Human traffickers go online to lure victims

Ile Ife is the cultural center of Nigeria's Yoruba people. Our guide is the leader of the Yoruba king's personal band.

The foreign minister of Mali told the UN General Assembly that any military intervention in Niger would threaten Mali's security. The juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso signed a mutual defense pact last week.

European governments have a duty to rescue asylum seekers who cross the sea to escape conflict, Pope Francis said in Marseille. He called it "a duty of humanity" to save people in difficulty.

The UN chief has called it an epidemic of coups. In Africa, since 2020, military officers have seized power, or attempted to do so, in numerous sub-Saharan countries. Just in the last two and a half months, soldiers in Gabon announced a takeover of power, while in Niger, members of the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum and announced that they were seizing power.

During a speech in France, the Catholic leader urged a humane pan-European response to migration. French President Emmanuel Macron attended the address as his government deliberates a harsher response to asylum-seekers.

In Nigeria, the first West African comic art exhibition is opening eyes, hearts and minds to a new way of looking at heroes.

The French president said military cooperation with the West African nation would end and France's soldiers stationed there would return home by the end of the year.

The German and US defense ministers have said they see no immediate need to leave Niger, following France's decision to withdraw troops. Niamey's junta has been more focused on the former colonial power's presence.

The mayor of Derna is among those held over allegations of mismanagement and negligence that could have contributed to deadly dam collapses earlier this month.

The French diplomat left the capital Niamey for Chad early Wednesday, Paris said. The military junta had ordered his expulsion some weeks ago.

The former US president is being sued by the New York attorney general for deceiving banks and insurers by over-valuating assets. The judge's decision narrows the parameters of a trial next week.

Niger has hailed France's withdrawal as a "step towards sovereignty." But experts argue that the move has broad implications for the country, the Sahel region and beyond.