News Snapshot:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday offered new humanitarian assistance and a show of support on a rare visit to Niger, holding up the Western partner as a model in a jihadist-torn region where Russia is making inroads. Blinken is the highest-ranking US official to visit the former French colony, where both France and the United States maintain forces to battle jihadist insurgencies in the troubled Sahel region. "Niger is a young democracy in a challenging part of the world," Blinken told a news conference. "Niger has been quick to defend the democratic values under threat in neighbouring...
