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A former Liberian rebel commander known as “Dragon Master” has pleaded guilty to US immigration fraud for lying about his role in the civil war in his home country.Laye Sekou Camara, 46, also known as “General K-1,” was accused of fraudulently obtaining a “green card” that allowed residency in the United States.He had been scheduled to go on trial in a federal court in Philadelphia, but he entered a guilty plea on Thursday on the eve of his trial, the Justice Department said Friday.Camara was a general in a Liberian rebel group from 1999 to 2003 that fought against the government of the West African nation that was led by then-president Charles Taylor, according to court documents.Camara falsely stated on US immigration forms that he had never participated in extrajudicial killings, had never been involved in a rebel group and had never engaged in the recruitment or use of child soldiers, the Justice Department said.”Camara fraudulently claimed that he had not participated in Liberia’s civil war,” Edward Owens, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.”In fact,” Owens said, “Camara was a high-ranking member of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group during Liberia’s Second Civil War.”As such, he was involved in committing atrocities, including the massacre of civilians, and the recruitment of child soldiers,” he added.According to the Global Justice and Research Project, a Liberia-based non-profit that documents war crimes, and Geneva-based NGO Civitas Maxima, victims had been prepared to testify at Camara’s trial as to his involvement in the Liberian conflict.Liberia’s brutal civil wars left around 250,000 people dead between 1989 and 2003.Camara’s sentencing was set for May 19. He faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, the Justice Department said.

The US Treasury Department will start taking “extraordinary measures” next week to avoid risking a default on government debt, Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday, days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.With the government reaching its borrowing limit, the department would start making the moves on Tuesday, the day after the inauguration, Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders.That will mean Trump’s administration has to grapple immediately with the issue of the debt ceiling — the legal limit on government borrowing to pay bills already incurred.In the past, Congress has routinely voted to lift this bar, but that tool has become a contentious issue, with Republican budget hawks calling for drastic spending reductions instead.”Extraordinary measures” are a way for the Treasury to ensure that the US government can keep paying its bills and avoid a hugely destabilizing debt default.On Friday, Yellen said: “The period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty.”She noted there are challenges to forecasting the government’s payments and revenue months into the future.”I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Yellen wrote.For now, she said the Treasury would hold off investments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund not immediately required to pay beneficiaries.It would redeem a part of investments held by the fund, and also suspend added investments of amounts credited to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.The funds will be made whole once the debt limit is raised or suspended.”Federal retirees and employees will be unaffected by these actions,” she said.In mid-2023, US lawmakers voted to suspend the debt limit after weeks of fraught negotiations, to eliminate the threat of a default.The limit was reinstated on January 2 and set at $36.1 trillion, matching the total debt outstanding on the previous day.During December budget negotiations in Congress, Trump insisted the debt ceiling be raised or even eliminated altogether, although he was unsuccessful at the time.On Thursday, Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing that he would work with Trump to remove the limit if the incoming president wanted to do so.He also vowed that the United States would not default on its debt if he became Treasury chief.Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings said the United States faces “significant fiscal policy challenges in 2025.”It pointed to the debt limit, appropriations and “tax cuts in the context of already large deficits and an increasing debt burden.””We believe it is unlikely that these will be resolved expeditiously because of long-standing weaknesses in the federal government’s budgetary process and a narrow Republican House majority,” Fitch added.

US law enforcement agents carried out exercises using barbed wire and concrete blocks Friday at a crossing on the border with Mexico as tensions crept up ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.Vehicle crossings on an international bridge connecting Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas were halted for about 40 minutes while US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers carried out training, an AFP journalist said.According to the CBP office in El Paso, the exercises began in 2019 and aim to ensure that agents are prepared for potential border incidents.Residents in Ciudad Juarez said the exercises have multiplied as Trump prepares to take office on Monday, having vowed the largest deportation of undocumented migrants in the history of the United States.”This is the second closure I’ve seen this week,” said Yadira Martinez, who was among those trying to cross.Ciudad Juarez is one of the main gateways to the United States for migrants fleeing poverty, violence or political instability in their countries. It is also one of the official entry points for migrants with appointments to file an asylum application through the US government’s cellphone app CBP One.Earlier this week another Mexican border city, Tijuana, declared an emergency to free up funds to deal with the potential arrival of deportees.Trump, who repeatedly called the arrival of migrants an “invasion,” has promised to declare a national emergency at the border with Mexico after taking office and to expel millions who lack residency papers.

