West African leaders on Thursday said they would dispatch envoys to coup-stricken Mali to help secure “the return of constitutional order” and called for its ousted president to be restored to office. “We have decided to immediately send a high-level delegation in order to ensure the immediate return of constitutional order,” the regional bloc ECOWAS […]

Rebel troops who have taken power in Mali said on Thursday “a transitional president” would be appointed from either civilian or military ranks. “We are going to set in place a transitional council, with a transitional president who is going to be either military or civilian,” Junta spokesman Ismael Wague told TV channel France 24. […]

Ivory Coast has banned all outdoor protests until September 15, according to a statement issued on Thursday after deadly clashes ahead of presidential elections in October. The measure “draws the consequences of the impact, in human and property terms, from previous demonstrations and the risk that pockets of inter-community conflicts could open up”, the government […]

Russian doctors were battling to save the life of leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny on Thursday after he was rushed to intensive care in Siberia suffering from what his spokeswoman said was a suspected poisoning. Navalny, a 44-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner who is among President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, was hospitalised in the city […]

China on Thursday announced it had suspended a Mutual Legal Assistance agreement between Hong Kong and the U.S., after Washington earlier announced it had suspended three agreements with the territory covering extradition and tax exemptions. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the Hong Kong-U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement on Criminal Justice would no longer be […]