The US Mission in Nigeria has cautioned Nigerians, especially expecting mothers, against travelling to the United States solely to give birth and secure US citizenship for their children.

In a post on its official X account on Wednesday, the Mission stressed that such birth tourism is not permitted under US visa regulations and carries the risk of outright denial.

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It said, “Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted.”

It added that consular officers will refuse any visa application if there is reason to believe that birth tourism is the applicant’s intent, a warning aimed at sparing travellers the expense and disappointment of rejection.

“Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent, ” the post read.

A shooter wounded five soldiers at Fort Stewart before being apprehended by law enforcement on Wednesday, the US military base said.

“All soldiers were treated on-site and moved to Winn Army Community Hospital for further treatment,” said a post by the official Facebook page of the base, which is located in the southern state of Georgia.

The base went into lockdown shortly after law enforcement was dispatched to respond to the incident, according to the post, which said the shooter was now in custody, but provided no details about their identity or potential motive.

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“There is no active threat to the community,” the post said, adding: “The incident remains under investigation and no additional information will be released until the investigation is complete.”

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and that the White House is “monitoring the situation.”

Though relatively rare, military facilities have not been left untouched by the epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States, where conservative politicians have sought to block many restrictions on firearms.

Ghana’s defence and environment ministers were killed in a helicopter crash Wednesday, the Ghanaian presidency said, hours after the armed forces reported a chopper carrying three crew and five passengers dropped off the radar.

Edward Omane Boamah became President John Mahama’s defence minister earlier this year shortly after Mahama’s swearing-in in January.

Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed was serving as the minister of environment, science and technology.

Everyone onboard was killed in the accident, authorities said.

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“The president and government extend our condolences and sympathies to the families of our comrades and the servicemen who died in service to the country,” said Mahama’s chief of staff Julius Debrah.

Boamah was helming Ghana’s defence ministry at a time when jihadist activity across its northern border in Burkina Faso has become increasingly restive.

While Ghana has so far avoided a jihadist spillover from the Sahel — unlike neighbours Togo and Benin — observers have warned of increased arms trafficking and of militants from Burkina Faso crossing the porous border to use Ghana as a rear base.

A medical doctor by training, Boamah’s career in government included stints as communications minister during Mahama’s previous 2012-2017 tenure. Before that, he was the deputy minister for the environment.

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The Ghanaian Armed Forces had reported earlier Wednesday that an air force helicopter had fallen off radar after taking off from Accra just after 9:00 am. It had been headed towards the town of Obuasi, northwest of the capital.

The statement had said that three crew and five passengers were aboard, without specifying at the time that the ministers were among them.

Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, Ghana’s deputy national security coordinator and former agriculture minister, was among the dead, along with Samuel Sarpong, vice chairman of Mahama’s National Democratic Congress party.

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As Ghana has pursued increased diplomacy with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — all ruled by juntas who have broken with the ECOWAS west African regional bloc — Boamah led a delegation to Ouagadougou in May.

He had been set to release a book titled “A Peaceful Man in an African Democracy”, about former president John Atta Mills, who died in 2012.

All flags were to be flown at half-staff, Debrah said, while the presidency said Mahama had cancelled his official activities for the day.