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Coach John Beam dies after being shot at Laney College

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Simeon Bateren
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OAKLAND, California (BN24)— Legendary Laney College football coach John Beam died Friday morning after being shot on campus Thursday, the Oakland Police Department said. Authorities announced the arrest of a suspect early Friday.

Beam, who gained national attention on Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” had coached football in the Bay Area for more than 40 years. He stepped down from coaching last year to serve exclusively as Laney College’s athletic director.

The 27-year-old suspect, Cedric Irving, was taken into custody at 3:15 a.m. Friday, after being spotted at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station, police said. Irving matched the description of the person seen fleeing the scene after the shooting at Laney Fieldhouse shortly before noon Thursday. A gun recovered from Irving matched the caliber of casings and rounds collected at the crime scene.

Police said Irving knew Beam but did not have a personal relationship with him. Irving did not attend Laney College nor work there, but went to campus “for a specific reason” and had been known to loiter in the area. Authorities said Irving was not previously known to Oakland police and did not disclose a possible motive.

Beam was hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting and died around 10 a.m. Friday, according to Gloria Beltran of the Oakland Police Department.

Community leaders and colleagues remembered Beam as a mentor and role model. Piedmont Police Chief Frederick Shavies called Beam an “absolutely incredible human being” and said, “Our hearts are aching.”

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Beam’s impact went beyond the football field. “Coach John Beam was a giant in Oakland and mentored thousands,” she said at a news conference Friday. “He gave Oakland’s youth their best chance. Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics … it’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored and refused to abandon, including my nephew.”

Beam’s death has sent shockwaves through the Bay Area football community and the many students whose lives he touched over decades of coaching and mentorship.

Lieutenant Yerima escapes alleged assassination attempt in Abuja, Nigeria

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Simeon Bateren
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ABUJA (BN24)— Nigerian Navy officer Lt. A.M. Yerima, who recently clashed publicly with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, reportedly escaped an assassination attempt Sunday evening in Abuja, according to military sources familiar with the incident.

Sources told Vanguard that Yerima was driving near the NIPCO Filling Station off the Line Expressway when he noticed two unmarked Hilux vans trailing him. The vehicles, described as white, without license plates, and occupied by unidentified men dressed in black, allegedly followed him through the route leading to Gado Nasco Way.

The officer was said to have detected the pursuit early and carried out what a source described as a “strategic maneuver,” allowing him to evade the suspected assailants without confrontation. The incident was reported to have taken place around 6:30 p.m.

Military authorities have launched an investigation, with one source stressing that the case is receiving “the seriousness it deserves.” Officials said additional information is being withheld to avoid jeopardizing ongoing inquiries.

The development comes days after Lt. Yerima was involved in a heated altercation with FCT Minister Wike at a disputed land site in the Gaduwa District. The confrontation, captured in a viral video, drew widespread backlash and triggered intervention from the Presidency, which paused the demolition exercise that led to the dispute.

Following the clash, military veterans across the country condemned Wike’s remarks toward the officer. Many criticized the minister for publicly insulting Yarima and resisted calls for disciplinary action against the naval officer.

Abiodun Durowaiye-Herberts, spokesman for the Coalition of Retired Veterans, said former service members would “occupy the office and residence of the FCT Minister” should any punishment be issued against Yerima. He emphasized that military officers swear allegiance to the nation rather than to individual political figures and argued that the minister should apologize.

He questioned the propriety of Wike’s conduct, asking how a public officeholder could call a commissioned officer “a fool” on camera, saying such behavior undermines national institutions and diminishes the integrity of high office.

Minister of Defence Mohammad Badaru Abubakar later assured the public that no service member acting within the scope of lawful duty would face sanctions over the altercation. Speaking at a ministerial briefing for the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations at the National Defence College, he reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to protecting personnel performing authorized duties.

“We will always protect officers and our armed forces personnel on lawful duty,” Badaru said. “Any officer on lawful duty will be protected if he is doing his job lawfully and doing it well.” Veterans had previously signaled readiness to mobilize nationwide and occupy the FCT Ministry if Lt. Yerima was subjected to disciplinary measures.

United Airline flight forced to make emergency landing in St. Louis after passenger made bomb threat

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A United Airlines flight traveling from Dallas to Chicago made an emergency landing in St. Louis on Sunday morning after a passenger allegedly threatened that a bomb was in his wife’s luggage, prompting a security scare that halted the flight mid-route and triggered a law enforcement response on the ground.

