August 9, 2023

*) UN gets authorisation to deliver aid to quake-hit northern Syria United Nations will resume aid deliveries to Syria through the Bab al Salam and Al Rai border crossings from Türkiye until November 13. The Syrian regime agreed to a second three-month extension of two border crossings opened to UN humanitarian workers after the February earthquake and was due to close on August 13. The February 6 quakes in Türkiye and Syria killed more than 55,000 people. *) ​​Russia shoots down Ukraine's drones targeting Moscow – mayor Russian forces have downed two combat drones headed for Moscow, the city's mayor said, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital. He said one drone was downed on the southern outskirts of the city, while the second was shot down in the Minsk highway area, west of the capital. According to Russian officials, the strikes are at least the third attack on Moscow within a week, with Ukrainian drones downed on Sunday and Monday. *) Diplomacy best for Niger, force still on table: Nigeria Nigeria's president and head of the West African bloc ECOWAS, Bola Tinubu, has not ruled out military intervention in Niger, but believes diplomacy is the "best way forward" to resolve the crisis, his spokesperson has said. Tinubu weighed in for the first time since the soldiers behind the coup in Niger defied the bloc's Sunday deadline to reinstate elected President Mohamed Bazoum or face the possible use of force. Meanwhile, efforts by ECOWAS and the United States to parlay with Niger's new rulers have made no headway ahead of a crisis summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday. *) Jailed ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan's lawyers file legal challenge Lawyers for former Pakistan PM Imran Khan filed an appeal against his conviction for graft. Imran Khan is incarcerated in a century-old prison at the beginning of a three-year term. Unless overturned, the conviction will rule him out of contesting upcoming elections. Pakistan's election commission on Tuesday issued a statement officia