By JEAN-YVES KAMALE, Associated Press

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A boat with nearly 500 passengers caught fire and capsized in northwestern Congo, killing 107 people and leaving 146 missing, authorities said Friday, in the region’s second deadly boat accident over the past week.

The latest accident took place Thursday along the Congo River in the Equateur Province’s Lukolela territory, the Congolese humanitarian affairs ministry said in a report.

It came a day after 86 people were killed and several others left missing Wednesday in a separate boat accident in the province’s Basankusu territory, bringing the total deaths to nearly 200.

Related Articles

Russian drones force Europe to defend itself, perhaps alone, after Putin ‘put down a marker’ to NATO

2 people are stabbed by Palestinian employee at a hotel outside Jerusalem

How AI is helping some small-scale farmers weather a changing climate

UAE summons Israeli diplomat to condemn the attack on Qatar targeting Hamas leaders

France sends jets to Poland, the UK ramps up sanctions in a signal to Russia not to escalate

It was not immediately clear what caused either accident.

State media attributed Wednesday’s accident to “improper loading and night navigation,” citing reports from the scene. Images that appeared to be from the scene showed villagers gathered around bodies as they mourned.

A local civil society group blamed Wednesday’s accident on the government and claimed the toll was higher. Authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

The capsizing of boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this central African nation as more people are abandoning the few available roads for cheaper, wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods.

In such trips, life jackets are rare and the vessels are usually overloaded.

Many of the boats also travel at night, complicating rescue efforts during accidents and leaving many bodies often unaccounted for.

By GISELA SALOMON, Associated Press

Some West Africans who were deported from the U.S. to Ghana were held in “straitjackets” for 16 hours on a flight during which all passengers were shackled and given only bread and water, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington on behalf of five migrants, says passengers were awoken in the middle of the night on Sept. 5 and not told where they were going until hours into the flight on a U.S. military cargo plane.

The migrants have been detained for five days in Ghana in “squalid conditions and surrounded by armed military guards in an open-air detention facility,” called Dema Camp, the complaint says. Conditions are “abysmal and deplorable,” with tents for shelter and little running water.

Related Articles

Man arrested in Charlie Kirk’s killing had no known criminal history, had become ‘more political’

ICE officer fatally shoots suspect after being dragged by car near Chicago, officials say

Florida Everglades detainees continue to face obstacles to meet with lawyers, court papers allege

Wealth, jobs sparked local anger in Georgia before Hyundai raid

Nebraska plan for an immigrant detention center faces backlash and uncertainty

The migrants are not from Ghana and have been told they will be sent to other countries that have been determined to be too dangerous by U.S. immigration judges — making it the latest legal challenge to the Trump administration’s practice of sending people to countries other than their own, including El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica and several African nations.

The complaint, filed by lawyers for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, asks a judge to immediately halt deportations to their countries of origin.

“Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work,” it says. “Despite the minimal, pass-through involvement of the Ghanaian government, Defendants’ objective is clear: deport individuals who have been granted fear-based relief from being sent to their countries of origin to those countries anyway, in contravention to the rulings of U.S. immigration judges and U.S. immigration law.”

The Homeland Security Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit was filed a day after Ghana’s president confirmed the arrival of the 14 deportees. Ghana joined Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan as African countries that have received migrants from third countries who were deported from the U.S., an approach whose legality has been questioned by lawyers and human rights organizations.

President Donald Trump has been aggressively cracking down on immigrants he describes as criminals and “aliens” from countries whose nationals have overstayed their visas in the U.S.

Lawyers and activists have said the Trump administration appears to be making such requests to the nations most affected by his policies on trade, migration and aid.

None of the 14 deportees were originally from Ghana and the five West-Africans who filed the lawsuit did not have ties with the country or designate it as a potential country of removal, according to the complaint.

Plaintiffs are identified only by initials in the complaint. Four are “in immediate danger of being sent on, within hours, to their countries.” One has already been removed to The Gambia and is in hiding, despite having “repeatedly stated his fear” of returning to his country.

Three plaintiffs are from Nigeria and two from The Gambia. The lawsuit says 14 West Africans were taken from their cells at an ICE detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana.

With growing numbers of deportations and a heightened atmosphere for immigrants in mind, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, the Immigrant Law Center on Minnesota and the St. Paul City Attorney’s office will deliver a “Know Your Rights” presentation from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Progressive Baptist Church, 1505 Burns Ave. in St. Paul.

Topics will include understanding different types of legal warrants and other issues related to immigration enforcement and ICE activities. The St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity also will discuss how to respond to unfair treatment on the job or in rental situations.

