This week has seen yet another brutal cycle of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank. It is a story you may well feel you have heard before: a Palestinian attack on Israeli civilians, and a response described as disproportionate or even collective punishment.

Will Nigeria's two-party system tremble? Africa's most populous nation has known its share of bruising campaigns, but never since the 1999 return to democracy has there been a run-off in the presidential election. Now, in a nation where the average age is 18, could voters turn away from big tent parties and candidates who are both in their seventies?

Duelling speeches for duelling world visions. Ahead of the first anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin delivered a state of the nation address in Moscow, in which he accused a West bent on destroying Russia of holding Ukraine hostage. In Warsaw, Joe Biden was back in the same setting where the US president last year quipped of his Russian counterpart "for God's sakes, this man cannot remain in power". At the time, the White House rolled back those remarks. But was that and is that in fact the plan?

Russia’s foreign minister is coming off a barnstorming tour of the African continent, which included Mali, where coup leaders have kicked out the French and replaced them with Wagner mercenaries. The same scenario has already unfolded in the Central African Republic, and Mali’s neighbor Burkina Faso could be next to welcome the Russians.

Imagine your world collapsing around you in the middle of the night. That is literally what happened to so many in Turkey and Syria. Eight days on from the earthquake of the Century, the odd miracle like the one witnessed by our team in Antakya still occurring but that is fleeting solace for relatives and survivors. It is easy in hindsight to lay blame for the 37,000 confirmed dead while the residents give it their all.

It's five days on from Turkey's deadliest earthquakes since 1939 and through the grief and despair, rescuers persist. Turkey's president is acknowledging hiccups and vowing a 10,000 lira handout, the equivalent of 531 dollars, to each family affected by the quake.

Over the border in Syria, it was four days before a very first United Nations convoy could cross into rebel Idlib province through the Bab-al-Hawa checkpoint. For the first time since the earthquakes, Syria's president traveled on site.

It’s not a thank-you tour – not with Russia back on the offensive. After London and Paris, Ukraine's president was in Brussels to rally support. Making the case for more weapons, he pitched the war as one of values. We ask about the timing: his second trip abroad since Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago. Is Kyiv ready for the crucial test ahead on the battlefield? Is Europe ready?

Turkey and Syria are in their third night of searching through the rubble for quake survivors. How to deal with this disaster? Turkey and its citizens have long experience in the sudden tragedy that comes with living on two fault lines. In Monday's earthquakes, structures new and ancient tumbled alike. How best to get to those still alive under the rubble?

Two earthquakes have claimed over 2,500 lives on the border between Turkey and Syria. In the early hours of the morning, as people slept, a 7.8-magnitude quake hit. The scale of the devastation caused to the surrounding area of Gazientep is clear to see from the news footage captured at the scene. The initial impact could be felt as far away as Ankara, Beirut, Cairo and even Greenland. Over the border in northern Syria, the impact was just as devastating. The death toll there is rising too.

In Kinshasa on Wednesday, the pope called for mutual forgiveness as he met with survivors of the brutal three-decade old war in eastern DR Congo. It was just one of the highlights of a three-day visit that comes at a crucial juncture for the nation that is home to Africa's largest Catholic population, one where the Church often fills the role of the state in providing basic social services and where the clergy's mediation matters in what's an election year for DR Congo.