Dalai Lama appointed by China 'is going to be a fake one', exiled former Tibetan leader says

Two women - a Swiss and an Austrian – have been freed after more than a year in captivity in Niger and handed over to authorities in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Austrian national Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Swiss Claudia Abbt, 69, were kidnapped separately in the northern Nigerien city of Agadez in January and April last year. No details have been given about who was holding them or their demands, although some reports have previously linked the kidnapping to Islamic State militants. The circumstances of their release were not disclosed.

Top European diplomats will hold talks in Istanbul Friday with their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt during a meeting initiated by Ankara, a Turkish foreign ministry source told the AFP news agency on Thursday. Foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group – Britain, France and Germany – will meet counterparts from the newly created R4 group to discuss the Palestinian issue, developments in Yemen and the Strait of Hormuz and ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war, the source said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will host the meeting, the first to bring together the two groups.

El Salvador's president has said he has launched a military operation to rescue four air force personnel who have been missing in Haiti since Sunday. Nayib Bukele wrote in a post on X that Wednesday's attack was "nothing" compared with what would happen if all the hostages - who he said were not combatants - were not returned alive. They went missing after being ambushed by "heavily armed criminal groups," El Salvador's armed forces said. The ambush occurred in Croix-des-Bouquets, an area controlled by armed groups.