revoked

DAKAR, Senegal — Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka said his non-resident visa to enter the United States had been rejected, adding that he believes it may be because he recently criticized President Trump.

The Nigerian author, 91, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, becoming the first African to do so.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Soyinka said he believed it had little to do with him and was instead a product of the United States’ immigration policies. He said he was told to reapply if he wished to enter again.

“It’s not about me, I’m not really interested in going back to the United States,” he said. “But a principle is involved. Human beings deserve to be treated decently wherever they are.”

Soyinka, who has taught in the U.S. and previously held a green card, joked on Tuesday that his green card “had an accident” eight years ago and “fell between a pair of scissors.” In 2017, he destroyed his green card in protest over Trump’s first inauguration.

The letter he received informing him of his visa revocation cites “additional information became available after the visa was issued,” as the reason for its revocation, but does not describe what that information was.

Soyinka believes it may be because he recently referred to Trump as a “white version of Idi Amin,” a reference to the dictator who ruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979.

He jokingly referred to his rejection as a “love letter” and said that while he did not blame the officials, he would not be applying for another visa.

“I have no visa. I am banned, obviously, from the United States, and if you want to see me, you know where to find me.”

The U.S. Consulate in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, directed all questions to the State Department in Washington, D.C., which did not respond to immediate requests for comment.

Mcmakin writes for the Associated Press.

Some had been critical of Trump, while others were involved in investigating Russian meddling in the 2020 US elections.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of 37 people it accused of politicising or weaponising intelligence for partisan aims.

In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the group had “abused the public trust”, accusing them of “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards”.

The statement did not explain in what ways the 37 had violated the terms of the national security clearance or provide evidence of them having done so.

Security clearances are rarely revoked, and the names of those revoked are not typically publicised.

The list includes former senior officials as well as little-known staffers. Among the more high-profile is Shelby Pierson, an election security official who, in February 2020, briefed lawmakers on Russian interference in US elections, and drew Trump’s ire for claiming that Moscow favoured him in the 2020 elections. At least one of the people included was listed on the database of Canary Mission, a shadowy pro-Israel website that the government has admitted to using to target pro-Palestinian supporters.

Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents intelligence officers, told Al Jazeera that the revocations could be considered “unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against just this type of action”.

“It is completely unprofessional, yet so common, that the administration took actions targeting individuals in a retaliatory way that impacts their careers and lives, yet did not notify them first before leaking the memo to friendly media.”

Since taking office, Trump has lived up to campaign promises to go after those he perceives as his enemies – particularly members of previous administrations that he has deemed to be corrupt.

Earlier this year, he fired thousands of federal employees, including career prosecutors who participated in the two federal probes into Trump’s behaviour: one for alleged mishandling of classified documents, and the other for attempting to subvert the 2020 election.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, will no longer be able to enter Australia after releasing a song that praises Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Tony Burke, Australia’s home affairs minister, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Wednesday that the country had canceled his visa in early May, around the time “Heil Hitler” was released.

Ye has visited the country frequently since marrying Bianca Censori, who is from Melbourne.

“If someone argued that antisemitism was rational, I would not let them come here,” Burke said. “[Ye] has been coming to Australia for a long time … and he’s made a lot of offensive comments.”

The song proved to be the final strike for Ye. First shared in a social media post on X, “Heil Hitler” as been widely denounced for its racial epithets and antisemitism. It was also subsequently banned on most streaming platforms.

In the song, Ye sampled an infamous speech made by Hitler in 1935 at Krupp Factory, two years after he was appointed chancellor of the Nazi party.

Its music video, released May 8, shows a group of individuals dressed in animal skins reciting the song’s lyrics.

Ye’s behavior has long been controversial, but his antisemitism in recent years has put former colleagues in an awkward position.

John Legend, whose 2013 effort “Love in the Future” was executive produced by Ye, had a clear response in a recent interview.

“It never affects me personally, but just the whole story is sad. Like, seeing this guy praise Hitler, seeing this guy be this force of hate and just vitriol and nastiness,” Legend said during an appearance on New York’s Hot 97 radio show. “All the things he’s done to make the world more beautiful and interesting, for him to be this now, it’s sad. It’s just sad.”

He clarified that during his time on Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music label between 2004 and 2016, he never saw evidence that the rapper was “obsessed with Hitler.”

Legend added that despite Ye’s recent behavior, he has no regrets over their past collaborations: “I’m so glad we did what we did together.”