Foreign Affairs

At least 34 workers have been confirmed dead following a methane gas explosion at a coal mine in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, authorities said. The blast occurred on Thursday at a mine near the provincial capital, triggering a rescue operation that continued into the night. In a statement issued early Friday, the Balochistan Provincial Disaster Management Authority said rescue teams had recovered 34 bodies from the site. “According to information received from the deployed teams, 34 dead bodies have been recovered,” the agency said. It added that rescue efforts were still ongoing to locate and recover other miners believed to be trapped underground, although officials did not disclose the total number of workers in the mine at the time of the explosion. Authorities said the explosion was caused by a buildup of methane gas, a common hazard in underground coal mining. Mining accidents are frequent in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, where poor safety standards and hazardous working conditions have contributed to recurring fatalities. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area, remains the country’s least developed region, with persistent challenges in education, employment and economic development despite its abundant natural resources.

Russian authorities have declared Telegram founder Pavel Durov wanted, accusing him of allowing the messaging platform to be used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies and extremist groups. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Telegram’s management failed to remove several channels, group chats and bots allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence operatives, as well as terrorist and extremist organisations. The FSB claimed that Ukrainian security agencies exploited a Telegram dating chatbot to lure and recruit Russian citizens for what it described as sabotage and terrorist activities. The agency said 46 users of the chatbot, aged between 12 and 22, have been arrested across Russia over the past year on allegations including attacks on law enforcement officers, arson and other criminal offences. Based on the allegations, the FSB announced that Durov has been placed on an international wanted list. Shortly after the announcement, Telegram’s official account on X posted an image of Durov raising his middle finger, a gesture widely interpreted as a response to the accusations. Durov, 41, has previously accused Russian authorities of fabricating reasons to restrict citizens’ access to Telegram. Telegram remains one of the most widely used messaging platforms in Russia, with tens of millions of users. However, the Russian government has increasingly tightened restrictions on the app while promoting MAX, a state-backed “super app,” as an alternative. Telegram also has a large user base in Ukraine. Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing government demands to shut down opposition groups on the platform. Before launching Telegram, he founded VKontakte (VK), Russia’s largest social networking site, often described as the country’s equivalent of Facebook.

The United States has announced a major restructuring of its visa operations across Africa, ending routine visa services at its embassy in Abuja and 24 other diplomatic missions from August 1, 2026. The US Department of State said the move is part of a broader effort to strengthen national security, reduce government spending, and standardise visa screening, vetting and adjudication processes across its overseas missions. In a statement, the department said the realignment reflects the Trump administration’s commitment to prioritising the safety of Americans while ensuring US diplomatic resources are used more efficiently. “The Department of State is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to advance America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible. This includes a visa process that maintains rigorous standards of security screening and vetting and aligns resources and operational capacity with America’s national interests,” the statement said. It added that protecting Americans remains the administration’s highest priority and assured that embassies and consulates worldwide would continue providing appropriate consular services. Besides Abuja, routine visa services will also be discontinued at US diplomatic missions in Asmara, Bamako, Banjul, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Conakry, Cotonou, Durban, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Juba, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru, Mbabane, N’Djamena, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou and Windhoek. The State Department clarified that the operational status of the affected embassies and consulates remains unchanged and that they will continue carrying out their diplomatic and consular responsibilities. It also stressed that the policy does not affect visas that have already been issued. The realignment covers several immigrant visa categories, including immediate relative (IR), family preference (FP), employment-based (EB), fiancé(e) (K) visas, adoption cases, diversity visas and follow-to-join asylee and refugee (V92/V93) applications. According to the department, similar regional hub arrangements have already been successfully implemented in parts of Africa and Europe. Meanwhile, routine visa processing will continue at designated US embassies and consulates, including Lagos, Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Johannesburg, Kampala, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, Monrovia, Nairobi, Port Louis, Praia and Yaoundé. These hub locations will handle all routine non-immigrant visas, including tourist, business and petition-based applications, as well as immigrant visa services. The State Department noted that existing visa restrictions imposed under Presidential Proclamation 10998, visa bond requirements and pauses on immigrant visas for certain nationalities remain in effect. Applicants from countries affected by the changes who intend to apply for US visas from August 1, 2026, have been advised to book appointments and pay the required visa fees at their designated visa processing hubs. The decision is expected to significantly affect Nigerian applicants, who will now need to process routine visa applications through the US Consulate in Lagos or other designated regional hubs, as Abuja will no longer offer routine visa services. Nigeria remains one of Africa’s largest sources of US visa applications, with Abuja and Lagos previously serving as the country’s two primary processing centres.