Niger, Brazil, Myanmar.

Today's three stories you should know.

Niger

Niger’s military coup leaders appear to be digging in despite growing pressure from neighboring countries, the African Union (AU) and the US to restore constitutional order. The military government, which has closed the country’s airspace, today rejected a request for a visit from a delegation from the AU and regional bloc ECOWAS, or the Economic Community of West African States. ECOWAS had given the generals until Sunday to reinstate toppled President Mohamed Bazoum.

More from France 24 here.

Brazil

Some are calling it the best chance to save the Amazon for years. A landmark summit began today in Brazil bringing together leaders from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela in an attempt to figure out how to protect the forest often called “the lungs of the planet.” The summit comes just months after leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came to power promising to turn back years of rampant deforestation and illegal development, which accelerated under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Al Jazeera today published a useful explainer.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Myanmar

Myanmar’s army is committing “increasingly frequent and brazen” war crimes including bombing civilians, mass executions and sexual violence as it battles a growing armed rebellion, UN investigators said today. “Our evidence points to a dramatic increase in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country, with widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, and we are building case files that can be used by courts to hold individual perpetrators responsible,” the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar said. The country was thrown into chaos after the military overthrew a democratically-elected government in 2021.

More from AP here.