New Caledonia separatists name jailed party leader as chief

At least 70 people were killed when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of West Africa, Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry said late on Friday, in one of the deadliest accidents in recent years along a popular migration route to Europe.

Another 30 people are feared dead after the vessel, believed to have departed from Gambia and carrying mostly Gambian and Senegalese nationals, sank off the coast of Mauritania early on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement.

It was carrying an estimated 150 passengers, 16 of whom had been rescued. Mauritanian authorities recovered 70 bodies on Wednesday and Thursday, and witness accounts suggest over 100 may have died, the statement said.

The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest.

More than 46,000 irregular migrants reached the Canary Islands last year, a record, according to the European Union. More than 10,000 died attempting the journey, a 58 percent increase over 2023, according to the rights group Caminando Fronteras.

Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry implored its nationals to “refrain from embarking on such perilous journeys, which continue to claim the lives of many.”

WASHINGTON: A science advocacy group on Friday lambasted the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for firing five “whistleblowers” who signed a public letter critical of the Trump administration.

“The EPA fired five whistleblowers who signed the EPA Declaration of Dissent, and issued a Notice of Removal for an additional four employees,” according to a statement from Stand Up for Science, a non-profit organization created in response to US President Donald Trump’s cuts to federal research funding and other policies.

The EPA appeared to acknowledge the job losses in a statement on Friday, but did not specify if employees were fired.

“Following a thorough internal investigation, EPA supervisors made decisions on an individualized basis,” an agency spokesperson wrote to AFP, declining to comment on “individual personnel matters.”

Since taking charge of the federal agency tasked with ensuring clean air, land and water, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has executed Trump’s agenda, including gutting climate regulations, ramping up fossil fuel development and slashing funding for clean energy.

The changes have drawn fierce backlash from scientists and environmental advocates alike.

The EPA suspended more than a hundred employees in July after they signed the scathing open letter accusing Zeldin of pushing policies hazardous to both people and the planet.

The letter – signed by 270 employees with 170 choosing to be named – described a climate of political interference and warned that the agency’s leadership was eroding public health protections and scientific integrity.

On Friday, the EPA noted their “zero-tolerance policy for career officials using their agency position and title to unlawfully undermine, sabotage, and undercut the will of the American public that was clearly expressed at the ballot box last November.”

“The petition – signed by employees using a combination of their titles and offices – contains inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business,” it added.

The Trump administration has similarly clamped down on federal employees who signed letters of dissent at other agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).