A light meal will be served and attendees will be entered into a raffle for a $50 gift card.

The event leads into international “Welcoming Week,” a series of health fairs, job fairs, legal clinics and community celebrations held throughout the world and aimed at welcoming recent immigrants. The events will run from Sept. 12 to Sept. 21. More information is online at welcomingweek.org.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 20, the International Institute of Minnesota will host a naturalization fair where the institute will join officials from the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to help eligible Twin Cities residents learn how to become naturalized citizens. The location is 1694 Como Ave. in St. Paul.

Related Articles

Paul Wellstone’s green bus featured at Walk for Recovery Saturday

Farm Aid considering new venue amid Teamsters strike at UMN

Jury convicts St. Paul man in fatal shooting of Rice Street bar customer

St. Paul City Council cuts vacant building fee for Donut Trap business

New federal charges against 3 men for 3 Roseville and Little Canada robberies in 3 hours

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JIM MUSTIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Family members of the young Utah man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk told authorities he had recently become “more political” and saw the ally of President Donald Trump as a person spreading hate, according to charging documents.

Tyler James Robinson, 22, of Washington, Utah, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily harm, and obstruction of justice, all felonies, according to an affidavit filed in court and released Friday. A judge ordered that he be held without bail.

This photo released by the Utah Governor’s Office on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025 shows Tyler Robinson. (Utah Governor’s Office via AP)

Robinson is registered to vote but is not affiliated with a political party, according to Utah state records. He was also listed as inactive, meaning he had not voted in at least the last two general elections.

State and federal court records do not show any prior criminal cases involving him.

His listed address in charging documents is the six-bedroom home of his parents, who own a granite countertop business and are registered to vote as Republicans.

It wasn’t immediately clear Friday whether Robinson had a defense lawyer who could comment on his behalf. Messages seeking comment left Friday with family members including his parents received no response.

Robinson has two younger brothers and his parents have been married for about 25 years, according to social media posts. The family lives in a suburb of St. George, a city in the southern part of the state about a 3 1/2 hour drive from the Utah Valley University campus where authorities say Robinson shot and killed Kirk.

Meagan Bradley kneels at a memorial is set up for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

An honor roll student in high school who scored in the 99th percentile nationally on standardized tests, he was admitted to Utah State in 2021 on a prestigious academic scholarship, according to a video of him reading his acceptance letter posted to a family member’s social media account. He attended for only one semester, according to a university spokesperson.

Robinson is currently enrolled as a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College in St. George.

Social media posts by Robinson’s mother reflect an active family with vacations to Disneyland, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Alaska. They frequently spent time outdoors — boating, fishing, riding ATVs, zip-lining and target shooting. A 2017 post shows the family visiting a military facility and posing with assault rifles. A young Robinson is shown smiling as he grips the handles of a 50-caliber heavy machine gun.

A photo Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA who was shot and killed, sits at a vigil in his memory, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

After graduating from high school in 2021, Robinson’s mother praised her eldest son for his smarts and academic success on her social media page, and both his parents helped him move into his dorm at Utah State that fall. She didn’t have any public Facebook posts after 2022.

In one Facebook post, Robinson’s mother described him as “beautifully talented on the piano” and a “tech genius.”

“He has a wonderful sense of humor and loves the outdoors,” she wrote.

The break in the case came after a family member of Robinson reached out to a family friend with information that Robinson had “confessed” or implied involvement in the shooting, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters Friday, shortly after Robinson was taken into custody.

Utah county Sheriff Mike Smith speaks at a news conference, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsay Wasson)

Cox said it is believed that Robinson acted alone. Family members said Robinson “had become more political in recent years,” Cox said, describing a recent family dinner in which Robinson mentioned that Kirk planned to speak at UVU.

“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said, referring to Robinson and an unnamed family member. “The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”

Related Articles

ICE officer fatally shoots suspect after being dragged by car near Chicago, officials say

Florida Everglades detainees continue to face obstacles to meet with lawyers, court papers allege

Wealth, jobs sparked local anger in Georgia before Hyundai raid

Nebraska plan for an immigrant detention center faces backlash and uncertainty

The rise of AI tools forces schools to reconsider what counts as cheating

Authorities then interviewed a friend of Robinson’s who showed them a series of messages on the social media platform Discord in which Robinson discussed obtaining a gun.

When authorities took him into custody, court records show, Robinson also was wearing clothing “consistent” with surveillance photographs of the person of interest.

Cox said ammunition found at the scene had engravings that reference meme culture and referred to fascism.

Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Brian Slodysko and Collin Binkley in Washington, Jack Brook in New Orleans, and Ali Swenson and Randy Herschaft in New York also contributed.