United flight 380, which departed Dallas at 6:57 a.m., diverted to Lambert St. Louis International Airport shortly before 8:40 a.m. after crew members alerted authorities to the reported threat. A male passenger was taken into custody after telling others there was a bomb inside his wife’s bag, according to sources who spoke with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said the aircraft was met by emergency personnel before passengers were evacuated onto the concourse as the bomb and arson unit began inspecting the jet.

More than two hours after landing, investigators were still searching the aircraft, Hamm-Niebruegge said, while confirming there were no reported injuries among passengers or crew. United said in a statement that the aircraft landed “to address a potential security concern” and that law enforcement had searched and cleared the plane. The airline added that the flight was expected to continue on to Chicago later in the afternoon once authorities completed their work.

The incident occurred less than two weeks after a separate bomb threat on a United flight traveling from Houston to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, which resulted in a temporary ground stop at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later confirmed that the aircraft landed safely and that the Federal Aviation Administration ultimately issued an all clear.

The latest scare comes as U.S. travelers continue to face widespread delays following a prolonged government shutdown that concluded last week after more than 40 days. Thousands of flights were canceled nationwide after the FAA ordered a 10 percent reduction in air traffic when unpaid air traffic controllers began missing shifts, forcing the agency to restrict operations to prevent safety risks. The shortage of controllers has persisted for years, and multiple presidential administrations have asked retirement-age controllers to remain on duty to maintain staffing levels.

Ecuadorian drug gang leader captured in Spain years after faking his death

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An Ecuadorian drug trafficker who vanished from public view after faking his death during the COVID-19 pandemic has been captured in Spain, authorities said Sunday, ending years of pursuit for a man considered one of Ecuador’s most dangerous criminal figures.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa confirmed that Wilmer Chavarría, known as “Pipo,” was arrested in the southern Spanish city of Málaga in a joint operation with Spanish police. Spain’s National Police posted an image on X showing Chavarría in a black and green tracksuit as officers escorted him toward a patrol car.

Chavarría is believed to be the leader of Los Lobos, a powerful Ecuadorian drug trafficking organization with an estimated 8,000 members and recently designated a terrorist group by the United States. The gang has been tied to political assassinations in Ecuador and is accused of collaborating with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

According to Noboa, Chavarría staged his own death in 2021, secured a new identity and settled in Spain, where he continued running Los Lobos operations from abroad. Authorities say he coordinated drug shipments, ordered killings and oversaw extortion schemes targeting gold mines in Ecuador.

Once regarded as one of South America’s safest nations, Ecuador has seen a dramatic surge in homicides and violent crime as drug trafficking groups fight for control of ports and coastal corridors used to move cocaine from Colombia and Peru. Political candidates, local officials and journalists have been attacked amid the escalating turf wars.

Chavarría’s arrest comes as Ecuadorians head to the polls for a four-part referendum that includes a proposal to amend the constitution to allow foreign militaries to establish bases inside the country. Noboa has argued the measure would strengthen cooperation with the United States and bolster efforts to crack down on transnational drug cartels.

At least 4 dead after 2 migrant boats capsize off Libya, Red Crescent says

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At least four people died after two overcrowded migrant boats capsized off Libya’s coast on Saturday, rescue workers said, marking the latest tragedy along one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. The Libyan Red Crescent confirmed the four deaths among 26 Bangladeshi nationals traveling on one of the vessels, which sank shortly after leaving the port city of Al Khums in northwestern Libya.

Authorities said a second boat carrying roughly 70 migrants, most of them from Sudan, also capsized, but it remained unclear whether additional fatalities occurred. The two vessels were navigating the central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy, a passage the U.N. International Organization for Migration describes as the deadliest known migration corridor globally.

The Red Crescent released images showing its rescue teams assisting survivors onshore and black body bags laid out as recovery efforts continued. The organization did not immediately provide further details on the condition of those pulled from the water.

