SOUTH SUDAN: The government announced the closure of all schools for two weeks today due to an ongoing extreme heatwave that has caused some students to collapse.

This is the second time the country has closed schools during a heatwave in February and March.

Deputy Education Minister Martin Tako Moi said on Thursday that “an average of 12 students had been collapsing in Juba city every day.”

UNITED STATES: A judge decided on Thursday that he could not grant a motion from unions representing federal workers to stop President Donald Trump’s mass firings.

He found that their complaint amounted to an employment dispute and must follow a different process outlined in federal employment law.

The lawsuit is among more than 80 challenges on a range of actions Mr Trump has undertaken with his blitz of executive orders. Unions also filed a separate suit challenging mass firings in California this week.

POLAND: A court handed an eight-year prison term to a Ukrainian man today convicted of planning acts of sabotage and arson on Russia’s behalf.

The court found the 51-year-old man, identified only as Serhyi S, guilty of being part of a criminal ring and of preparing to set fire to various structures in the city.

The man has denied the charges, but admitted to accepting online orders from an unknown person to commit arson in return for money.

CZECH REPUBLIC: An assailant attacked and killed two women with a knife at a shopping centre on Thursday, officials said. A Czech teenager later was arrested for the crime.

A motive was not immediately known for the attack in the city of Hradec Kralove, some 60 miles east of Prague.

Police said there was no indication of a “terror attack” and that the attacker apparently chose victims at random.