in Nigeria’s modern era to defeat a sitting president at the polls, unseating Goodluck Jonathan in what was widely praised as the country’s most credible election.

A retired major general, Buhari first ruled Nigeria in the 1980s after taking power in a military coup. He later rebranded himself as a civilian politician, adopting a softer image in flowing kaftans and declaring himself a “converted democrat”.

Known for his austere style and fiery rhetoric against corruption, Buhari was seen by his supporters as a reformer. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,” he often declared, seeking to position himself above Nigeria’s entrenched political factions.

Yet his presidency struggled to contain rising insecurity. While he promised to defeat Boko Haram and restore order, armed violence spread far beyond the northeast. Gunmen, separatists, and criminal groups operated with impunity across large parts of the country by the end of his tenure.

Still, Buhari leaves behind a legacy as a symbol of democratic change in Nigeria, even if the transformation he promised remained incomplete.

A mixed legacy

Buhari is being remembered as both a pivotal figure in the country’s democratic evolution and a deeply flawed leader when it came to economic management and security.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from London, Alexis Akwagyiram, managing editor at Semafor and a longtime observer of Nigerian politics, said Buhari will be remembered for achieving what many thought impossible: winning power as an opposition candidate.

“He was the first opposition candidate since the return to civilian rule to win at the ballot box,” Akwagyiram said, referencing Buhari’s 2015 victory over Jonathan. “History will remember him favourably for that.”

Yet Akwagyiram was blunt about the failings that marked Buhari’s time in office. He described the former general as “very ineffective” in managing Nigeria’s economy, citing his insistence on maintaining a strong naira, which led to a convoluted system of multiple exchange rates and two recessions during his tenure.

“His handling of the economy wasn’t great,” Akwagyiram noted, pointing to his fallout with former Niger Delta insurgents that led to renewed attacks on oil infrastructure. Combined with low global oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, these factors pushed Nigeria – once Africa’s largest economy – down to fourth place.

On security, Buhari’s record was equally disappointing, Akwagyiram said. Although elected with a promise to crack down on Boko Haram, an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast only expanded under his leadership. A rival faction, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP), also emerged and spread, while armed kidnapping gangs flourished in the northwest.

“All that happened was Boko Haram and ISWAP both proliferated under his tenure,” Akwagyiram said. “The armed forces were spread thin across the country and became weakened overall.”

Despite the criticisms, Akwagyiram highlighted why Buhari resonated so strongly with many Nigerians. “He had the personal brand of integrity and honesty,” he said. “In a political climate renowned for corruption, that was appealing.”

Buhari’s austere image and northern support base helped him build a national coalition that twice propelled him to the presidency, a rare feat in Nigerian politics.

“He didn’t try to enrich himself,” Akwagyiram said. “That’s something history will look on favourably.”

The football world has paid tribute to Diogo Jota and his brother, who died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday. Liverpool FC fans gathered outside Anfield to mourn his death. The 28-year-old had recently married and was the father of three children.

Maksym Ustimenko’s aircraft shot down seven air targets before losing altitude and crashing, the air force says.

Ukraine has lost an F-16 aircraft and its pilot while repelling a Russian missile and drone strike, according to the war-torn country’s air force.

After shooting down seven air targets, the plane was damaged and lost altitude overnight, the Ukrainian military said in a statement published on Telegram on Sunday.

“This night, while repelling a massive enemy air attack, a pilot of the 1st class, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16 aircraft,” it said.

In a separate statement, the air force said Russia launched 537 projectiles against Ukraine, including Shahed drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukraine claimed to have intercepted 475 of them.

According to the Kyiv Independent newspaper, the sound of explosions and strikes was reported in multiple areas across the country, including in southern Mykolaiv, southeastern Zaporizhia and western Lviv.

Ihor Taburets, the governor of central Ukraine’s Cherkasy region, said at least six people were injured and civilian infrastructure was damaged in attacks. Three multistorey buildings and a college were damaged in the attack, he said.

Industrial facilities were hit in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv and the central Dnipropetrovsk region, officials say. Local authorities published photos of high-rise residential buildings with charred walls and broken windows, and rescuers evacuating people.

