Image copyright Reuters The US Postal Service has suspended new policies that were decried as an attempt to sabotage the 2020 election.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said on Tuesday he would reverse operations changes that critics say would hamper mail-in voting.
The u-turn comes as Mr DeJoy is due to testify to Congress and at least 20 states were preparing to sue.
There is a fierce debate over postal funding in 2020, as record numbers of Americans are expected to vote by mail.
The
Image copyright Getty Images Canada's deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland has been named finance minister following a Cabinet shuffle.
Her appointment comes after Bill Morneau suddenly quit the job amid pressure from opposition parties.
One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's most trusted ministers, Ms Freeland, 52, will become the first woman to hold the position in Canada.
In addition to the shuffle, Mr Trudeau is suspending Parliament until 23 September.
It
Image copyright EPA Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta has been arrested by mutinying soldiers, a government spokesman has confirmed to the BBC.
Prime Minister Boubou Cissé has also been arrested, despite earlier appeals for "brotherly dialogue".
The apparent coup attempt in the West African nation began with gunfire at a key military camp near the capital, Bamako, on Tuesday morning.
In the city young men set a government-owned building
Image copyright EPA President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup, amid widespread anger over a disputed election.
Speaking as opposition leaders formed a council to organise a transfer of power, he said: "We definitely consider this as an attempt to seize power."
The opposition contests the official results of the 9 August poll, which gave Mr Lukashenko 80% of the vote
Image copyright Reuters A key US stock index has hit a new high despite ongoing worries about the sharp economic impact of the pandemic.
The S&P 500, one of the widest and most prominent US market measures, inched higher on Tuesday to close at 3,389.78 - about three points above its 19 February record.
Other US indexes have also rebounded.
The Nasdaq hit another
Image copyright Getty Images There are 12-21 million tonnes of tiny plastic fragments floating in the Atlantic Ocean, scientists have found.
A study, led by the UK's National Oceanography Centre, scooped through layers of the upper 200m (650ft) of the ocean during a research expedition through the middle of the Atlantic.
Such an amount of plastic - 2
He's half a century older than them, but it's his moderate politics that worries these young voters.
President Donald Trump has said he will issue a posthumous pardon for women's voting rights pioneer Susan B Anthony.
Making the announcement on Tuesday - the centennial anniversary of the 19th amendment, which granted US women the right to vote - Mr Trump said: "She was never pardoned. What took so long?"
Anthony was arrested in 1872 after illegally casting her vote
Image copyright Steven Heritage A little-known mammal related to an elephant but as small as a mouse has been rediscovered in Africa after 50 years of obscurity.
The last scientific record of the "lost species" of elephant shrew was in the 1970s, despite local sightings.
The creature was found alive and well in Djibouti, a country in the Horn of Africa, during a scientific expedition.
Elephant shrews, or sengis
Michelle Obama has launched a stinging attack on US President Donald Trump as Democrats prepared to crown Joe Biden as their White House challenger.
"Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country," said the former US first lady in an emotional recorded message to the Democratic convention.
Disaffected members of Mr Trump's Republican party also piled in on him at the Democratic party conference.
Mr Trump, who trails Mr Biden
