YEMEN: The Houthi authorities have detained nine United Nations employees as part of a long-running crackdown on the world body.

The detentions brings the number of UN workers detained in Yemen to 53 since 2021, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Monday night.

He called for “the immediate and unconditional release” of all UN staff as well as workers from other international organisations and diplomatic missions who have been detained.

PERU: The country is failing to meet its commitments to curb illegal gold mining and mercury trafficking, a South American trade bloc has ruled, siding with indigenous groups who say their Amazon rivers and food supply are being poisoned.

The Andean Community’s decison orders Peru to urgently reform its laws, seize machinery that sucks up river sediment and other mining equipment, and end extensions of a registry for informal miners that critics say shields illegality.

FRANCE: President Emmanuel Macron should name a new prime minister, have a budget pushed through the National Assembly and then call an early presidential election, his first prime minister said today.

The comments by Edouard Philippe, a right-wing supporter of Mr Macron, follow the resignation on Monday of Sebastien Lecornu, France’s third prime minister in a year.

SPAIN: A building under renovation in central Madrid partially collapsed today, injuring three construction workers and leaving four others missing.

Central government official Francisco Martin said that emergency services were searching for the missing workers.