Skepticism rages about whether Elon Musk actually put in the hours to become a top player of video games “Diablo IV” and “Path of Exile 2.”The fourth main installment in the Blizzard Entertainment series “Diablo” came out in 2023 and a “Vessel of Hatred” expansion pack was released late last year.Role-playing title “Path of Exile 2,” available to those who pay for early access, is expected to be free-to-play when it is officially released this year by Grinding Gear Games.Early talk among gamers is that “Path of Exile 2” is similar enough to “Diablo” to be considered a “clone”.Versions of both games are designed to be played on Xbox and PlayStation consoles and on personal computers running the Windows operating system.- Dungeon crawling -“Diablo” is considered a “dungeon crawler,” a genre in which a player’s character fights monsters, avoids traps, and solves puzzles to progress.Gameplay, not surprisingly, often takes place in fantasy-like dungeons or chambers, with adversaries becoming increasingly difficult.Victories earn rewards that players can use to ramp up their character’s abilities.Gaming industry analyst Mat Piscatella described “Diablo” as “a fantasy action role-playing game whose primary hook for players is the never-ending search for better weapons, armor and items in order to progress in the game to go find even more better weapons, armor and items.” “There’s a story, of course, but really, it’s all about the loot,” he said.- Grinding -Using a tactic called “grinding,” players repeat simple tasks to beat low-level enemies and amass loot.”Basically, clicking on enemies a lot,” Piscatella said.Players can spend hours grinding, prompting doubt that Musk had that kind of time to fritter while running Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X, formerly known as Twitter.The main story in “Diablo IV” can be finished in about 30 hours, with the time commitment multiplying if a player tackles all side missions.The game also has an online multiplayer component.According to industry watcher Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, the average “Diablo IV” player in the United States now plays between 10 and 35 hours per month.The average per-player time spent in “Path of Exile 2” in the United States since early access became an option in December ranged from 37 hours to 50.7 hours depending on whether they were using consoles or personal computers, Circana determined.- Barbarians and druids -“Diablo IV” players get to choose from six classes of characters: barbarian, druid, necromancer, rogue, sorcerer or spiritborn — each with its own strengths.Players battle their way through dungeons in an open world, building up their characters as they advance through quests and the story.There are also options for players to battle one another online. Musk has posted video and comments indicating he has played barbarian and spiritborn characters.”Path of Exile 2″ is described in online gamer forums as a more complicated action role-playing game than “Diablo.”Online posts indicate Musk has used both softcore and hardcore characters in “Path of Exile 2,” the former for acclimating to the game and the latter for testing one’s skills.

