Tag: breaking

Paul MellyWest Africa analyst AFP via Getty Images Plotters misjudged the national mood and Benin’s neighbours learnt from past errors Had last week’s coup attempt in Benin been successful, it would have become the ninth to take hold in the region in the last five years alone. Just a few days after soldiers took power read more

Japan has protested after Chinese fighter jets locked radars on Japanese aircraft as tensions between the two nations worsened. Locking radar onto an aircraft is considered a threat because it can signal a potential attack. Japan said there were two such incidents Saturday off its southern Okinawa islands. Japan said it scrambled fighter jets in read more

Queensland Police Service The murder of Toyah Cordingley prompted an outpouring of grief across the state of Queensland A former nurse has been found guilty of the high-profile murder of Toyah Cordingley, whose body was found on a popular tropical beach in Australia seven years ago. Toyah Cordingley was stabbed at least 26 times while read more

Watch: CCTV captures Matisse heist suspects making off with artworks on foot in São Paulo Two armed men have stolen eight engravings by French artist Matisse and at least another five by Brazilian painter Cândido Portinari from a library in São Paulo. Brazilian officials say the thieves held up a security guard and an elderly read more

About 100 children who were abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria last month have been freed. They arrived in the Niger state capital, Minna, in a fleet of minibuses escorted by military vans and armoured vehicles, and were received by Governor Umar Bago. Details about their release remain unclear, including whether it was read more

Jane ChambersBusiness reporter, Aguas Calientes, Peru AFP via Getty Images Machu Picchu attracts more than 1.6 million tourists per year, but getting there is not easy Machu Picchu, the remains of a 15th Century Inca city, is Peru’s most popular tourist destination, and a Unesco world heritage site. Yet a continuing dispute over the buses read more

Security forces in Benin are searching for the soldiers who tried to seize power on Sunday morning, with the president saying they have taken an unknown number of hostages. The coup plotters appeared on state TV to announce they had taken over, and gunfire was heard near the presidential residence. However, President Patrice Talon later read more

Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have gone Instagram official after the singer posted a string of photographs and videos of their trip to Japan. In one picture, Perry and Trudeau are seen smiling for a selfie, with their faces touching. In another video, the pair are seen trying sushi. Neither Perry read more

A protective shield covering the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine can no longer provide its main containment function following a drone strike earlier this year, according to a UN watchdog. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors found that the massive structure, built over the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, had lost its “primary safety read more

Donald Trump has slammed Democrat Henry Cuellar’s “lack of loyalty” for not defecting to the Republican party after he was pardoned by the US president. In issuing his pardon on Wednesday, Trump said the Texas representative – who was charged last year with bribery and money laundering – had been politically targeted by the Biden read more

The US has criticised the Venezuelan government over the death of an opposition figure in custody, calling it a “reminder of the vile nature” of President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Alfredo Díaz died in his prison cell at the El Helicoide prison in Caracas where he was being held for more than a year, human rights read more

Suranjana TewariAsia Business Correspondent, Tokyo BBC Scientists at Waseda University in Tokyo are developing caregiving robots Last year, more than 18,000 older people living with dementia left their homes and went missing in Japan. Almost 500 were later found dead. Police say such cases have doubled since 2012. Elderly people aged 65 and over now read more

A water leak at the Louvre museum in Paris has damaged hundreds of works, just weeks after thieves stole priceless French crown jewels from the museum in broad daylight. The museum’s deputy administrator, Francis Steinbock, said between 300-400 works, mostly books, were affected by the leak – and that the count was ongoing. Mr Steinbock read more

Claire MawisaBBC Africa Eye, Free State BBC Marthinus has applied to move to the US fearing for his family’s safety The 4m-high (13ft) electric steel gates, capped with spikes, creak open as Marthinus, a farmer, drives through in his pick-up truck. Cameras positioned at the entrance track his every move, while reams of barbed wire read more

Yolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, Bethlehem Watch: Bethlehem Christmas tree lights up for first time since Gaza war For two years during the Gaza war, all public celebrations for Christmas were cancelled in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank – where Christians believe Jesus was born. But after the recent ceasefire, the holy city decided that read more

Getty Images Members of the National Guard patrolling a metro station in Washington DC A National Guardsman is on the mend after he was critically injured in an ambush-style shooting last month in Washington DC. The parents of Andrew Wolfe, 24, say “his head wound is slowly healing and that he’s beginning to ‘look more read more

The Iranian judiciary says two organisers of a marathon have been arrested for allowing women who were not wearing hijabs to take part. The move comes after images appeared online of unveiled women competing in the race on Friday. Around 2,000 women and 3,000 men took part separately in the marathon on Kish Island off read more

BBC/Jessica Hromas Isobel is convinced the social media ban won’t stop kids like her It took 13-year-old Isobel less than five minutes to outsmart Australia’s “world-leading” social media ban for children. A notification from Snapchat, one of the ten platforms affected, had lit up her screen, warning she’d be booted off when the law kicked read more

The US National Park Service (NPS) is removing Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth from its list of fee-free entrance days. The move is part of President Donald Trump’s “modernisation” of the park service, which, beginning in 2026, also includes changing the parks’ cost structure to favour American citizens over foreign visitors, following a read more

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