militaryjuntas in neighbouring burkina faso and mali warned that any foreign military intervention in niger, would be considered a declaration of war on them. a french mp for emmanuel macron s renaissance party spoke to the bbc about the country s evacuation mission and said paris was left with no other choice. translation: we estimate that a few hundred people french people wish to leave, and have clearly expressed this intention, since we know that the tradition between european countries is to show solidarity. if other european countries decide to organise your evacuations, which is possible, we would work together to evacuate those who want to leave. niger is a key part of africa s sahel region which stretches from the atlantic to the red sea. burkina faso and mali, have also seen recent military coups, and say, they would come to the defence of their neighbour. on sunday, the regional bloc ecowas made up of 15 west african countries, gave the coup leaders i
our reporter ben king has the details. when drinkers gather at london s king charles pub this evening, there will be a new tax regime in place. changes announced in march come into effect today taxing stronger drinks more and weaker drinks less. at the same time, alcohol duties rise with inflation up by io.i%. the result a complex series of changes. 12% sparkling wine will be i9p cheaper as higher rates for fizz are abolished. a can of pre mixed gin and tonic will be 5p cheaper. but a bottle of 12% still wine will rise 44p. a bottle of vodka up 76p and a bottle of 20% port up £1.30. so among drinkers, there will be some winners and losers. but the wine and spirits industry, which sees many of its products hit with higher taxes, says customers will see higher prices and less choice. we have the biggest duty increase in almost 50 years at the same time as we have inflation rife and a cost of living crisis. on top of that, we have raw materials like glass that are increas
as you can see in the red dots on this map largely focused on the ukraine russia border. in another development, russia says it s also destroyed three ukrainian unmanned boats that were trying to attack two russian naval ships in the black sea. ukraine has not commented, as our correspondent in kyiv james waterhouse explains. it s interesting standing here in a country where missile strikes and artillery attacks are a daily occurrence for cities and villages close to the front line or the border with russia. and yet here we are seeing once more unmanned drone strikes deep inside russian territory, 300 miles deep, in the capital itself. this is an incidence where we cannot say for sure who was behind it. there been occasions and a passport appear to be ukraine because of a type of drone that was shot down. we have seen more than 100 drone attacks like this inside russia since the start of the year, and the targets include energy infrastructure, military sites, but of late we
general abdourahamane tchani wore military fatigues as he read a statement on behalf of the national council for the safeguarding of the homeland. president niger s elected president, mohamed bazoum, is still being detained. it s reported that president bazoum spoke to the french president emmanuel macron early on friday and told him that he was in good health . the new authorities have banned all public demonstrations. they said acts of vandalism and wickedness would not be tolerated after crowds looted the headquarters of the ousted president on thursday. some waved the flags of niger and russia. the united nations secretary general, antonio guterres, has demanded the immediate and unconditional release mr bazoum. general abdourahamane tchiani has now declared himself the head of state. translation: the action of the (nsf is motivated by the sole desire - to preserve our beloved homeland. in the face of the continuous deterioration of the security situation of our country.