'I didn't know where DR Congo was': Latin Americans deported by US tell BBC of their shock

Courtesy image Carlos Alberto Rodelo, in blue T-shirt and shorts, stands next to Jorge Cubillos, in white vest and black trousers, with hands in pockets, on the balcony of their small hotel room in Kinshasa, with palm trees in the background. Courtesy image
Carlos Rodelo (left) and Jorge Cubillos are among a group of 15 people from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador held in a hotel in DR Congo

For eight years, Jorge Cubillos worked to build a new life in the US, after fleeing threats in his home country of Colombia.

He says he had a work permit, and had been granted protection from deportation under Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT).

But suddenly Cubillos was put on a flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo,

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Nascar champion Kyle Busch dies aged 41

Getty Images Kyle Busch, in a blue, red and white Nascar driver's jumpsuit and matching blue cap, as well as sunglasses, smiles and waves. Getty Images

Two-time Nascar Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has died, aged 41.

The sudden passing of the Nascar legend, who was ninth on the circuit's all-time win list, was announced in a joint statement on Thursday by the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and Nascar.

They did not share a cause of death. Busch's representatives had said earlier on Thursday that he had been sent to hospital with a severe illness.

"A future Hall of Famer, Kyle


An Indian bride dies. Rival claims of murder and suicide set off media frenzy

Courtesy Twisha's family A closeup photo of Twisha Sharma - she's wearing danglers and a green bindi Courtesy Twisha's family
Twisha Sharma was a model and actor and a beauty pageant winner

In India, where thousands of young women are murdered every year for bringing in insufficient dowries, a dowry death rarely makes news.

But the death of Twisha Sharma in the central city of Bhopal on 12 May has sparked a huge media frenzy, with the case making headlines every day.

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing.

The 33-year-old model and actor had been married for just

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Tennessee execution called off after failed lethal injection

Tennessee Department of Correction A mugshot of Tony Carruthers. He wears a beige shirt, has a mustache, and stares straight ahead. Tennessee Department of Correction

The execution of a Tennessee death row inmate has been postponed after staff were unable to find a vein to administer a lethal drug.

Tony Carruthers, convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, was set to be executed on Thursday.

But the state's Department of Corrections said that while its medical team did find a primary IV line to carry out the lethal injection, they could not find a suitable second vein to establish a backup line, which is required


Rubio says Cuba is threat to US as Havana accuses him of 'lies'

Reuters Rubio speaking to reporters before boarding his plane at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Thursday, May 21, 2026 Reuters
The US secretary of state said Cuba had always posed a threat

Cuba poses a "national security threat" to the US and the likelihood of a peaceful agreement is "not high", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

His comments come just a day after the US charged Cuba's former president Raúl Castro with murder over the 1996 downing of two planes resulting in the killing of US nationals.

Rubio said Washington's preference was "a diplomatic solution"


Jailed Vietnamese tycoon's Birkin bags sells for more than $550K

Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center A composite image of two white Birkin handbags. Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center
Hermès's exclusive Birkin bags can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars

Two luxury handbags confiscated from jailed Vietnamese businesswoman Truong My Lan have sold for more than $535,000 (£399,000) in a government auction.

Both found new owners in just 30 minutes of bidding - one of the white Hermès Birkin bags alone fetched $440,144, with the

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How Cuban-Americans feel about Raúl Castro's indictment

The DOJ charged the former leader of Cuba with murder and other crimes for his alleged role in the downing of two civilian aircraft in 1996.

Angry crowd sets Ebola hospital tents on fire in DR Congo

Reuters Fire and smoke at the of burnt tents on the grounds of Rwampara General Hospital. A police officer with a gun can be seen to the right of the shot in front of other makeshift tents. Reuters
The unrest highlights the struggle authorities face as cases of the virus rise

An angry crowd set alight a section of a hospital at the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after family and friends of a young man thought to have died from the virus were prevented from taking his body away for burial.

"They started throwing projectiles at the hospital. They even set fire to tents that were being used as isolation wards," local politician Luc Malembe Malembe told the BBC about the scene he witnessed

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Three ways Cuba crisis could play out after US indictment of Raúl Castro

Getty Images Man holding an Getty Images
Many Cuban exiles in the US hope the Havana government is toppled

The US has charged Cuba's 94-year-old former president, Raúl Castro, with murder - stoking speculation that Havana could be next on Washington's regime-change list.

Amid a maximum pressure campaign that has led to the most significant fuel and energy shortages in Cuba in decades, a steady chorus of US officials is calling for the end of the island's 66-year-old Communist government.

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Pair arrested after boys abandoned by road in Portugal

Getty Images A row of houses by a river, with green trees above Getty Images
The children were found by a driver on a road near the town of Alcacer do Sal

A man and a woman reported by local media to be the mother and stepfather of two young French boys found alone and in tears by the side of a road in southern Portugal have been arrested.

The children - both under five - were found by a driver near the town of Alcacer do Sal on Tuesday, police said.

They were carrying backpacks with food and water but no identity documents.

The boys