Mali Crisis

Severe food crises threaten people in vulnerable areas, including the Palestinian territories, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, where populations face or near famine, says a report by the United Nations' food agencies released on Thursday.

About 600 people were killed within a few hours by members affiliated with Al-Qaeda in an August attack on the town of Barsalogho in Burkina Faso, reports claimed on Friday.

Kidnappings are common in Mali, which has been battling a security and political crisis since separatist insurgencies broke out in the north of the country in 2012.

Mali's president said he was resigning to avoid "bloodshed" early Wednesday, hours after his arrest by troops in a sudden coup that followed a months-long political crisis in the fragile West African nation.

Professors from three British universities say economic policies favoring debt repayment over social spending contributed to the Ebola crisis by hampering health care in three worst-hit West African countries.

The United Nations must learn lessons from the Ebola crisis and begin preparing now for the next outbreak of deadly disease, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

Two people originally believed to have travelled on an Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali last week did not board the flight, reducing the official death toll to 116, a senior official in Burkina Faso said on Friday.

The wreck of the Air Algerie plane that went missing on Thursday with 116 people on board has been found in Mali near the Burkina Faso border, said a coordinator for the crisis unit in Ouagadougou.

Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was the favourite to win a presidential election on Sunday that Malians hope will restore stability in a country torn apart by last year's coup and Islamist insurgency.

Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad's military said on Saturday.

Mali risks descending into "catastrophic" violence, the UN rights chief has warned, after a string of attacks by Islamist rebels increased the pressure on French-led forces in the West African nation.

President Francois Hollande prepared to visit Mali as French-led troops worked on Friday to secure the last Islamist stronghold in the north after a lightning offensive against the extremists.

Britain said on Tuesday it is ready to boost the number of military personnel helping the French-led mission in Mali to over 300, adding that it was necessary to deny Al Qaeda the chance to attack the West.

A French nurse caught up in the Algeria hostage crisis revealed Monday how the fear of being raped and an overwhelming determination "not to submit to terrorists" had ensured she survived.

One American was killed and two escaped unharmed from a remote Algerian natural gas plant stormed by armed militants, NBC News reported on Friday, noting that the fate of two others was unknown. The five Americans were among dozens of hostages the attackers seized during their assault on the In Amenas plant in eastern Algeria on Wednesday, NBC sai...

Severe food crises threaten people in vulnerable areas, including the Palestinian territories, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali, where populations face or near famine, says a report by the United Nations' food agencies released on Thursday.

About 600 people were killed within a few hours by members affiliated with Al-Qaeda in an August attack on the town of Barsalogho in Burkina Faso, reports claimed on Friday.

Kidnappings are common in Mali, which has been battling a security and political crisis since separatist insurgencies broke out in the north of the country in 2012.

Mali's president said he was resigning to avoid "bloodshed" early Wednesday, hours after his arrest by troops in a sudden coup that followed a months-long political crisis in the fragile West African nation.

Professors from three British universities say economic policies favoring debt repayment over social spending contributed to the Ebola crisis by hampering health care in three worst-hit West African countries.

The United Nations must learn lessons from the Ebola crisis and begin preparing now for the next outbreak of deadly disease, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

Two people originally believed to have travelled on an Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali last week did not board the flight, reducing the official death toll to 116, a senior official in Burkina Faso said on Friday.

The wreck of the Air Algerie plane that went missing on Thursday with 116 people on board has been found in Mali near the Burkina Faso border, said a coordinator for the crisis unit in Ouagadougou.

Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was the favourite to win a presidential election on Sunday that Malians hope will restore stability in a country torn apart by last year's coup and Islamist insurgency.

Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad's military said on Saturday.

Mali risks descending into "catastrophic" violence, the UN rights chief has warned, after a string of attacks by Islamist rebels increased the pressure on French-led forces in the West African nation.

President Francois Hollande prepared to visit Mali as French-led troops worked on Friday to secure the last Islamist stronghold in the north after a lightning offensive against the extremists.

Britain said on Tuesday it is ready to boost the number of military personnel helping the French-led mission in Mali to over 300, adding that it was necessary to deny Al Qaeda the chance to attack the West.

A French nurse caught up in the Algeria hostage crisis revealed Monday how the fear of being raped and an overwhelming determination "not to submit to terrorists" had ensured she survived.

One American was killed and two escaped unharmed from a remote Algerian natural gas plant stormed by armed militants, NBC News reported on Friday, noting that the fate of two others was unknown. The five Americans were among dozens of hostages the attackers seized during their assault on the In Amenas plant in eastern Algeria on Wednesday, NBC sai...