Niger’s military junta has announced plans to prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for high treason and undermining national security.
But in a sign that it is hardening its position, the junta said in a statement read out on state TV that it had gathered evidence to prosecute “the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices for high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger”.
Junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine said he was optimistic that talks with Ecowas would take place in the coming days “to discuss how the sanctions against us will be lifted”.
The coup in Niger mirrored similar takeovers in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, amid an Islamist insurgency and a growing Russian influence in the wider Sahel region through its mercenary group Wagner.
Despite his captivity, Mr Bazoum was able to publish an article in The Washington Post stating that he was a hostage and that the coup would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world”.
His daughter Zazia, 34, who was on holiday in France during the coup, told the UK-based Guardian newspaper last week that her father, mother and brother had no clean water or electricity and were living on rice and pasta.
The mountainous town of Hpakant in the Kachin state is home to the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mines.
Many of those affected are believed to be locals digging through the mud along the cliffs, many of whom work and live in abandoned mining pits.
The intense rain had loosened massive piles of earth more than 150m in height, left over from excavations by mining companies, sending the dirt and debris hurtling down the cliff and sweeping up miners on the way.
These attract huge numbers of migrant workers from other parts of the country who come to search for jade, most of which ends up being sold in China.
“We haven’t found any dead bodies yet,” said the rescue worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being arrested by the military.
There has been frequent fighting there before and after the military coup in 2021, which deposed the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in the hill state.
Mr Sukha posted on X about a flash flood and cloudburst - a sudden, very heavy fall of rain - that had occurred in other parts of the state, in which 14 people had died.
Thousands of tourists visit the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, especially its capital Shimla, around the year to enjoy its cool weather and picturesque scenery.
Videos shared on social media over the past few days show vehicles and buildings being swept away by gushing rivers, trees falling on cars and tourists stranded due to road closures.
Incessant rains have also been battering the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand for the past couple of days, where officials fear several people have been buried in landslides.
On Monday, officials said that the Char Dham Yatra - a pilgrimage to the four holiest sites for Hindus in the state - has been suspended for two days due to the rains.
Italy’s far-right ruling party has been ordered to pay damages to a same-sex couple for using a photo of them with their newborn son without their consent in an anti-surrogacy campaign.
Brothers of Italy is a direct political descendant of the Italian Social Movement, which was formed by members of Mussolini’s Fascist Party after the war.
In March, it instructed Milan’s city council to stop registering the children of same-sex parents, leading to protests.
To us, our birth photo represents everything what we stand for; family, acceptance and unconditional love," the couple told the BBC.
“This victory against the Fratelli and the Prime Minister allows us to reclaim our photo, and show the world that family is about love.”
The photo, taken by Lindsay Foster, was also used without permission by independent Irish politician Mary Fitzgibbons in 2016 to push her platform against surrogacy for same-sex parents.
Details released in what Mr Byrne earlier called a breach of “industrial scale” included names of people who work in sensitive areas such as surveillance and intelligence.
He said that at the beginning of Monday there were 45 members of PSNI staff the organisation “hadn’t caught up with” to discuss the breach, adding that things were moving quickly.
Earlier, police said they were investigating an incident where a document was posted on a wall in west Belfast, allegedly showing information released in the breach.
Names were redacted from the document, which was found near a Sinn Féin office alongside a photo of the party’s policing spokesperson, Gerry Kelly.
DUP MLA Trevor Clarke, a member of the Policing Board, said it reinforced that the threat from the leak would have to be “monitored potentiality for some years to come.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development, it emerged on Saturday that 200 officers and staff were not informed of the theft of personal data from a superintendent’s car for a month after it was stolen.
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Click here to see the summaryAt least 12 people have been killed in an explosion at a petrol station in Dagestan in southern Russia. The blast occurred in regional capital Makhachkala, which sits on the coast of the Caspian Sea, at 21:40 local time (19:40 BST). A further 60 people were injured while, according to one unconfirmed Russian report quoting doctors, the death toll could be as high as 25. Some 260 emergency workers have been deployed, as has an aircraft to evacuate the seriously injured to Moscow, the ministry said. Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted doctors as saying three children were among the dead. An unnamed witness quoted by Russian newspaper Izvestia said the fire had started on a car lot opposite the petrol station.
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