Finland’s Sanna Marin is world’s youngest prime minister at 34

Riot police aimed to remove protests from outside the Soviet-era Parliament building in Tbilisi. Lawmakers have approved for further reading a draft bill of the Russian-styled "foreign agents" bill.

Solomon Islanders began voting on Wednesday in a crucial election that will decide China's foothold in the Pacific region. Polling booths opened at 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday (2000 GMT on Tuesday), with almost 420,000 registered voters to elect 50 members of the national parliament. There are more than 1,000 polling stations scattered across the Solomons archipelago, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) off Australia's coast.

Chess master, Tunde Onakoya, has embarked on a mission to surpass the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon. The event, which is currently underway at New York City's iconic Times Square, started at 5pm on Wednesday, April 17, and is scheduled to end at 8pm on April 19. Onakoya is set to engage in an intense chess marathon, aiming to play for 58 hours without a single defeat.

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

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

India's mammoth elections are now under way, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi widely expected to win a third term. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has expanded subsidy programmes for the poor and women. These programmes include measures like equipping homes with butane gas by offering free cylinders or distributing free food rations. Some 60 percent of the population benefits from Modi’s food distribution scheme, which he has pledged to renew for another five years. Another success story is the nationwide rollout of digital payment services. Meanwhile, critics say the prime minister is eroding democracy by targeting opposition parties and controlling the media.