A Red Crescent worker moves a body bag, after two boats carrying migrants capsized off the Libyan coastal city of Al Khums causing multiple casualties, in a location given as Khums, Libya, November 15, 2025. LIBYAN RED CRESCENT SOCIETY IN KHUMS/Handout via REUTERS

Hundreds die each year attempting the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats. More than 1,500 people have died or gone missing in 2025 so far, according to IOM data, with roughly a third of those deaths occurring off Libya’s coast. The North African country has been the departure point for most of the nearly 59,000 people who have reached Europe this year via the central Mediterranean route, according to Frontex, the European Union’s border security agency.

The incident follows another deadly episode earlier in the week, when dozens of migrants who departed Libya aboard a small boat were reported missing and presumed dead after it capsized. Seven survivors from Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon and Nigeria were rescued after drifting at sea for nearly a week.

Eastern Congo hospital attack by Islamic State-backed rebels kills 17

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An Islamic State-backed militia killed at least 17 people during a nighttime attack on a hospital in eastern Congo, authorities said Saturday, marking one of the region’s deadliest assaults in recent months. The attack, carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces in the village of Byambwe in North Kivu province, targeted patients inside the facility late Friday, according to Col. Alain Kiwewa, the area’s local administrator.

Kiwewa said the victims included 11 women and six men, describing scenes of extreme brutality inside the hospital. He said women who were breastfeeding were found in their beds with their throats slit, underscoring the ADF’s pattern of violence against civilians.

Samuel Kakule Kagheni, a civil society leader in the Manzya area that includes Byambwe, said the rebels also struck other nearby villages, though casualty information from those areas remained unclear.

Armed groups have carried out repeated and deadly attacks across eastern Congo, including the ADF and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The ADF, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, operates along the Uganda border and frequently targets civilians in both rural and populated regions.

The group has been blamed for a series of mass killings this year. In August, ADF fighters killed at least 52 people during multiple attacks over the course of a week, according to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo. In July, nearly 40 people were killed in Ituri province when ADF members stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshippers, many of them women and children.

Originally formed in Uganda in the late 1990s by small groups dissatisfied with President Yoweri Museveni, the ADF moved into Congo in 2002 after Ugandan military strikes and has since been accused of killing thousands of civilians.

Associated Press

Suspected Haitian gang members open fire on marines guarding U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince

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Suspected Haitian gang members opened fire on U.S. Marines guarding the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince this week, a confrontation underscoring the escalating insecurity gripping the Haitian capital. Capt. Steven J. Keenan, a Marine Corps spokesman, said in an email Saturday that the shooting occurred Thursday and that Marines returned fire. No U.S. personnel were injured.

Haitian police did not immediately comment on the exchange, which adds to the growing list of violent encounters amid the near-total control gangs hold over Port-au-Prince. Armed groups now dominate roughly 90% of the capital, extorting businesses, battling rival factions and operating with heavy weaponry in neighborhoods long beyond the reach of government forces.

The United States continues to maintain its embassy in Haiti despite the country’s worsening security crisis. The State Department has repeatedly warned Americans not to travel to Haiti due to persistent threats that include kidnappings, violent crime, terrorist activity and civil unrest.

According to the United Nations, more than 1.3 million Haitians have been forced from their homes as gang violence intensifies. Conditions have deteriorated sharply since 2021, when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his home by mercenaries, leaving the nation without an elected leader. No national elections have been held to replace him, deepening the political vacuum and enabling gangs to expand their power.

In September, the United Nations Security Council authorized a multinational security mission of about 5,500 troops to counter Haiti’s heavily armed criminal groups. A separate, smaller contingent of Kenyan police officers deployed earlier has struggled to contain the violence. The U.N. Human Rights Office estimates gangs killed 5,600 people in Haiti last year.

4 dead as migrant boat capsizes off San Diego

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Four people were killed and four others hospitalized after a wooden boat believed to be carrying migrants toward the United States capsized in stormy waters off San Diego, the Coast Guard said Saturday. The vessel, identified as a wooden skiff often used in maritime smuggling, overturned late Friday near Imperial Beach as a strong storm system moved across Southern California.

U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered the boat in the surf shortly before midnight. Six people were found on the shoreline; one died at the scene, while another was pulled from beneath the vessel and rescued. Roughly two hours later, authorities received a separate report of a person struggling in the water near Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew responded and recovered three people from the ocean, all of whom were pronounced dead.

Officials said search efforts were continuing Saturday as crews looked for additional passengers who may have been aboard. Several survivors identified themselves as Mexican nationals, while others remained unidentified. One person taken into custody was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.