In Russia, the Ministry of Defence said its forces destroyed three Ukrainian drones in the border regions of Kursk and Rostov, and in Ukraine’s annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The latest wave of violence comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he intended to scale back military expenditure and also indicated he was ready for a new round of peace negotiations with Ukraine.

In the past months, Moscow and Kyiv have sent delegations twice to the Turkish city of Istanbul for peace talks, but have made no progress towards ending the conflict, which started after Russia invaded its neighbour more than three years ago.

However, both sides agreed upon and showed cooperation on prisoners’ swap.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Governor Walz calls shooting attacks in US on Minnesota lawmakers an act of ‘targeted political violence’.

A top Democratic state leader, and former House speaker, and her husband were shot and killed in Minnesota, and a second lawmaker and his wife were wounded, in what appear to be politically motivated assassination attempts in the United States, local officials say.

Melissa Hortman and her spouse were killed in an “act of targeted political violence,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said on Saturday during a news conference.

The shootings come at a time of great political polarisation in the US, at a time when political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated.

US President Donald Trump said in a White House statement that the FBI would join in the investigation. “Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the FBI, are investigating the situation, and they will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”

An investigation is ongoing while police are still hunting the person believed to be the assailant, Walz said. Officials said the suspect was dressed as a law enforcement officer.

“An unspeakable tragedy has unfolded in Minnesota – my good friend and colleague, Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, were shot and killed early this morning in what appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” he told reporters. “Our state lost a great leader,” he said.

Walz said that in a second attack, Senator John Hoffman and his wife, of Champlin, were shot multiple times, underwent surgery and that he was “cautiously optimistic” that they would survive “this assassination attempt.”

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said that authorities were actively searching for a suspect.

Autopsies will be done to determine the extent of injuries, but Hortman and her spouse died from gunshot wounds, Evans said.

Hoffman, a Democrat, was first elected in 2012. He runs Hoffman Strategic Advisors, a consulting firm. He previously served as vice chair of the Anoka Hennepin School Board, which manages the largest school district in Minnesota. Hoffman is married and has one daughter.

Hortman is the top House Democratic leader in the state Legislature and a former House speaker. She was first elected in 2004. Hortman, a lawyer, is married and has two children.

Both Hoffman and Hortman represent districts located north of Minneapolis.

GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organisation led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released the following statement.

“I am horrified and heartbroken by last night’s attack on two patriotic public servants,” Giffords said.

“My family and I know the horror of a targeted shooting all too well. An attack against lawmakers is an attack on American democracy itself. Leaders must speak out and condemn the fomenting violent extremism that threatens everything this country stands for.”

Giffords was shot in the head in 2011 by a gunman who killed six people and injured 12 others. She stepped down from Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery.

Approached by Britain’s MI6 while reporting on Nigeria’s Biafra War, he mined his experiences for literary inspiration.

Best-selling British novelist Frederick Forsyth, author of about 20 spy thrillers, has died at the age of 86.

Forsyth, who was a reporter and informant for Britain’s MI6 spy agency before turning his hand to writing blockbuster novels like The Day of the Jackal, died on Monday at his home in the village of Jordans in Buckinghamshire, said Jonathan Lloyd, his agent.

“We mourn the passing of one of the world’s greatest thriller writers,” Lloyd said of the author, who started writing novels to clear his debts in his early 30s, going on to sell more than 75 million books.

“There are several ways of making quick money, but in the general list, writing a novel rates well below robbing a bank,” he said in his 2015 autobiography, The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue.

The gamble paid off after he penned The Day of the Jackal – his story of a fictional assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle by right-wing extremists – in just 35 days.

The novel met immediate success when it came out in 1971. It was later turned into a film and led to Venezuelan revolutionary Illich Ramirez Sanchez being nicknamed Carlos the Jackal.

Forsyth went on to write a string of bestsellers, including The Odessa File (1972) and The Dogs of War (1974). His 18th novel, The Fox, was published in 2018.