Elon Musk’s self-proclaimed persona as a top-class gamer took a thrashing on Friday, as video game enthusiasts mercilessly mocked the tech billionaire following a disastrous performance in a livestream.The uproar — tinged with hilarity –- left the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX battling the humiliating accusation that he was faking it as a skilled gamer.It erupted after Musk streamed himself last week playing “Path of Exile 2,” boasting of having one of the highest-ranked characters and inviting scrutiny from seasoned gamers.Many noted that Musk made rookie mistakes and was unfamiliar with basic game mechanics that he should have been familiar with given the advanced level of his avatar in the game.Suspicions swirled that the world’s richest man had hired help, inviting brutal comments that demolished his elite gamer persona.”This sounds like a middle-schooler giving a book report on a book they’ve never read,” said one comment under a YouTube video of Musk’s gameplay.A popular Twitch streamer called Asmongold took the criticism a step further, challenging Musk to prove that he had reached that level himself.The rebuke did not go down well.The billionaire unfollowed Asmongold on X, and soon the streamer lost his blue checkmark. The platform, previously known as Twitter, was purchased by Musk in 2022 for $44 billion.The spat did not end there. Musk shared private direct messages he had exchanged with Asmongold, which insinuated that the streamer’s opinions were not his own.”Asmon behaves like a maverick ‘independent,'” Musk wrote in a post.”But in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man.”Provoking titters online, Musk’s post was attached with a Community Note — a crowd-sourced tool to debunk false information — which noted that Asmongold does not have “bosses.” The public spat led to an avalanche of comments that labelled Musk a “man-child” and lampooned his “fragile ego,” while many previous fans added that the billionaire had lost their trust.- ‘Killing the demons’ -The brouhaha punctures Musk’s carefully cultivated persona as something of a superhuman with extraordinary time management skills: running multiple corporations, posting breathlessly on X and excelling at video games — all while being a father to several children.The billionaire is also an an advisor to the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump and has been tapped to run the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing government spending.”Path of Exile 2″ is considered a challenging game that expert players say requires a serious time commitment to reach the advanced level of Musk’s character — something he likely lacks. The tycoon has frequently shared his gaming experiences on social media, claiming to be one of the top players in various online games.He has said the activity forces him to “concentrate” and “killing the demons in a video game calms the demons” in his mind.The uproar has led users to question Musk’s other purported accomplishments, such as his claim that he was among the top 20 players of role-playing video game “Diablo IV.””As a gamer, you have a lot of pride in your rank/level. Trying to fake that while also being the richest guy in the world is just so absurdly unnecessary,” wrote one user on X. “I would say it also makes me wonder, if he is willing to lie about this, what else is he willing to lie about.”

Former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Friday in connection with a graft scandal that sparked an economic crisis in his home country.Chang, 69, was convicted in a US court in August for his role in the so-called “hidden debt” scandal that saw the Mozambican government contracting $2 billion in secret loans in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance vessels.The loans were hidden from parliament, but the debt came to light in 2016, prompting donors, including the IMF and the World Bank, to turn off financial support.The scandal triggered Mozambique’s worst economic crisis since independence from Portugal four decades earlier.An independent audit later found that $500 million had been diverted and remained unaccounted for.According to the Justice Department, Chang and his co-conspirators diverted more than $200 million of the loan proceeds to pay bribes and kickbacks.Chang was accused of receiving $7 million in bribes to help secure the loans.He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and sentenced to 102 years in prison. He was also ordered to forfeit $7 million.Chang, who was arrested in South Africa and extradited to the United States, has already spent a total of six years in US and South African prisons and he may only have to serve another 2.5 years.”Chang’s brazen misconduct betrayed his duty to the people of Mozambique and defrauded investors, including those in the United States, of substantial amounts,” Brent Wible, a Justice Department official, said in a statement.”Today’s sentence shows that foreign officials who abuse their power to commit crimes targeting the US financial system will meet US justice,” acting US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny said.

Americans will be hit by a “Trump tariffs tax” if the US president-elect increases customs duties on Canadian products, the Canadian foreign minister said Friday, pledging a hard-hitting response in any trade war.Donald Trump, who returns to the White House next week, has said he plans to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports as part of his economic and foreign policy plans that also target Mexico, China and other trade partners.”This would be the biggest trade war between Canada and the US in decades,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. “The Americans would be starting a trade war against us.”We are ready to put maximum pressure,” she said at a press conference in Washington, adding that Canada has a series of measures prepared if Trump carries out his threat, which would have a major impact on Canadian consumers and jobs.A government source told AFP that Ottawa is considering higher duties on goods from the United States including steel products, ceramics like toilets and sinks, glassware and orange juice — in a first phase of tariffs that could be extended.”We will be strong and unequivocal in our defense of Canada and Canadians,” said outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”The proposed tariffs would put American jobs at risk, raise prices for American consumers, put our collective security at risk and raise costs all across the continent.”One scenario from Scotiabank suggests that a trade war could cause Canadian GDP to fall by more than five percent, increase unemployment significantly and fuel inflation.

