Did you miss the news this early morning? We’ve put together a recap to help you see things more clearly.
The military regime resulting from a coup in Niger is sticking to its guns on the eve of the summit of West African countries to be held Thursday in Abuja, capital of Nigeria led by Bola Tinubu, president in office of ECOWAS. Niamey seems insensitive to offers of negotiations from West Africa and the United States to avoid military intervention to restore constitutional order, which remains an option. A joint delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and the United Nations was unable to travel to Niger on Tuesday, the regional organization confirmed in the evening.
On Tuesday, five Raid members were taken into custody as part of an investigation into the death of a 27-year-old man, Mohamed Bendriss, on the sidelines of the riots in early July in Marseille. In the evening, two of them were released. “The release by the investigating magistrate of two police officers placed in police custody is confirmed”, indicated in a press release Tuesday evening the public prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens, adding that “the police custody of the three other police officers are maintained”. She gave no further details. Died on the night of July 1 to 2 in Marseille, Mohamed Bendriss is the only death recorded to date on the sidelines of this episode of urban violence which broke out in several cities in France and over several days following the death of the young Nahel, killed by a policeman during a road check in Nanterre at the end of June.
Although it lacks ambition according to environmental organizations, a step was taken on Tuesday to protect the Amazon rainforest. During a summit in Belém, Brazil, the South American countries of the Amazon decided to form an “alliance” against deforestation, without however setting any concrete objective. The creation of an entity entitled “Amazonian Alliance to Combat Deforestation” is stipulated in a joint declaration signed by Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. This “aims to promote regional cooperation in the fight against deforestation, to prevent the Amazon from reaching the point of no return”. If this were to be reached, the Amazon would emit more carbon than it would absorb, which would aggravate global warming.