Forsyth trained as an air force pilot, but his linguistic talents – he spoke French, German, Spanish and Russian – led him to the Reuters news agency in 1961 with postings in Paris and East Berlin during the Cold War.

He left Reuters for the BBC but soon became disillusioned by its bureaucracy and what he saw as the corporation’s failure to cover Nigeria properly due to the government’s postcolonial views on Africa.

His autobiography revealed how he became a spy, the author recounting that he was approached by “Ronnie” from MI6 in 1968, who wanted “an asset deep inside the Biafran enclave” in Nigeria, where civil war had broken out the year before.

In 1973, Forsyth was asked to conduct a mission for MI6 in communist East Germany, driving his Triumph convertible to Dresden to receive a package from a Russian colonel in the toilets of the Albertinum museum.

The writer said he was never paid by MI6 but in return received help with his book research and submitted draft pages to ensure he was not divulging sensitive information.

In his later years, Forsyth turned his attention to politics, delivering withering, right-wing takes on the modern world in columns for the anti-European Union Daily Express.

Divorced from Carole Cunningham in 1988, he married Sandy Molloy in 1994. He lost a fortune in an investment scam in the 1980s and had to write more novels to support himself.

He had two sons, Stuart and Shane, with his first wife.

Ngugi’s work critiqued both British colonialism in Kenya and postcolonial Kenyan society.

Renowned Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o has died at age 87, his family members have announced.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o,” his daughter Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

“He lived a full life, fought a good fight,” she said.

At the time of his death, Ngugi was reportedly receiving kidney dialysis treatments, but his immediate cause of death is still unknown.

Born in Kenya in 1938, Ngugi will be remembered as one of Africa’s most important postcolonial writers. Formative events in Ngugi’s early life included the brutal Mau Mau war that swept British-ruled Kenya in the 1950s.

Ngugi’s work was equally critical of the British colonial era and the postcolonial society that followed Kenya’s independence in 1963. Other topics in his work covered the intersection between language, culture, history, and identity.

Ngugi made a mark for himself in the 1970s when he decided to switch from writing in English to the Kikuyu and Swahili languages – a controversial decision at the time.

“We all thought he was mad… and brave at the same time,” Kenyan writer David Maillu told the AFP news agency.

“We asked ourselves who would buy the books.”

One of his most famous works, “Decolonising the Mind”, was published in 1986 while living abroad. The book argues that it is “impossible to liberate oneself while using the language of oppressors”, AFP reports.

Besides holding the position of acclaimed writer, Ngugi was a prisoner of conscience. In 1977, he was jailed in Kenya for staging a play deemed critical of contemporary society.

He once described the country’s new elite class as “the death of hopes, the death of dreams and the death of beauty”.

In 1982, Ngugi went into self-imposed exile in the UK following a ban on theatre groups and performances in his home country. He later moved to the US, where he worked as a professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine. He also continued writing a range of works, including essays, memoirs and novels about Kenya.

Following news of Ngugi’s death, praise for his life and work quickly appeared online.

“My condolences to the family and friends of Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o, a renowned literary giant and scholar, a son of the soil and great patriot whose footprints are indelible,” Kenya’s opposition leader Martha Karua wrote on X.

“Thank you Mwalimu [teacher] for your freedom writing,” wrote Amnesty International’s Kenya branch on X. “Having already earned his place in Kenyan history, he transitions from mortality to immortality.”

Margaretta wa Gacheru, a sociologist and former student of Ngugi, said the author was a national icon.

“To me, he’s like a Kenyan Tolstoy, in the sense of being a storyteller, in the sense of his love of the language and panoramic view of society, his description of the landscape of social relations, of class and class struggles,” she said.

Colombo, Sri Lanka — As a girl, when Srimathi Mallika Kaluarachchi would go to the cinema with her family, and a man on the screen would hit the character played by superstar Malini Fonseka, Kaluarachchi would cry.

Then she would turn to her father in desperation. “We used to scream at the screen, telling our father to save her,” Kaluarachchi, now 68, recalled. “That was how much we loved her.”

