Iran has ruled out holding an informal meeting with the US and European powers on ways to revive a nuclear deal, insisting that America must lift all of its unilateral sanctions first. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said it was not an appropriate time for the talks proposed by the European Union. The US said it was disappointed but that it remained ready to “re-engage in meaningful diplomacy” on the issue.

Tensions have soared since the US left a nuclear deal with Iran in 2018. Then-President Donald Trump re-imposed crippling economic sanctions to force Iran to renegotiate the 2015 accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran refused and retaliated by rolling back a number of key commitments. The US has now expressed intent to rejoin the deal under President Joe Biden. But Washington insists Tehran must return to full compliance with the agreement first, while Iran says that will only happen once sanctions are lifted.(BBC)…[+]

For most people, creating a snowman is hard work, but one family in Colorado took things to another level with this snake snow sculpture.  Morn Mosley and his five siblings spent ten hours working on this year’s model of a snake which has delighted locals. The family’s work gained popularity in 2019 after their tiger sculpture was widely shared on local media. The snake measures some 77 feet (23 metres) long and is in the front garden of his mother’s house.  Video footage shared on social media by Mr Mosley shows the effort the group went to to create the snake. The group created the shape of the animal before using spray paint to add colour and shading. “My dad would make them with us when we were younger,” he told the BBC. “We just try to have fun every now and then and create one for old times sake.”(BBC)…[+]

Police have fired on protesters in Myanmar killing at least 18, the UN human rights office says, on the deadliest day of anti-coup rallies. Deaths were reported in several cities including Yangon, Dawei and Mandalay as police used live rounds and tear gas. Security forces began the violent crackdown on Saturday, after weeks of largely peaceful protests against the 1 February military takeover. Government leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, were overthrown and detained. Social media footage from Sunday showed protesters running away as police charged at them, makeshift roadblocks being erected, and several people being led away covered in blood.

Eritrean troops fighting in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray killed hundreds of people in Aksum mainly over two days in November, witnesses say. The mass killings on 28 and 29 November may amount to a crime against humanity, Amnesty International says in a report. An eyewitness told the BBC how bodies remained unburied on the streets for days, with many being eaten by hyenas. Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane G Meskel has dismissed the accusations as “preposterous”. In a tweet, he suggested that the interviews were conducted with militiamen allied to Tigray’s former ruling party, the TPLF, whose dispute with Ethiopia’s federal government led to the conflict in the region.

The Ethiopian Human Rights commission says the report should be “taken seriously” and that it was investigating the allegations. Both Ethiopia and Eritrea deny that Eritrean forces have been involved in the Tigray conflict.(BBC)…[+]

More than 300 schoolgirls have been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from a school in Nigeria’s north-western Zamfara state, police say. Security officers have been dispatched to the town of Jangebe where the girls were seized early on Friday morning. Local officials have confirmed the attack but have not given more details. This is the latest mass abduction targeting schools in recent weeks. Armed gangs often seize schoolchildren for ransom. At least 42 people, including 27 students, who were kidnapped last week in Kagara, in neighbouring Niger state, are yet to be released. The 2014 kidnap of 276 schoolgirls in the north-eastern town of Chibok by Islamist militants Boko Haram brought global attention to the scourge of raids on schools in Nigeria but the most recent attacks are suspected to be the work of criminal gangs.(BBC)…[+]

US President Joe Biden has talked by phone with King Salman of Saudi Arabia as he seeks to put relations with America’s old ally on a new footing. He “affirmed the importance” the US “places on universal human rights and the rule of law”, the White House said. Mr Biden made the call after reading a forthcoming US report into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report is expected to implicate the king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He denies involvement. Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, pursued closer ties with Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration had rejected a legal requirement to release the report in declassified form, focusing instead on improved co-operation with the Saudis.   The White House says Mr Biden will “recalibrate” the relationship with Saudi Arabia.(BBC)…[+]

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned of an “attempted military coup”, after the country’s armed forces said he and his cabinet must resign. The army “must obey the people and elected authorities,” he told thousands of supporters in the capital Yerevan. The opposition staged a rival rally.The army has been angered by the PM’s sacking of top military commanders. Mr Pashinyan has faced mass protests after losing last year’s conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but which had been controlled by ethnic Armenians since a 1994 truce. During the bloody six-weeks of fighting late last year, Azerbaijan not only recaptured areas around the enclave but also took the key town of Shusha inside it.Under the Russian-brokered deal that emerged shortly afterwards, Azerbaijan keeps the areas it has captured. Hundreds of Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the disputed area.(BBC)…[+]

US regulators have found the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective. It paves the way for it to become the third Covid-19 vaccine to be authorised in the US, possibly within days. The vaccine would be a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer. Trials found it prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included. The company has agreed to provide the US with 100 million doses by the end of June. The UK, EU and Canada have also ordered doses and 500 million doses have also been ordered through the Covax scheme to supply poorer nations.(BBC)…[+]

The US is set to release a report widely expected to implicate Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. President Joe Biden has read the intelligence report and is due to speak to the Saudi king soon. Mr Biden wants to “recalibrate” ties with Saudi Arabia, which became closer under President Donald Trump. Khashoggi was brutally killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The crown prince denied involvement. Saudi authorities say his death and dismemberment was the result of a “rogue operation” by a team of agents sent to return him to the kingdom. Five individuals were given death sentences for the murder by a Saudi court but these were commuted to 20 years in prison last September. The report, which is expected to be released later on Thursday, will say that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved “and likely ordered” Khashoggi’s killing, four US officials told Reuters news agency. They said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – the US overseas spy agency – was the main contributor to the report. The Saudi public prosecution and Prince Mohammed insist he did not have any knowledge of the murder but in 2019 he said he took “full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government”.(BBC)…[+]

At least 79 inmates have been killed in simultaneous fights in four jails in Ecuador, one of the deadliest incidents in the country’s prisons in years. The military and riot police have been deployed in an effort to quell the violence, which started on Tuesday. Experts say the fights were prompted by a battle for control of the jails after a gang leader was killed in December. The number of dead is higher than the total of inmates killed in 2019 and 2020 combined. Early on Wednesday local time, prison authorities said the situation was now “under control”. They updated the number of dead and said the violence had also engulfed a fourth jail. The deadliest incident happened in Turi prison, in the city of Cuenca, where 34 were killed. There were also fatalities in two prisons in the city of Guayaquil and in a jail in Latacunga. All of those killed were inmates, officials said.(BBC)…[+]