The Trump administration's controversial travel ban has now been expanded to include Nigeria and five other countries.
Starting February 21, immigration restrictions will be imposed on Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar, with US officials explaining that they failed to meet security standards.
Belarus, which had been under consideration for inclusion, did not make it to the list as it took steps to remedy deficiencies in recent months.
Temporary visas for tourists, business people, students and workers from those nations will remain unaffected.
The US will also stop issuing "diversity visas" to nationals of Sudan and Tanzania.
Critics had earlier criticised US President Donald Trump's 2017 travel ban on Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela as discriminatory.
A grand jury has charged 18 people with allegedly participating in an Arizona fake elector scheme to re-elect then-US President Donald Trump in 2020, the state's attorney general said on Wednesday.
Australian police said on Thursday they charged five teenagers with terrorism-related offences in investigations following the stabbing of an Assyrian Christian bishop while he was giving a livestreamed sermon earlier this month.
India is inspecting facilities of spice makers MDH and Everest for compliance with quality standards after sales of some of their products were halted in Hong Kong and Singapore for allegedly containing high levels of a cancer-causing pesticide.
Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered one of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's deputies be kept in custody on suspicion of taking bribes, the highest-profile corruption case since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.