ReutersCopyright: Reuters The UN and a host of humanitarian agencies are calling on the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, to grant exemptions to the sanctions imposed on Niger in the wake of the coup as they are threatening the health of some of the people. “There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the…

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi Exactly a week ago, India set down a robotic probe on the Moon, becoming the first country to land near the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander – carrying a rover in its belly – touched down on the lunar soil after a 20-minute, nail-biting finale watched by millions…

Authorities in India’s capital, Delhi, are taking steps to scare away monkeys from venues linked to the G20 summit. Life-size cut-outs of grey langur monkeys – which scare smaller monkeys – have been put up at various places and there are plans to deploy people trained to mimic the animal’s sounds. Delhi has a huge…

The military takeover in Niger has caused an international outcry with mounting pressure for the West African nation’s democratically elected president to be reinstated. Although the US has cut some aid, it’s still skirting around calling this crisis a coup. Why? The BBC’s Barbara Plett Usher explains Produced by Alexandra Ostasiewicz and Tom Santorelli Edited…

By Kelly Ng BBC News, Singapore A new UN report estimates that hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have been trafficked to Southeast Asia to run online scams. At least 120,000 people in Myanmar, and another 100,000 in Cambodia, have been forced into working these scams. Most victims are men from Asia,…

By George Wright BBC News Canada has issued a new travel warning to its LGBT citizens planning to visit the United States. Anti-LGBT protests in the US rose 30-fold last year compared with 2017, while legal moves to restrict LGBT rights are on the rise. Global Affairs Canada warned that some state laws may affect…

India says it has lodged a “strong protest” with China over a new map that lays claim to its territory. Indian media have reported that the map shows the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin plateau as China’s territory. It was released by China’s ministry of natural resources on Monday. “We…

Army officers have appeared on national television in Gabon to say they have taken power. They said they were annulling the results of Saturday’s election, in which President Ali Bongo was declared the winner. The electoral commission said Mr Bongo had won just under two-thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued was…

Hello, you join us after a night filled with reports of multiple drone attacks across Russia’s regions and a missile strike on Kyiv which reportedly left two people dead. Russian state media say an airport in the north-western city of Pskov was hit, damaging two military transport planes. Ukraine has not said it was involved…

In Ukraine’s north-east, Russia has recently deployed an estimated 100,000 troops in renewed attacks. But Quentin Sommerville, who spent the past month with Ukrainian brigades in the area, discovers it is the increasingly sophisticated drone attacks that are particularly feared. The Sbrainskyii forest is alight. At first, it is only a hint on the breeze,…