French counter-terrorism forces based in west Africa killed ten suspected jihadists accused of involvement in a massacre of police officers in Burkina Faso last November, the French military announced on Thursday.

South Sudan risks a return to war, the United Nations warned yesterday, with outbreaks of interethnic violence and political infighting threatening to undo even the limited progress made in implementing its lumbering peace process.

Russia is now massing yet more troops near Ukraine and an invasion could come at any time, perhaps before the end of this month’s Winter Olympics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.

French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Kremlin request that he take a Russian Covid-19 test when he arrived to see President Vladimir Putin this week, to prevent Russia getting hold of Macron's DNA, two sources in Macron's entourage told Reuters.

Russia is now massing yet more troops near Ukraine and an invasion could come at any time, perhaps before the end of this month's Winter Olympics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

An unidentified woman has filed a civil lawsuit that accuses American rapper Snoop Dogg of sexual assault and battery after she attended one of his concerts in 2013.

Australia on Friday (Feb 11) listed koalas along much of its east coast as endangered after the native marsupial's habitats were hit by prolonged drought, bushfires and developers cutting down trees.

The United States has urged Americans in Ukraine to leave immediately due to the "increased threats of Russian military action" against Ukraine.

Britain said on Thursday the "most dangerous moment" in the West's standoff with Moscow appeared imminent, as Russia held military exercises in Belarus and the Black Sea following its military buildup near Ukraine.

French virologist Luc Montagnier, who won a Nobel Prize for his part in discovering the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, has died, French news agency AFP reported on Thursday.

Russia ruled yesterday that US tech giant Google, which has come under mounting pressure from Moscow, broke the law by blocking and “non-transparently” deleting accounts on its YouTube video service.

The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is now the dominant Covid-19 variant in South Africa and has been detected in multiple other African countries, the head of

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday said that Western threats towards Moscow would do nothing to ease tensions over Ukraine as Russia and Belarus launched joint military drills.

A suicide bomber targeting a minibus full of delegates involved in Somalia's parliamentary elections killed at least six people in Mogadishu on Thursday, the ambulance service said, while Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack

The World Health Organization estimates that the number of Covid-19 infections in Africa could be seven times higher than official data suggests, while deaths from the virus could be two to three times higher, its regional head said on Thursday.

Britain's Prince Charles has tested positive for Covid-19, his office said on Thursday, the second time that the heir-to-the-throne has contracted the disease.

Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday (Feb 9) and stopped most testing for Covid-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease.

The Kremlin yesterday said there were “positive signals” for the resolution of the Ukraine crisis following a meeting of the French and Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv.

Scientists in Britain said Wednesday they have smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, an achievement hailed a “milestone” on the protracted path towards harnessing a power source considered cheap and clean.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Australia yesterday to meet Asia-Pacific allies concerned by China’s rise and signal United States commitment to the region despite Washington’s recent focus on Ukraine.