“I almost, like, don’t know how to define myself without TikTok,” content creator Ayman Chaudhary sighed, reflecting the consternation of millions over US authorities’ scheduled banning Sunday of the hugely popular app.After months of legal tussles, the US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would ban the video-sharing platform — used by 170 million Americans — in the name of national security, unless its Chinese owners reach an 11th-hour deal to sell it to American buyers.”I’m more sad than shocked,” the 24-year-old Chaudhary told AFP. “But still, it’s sad and disappointing that the US government has come together to ban an app instead of banding together to adopt a law that matters about health or education.” It remains uncertain whether TikTok will turn out the lights Sunday — for a single day or forever. Potential buyers exist, though TikTok’s owner, Chinese tech company ByteDance, has systematically refused to part with its crown jewel.President-elect Donald Trump, just days from his second inauguration, said Friday that he “must have time” to decide whether to enforce the high court’s ruling. He promised a decision “in the not too distant future.”Until then, Ayman and countless other content creators have been left gloomily contemplating a future without TikTok.- Mandarin ‘out of spite’? -“I started five years ago in 2020 during (the Covid-19) quarantine, and I’ve been employed, like, through TikTok, and now it just feels like suddenly I’m unemployed,” said Ayman, an avid reader who offers book recommendations on the platform, earning enough from ads and sponsors to pay her bills. Like thousands of other worried TikTok users, she has protectively created a profile on Xiaohongshu (“Little Red Book”), a Chinese social media network similar to Instagram. Nicknamed “Red Note” by its American users, it was the most-downloaded app on the American Apple Store this week. People are turning to Red Note, Ayman said, as “kind of a protest, because it is a Chinese-owned app, and TikTok is being banned because it’s, like, Chinese-owned.”The language-teaching app Duolingo made a clear pitch to people looking for life after TikTok.”Learning Mandarin out of spite? You’re not alone,” Duolingo posted on X. “We’ve seen a 216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year.”On TikTok, many American creators have published videos combining their favorite moments on the app with farewell messages urging fans to follow them to other platforms, including Xiaohongshu — while openly mocking the concerns of American lawmakers. – ‘Micro-influencers’ -“Most students don’t buy the narrative that there’s Chinese spies that are controlling the algorithm” on TikTok, said Chris Dier, a history teacher who shares educational videos on TikTok and uses them as well in his classes.He said students “think that the United States government is not a fan of TikTok because… the government can’t easily control it.”Xiaohongshu, which is entirely in Mandarin, would not appear to provide a realistic long-term alternative for frustrated American users. Popular even before the pandemic, TikTok exploded among young people living in quarantine, and became a must-have resource for many small companies and start-ups.”It’s a scary time for a lot of smaller creators, because I think TikTok is one of the very few platforms on the internet where micro-influencers can really thrive,” said Nathan Espinoza, who has more than 550,000 subscribers on the app. Indeed, the social network has built its success not so much via personal recommendations as through its ultra-powerful algorithm, which lets it rapidly identify users’ interests and funnel content of particular interest to them. “I’m a more YouTube-centric creator now,” Espinoza said. “But I wouldn’t be where I am today without TikTok, because that first viral video showed me that it’s possible, and there’s an audience for the type of videos that I make.”

The United States on Friday grounded SpaceX’s Starship and ordered Elon Musk’s company to investigate why the spaceship spectacularly disintegrated in a fiery cascade over the Caribbean during its latest test mission.Authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands confirmed they diverted all flights from their airspace during the incident and urged residents not to touch fallen debris, warning it could be hazardous.”The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on Jan. 16,” the agency said.  “There are no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos.”It added that during the event, it briefly activated a “Debris Response Area” protocol to slow aircraft outside the area where the debris was falling or stop aircraft at their departure location.”Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels while holding outside impacted areas.”Under established procedures, SpaceX will now be required to carry out a “mishap investigation” — including the identification of any corrective actions, which the FAA will review before determining the launch vehicle can return to flight. Alternatively, the company may seek an early return to flight if it can demonstrate sufficient safety measures and confirm the mishap posed no public risk.The government of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British-controlled archipelago, confirmed the diversion of all flights during the incident, which lit up social media with dazzling photos and videos of the meteor-like shower of debris.Officials also met with UK Space Agency experts and reiterated warnings to residents to avoid fallen debris.”If possible, take a photograph of the object (without touching it) alongside another object for scale,” a public advisory read, emphasizing, “Space debris remains the property of the spacecraft owner.”- Mars rocket – Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk’s ambitions of colonizing Mars. NASA hopes to use a modified version of the rocket as a human lunar lander for its Artemis missions to return to the Moon. Thursday’s uncrewed launch was Starship’s seventh orbital test, and the first involving a taller, upgraded version of the rocket.SpaceX, which dominates the commercial launch market through its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, underscored its technical prowess by catching Starship’s first stage booster in the “chopstick” arms of its launch tower for a second time. But the triumph was short-lived when teams lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle. SpaceX later confirmed it had undergone “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” the company’s euphemism for an explosion.”Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Musk quipped on X , sharing one of the many viral clips of the event. He added the cause of the explosion appeared to be an “oxygen/fuel leak” that caused an excess buildup of pressure. “Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month,” he ventured.

