WORLD

Nigeria's military has sent reinforcements to calm tensions in a troubled northern central state, where local officials say at least 300 people have been killed in three months of inter-communal violence.

Smoke was rising from the blackened ruins of a residential building in Mykolaiv on Thursday after a Russian missile hit the centre of the southern Ukrainian city, killing at least two and injuring 19 including several children.

July 2023 will probably be the world's hottest month in "hundreds, if not thousands, of years," top NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided against attending an upcoming BRICS summit in Johannesburg in person because he did not want to "jeopardise" the talks, a top South African diplomat said Thursday.

Vitaliy Bylenko looked ruefully at the mountains of grain in his barn, contemplating the growing obstacles to shifting the stockpiles after Russia this week exited a deal allowing Black Sea exports.

Shops and schools in Kenya reopened on Thursday despite a fresh round of opposition protests that have led to deadly clashes and sparked appeals for dialogue to end the crisis.

"The mandate of the Organ is to promote peace and stability in the SADC region as a prerequisite for the achievement of SADC objectives of socio-economic development, poverty eradication and regional integration," the department said.

"China will follow the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and its commitment to the greater good and shared interests and act in the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Mao Ning said.

Russia said Wednesday it would consider cargo ships travelling to Ukraine through the Black Sea potential military targets, following its decision to exit a landmark deal that permitted the export of grain from Ukraine.

A road crash in Algeria killed 34 people when a passenger bus collided head-on with a pickup truck carrying fuel cans and burst into flames Wednesday, deep in the southern Sahara region, officials said.

Namibian lawmakers on Wednesday approved legislation to ban same-sex marriage and punish its supporters, in what critics said was an unconstitutional attack on the LGBTQ community.

The United States on Wednesday announced a new $1.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine featuring air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, drones and other equipment.

Ukraine expects its fight to regain land lost to the Russian invasion to be long and grinding, a senior presidential aide in Kyiv told AFP Wednesday.

A gunman killed two people and wounded six others at a building site in central Auckland Thursday, hours before New Zealand's biggest city was to host the opening match of the 2023 FIFA football World Cup.

Two people were killed on Wednesday following anti-government protests in Kenya, a hospital official said, as the interior ministry announced the arrest of over 300 others in connection with the demonstrations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend a BRICS nations summit in South Africa next month, the country's presidency said on Wednesday, ending months of speculation.

Concerns about a possible influx of Sudanese refugees to the West are misplaced, a senior US official told AFP on Tuesday, as millions in the war-torn nation flee their homes.

Extreme heat was forecast across the globe on Wednesday, as wildfires raged and health warnings were in place in parts of Asia, Europe and North America.

Arresting Vladimir Putin would amount to a declaration of war on Russia, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in court papers released on Tuesday as the country wrangles over hosting the Russian leader.

Britain's controversial plan to deter migrants without papers from landing on British shores was on Tuesday poised to become law, prompting criticism from the United Nations.

Chikunga further explained that both countries also agreed to "support the use of railway as an alternative to decongest the Kasumbalesa road network and the development of a dry port."

Global warming poses a threat to all humankind and requires a new kind of cooperation between China and the United States, US climate envoy John Kerry told Chinese officials on Tuesday.

The new head of the World Bank said Tuesday that growing divides between rich and poor nations risked deepening poverty in the developing world, at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in India.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Monday that millions of people facing hunger will "pay the price" of Russia's decision to exit the Ukraine grain deal.

According to government autopsies, starvation appears to have been the main cause of death, although some victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated.

The collapse of the Black Sea export corridor, which allowed the export of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain over the past year, should have little immediate impact but over the medium term create market tension and push up food prices.

A rare Somali wild ass has been born in a zoo in Chile, the fourth specimen of the critically endangered species to be born in the South American country, the zoo owner said.

James Anderson returns on his Old Trafford home ground to lead an ageing England attack in a must-win fourth Ashes Test.

A Kenyan court on Monday acquitted a controversial self-styled preacher who claimed he could help infertile couples conceive "miracle babies" through prayer, citing insufficient evidence from prosecutors.