Reuters

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian rights group has launched a petition to stop plans by religious leaders and a state lawmaker to push 100 girls and young women into marriage in a mass ceremony next week, which have sparked outrage in the West African nation.

The plans, first revealed by Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, speaker of the national assembly in the largely Muslim northern state of Niger, were criticised by Nigeria's women's affairs minister Uju... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - The sports-streaming service set to be launched by Walt Disney Co, Warner Bros Discovery and Fox Corp will be called Venu Sports and is on track for launch this fall, Pete Distad, the venture's CEO, said on Thursday.

Announced in February, the service will try to woo younger viewers who are not tuned in to cable TV with a bundled offering of the companies' broad portfolio of professional and collegiate sports rights, including the National... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - The United States anchored a temporary floating pier to a beach in Gaza on Thursday to boost aid deliveries. U.S. President Joe Biden announced the plan for the pier in March as aid officials implored Israel to improve access for relief supplies into Gaza over land routes.

By opening a route to deliver aid by sea, the U.S. hopes to combat the humanitarian crisis that has put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine. Below is a... (continue reading...)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday views recent U.S. inflation data as "overall higher than we would like to see" and is urging the Federal Reserve to stay cautious and remain data-dependent when deciding monetary policy, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said on Thursday.

"This is a reminder of course, that there are going to be bumps in the road as the U.S. brings inflation back to target and this reinforces the need for... (continue reading...)

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's constitutional council on Thursday rejected requests by two losing presidential candidates to cancel, or partially cancel, the country's May 6 presidential election, saying the candidates did not show proof to back their claims alleging fraud.

The state-run national election management body last week declared interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby winner of the election with 61.3% of the vote, according to provisional... (continue reading...)