US country music star Dolly Parton has come out in support of Black Lives Matter, in a rare comment on politics.

She told Billboard Magazine: “Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” With a broad fan base that spans the right and the left, the singer generally eschews political subjects. Her comments come amid a nationwide reckoning on race that has impacted all of US society, including country music. Although Ms Parton has not attended Black Lives Matter marches, she said she supported anti-racism activists’ right to protest. “I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she told the music magazine.

The entertainment mogul – who owns Dollywood amusement park in her home state of Tennessee as well as other attractions – also spoke about her decision in 2018 to drop the “Dixie” from her Dixie Stampede attraction. A 2017 article in Slate critiqued Ms Parton’s attraction, calling it a “lily-white kitsch extravaganza”. “Dixie” was often used as a nickname for the southern states that made up the Confederate States of America during the US Civil War era.(BBC)…[+]

A Nigerian man has been rescued from the garage of his parents’ house in the northern city of Kano, where he had been locked up for three years, police say. Ahmed Aminu, 30, was discovered after a police raid on the family’s residence. Neighbours had alerted a local NGO about his plight, and the police were then called. Mr Aminu’s father and step-mother have been arrested and police say further investigations are under way.

In a horrific video shared on social media, an emaciated Mr Aminu, too frail to walk, was assisted into a vehicle as he was taken to hospital. He had visible calluses on his knees and his bones were apparent through the little flesh left on him. “We found Aminu in a terrible situation, urinating and excreting in same spot without [being] given any food and looking like he was going to die at any moment,” Haruna Ayagi, head of the Human Rights Network NGO, told the BBC. Police said the man had been locked up by his parents on suspicion of drug abuse and left without proper food and health care. Some reports said he had been locked up for seven years. This is the second time this week a victim has been rescued from horrific conditions in their parents’ house in Nigeria.(BBC)…[+]

The authorities hope to finish pumping out the remaining oil from the ship that has caused a huge oil spill off the coast of Mauritius on Wednesday. The aim is to transfer the fuel oil to land before the Japanese-owned MV Wakashio breaks up. The ship, believed to have been carrying 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil, ran aground on a coral reef on 25 July. Mauritius is home to world-renowned coral reefs, and tourism is a crucial part of its economy.

Fuel has been transferred to shore by helicopter and to another ship owned by the same Japanese firm, Nagashiki Shipping. France has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment from its nearby island of Réunion, while Japan has sent a six-member team to assist the French efforts. The Mauritius coast guard and several police units are also at the site in the south-east of the island.(BBC)…[+]

After a third night of protests in Belarus, the interior ministry says police fired back with live bullets when they came under attack in the southwestern city of Brest. Demonstrators with metal rods targeted officers and the police opened fire in self-defence, the ministry said. Clashes were also reported in Minsk and other cities, after main opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled.

A BBC crew was attacked by police, who have been accused of brutality. The protests erupted hours after Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was awarded victory in Sunday’s presidential vote, which has been condemned by the EU as “neither free nor fair”. Mr Lukashenko won 80% of Sunday’s vote, according to election officials, but there were widespread allegations of vote rigging and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Belarusians had shown “the desire for democratic change” in the election campaign.(BBC)…[+]