NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s deposed president is running out of food and experiencing other increasingly dire conditions two weeks after he was ousted in a military coup and put under house arrest, an advisor told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

President Mohamed Bazoum, the West African nation’s democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since mutinous soldiers moved against him on July 26.

OSLO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A dam on a Norwegian river partly collapsed on Wednesday, sending water gushing through a gaping hole in the structure after days of heavy flooding, TV images showed.

The Braskereidfoss power dam on the Glomma River, Norway's biggest waterway, had been unable to open its hatches after its control room flooded.

Water appeared to be flowing through it in a controlled manner following the breach, utility Hafslund said in a statement.

There were no immediate signs of major downstream flooding, a police spokesperson said.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Days of heavy rain triggered landslides and flooding in mountainous southern Norway, where authorities said Wednesday they were considering blowing up part of a dam at risk of bursting to prevent downstream communities from getting deluged.

The Glåma, Norway’s longest and most voluminous river, is dammed at the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant, which was under water and out of operation. Police said a controlled explosion before the dam fails would allow officials to control the flow of water.

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/: Russian assault groups continued their advance in the Kupyansk area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

"In the Kupyansk direction, assault teams of the western battlegroup capitalizing on the results of air and artillery strikes continued their offensive on a wide front in their areas of responsibility and improved their tactical position," the spokesman said.

COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Aug 9 (NNN-BSS) – The International Rescue Committee (IRC), yesterday said, it has relocated over 15,000 Rohingya refugees and 300,000 members of the local communities in flash flood-hit Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh.

At least four people, including two Rohingya refugees, are reported to have died in the floods, IRC said in a statement.

TOKYO (AP) — Sony’s April-June profit slipped 17% from a year earlier, as worries grew about revenue damage from a strike in the movie sector, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Wednesday.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s fiscal first quarter profit totaled 217 billion yen ($1.5 billion), down from 261 billion yen a year ago.

Quarterly sales rose 33% to 2.96 trillion yen ($21 billion), as sales for the period grew in games and network services, the music business, financial services and imaging solutions.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russia will build up forces at its western borders following Finland's accession to the U.S.-led NATO alliance, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the governing board of the ministry on Wednesday.

In opening remarks to the Collegium of the Defence Ministry, Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and that he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, whose inclusion has almost doubled the length of Russia's land border with NATO.

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/: Poland is planning to form a joint Polish-Ukrainian military unit ostensibly for security, but with the ulterior motive of occupying western Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu said.

He drew attention to the dangers associated with Poland’s militarization. "there are plans to create a permanent so-called Polish-Ukrainian formation ostensibly to ensure the security of Western Ukraine, but in fact - for the subsequent occupation of this territory," he said.

08 August 2023; MEMO: Palestinian Aed Abu Ramadan inspects his dragon fruit plants daily as the time of harvest is here. Though the fruit is not native to the besieged Gaza Strip, Aed has cultivated it and seen it flourish in spite of the difficulties faced by farmers in the enclave.

SEOUL, Aug 9 (NNN-YONHAP) – Two men were confirmed dead and four others were injured, as the top floor of a building under construction in South Korea collapsed today.

The ninth floor of the nine-story building under construction, in Anseong, some 60 km south-east of Seoul, collapsed onto the eighth floor at about 11:49 a.m. local time (0249 GMT).

The accident left two Vietnamese workers buried and four others wounded.

The Vietnamese men were rescued in cardiac arrest before being taken to a hospital, but they were confirmed dead later.

08 August 2023; MEMO: Iraq's water reserves are at the "lowest" in the country's history, a spokesman for the Water Resources Ministry was quoted as saying yesterday, having reduced to almost half of last year's amount.

"Current water reserves in Iraq are the lowest in the history of the country, and are 50 per cent of last year," spokesman Khaled Shamal told Rudaw.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — City of Los Angeles workers are joining the hotel employees, Hollywood actors and TV and movie writers who have walked off their jobs this summer.

Thousands of them plan to strike Tuesday, potentially grinding municipal operations to a halt for 24 hours and adding to the flurry of organized labor activity across the city and country.