On Monday, Kaluarachchi joined thousands of fans in bidding a final goodbye to Fonseka, who died on May 24 at the age of 78 while receiving treatment in hospital. Neither Fonseka’s family nor the hospital has publicly revealed the nature of her illness. One of the country’s most popular actresses, Fonseka was widely regarded as the queen of Sri Lankan cinema.

She was cremated with full state honours, as fans dressed in the mourning colour of white flocked to Colombo’s Independence Square to catch a glimpse of her coffin before she was cremated. Songs from Fonseka’s films were played while a projector drone flew above the crowd, displaying a montage of scenes from across her career.

Describing Fonseka as “a true icon of Sri Lankan cinema whose grace and talent inspired generations”, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that “her legacy will forever shine in our hearts and on our screens”.

A trailblazer

Fonseka, who starred in more than 140 films, had a career in Sinhala cinema spanning more than five decades.

“Whenever we saw her, we’d forget all the pain we had in our hearts,” said Kaluarachchi, wiping away tears. “Now, we know films aren’t real, but when we were children, we didn’t realise.”

Fonseka was special, Kaluarachchi said, because of the way she represented how everyday people experienced love and, often, the violence that comes with it for women in patriarchal societies.

Fonseka started her career as a stage actress before making her film debut with the 1968 film Punchi Baba.

Her popularity peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, as she collaborated with renowned directors, including Lester James Peries and Dharmasena Pathiraja.

Many of her most famous roles shared a common theme: the struggles of women in a male-dominated society. She played a wife murdered by her husband in the film Nidhanaya (1972), a college student in a complicated relationship in Thushara (1973), a village girl hounded by male attention in Eya Dan Loku Lamayek (1975), and a girl from a rural fishing village enticed by the big city lifestyle, in Bambaru Avith (1978).

This success continued into the 1980s, when she also expanded into directorial ventures, including in the films Sasara Chethana (1984) and Ahimsa (1987).

‘A bridge’ across generations

She also starred in the first Indian-Sri Lankan co-production Pilot Premnath in 1978, opposite legendary Indian Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan.

“She never limited herself to one category. She was in commercial cinema and arthouse cinema,” said 27-year-old teacher Prabuddhika Kannagara. “She played a village girl, a young girl, a married woman, a mother, and even a grandmother. She represented women across all generations.”

Kannagara was one of the last mourners at the funeral, sitting and watching as sparks emanated from the white cloth tower in the square, specially erected for Fonseka’s cremation, according to Buddhist rituals.

She told Al Jazeera that Fonseka had acted as a “bridge” across various eras of cinema, from black-and-white to digital, and had remained a star not only for her mother’s generation, but also for her own.

Fonseka was a five-time Best Actress winner at Sri Lanka’s Presidential Film Awards. Her most recent win was in 2006 for her role in Ammawarune, a film she also directed. She also won international accolades at the Moscow International Film Festival and the New Delhi Film Festival.

She became Sri Lanka’s first female television drama director in the 1980s, a time when women’s participation behind the camera was unusual. Fonseka also had a short-lived foray into politics, serving as a member of Sri Lanka’s parliament from 2010 to 2015 under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Film critic and journalist Anuradha Kodagoda told Al Jazeera that Fonseka was “rare and unique in Sri Lankan cinema” for the range of characters she played.

Petite and fair, with an oval face and soft features, Fonseka was a “pioneer” in representing working-class women onscreen, and “represented the beauty idol for Sri Lankan women”, said Kodagoda.

“She portrayed her characters very organically and authentically. That is the magic of it, I think,” Kodagoda said.

‘There will be no other queens’

Many mourners, some of whom travelled long distances to attend the funeral, recalled moments when they had met or spoken with Fonseka.

“She was a role model for us. We saw her as an example when we went to the cinema,” said 56-year-old jam factory worker Pushpa Hemalatha. “She wasn’t arrogant. We loved her when we were young.”

Fonseka’s final acting performance was in the 2024 music video Eya Wasanathaya Nowe, playing an elderly woman remembering her deceased husband.

Ivanka Peiris, an actress and musician who acted with her in the TV drama Hithuwakkara, told Al Jazeera that Fonseka was “very empowering” as a role model for women, and “everything” for younger actresses in the industry.

