US conducting surveillance flights over Nigeria after Trump intervention threat
The U.S. has been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November, according to flight tracking data and current and former U.S. officials, in a sign of increased security cooperation between the countries, Reuters reported.
Reuters could not determine what information the flights are meant to obtain.
But the flights in West Africa follow U.S. President Donald Trump's threats in November to militarily intervene in Nigeria over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities. The flights also are occurring just months after a U.S. pilot working for a missionary agency was kidnapped in neighboring Niger, according to Reuters.
Thailand, Cambodia agree to talks in bid to end deadly conflict - minister
Officials from Thailand and Cambodia will meet next week to discuss the possibility of reviving a ceasefire, Thailand's foreign minister said, as deadly border clashes entered a third week, BBC reported.
Both countries had signed a ceasefire earlier in July, brokered by US President Donald Trump. But fighting broke out again earlier this month - which both countries have blamed each other for.
On Monday, top officials from both countries met at a summit in Malaysia, their first first face-to-face meeting since fighting resumed, according to BBC.
Trump says US 'has to have' Greenland after naming special envoy
Donald Trump has sparked a fresh row with Denmark after appointing a special envoy to Greenland, the vast Arctic island he has said he would like to annex, BBC reported.
In response to a question from the BBC about the new role of Jeff Landry, the Republican governor of Louisiana, Trump said the US needed Greenland for "national protection" and that "we have to have it".
Landry, he said, would "lead the charge" as special envoy to Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, according to BBC.
Russia escalates attacks on key Ukrainian region of Odesa
Russia has intensified its strikes on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa, causing widespread power cuts and threatening the region's maritime infrastructure, BBC reported.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said Moscow was carrying out "systematic" attacks on the region. Last week, he warned that the focus of the war "may have shifted towards Odesa".
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the repeated attacks were an attempt by Moscow to block Ukraine's access to maritime logistics, according to BBC.