The United States offered to extend its signature African investment project into the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo as an incentive for a peace deal, but Rwanda has backed away, a senior US diplomat said.Molly Phee, the outgoing assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said the United States proposed an expansion of the Lobito railway, a project visited last month by President Joe Biden that aims to speed up the transport of minerals from southern DRC and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic coast.”We had proposed to both sides that if we could get to stabilization in eastern DRC, we could work on developing a spur from the Lobito Corridor up through eastern DRC,” Phee told AFP in an interview ahead of her exit Monday as the Biden administration comes to an end.”We tried to offer positive incentives. A genuine framework — fundamentally negotiated by the parties — exists, and at the moment, Rwanda seems to have walked away,” she said.Rwanda-backed rebels known as the March 23 (M23) Movement since 2021 have seized swaths of eastern DRC, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.Rwandan President Paul Kagame, while never admitting direct military involvement, has demanded the elimination of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group in DRC primarily composed of Hutu militants formed in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.Authorities in Kinshasa accuse Rwanda of seizing valuable mines in the region amid the conflict.Phee, who was part of the Biden administration’s negotiations along with US intelligence chief Avril Haines, said the United States presented a solution that would include a DRC crackdown on the FDLR.”They did not take that action,” she said of Kinshasa.”We put it all back together again and then I thought we were on a good track. And then in the end, President Kagame decided not to go to the Luanda summit in December, and you’ve seen Rwanda and M23 take more territory.”Kagame has dismissed recent peace initiatives such as the summit in the Angolan capital Luanda as little more than photo-ops that do not address “root causes.”- ‘Heavy-handed’ security response in Ethiopia -Biden took office vowing to pay more attention to Africa than Donald Trump, his predecessor and successor, although the administration soon also became focused on the Ukraine and Gaza wars.But one of the most devastating conflicts of this century was a two-year war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region where at least 600,000 people died, according to an African Union envoy.The violence stopped with a ceasefire reached in November 2022 in the South African capital Pretoria.”I’m very proud of the work we did to help end the war in Tigray, which at that time was the largest conflict in the world,” Phee said.But she voiced concern over Ethiopian forces’ actions since then, in conflicts in the separate regions of Amhara and Oromia.”It’s a legitimate and difficult problem, as all insurgencies are, but we feel the security services are heavy-handed and are not as attentive to civilian casualties as they should be,” she said.The Biden administration booted Ethiopia out of a major trade pact in response to rights concerns in Tigray.Phee said the United States “would like to be in a position to resume the kind of partnership that we had” but that Ethiopia still has steps to take.- Still hopeful in Niger -The United States also saw a setback when the military seized power in Niger in 2023 — soon after a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken — and moved closer to Russia.The junta scrapped a military cooperation deal, forcing Washington to give up a $100 million drone base, soon after Phee voiced concern over Niger potentially selling uranium to Iran, whose nuclear program is under scrutiny.In a diplomatic dustup, Nigerien authorities denied that there was a deal with Iran and called Phee’s attitude “condescending.”Phee said her remarks to Niger should be understood more as an offer than warning.She said she told Niger that “Iran is a bad actor in the world” and that a deal would cause problems due to sanctions on Tehran.But she said she told them, “you deserve to use your uranium to benefit your people. We’ll be happy to find you a reputable buyer.” “I’m hopeful that action on that kind of path will be taken by them.”