POLAND: Polish prosecutors filed charges today against former defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who declassified parts of a plan for national defence that had been prepared years before under an earlier government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The document laid out plans for the Polish army to retreat westward to the Vistula River, which runs through the centre of Poland, in case of an invasion from the east by Russia.

NAMIBIA: Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as Namibia’s first female president today, reaching the highest office in her land nearly 60 years after she joined the liberation movement fighting for independence from apartheid South Africa.

Ms Nandi-Ndaitwah won an election in November to become one of just a handful of female leaders in Africa after the likes of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Joyce Banda of Malawi and Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania.

MIGRATION: Nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, the United Nations agency for migration said today. The death toll set a new record for the fifth year in a row.

The International Organisation for Migration recorded at least 8,938 migrant deaths in 2024. However, the real death toll is likely much higher given that many deaths go unreported or undocumented.

UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, an agency Republicans have talked about closing for decades.

The order says Education Secretary Linda McMahon will “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the states and local communities.”