Captain-Ibrahim-Traore
Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.

In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months. But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.

READ ALSO:Junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Launch Common Passport

“Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.

Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.

“Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.

READ ALSO:US Deportations ‘Profoundly Disturbing” — UN Official

Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, styles himself as an anti-imperialist Pan-African strongman.

Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, he has shunned former colonial master France and the wider West, forging closer ties with Russia instead.

The US government shutdown looked set to extend into a third week as senators again rejected a Republican funding bill Thursday despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to turn the thumbscrews on opposition Democrats.

Federal agencies have been out of money since October 1 and public services have been crippled amid stalled talks between the two sides that have led to a series of near-daily failed votes to turn the lights back on.

With no sign of a breakthrough, the Senate adjourned until next Tuesday — meaning no votes will be held during that time.
Trump repeated his threats to slash government programs popular with Democrats as he berated the party over the shutdown at a cabinet meeting.

“The Democrat shutdown is causing pain and suffering for hardworking Americans, including our military, our air traffic controllers and impoverished mothers, people with young children, people that have to live not the greatest of lives,” he said.

But his attempts to pressure Democrats to back the Republican bill — which would open the government through late November as negotiations continue — have so far fallen on deaf ears.

READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

Democrats are privately preparing for a shutdown lasting several more weeks, CNN reported, if Republicans do not agree to their demands to extend health care subsidies due to expire on December 31.

With some 750,000 federal workers “furloughed” — placed on enforced leave without pay — both sides have voiced concerns about the likelihood of military personnel missing their paychecks next Wednesday.

– ‘Every day gets better’ –

A bipartisan House bill that would guarantee the pay of 1.3 million active-duty service members through the shutdown has around 150 co-sponsors.
But Republican leaders oppose bringing it to the floor for a vote — insisting that the armed forces will be paid if Democrats simply provide the votes to end the shutdown.

“The President has made it clear: we must pay our troops,” the bill’s author, Republican congresswoman Jen Kiggans, posted on X.
Democrats — emboldened by polling showing voters mostly blaming the shutdown on Republicans — are banking on increasing public support in a prolonged standoff.
“Every day gets better for us,” Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Punchbowl News.

READ ALSO:Trump Threatens To Unleash ‘Hell’ On Hamas

“It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on September 30 and we prepared for it. Their whole theory was threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.”
As well as widespread cuts, Trump’s “maximum pain” campaign to force Democrats to fold has included threats fire thousands of furloughed workers.

“We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly, because that’s the way it works,” Trump said at his cabinet meeting.
“They wanted to do this, so we’ll give them a little taste of their own medicine.”

President Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe, Azerbaijan, admitted Russia’s fault as he laid out the bases of the Azerbaijani plane crash that occurred on Christmas Day in 2024.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 from Baku crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. The Embraer 190 carried 67 citizens of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and five crew members.

At a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, Putin confirmed that the relevant authorities are nearing completion of the investigation into the catastrophe “caused by several factors.”

The president disclosed Russian forces had been tracking three Ukrainian drones that crossed the federation’s border during the night of the catastrophe.

READ ALSO:Russian Strikes Kill Five In Ukraine, Cause Power Outages

The second factor involved “technical malfunctions in Russia’s air defence system,” as two missiles that were launched did not hit the aircraft directly.

“Had that happened, the plane would have crashed immediately. They exploded meters away,” he noted. “The damage was caused mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by missile fragments.”

According to Putin, the pilot thought the impact was a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers, and recorded by the black box.

The Russian leader said the pilot, as heard on the recordings, was advised to make an emergency landing in Makhachkala, but he decided to return to his home base and then to Kazakhstan.

READ ALSO:Russia Threatens Poland Over Belarus Border Closure

Putin apologized again to Azerbaijan and promised that Moscow would do everything to assuage feelings, including compensation payments and a legal assessment of the actions of all officials involved.

In his response, President Aliyev thanked his Russian counterpart for overseeing this situation, recalling that the airliner went down as he was flying to a meeting in St Petersburg and had to turn back.

Aliyev said despite the tragedy, the trade and economic ties between both nations have developed significantly in 2025, with similar improvements in all other areas of bilateral relations.

In July, the president announced Azerbaijan’s plan to file lawsuits in international courts against Russia after repeatedly accusing Moscow of covering up the details of the mishap and refusing to admit guilt.