BURKINA FASO: The junta said today it has released four French soldiers arrested a year ago for espionage.

With Mali and Niger, the west African country has formed the anti-imperialist Alliance of Sahel States, which aims to shake off French military and economic domination that dates back to their days as colonies.

The soldiers’ release was negotiated by Morocco.

UNITED STATES: Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of shooting dead health insurance executive Brian Thompson on December 4, will be tried in New York after he dropped objections to being extradited from Pennsylvania.

At the extradition hearing, protesters held signs denouncing the US’s rapacious healthcare industry, where health insurance companies profit from finding loopholes to deny sick people the treatments they need.

ITALY: Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is in court in Palermo on Friday on charges his prevention of 100 refugees, rescued from drowning in 2019, from reaching dry land in 2019 constitutes unlawful detention.

He held the refugees aboard the Open Arms ship for five days that year when interior minister. Prosecutors want a six-year jail sentence, but any verdict can be appealed for years without his having to resign.

KASHMIR: Five rebels were killed by Indian troops today, the Indian military said.

Regular gunfights with separatist insurgents occur in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of the disputed territory. Under Narendra Modi, the Indian portion’s traditional autonomy has been suppressed.