NIGER: French troops have started leaving the West African country, more than two months after mutinous soldiers toppled elected president Mohamed Bazoum, the military said today.

France did not specify how many troops were departing or where they were going.

On Tuesday night, Niger’s state television broadcast images of a convoy leaving a base in Ouallam in the country's north, saying it was bound for neighbouring Chad, to the east. 

BELGIUM: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said today that his country, which has the biggest interest in the global diamond trade in the European Union, supports a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s government for its war against Ukraine.

Mr De Croo was speaking during a visit to Brussels by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly asked for such a ban since Russia's invasion began in February 2022.

FRANCE: The country’s highest administrative authority has rejected an effort by human rights campaigners to prevent police from systemically targeting black people and those of Arab descent for stops and checks.

Local grassroots organisations and international rights groups had hoped that a favourable ruling from the Council of State today could force deep reforms of French policing to end racial profiling.

ARGENTINA: Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes in the central province of Cordoba on Tuesday as wildfires spread amid an intense heatwave.

It was not immediately clear how many homes had been affected by the flames.

A total of 960 firefighters were working to combat the wildfires, along with eight firefighting planes and two helicopters, the provincial government said on Tuesday night.