A global artificial intelligence summit kicked off in New Delhi on Monday with big issues on the agenda, from job disruption to child safety, although some attendees warned the broad focus could make concrete commitments from world leaders less likely.

The northern Nigerian state where the United States staged Christmas Day air strikes targeting Islamist militants is preparing for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and trying to banish thoughts of the violence that has plagued the region.

Pix of the Day February 16, 2026

The death toll from Cyclone Gezani, which slammed into Madagascar’s east coast on February 10, has risen to 59, with 15 people still missing and more than 16,000 displaced, the country’s disaster agency announced Monday.

Zambia has slammed its border shut to all South African livestock and related products in an urgent biosecurity move, as a devastating foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak spreads across South Africa, prompting Pretoria to declare a national disaster.

On the second anniversary of his death, the Kremlin has rejected an assessment by European nations that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned while detained in an Arctic prison.

Fishermen from across West Africa flocked to Nigeria’s Matan Fada river on Saturday to take part in the famous Argungu fishing festival.

Ghana says it plans to seek the extradition of a Russian national accused of secretly filming intimate encounters with several women and posting the footage online without their permission.

North Korea opens a Pyongyang housing district for families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, as Kim Jong Un vows to honour “martyrs”.

Muslims across Egypt are preparing for the start of the holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday. But at one market in Cairo’s Old Islamic neighborhood, rising prices are putting a damper on sales.

Dunkirk’s World Seagull Cry Championship sees feathered contestants screech on stage.

In Ivrea, Italy’s Battle of the Oranges turns streets into a citrus battlefield, in three‑day carnival ritual.

African Union leaders meeting at at a two-day summit in Addis Ababa have adopted a resolution that describes slavery, deportation and colonialism as genocide and crimes against the people of Africa.

Crowds thronged Kathmandu’s Pashupatinath Temple for Shivaratri, where worship, music and a rare legal tolerance of marijuana marked the festival.

South Africa on Wednesday rolled out a 10‑year drive to vaccinate nearly 20 million cattle as a fast‑spreading foot‑and‑mouth outbreak hits herds and squeezes key export markets.

It’s another hurdle lowered for more Chinese-African trade: Beijing announced on Saturday that it would scrap tariffs for imports from 53 African countries. Eswatini is the only one not on the list as it maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, whose sovereignty China challenges.

Mourners attended the funeral of one of the last leaders of Kenya’s Mau Mau resistance movement in Ngorika near the Aberdare mountains. Christopher Njora Muronyo died at the age of 106, still carrying three bullets in his body from his time as a rebel against the British in the 1950s.

A French tourist, identified as Paul Ferreri, who went missing in northeastern Chad after heading off to visit an oasis in the desert has been found dead “after a fall”, Chad’s tourism minister told AFP on Friday. His death was a “tragic accident” according to another French tourist.

Former US president Barack Obama has reacted to a racist AI-generated video depicting himself and his wife Michelle Obama as apes. The video was shared by current US president Donald Trump, who claimed that he had not seen the part of the video showing the Obamas.

Motorcycle-riding gunmen swept into three villages in a central region of Nigeria, shooting dead or cutting the throats of at least 46 people, a humanitarian source told AFP on Saturday.

After a French tourist was found dead on Friday during a group visit to Chad for the International Festival of Saharan Cultures, the tourist group has now arrived at the military airbase of N’Djamena to leave the country.

Leaders are attending the African Union (AU) annual summit in Ethiopia at a time of genocide, myriad insurgencies and coups stretching from one end of the continent to the other, for which it has few answers.

Reza Pahlavi addressed the Munich Security Conference, where 200,000-250,000 protesters rallied for regime change in Iran and urged global leaders to intensify pressure through sanctions and intervention.

São Paulo’s official Carnival celebrations burst into life on Friday night as the city’s top-tier samba schools paraded at the Anhembi Sambadrome, blending cultural pride, feminist themes, and mystical storytelling in a dazzling display of color and rhythm.

Several athletes collapsed and were rushed to hospital on Friday during pre-finale events at the annual Argungu Fishing Festival in northwestern Nigeria, as the centuries-old cultural celebration made a triumphant return after years of security-forced suspension.

In the relentless hustle of Lagos, a city of over 20 million where love often gets lost in the daily grind, musician Bianca ‘Clayrocksu’ Okorocha is on a mission—taking romance off the stage and onto the streets with surprise serenades and single-stem roses.

Western Cape police are preparing to receive South African National Defence Force members deployed to combat gang violence, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of military intervention in crime hotspots.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday for the second Italy-Africa Summit, the first held on African soil, reaffirming Rome’s strategic pivot toward investment-led cooperation with the continent under its Mattei Plan.

In eastern Bitlis, farmers lead water buffaloes and horses into 40-degree Budakli thermal springs to bathe, heal and keep milk quality high during sub-zero winter temperatures.

Rio’s Carmelitas parade draws thousands to Santa Teresa, with samba, costumed revellers and a nod to a runaway nun legend.

Guinea-Bissau’s main opposition leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, appeared before a military court on Friday facing allegations of involvement in multiple coup attempts, accusations his entourage has vehemently denied as politically motivated.

Matchmaking websites are in their hayday in Kano, a conservative hub in northern Nigeria. It’s not uncommon for women in the predominantly Muslim city to marry at 18.

Liberia’s supreme court has reaffirmed that Tweah and several ex officials are not protected from prosecution under claims of national security council immunity.

Romance in Zimbabwe is taking strikingly inventive forms, reflecting life in an economy where cash reigns supreme and sustainability gains new social value.

Malawi has started a vaccination programme across the commercial city of Blantyre after derived poliovirus was found in sewage samples.

The Democratic Republic of Congo said Friday it had “accepted the principle of a ceasefire” involving a “strict and immediate” freeze of positions in the conflict in the east of the country

A video posted online last month shows a group of soldiers in a snow-covered forest singing a Ugandan song. In the background, a Russian voice mocks them, calling them “disposable.”

The body of a French citizen has been found in northeastern Chad after two days of search efforts in the Sahara Desert, authorities announced on Friday.

The Senegalese navy has launched a large-scale search operation to locate three sailors who went missing after their patrol boat capsized in poor weather conditions.

At least 38 people were killed when a cyclone slammed into Madagascar’s second-largest city this week, authorities said Thursday, as Mozambique braced for the storm’s arrival