West African Bloc ECOWAS 'Unequivocally Condemns' Guinea-Bissau Coup

Senegal President Macky Sall, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, President of Economic Community of West African States Commission Omar Touray, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, Vice President of Gambia Muhammad B.S Jallow, Sierra Leone President Julius Maid Bio, Benin Republic President Patrice Talon and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the political, Peace and Security Situation in the ECOWAS sub-region in Abuja, Nigeria February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye  NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
Senegal President Macky Sall, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, President of Economic Community of West African States Commission Omar Touray, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, Vice President of Gambia Muhammad B.S Jallow, Sierra Leone President Julius Maid Bio, Benin Republic President Patrice Talon and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the political, Peace and Security Situation in the ECOWAS sub-region in Abuja, Nigeria February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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West African Bloc ECOWAS 'Unequivocally Condemns' Guinea-Bissau Coup

Senegal President Macky Sall, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, President of Economic Community of West African States Commission Omar Touray, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, Vice President of Gambia Muhammad B.S Jallow, Sierra Leone President Julius Maid Bio, Benin Republic President Patrice Talon and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the political, Peace and Security Situation in the ECOWAS sub-region in Abuja, Nigeria February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye  NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
Senegal President Macky Sall, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, President of Economic Community of West African States Commission Omar Touray, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe, Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, Vice President of Gambia Muhammad B.S Jallow, Sierra Leone President Julius Maid Bio, Benin Republic President Patrice Talon and Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo during the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the political, Peace and Security Situation in the ECOWAS sub-region in Abuja, Nigeria February 24, 2024. REUTERS/Marvellous Durowaiye NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

West African regional bloc ECOWAS on Thursday condemned a military takeover in Guinea-Bissau and called for the immediate release of President Umaro Sissoco Embalo and other arrested officials.

ECOWAS chair Julius Maada Bio "unequivocally condemns the coup d'etat", which came as the country awaited the results of a presidential election, calling it a "grave violation of Guinea-Bissau's constitutional order" and warning it threatened regional stability, the bloc said in a statement.



Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
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Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, ⁠Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media ⁠said.

The FSB said a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. ⁠Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alexeyev's boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia's delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.


Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
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Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China has killed eight people, Chinese state media reported Sunday, increasing the total number of fatalities by one.

State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities.

Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm's legal representative had been taken into custody.

The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometers west of Beijing, AFP reported.

Xinhua said clean-up operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the site of the explosion.

Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.
In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.


Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.