🇺🇸🇬🇭🇧🇯 - African countries like Benin and Ghana tells Bloomberg they are worried that DOGE may cut military aid to these Western African countries facing terrorist threats, potentially paving way for bigger Chinese, Russian involvement in the area.

🇺🇸 - Consumers are spending less due to increased concerns about inflation and the economy, McDonalds says.

🇺🇸 - The Senate confirmed Lt. Gen. Dan Caine as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a 60-25 vote shortly after 2 a.m.

🇺🇸 - Senate Republicans face a major fundraising deficit compared to their Dem counterparts, Axios says.

🇪🇬 - Fuel prices has increased in Egypt by up to 15% in bid to please IMF, as the state subsidies on fuel weighs hard on the nation's budget.

🇻🇳 - Vietnam to push back on Chinese goods being shipped through its territory in bid to avoid US tariffs - Reuters

🇫🇷 - French parliament greenlights new bill authorizing farmers to use spraying of phytosanitary products using drone.

🇬🇧🇺🇦 - Britain pledges "hundreds of thousands of more specialised drones" to Ukraine.

🇺🇸🇷🇺 President Trump's diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia and is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

@TabZLIVE

🇹🇷🇦🇿🇮🇱⚡- After the first round of Turkey-Israel talks completely failed, both sides have agreed to a second round. The next round of negotiations will take place on April 19, also in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Source: Kan11.

🇸🇾🇽🇰 - Meeting between Syrian president and president of Kosovo.

This could be a sign of imminent recognition of Kosovo’s independence by Syria btw

🇫🇷 - 3 people arrested in Saint-Etienne, France amid dismantling of a far-right survivalist cell.

🇫🇷 - French wind farm closed by judicial decision following the death of a golden eagle - Ouest France

🇪🇪🇷🇺 - Estonia has detained a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Baltic Sea for the first time.

🇺🇸 - Immigration judge rules that Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported.

🇳🇬 - Fitch upgrades Nigeria's credit grade citing commitment to policy reforms.

🇬🇦 - The African Union and the EU have deployed observers to Gabon to monitor the voting process during the presidential elections, held 20 months after the coup.

🇧🇾🇵🇰 Lukashenko: we are ready to invite 150,000 migrants from Pakistan to Belarus

The authorities of Belarus and Pakistan have agreed to “develop a mechanism” for the arrival of labor migrants. Alexander Lukashenko claims the country is ready to receive 120,000 to 150,000 specialists.

These statements were made on April 11 in Minsk during official talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

— “My friend, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and I have also agreed that in the near future, specialists from various industries will be sent—those industries we specifically request. And the leadership of Pakistan will help us find such people.

Let it be 100,000, maybe 120,000 to 150,000 of these specialists. We are ready to welcome them in Belarus and create the necessary conditions for their work,” said Alexander Lukashenko (quoted by BELTA).

(Half of them will try to enter Poland)

🇵🇱 Poland is building a 55m tall statue of the Virgin Mary.

Construction has officially begun in Konotopie, Poland on what will become one of the tallest Virgin Mary statues in the world - surpassing even the height of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil.

While it won't take the global record (currently held by a statue in the Philippines standing over 300 feet / 91 meters), this monumental project is set to become an iconic symbol of faith in Europe.