United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has announced that President Donald Trump’s administration is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington.

Rubio announced this on Friday, accusing the envoy of hating the country and President Trump.

“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X.

“Ebrahim Rasool is “a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” he said, referring to Trump by his White House X account handle.

“We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”

The expulsion of the ambassador comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Pretoria.

Trump in February this year froze US aid to South Africa, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers.

Trump further fueled tensions last week, when he said that South Africa’s farmers were welcome to settle in the United States after repeating his allegation that the government was “confiscating” land from white people.

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in New Mexico along with their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. He was 95.

Their causes of death have not been confirmed, but foul play is not suspected, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told CNN on Thursday morning.

Deputies responded to a welfare check request at the home around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday and found Hackman, Arakawa and a dog deceased, Womack-Avila said. An investigation is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said. The gas company is assisting in the investigation, The Associated Press reported.

The welfare check was conducted after a neighbor called authorities, concerned about the couple’s well-being, CNN affiliate KOAT reported.

A search warrant shows that Hackman, his wife and their dog had been dead for some time, and the couple’s bodies were in different rooms when deputies found them during the wellness check, the AP reported.

Hackman was found dead Wednesday in a mudroom, and Arakawa was found dead in a bathroom next to a space heater. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on the countertop near Arakawa, the AP reported.

Medical examiner’s reports with the final cause of death “generally take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to generate,” said Chris Ramirez, spokesperson for the New Mexico medical investigator’s office.

CNN has reached out to Hackman’s representatives.

The actor’s death comes just days before the Academy Awards on Sunday.

Hackman’s performances in such films as “The French Connection,” “Hoosiers,” “Unforgiven,” and “The Firm” elevated character roles to leading-man levels.

Hackman’s best roles were often of conflicted authority figures or surprisingly clever white-collar villains, such as the iconic, evil Lex Luthor in the “Superman” film series in the 1970s and ’80s. Many held a hint – sometimes more than a hint – of menace.

He won an Oscar for his portrayal in 1971’s “The French Connection” of New York cop Popeye Doyle, a detective who gets his man but at a high cost. His surveillance expert in 1974’s “The Conversation” is single-minded to the point of obsession, losing all perspective.

He won his second Oscar for his performance as Little Bill Daggett, the violent sheriff in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 film, “Unforgiven.”

Source: CNN

Pope Francis showed further improvement on Wednesday, the Vatican said, although it cautioned that “the prognosis remains reserved” for the 88-year-old fighting pneumonia.

“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father in the last 24 hours have shown a further, slight improvement,” said the Vatican in its nightly bulletin on the health of the pontiff, who has been in hospital since February 14.

“Although a slight improvement is being recorded, the prognosis remains reserved,” it said.

The Argentine pope was originally admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and bronchitis, but his condition subsequently deteriorated, sparking widespread concern among Catholics.

Respiratory attacks he suffered at the weekend that required high levels of oxygen and blood transfusions have not been repeated, according to the Vatican, although he continues to receive oxygen and do breathing exercises.

On Wednesday, the Vatican said a CT scan performed Tuesday showed “normal progression of the pulmonary inflammatory condition” while blood tests on Wednesday confirmed the improvement.

It also said that a mild renal insufficiency detected at the weekend “had resolved.”

As Catholics across the globe pray for Francis, doctors have warned the path to recovery could be long, with the Jesuit pontiff likely staying in hospital beyond this week.

Despite his critical condition, the leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics has kept up with Church matters from his hospital suite, according to the Vatican.

Now on his 13th day in the hospital, the Pope Wednesday was “sitting in a chair, and continuing with the treatment as normal”, a Vatican source said.

The Vatican said he received the Eucharist in the morning and spent his afternoon working.The current hospitalisation is Francis’s fourth and longest.

The pope, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.

He is prone to bronchitis and suffers from hip and knee pain, which has made him reliant on a wheelchair.

Pilgrims and faithful have been flocking to the Vatican and the Gemelli to pray for Francis, with a fresh round of prayers held in St Peter’s Square later Wednesday evening.