Buhari, Atiku shun debate

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited wounded soldiers from the war in Ukraine for the first time on May 25. Following this visit to a Moscow hospital, users claimed that Putin used secret service bodyguards as extras to pose as "'injured soldiers" as he's extremely paranoid about his safety. Is there any truth to these claims? We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

President Kais Saied issued the order with a list of judges to be dismissed, accusing them of corruption and stalling terrorism cases. Critics have blasted the dismissals as an "affront" to judicial independence.

As Tunisia’s president continues on his autocratic path while the economy is on its knees, can international aid return the country to a democratic track?

Senegal's President Macky Sall appeals to the West to ease sanctions on Russia to facilitate the export grain to Africa. Millions on the continent face hunger amid a global food crisis sparked by the Ukraine war. We talk to David Laborde, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute about the crisis.Also in this edition: Sudan marks the three-year anniversary of the June 3rd massacre, and in Cameroon, refugees prepare to go back home to the Central African Republic.

Joe Biden is set to travel to Israel on July 13 before heading to the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia. The trip's announcement comes despite pledges to side-line the "pariah" Saudi state.

Burkina Faso's leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba traveled to Seytenga on Wenesday to visit people who survived an attack that reportedly killed over 100 people over the weekend. Soldiers have recovered 79 bodies so far after the attack in the northern Seno province, the government said on Tuesday, as new details of the assault emerged.

Hundreds demonstrated in Tunis on Sunday (June 19) in a second day of protest against a constitutional referendum called by President Kais Saied that his opponents say would cement his hold on power. The demonstration was organized by the Salvation Front, a coalition including the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the largest party in a parliament that Saied dissolved in March.

Marcos Jr. has given himself the position of secretary of agriculture ahead of taking his presidential office and amid prohibitively high global prices. The Philippines is heavily reliant on importing its staple — rice.

French politics continues to dominate the papers as Emmanuel Macron desperately seeks an alliance to secure a parliamentary majority. The US Senate finds bipartisan support for new gun possession laws for the first time in 30 years. Organisers of the Miss France beauty pageant introduce radical new changes to shake up the contest. Finally, a man escapes his kidnappers by driving erratically on a highway in order to be stopped by authorities.

Colombians have elected a new president. Gustavo Petro, 62, is set to become the first leftist in the country's top job. The former rebel of the now defunct M-19 movement beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in Sunday's election. Petro will take the oath of office in August, replacing the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque. For analysis, we speak to Gerard Martin, a political sociologist based in Medellin, Colombia.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Friday.

Ecuador's president has accused Indigenous protesters of attempting a coup. Clashes between protesters and security forces have left six people dead, and six of the country's 24 provinces are under a state of emergency.