And, she said, Fonseka would never be replaced.

“She’s the queen. That’s it,” Peiris said. “There will be no other queens in Sri Lanka. She will be the first and the last.”

Known for sweeping black-and-white photography that captured the natural world and marginalised communities, Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has passed away at age 81.

His death was confirmed on Friday by the nonprofit he and his wife Lelia Deluiz Wanick Salgado founded, the Instituto Terra.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Sebastiao Salgado, our founder, mentor and eternal source of inspiration,” the institute wrote in a statement.

“Sebastiao was much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time. Alongside his life partner, Lelia Deluiz Wanick Salgado, he sowed hope where there was devastation and brought to life the belief that environmental restoration is also a profound act of love for humanity.

“His lens revealed the world and its contradictions; his life, the power of transformative action.”

Salgado’s upbringing would prove to be the inspiration for some of his work. Born in 1944 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, he saw one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, the Atlantic Forest, recede from the land he grew up on, as the result of development.

He and his wife spent part of the last decades of their life working to restore the forest and protect it from further threats.

But Salgado was best known for his epic photography, which captured the exploitation of both the environment and people. His pictures were marked by their depth and texture, each black-and-white frame a multilayered world of tension and struggle.

In one recent photography collection, entitled Exodus, he portrayed populations across the world taking on migrations big and small. One shot showed a crowded boat packed with migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Another showed refugees in Zaire balancing buckets and jugs above their heads, as they trekked to retrieve water for their camp.

Salgado himself was no stranger to fleeing hardship. A trained economist, he and his wife left Brazil in 1969, near the start of a nearly two-decade-long military dictatorship.

By 1973, he had begun to dedicate himself to photography full time. After working several years with France-based photography agencies, he joined the cooperative Magnum Photos, where he would become one of its most celebrated artists.

His work would draw him back to Brazil in the late 1980s, where he would embark on one of his most famous projects: photographing the backbreaking conditions at the Serra Pelada gold mine, near the mouth of the Amazon River.

Through his lens, global audiences saw thousands of men climbing rickety wooden ladders out of the crater they were carving. Sweat made their clothes cling to their skin. Heavy bundles were slung over their backs. And the mountainside around them was jagged with the ridges they had chipped away at.

“He had shot the story in his own time, spending his own money,” his agent Neil Burgess wrote in the British Journal of Photography.

Burgess explained that Salgado “spent around four weeks living and working alongside the mass of humanity that had flooded in, hoping to strike it rich” at the gold mine.

“Salgado had used a complex palette of techniques and approaches: landscape, portraiture, still life, decisive moments and general views,” Burgess said in his essay.

“He had captured images in the midst of violence and danger, and others at sensitive moments of quiet and reflection. It was a romantic, narrative work that engaged with its immediacy, but had not a drop of sentimentality. It was astonishing, an epic poem in photographic form.”

When photos from the series were published in The Sunday Times Magazine, Burgess said the reaction was so great that his phone would not stop ringing.

Critics, however, accused Salgado during his career of glamourising poverty, with some calling his style an “aesthetic of misery”.

But Salgado pushed back on that assessment in a 2024 interview with The Guardian. “Why should the poor world be uglier than the rich world? The light here is the same as there. The dignity here is the same as there.”

In 2014, one of his sons, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, partnered with the German filmmaker Wim Wenders to film a documentary about Salgado’s life, called The Salt of the Earth.

One of his last major photography collections was Amazonia, which captured the Amazon rainforest and its people. While some viewers criticised his depiction of Indigenous peoples in the series, Salgado defended his work as a vision of the region’s vitality.

“To show this pristine place, I photograph Amazonia alive, not the dead Amazonia,” he told The Guardian in 2021, after the collection’s release.

As news of Salgado’s death spread on Friday, artists and public figures offered their remembrances of the photographer and his work. Among the mourners was Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, who offered a tribute on social media.

“His discontent with the fact that the world is so unequal and his obstinate talent in portraying the reality of the oppressed always served as a wake-up call for the conscience of all humanity,” Lula wrote.

