West African heads of state discussed their response to last month’s military takeover in Niger at closed-door talks in Nigeria yesterday after the junta defied their earlier threat to use force to restore democracy.

There is “no evidence” that the growth in using Facebook led to “widespread psychological harm”, the largest independent scientific study on the topic concluded Wednesday, contradicting previous analyses and widespread perceptions.

Russia downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing Crimea and two headed for Moscow, officials said yesterday, the latest in a blitz of air strikes on Russian-held territory.

Western powers on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on Belarus three years after mass pro-democracy protests crushed by strongman President Alexander Lukashenko, whose government lashed out at criticism on the anniversary

The death toll from a wildfire that turned a historic Hawaiian town to ashes has risen to 36 people, officials said Wednesday

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency on Thursday following the assassination of a presidential candidate, but vowed to hold general elections scheduled for later this month

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed his top general and called for stepping up war preparations "in an offensive way", including boosting weapons production and conducting more drills, state media reported Thursday

Temperatures soared across Spain and Portugal on Wednesday as the two countries boil under their third heatwave of the summer

Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed on Wednesday evening during a campaign event in northern Quito and a suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out, authorities said

Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran has resumed operations, state media in Iran reported yesterday, following a thaw in ties seven years after the mission was closed.

The United Nations has said it reached agreement with the Syrian government on aid deliveries to rebel-held areas from Turkey, raising concern among relief groups who had wanted Damascus kept out.

Italian authorities yesterday said 41 migrants are thought to have died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, according to accounts by survivors who have been taken to the island of Lampedusa.

A former rebel leader and politician in Niger has launched a movement opposing the junta that took power in a July 26 coup, a first sign of internal resistance to army rule in the Sahel country.

Eight South American countries agreed Tuesday to launch an alliance to fight deforestation in the Amazon,

President Ferdinand Marcos said yesterday he was “not aware” of any agreement with China to remove a Philippine Navy vessel grounded on a reef in the disputed South China Sea.

Russia said it had shot down two Ukrainian drones near Moscow yesterday, one near a major airport to the south of the city and one to the west of the capital.

A shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa has reportedly killed 41 individuals, Italian media reported on Wednesday

A federal judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election has ordered his attorneys and federal prosecutors to appear in court on Friday for a hearing to help determine how evidence can be used and shared in the case

The United States yesterday backed efforts by West African countries to restore constitutional order in Niger after a July 26 coup and said that diplomacy was preferable to military intervention.

War-torn Sudan is at risk of major disease outbreaks, with thousands of unburied corpses remaining out in the open and country’s health and sanitation infrastructure destroyed, Save the Children warned yesterday.