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Mali was in crisis last Friday after losing two northern towns including the rebel bastion of Kidal to Tuareg separatists, in a humiliating defeat that forced the government to call for an "immediate ceasefire".

Around 20 Malian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in fighting Thursday that saw insurgents led by Tuareg rebels recapture the key northern town of Kidal, the defence minister said.

"There were dead and wounded on both sides", Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga told public television. "We counted around 30 wounded... and sadly around 20 dead."

A leader of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), said 40 Malian soldiers had been killed and 70 taken prisoner since hostilities began on Saturday, with dozens of vehicles seized along with several tonnes of weapons and ammunition.

And in the latest military setback for the beleaguered military, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said MNLA fighers had taken Menaka, a town of 20,000 i

ABUJA – Thirty days after the abduction of the over 200 Chibok girls in Borno State, President Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday, condemned in strong terms the speculation of some Nigerians that he is slow in bringing back the abducted girls.

The International Criminal Court on Friday sentenced Congolese warlord Germain Katanga to 12 years in jail for arming an ethnic militia that carried out a "particularly cruel" 2003 village massacre.

A Malawian minister has killed himself, police say, as results are still awaited from Tuesday's general elections.

Outgoing deputy Local Government Minister Godfrey Kamanya shot himself in his home, according to police.

The kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls by Boko Haram has captured international attention. 

The murder trial of Olympian Oscar Pistorius has dominated headlines around the world. But resting beneath the story is something particularly South African: Since Pistorius allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, last year, the fear of crime by affluent, generally white South Africans has raised its head.

Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing public funds, in a case locally known as the "Presidential palaces case," three years after he was toppled by massive protests.

Pakistan says it has killed 32 militants in North Waziristan in the deadliest air strikes in months, throwing peace talks into doubt.

The Islamist group Boko Haram is accused of killing 17 people in an attack on a village in north-east Nigeria, close to where hundreds of schoolgirls were seized.

A court in Egypt has sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzling public funds.

A court in Egypt has sentenced former President Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzling public funds.

Heavy casualties are feared following two loud explosions near a crowded market in the volatile central Nigerian city of Jos.

Succour may soon come to unemployed graduates in Nigeria if the recommendation of one of the committees at the ongoing National Conference is accepted at the plenary and by the Federal Government.

The judge in the Oscar Pistorius trial has ordered him to start daily tests on Monday to assess his mental state when he killed his girlfriend.

A renegade general with links to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a mission to save Libya has been accused of staging a coup.