“Salgado did not only use his eyes and his camera to portray people: He also used the fullness of his soul and his heart. For this very reason, his work will continue to be a cry for solidarity. And a reminder that we are all equal in our diversity.”

Jose “Pepe” Mujica, a former leftist rebel who became Uruguay’s president from 2010 to 2015, has died at the age of 89.

Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi announced his death in a social media post on Tuesday. Mujica had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2024.

“It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of our comrade Pepe Mujica,” Orsi wrote. “Thank you for everything you gave us and for your deep love for your people.”

Mujica became an icon even beyond Uruguay’s borders, as he led his country to pursue environmental reforms, legalise same-sex marriage and loosen restrictions on marijuana.

He also was celebrated for maintaining his simple lifestyle even during his presidency, when he eschewed the presidential palace in favour of the farmhouse where he grew flowers. He told Al Jazeera in 2022 that such opulence can “divorce” presidents from their people.

“I believe that politicians should live like the majority of their people, not like how the privileged minority lives,” Mujica explained.

News of Mujica’s death has been met with tributes from around the world, particularly from figures on the Latin American left.

“We deeply regret the passing of our beloved Pepe Mujica, an example to Latin America and the entire world for his wisdom, foresight, and simplicity,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on social media.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric, meanwhile, remembered Mujica’s optimism in a post of his own.

“If you left us anything, it was the unquenchable hope that things can be done better,” he wrote.

For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro offered a tribute to Mujica that doubled as a call for greater collaboration and integration across Latin America.

“Goodbye, friend,” Petro wrote in the wake of Mujica’s passing, as he envisioned a more unified region. “I hope that Latin America will one day have an anthem.”

Mujica became a symbol to a generation of political leaders helping to steer their countries out of military dictatorships during the latter half of the 20th century. Like Petro, Mujica was likewise a former rebel fighter.

As a young man in the 1960s, he led armed fighters as part of the far-left Tupamaros movement, which was known for robbing banks, taking over towns and even exchanging gunfire with local police.

Mujica was arrested multiple times and spent nearly a decade in solitary confinement, in a prison where he endured torture.

A government crackdown on the left-wing fighters helped pave the way for a coup in 1973, followed by a brutal military dictatorship that perpetrated human rights abuses like forced disappearances. But in 1985, Uruguay began its transition to democracy, and Mujica and other rebel fighters were released under an amnesty law.

He started to become a force in Uruguay’s politics, joining the Frente Amplio or Broad Front, a centre-left coalition with other former fighters.

After he was elected president at age 74, Mujica staked out progressive stances on civil liberties and social issues including abortion and gay marriage, and he even pushed for the legalisation of marijuana. He also emphasised the development of green energy practices, putting Uruguay at the forefront of addressing the climate crisis.

His long-term partner Lucia Topolansky, whom he met during his time with the Tupamaros, was also politically active, and she served as his vice president after they were married in 2005.

While president, Mujica famously shunned the presidential residence and remained at his flower farm on the outskirts of the capital of Montevideo. He also drove a weathered blue Volkswagen Beetle, one of his trademarks. His modest lifestyle led some to dub him the “world’s poorest president”.

“We elect a president, and it’s as if they’re a candidate to be king, someone with a court, a red carpet, who has to live in a fancy palace,” he told Al Jazeera in 2022, before adding with characteristic bluntness: “Don’t blame the pig, but those who scratch his back.”

Mujica remained a prominent public figure even after leaving the presidency, attending the inauguration of political leaders across Latin America and offering support to candidates in Uruguay, among them Orsi, who was elected in 2024.

“The problem is that the world is run by old people, who forget what they were like when they were young,” Mujica said during a 2024 interview with the news agency Reuters.

Mujica was informed in September 2024 that radiation treatment had effectively targeted cancer of the esophagus, but a doctor reported in January 2025 that the cancer had returned and spread to his liver.

The former rebel and president did not seem overly concerned.

“Honestly, I’m dying,” Mujica told the weekly magazine Busqueda in what he said would be his last interview. “A warrior has the right to rest.”