NIGERIA: A boat capsized in a river in the north-western Sokoto state, leaving at least 47 people dead, officials and residents said.

The boat on Thursday was carrying more than 80 people, most of whom were heading to farms for work in Gorau town in the Goronyo local government area of the state, officials said.

Abdulkadir Yusuf, Sokoto state manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, said the death toll was 47 people “so far.”

CUBA: The US has imposed a new round of sanctions on Cuban officials and companies, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Nine state-owned mining, metal and building firms, the Ministry of Construction and officials connected to a Cuban-based international institute, have been named in the latest tranche of economic sanctions.

Cuba has denounced all sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, which are part of a wider pressure campaign against the Caribbean island’s leadership.

UNITED STATES: The US on Thursday carried out its first deportation under an agreement for Liberia to accept up to 1,200 people who are not from the African country, one of the Trump administration’s largest efforts yet to deport people to countries other than their own.

The 20 deportees arrived at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia.

INDONESIA: Authorities have warned they would take legal action against anyone who starts an open fire.

This comes as huge blazes on Borneo and elsewhere created a choking haze that blanketed cities and dense smoke drifted into neighbouring Malaysia.

The fires are concentrated on Borneo, the world’s third-largest island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.