Coast Guard Capt. Robert Tucker, commander of Sector San Diego, said the wreck underscored the deadly risks for migrants attempting to reach the United States by sea in unstable vessels. The panga-style boat, typically a single- or twin-engine open fishing vessel, is frequently used by smugglers who operate under the cover of darkness to evade the heavily guarded land border.

Storm conditions intensified the danger as the region faced flash-flood and mudslide warnings throughout the weekend. Authorities said the incident reflects a broader trend of migrants turning to maritime routes despite a series of fatal accidents in recent years. In May, three people died when a panga capsized off the coast about 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2023, eight migrants were killed after two smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog, with one capsizing in the surf. Federal prosecutors previously secured an 18-year sentence for a San Diego man who piloted an overloaded vessel packed with 32 migrants that broke apart in the surf in 2022, killing three and injuring dozens.

Globally, the U.N. agency for migration reported nearly 9,000 border-crossing deaths last year, marking a fifth consecutive annual record. The U.N. Missing Migrant Project estimates that more than 24,506 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean between 2014 and 2024, though the actual toll may be far higher due to unrecorded cases.

AP

YouTube prankster with 15 million followers arrested on drug charges in Miami

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YouTube prankster Jack Doherty, whose stunts have drawn more than 15 million followers to his channel, was arrested Saturday in Miami Beach on drug-related charges after police say he stepped into traffic while filming content in the city’s Entertainment District. Authorities said the 22-year-old was taken into custody shortly after 8:45 a.m. and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Doherty faces charges of possessing a controlled substance, possessing marijuana and resisting an officer without violence. According to arrest documents cited by CBS News Miami, officers found half of an orange pill marked with the number three, which police said was consistent with a Schedule II amphetamine, as well as a black plastic container holding three hand-rolled cannabis cigarettes weighing about 4 grams combined. Authorities said he was also carrying less than 20 grams of marijuana.

Police said Doherty ignored multiple commands to get out of the roadway after stepping into traffic around 3:12 a.m. to record video content. Officers reported that members of his group urged him to comply, and he allegedly responded by telling police he would cooperate “once I’m done with this bet.” The Miami Beach Police Department said in a statement that it remains committed to public safety “regardless of celebrity status” and will continue enforcing laws against behavior that endangers residents, visitors or officers.

A TikTok video posted by a bystander shows Doherty being detained and arguing with officers. At one point, an officer tells him, “I don’t know who the f*** you think you are, bro.” Hours before the arrest, Doherty livestreamed a yacht party on the platform Parti, staying on the air for several hours.

Doherty’s bond was set at $3,500. It remains unclear whether he has secured legal representation. His representatives and Miami Beach police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doherty rose to prominence in 2017 with viral clips of object-flipping stunts and pranks, expanding his reach to nearly 10 million followers on TikTok and about 3 million more on Instagram.

US President Trump insists on suing BBC between $1 billion and $5 billion for editing his speech

By
Simeon Bateren
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WASHINGTON (BN24)— President Donald Trump said he intends to move forward with a lawsuit seeking between $1 billion and $5 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the broadcaster of misleading viewers by editing a clip of his remarks in a Panorama documentary.

The dispute stems from a segment that Trump said falsely portrayed him as encouraging violence leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump demanded a full retraction, an immediate apology, and compensation from the BBC, giving the broadcaster until Friday to respond to a $1 billion legal threat over the edit.

The BBC issued an apology on Friday, calling the edit an “error of judgment” and announcing that the programme would not be aired again “in this form on any BBC platforms.” However, the broadcaster maintained that Trump’s claims of defamation lacked merit. “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree that there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the statement said.

After the BBC declined to meet his full demands, Trump escalated his rhetoric in an interview with GB News. He said he felt an “obligation” to take legal action and argued that pursuing the case was necessary to prevent similar incidents. “I’m not looking to get into lawsuits, but I think I have an obligation to do it. This was so egregious,” Trump said. “If you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”

Speaking later to reporters outside the White House, Trump reiterated that he intended to formally seek damages. “We’ll sue them from anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” he said, adding, “I think I have to do it.”

The BBC has not indicated whether it will issue any further response beyond its initial apology and statement disputing the basis for Trump’s threatened defamation case.

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