BBC -Former US President Barack Obama has indirectly addressed a racist video posted on President Donald Trump’s social media, telling a podcast host that the “shame” and “decorum” that once guided public officials is now lost.

The offensive video included a clip depicting Obama and his wife Michelle as apes, which drew widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

The White House initially defended the video, calling backlash “fake outrage”. The post was later blamed on a staff member and deleted.

Obama spoke to liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, who asked the first black US president about the tone of political discourse. Cohen cited Trump’s post among several recent controversies.

The clip – set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight – was included at the end of a video Trump’s Truth Social account shared containing unfounded claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

The post led to outrage from politicians, including from senior members of Trump’s Republican party.

Senator Tim Scott – the only black Republican senator – described it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.

The clip recalls racist caricatures comparing black people to monkeys, and appears to have been taken from an X post shared by conservative meme creator Xerias in October.

Trump has told reporters that he “didn’t see” the part of the video that showed the Obamas.

“I didn’t make a mistake,” he told reporters when asked whether he planned to apologise.

The 47-minute podcast featuring Obama was released on Saturday. The episode begins with the host asking him to comment on US “discourse”, which he says “has devolved to a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before”.

Cohen notes claims by the White House that the “victims” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are “domestic terrorists”, and adds “just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face, on an ape’s body”.

Obama responds by saying: “It’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling.

“It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.”

But Obama said that while travelling around the US, he found himself meeting people who “still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness”.

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” he continued.

“And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right?

“That’s been lost.”

He did not mention Trump by name in his response.

During the interview, Obama spoke about a range of issues. He praised protesters who have peacefully organised against immigration operations, discussed electoral redistricting and talked about his presidential library, which is due to open in Chicago next year.

WASHINGTON

At airports across the country, the security lines are still moving. The bags are still being screened. But the people doing that work are doing it for free.

A shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security took effect early Saturday, leaving the Transportation Security Administration—the agency responsible for screening millions of passengers—without approved funding.

TSA officers are now expected to report to work without pay while lawmakers remain deadlocked over the agency’s annual budget.

For travelers with upcoming flights, the news carries an uncomfortable echo. Last year’s 43-day government shutdown brought historic flight cancellations and grinding delays to the nation’s airports.

And while TSA officers worked through that record closure—which ended Nov. 12—aviation experts warn that this time could be different.

Trade groups representing the U.S. travel industry and major airlines are already sounding the alarm. The longer the DHS appropriations lapse, they caution, the longer security lines could grow.

A workforce stretched thin by uncertainty is one missed paycheck away from calling in sick—and a system built on vigilance cannot afford to run on empty.

For now, the officers keep scanning, patting down, and waving travelers through. But with no pay and no end in sight, the strain is building behind the checkpoint.

By James Kisoo

WASHINGTON

Two golfers have sued the federal government to stop the Trump administration from overhauling a more than 100-year-old public course in the nation’s capital, arguing the project violates an 1897 law that created the park for the people—not a presidential renovation.

The lawsuit, filed Friday against the Department of the Interior, targets the planned reconstruction of East Potomac Park and its historic golf course.

The complaint alleges the administration is violating environmental laws and polluting a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At the heart of the legal challenge is a roughly 130-year-old congressional act that established the park “for the recreation and the pleasure of the people.” The golfers argue that the Trump administration’s overhaul betrays that mandate.

The suit is the latest in a growing series of legal battles challenging President Donald Trump’s ambitious efforts to reshape public spaces in Washington.

An avid golfer himself, Trump has also set his sights on renovating a military golf course just outside the city that has been used by presidents for decades.

Late last year, a group of preservationists filed a similar lawsuit seeking to block the administration from demolishing the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom.

The East Potomac Park project, critics say, represents another front in the same fight: a president determined to leave his mark on the capital’s landscape, and citizens determined to protect public land they say belongs to everyone.

By James Kisoo

PARATY, Brazil

While most of Brazil celebrates Carnival in sequins and sparkle, revelers in the colonial town of Paraty take a different approach: they cover themselves in mud.

At Jabaquara Beach, partygoers wade into the silty shallows, slather themselves in gray sludge, and emerge as a unified, unrecognizable mass.

They dance, drum, and chant caveman-like “Uga! Uga!” calls under the blazing sun.

“Everyone is kind of the same,” said Charles Garcia Pessoa, a 37-year-old entrepreneur. “Those who have money and those who don’t: everyone comes here to jump into the mud.”

The tradition started in 1986 when friends playing in the mangroves realized the mud made them anonymous.

They paraded into the city’s historic center and caused a stir. Nearly 40 years later, the muddy march endures—a leveling ritual in a festival known for flashy excess.

By James Kisoo

Motorcycle-riding gunmen swept into three villages in a central region of Nigeria, shooting dead or cutting the throats of at least 46 people, a humanitarian source told AFP on Saturday.

The violence again threw the spotlight on Nigeria’s efforts to contain security threats — efforts that have been strongly criticised by US President Donald Trump.

A security report seen by AFP said the attackers had used “41 motorcycles, each carrying two or three men”.

The three villages targeted by the gunmen are part of the Borgu local government area in Niger State, on the border with Kwara State, where jihadists killed more than 160 people in an attack earlier this month.

The bloodiest attack happened in the village of Konkoso, where at least 38 people were shot dead or had their throats slit, the humanitarian source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Most of the homes in the village were burned down and apart from those already counted as dead, “other bodies are being recovered,” the source said.

A resident of Konkoso told AFP the gunmen had first attacked the nearby village of Tungar Makeri before heading to his village.

A spokesman for Niger State police told AFP that six people had been killed in Tungan Makeri when the gunmen overran the village at around 6:00 am.

Fears death toll could rise

“Some houses were set on fire and an as-yet undetermined number of people were abducted,” and officers were seeking information about the attacks on the other two villages, the police spokesman.

The Konkoso resident said his nephew was among those killed in Konkoso.

“They burned a lot of houses and abducted four women,” he said.

“After Konkoso, they went to Pissa, where they set a police station on fire and killed one person.”

“At the moment, many people are missing,” he said.

The border between Kwara and Niger states is home to the Kainji Forest, a known haven for bandits and jihadists.

Nigeria has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency in the northeast for over 16 years.

But it has also had to deal with an ongoing conflict between farmers and herders in the north-central region, separatist violence in the southeast, and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest.

Jihadist groups are also active in the northwest and west-central regions, emboldened by growing insecurity in neighbouring countries Niger and Burkina Faso.

Numerous armed gangs, known locally as “bandits”, are also wreaking havoc — looting villages, killing people and kidnapping residents.

Jihadists killed more than 160 people in an attack on the village of Woro in Kwara State at the beginning of February.

The al-Qaeda affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil, near Woro, last October.

Religious and community leaders from the Borgu area last week called on President Bola Tinubu to establish a military base in the area to put an end to the recurring attacks, Nigerian media reported.

The US military coordinated with Nigerian authorities to carry out airstrikes in Sokoto State on December 25, targeting what Washington said were Islamic State jihadists.

Trump has claimed Christians in Nigeria are being “persecuted” and victims of a “genocide” being perpetrated by “terrorists”.

Abuja and most experts have rejected the claim, saying the violence is indiscriminate, affecting Christians and Muslims alike.