WORLD

Kenyan President William Ruto said Sunday he would "not negotiate about the safety of our country" with his rival after agreeing to dialogue to end violent protests against his government.

At least 39 people were killed and dozens more wounded Sunday in a suicide bombing at a political gathering of a leading Islamic party in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

West African leaders were to meet on Sunday for a crisis summit on the coup in Niger, where protesters tried to storm the French embassy after the junta warned of an "imminent military intervention".

Eight people including three small children died in Russia when trees crashed into a lakeside campsite during a storm described as a "hurricane", authorities said on Sunday.

France's finance minister said during a visit to Beijing on Sunday that cutting all economic ties with China was "an illusion", as some Western countries question their reliance on the Asian giant.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng was due in the Pakistan capital on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of a mega economic plan that is the cornerstone of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative.

The coup in Niger, the third in as many years to topple an elected leader in Africa's troubled Sahel, threatens to further hamper efforts against jihadist groups in the region, analysts say.

The death toll from a powerful explosion that levelled an unlicensed fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand rose to at least 10 on Sunday, the local governor said as police sought the owner on charges of negligence.

West African leaders will meet Sunday in the Nigerian capital Abuja for an "extraordinary summit" on Niger, scene of the latest military coup to hit the Sahel region, with the possibility of sanctions on the cards.

Three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said, in an attack that briefly shut an international airport.

Pope Francis heads to Portugal next week for a global gathering of young Catholics as the country grapples with a report into decades of sexual abuse of children by members of the Church.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets Saturday to protest the government's decision to forge ahead with its judicial reform package despite widespread opposition.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro's son Nicolas was arrested Saturday on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment in a scandal linked to Petro's election campaign, officials said.

Japan pressed bankrupt Sri Lanka on Saturday to expedite its debt restructuring, including with its biggest creditor China, to stabilise the island nation's economy after an unprecedented crisis.

A strike by Ryanair pilots in Belgium in an ongoing dispute over working conditions has cancelled 96 flights to and from Charleroi this weekend, the airport said, in the midst of the busy summer travel season.

French police have released two men who had been detained on suspicion of taking part in an alleged gang rape of a Mexican tourist in the Champ de Mars park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, prosecutors said Saturday.

Rail workers in Britain held their latest strike over pay and conditions on Saturday, as more than a year of walkouts on the country's train network grinds on.

The African Union demanded Niger's military "return to their barracks and restore constitutional authority" within 15 days as the EU intensified pressure on the coup leaders Saturday by suspending security cooperation with the jihadist-hit country.

The leader of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement on Saturday stepped up his attacks against the region's long-marginalised LGBTQ community.

Two teachers have been pressured out of their jobs in a small German town after denouncing the alleged right-wing extremism of their pupils, in a case that sparked a national outcry.

Washington will seek to bolster its shrinking weapons stockpiles by helping Australia develop a missile manufacturing and exporting industry, top officials said Saturday after high-level talks between the two countries.

Environment ministers from G20 nations failed to agree on peaking global emissions by 2025 and other crucial issues to address the global climate crisis at their meeting in India on Friday.

A new law allowing as many as 900 alleged gang members to be tried at a time in El Salvador, where tens of thousands have been arrested in a crackdown, has alarmed justice experts and rights groups who fear it is a reelection ploy by President Nayib Bukele.

Super-heated seawater off the Florida Keys has grown so perilous to the world's third-largest barrier reef that scientists are now removing samples of coral from ocean nurseries to place in cooler land-based tanks.

Australia paused a major military exercise with the United States on Saturday, after a defence helicopter taking part in the drills crashed into the Pacific leaving four aircrew missing.

The United Nations insisted Friday it is still providing humanitarian assistance on the ground in Niger but was forced to suspend aid flights after the coup closed borders.

Leading Senegalese opposition politician Ousmane Sonko was arrested on Friday, members of his party, a senior security official and a lawyer told AFP, although the precise reasons for the arrest were unconfirmed.

Despite the military intervention in Ukraine and efforts by the West to paint Russia as a pariah state, Moscow can still count on support from several African, Latin American and Asian governments, including that of heavyweight China.

In recent weeks, Syria has experienced a surge in tensions between the Russian and US military forces.