Abidjan authorities build a wall to protect forest

Dissidents were arrested or prevented from leaving their apartments. The Cuban government has accused the US of endorsing the unrest in an attempt to destabilize the island.

The migrants were "crammed" into the trailers of two trucks, according to the local head of the Human Rights Commission. Most were from the neighboring state of Guatemala.

Russia is one of the countries with the lowest vaccination rates and highest Covid-19 death rates in the world. With just over 30 percent of the population vaccinated, the Russian authorities' vaccination campaign has been deemed a fiasco. And yet when Vladimir Putin announced the launch of the Sputnik V vaccine in summer 2020, it was supposed to "save humanity from Covid". More than a year later, the jab has still not arrived on the European market and the majority of Russians do not trust it.

Militants killed at least 31 people in central Mali on Friday (December 3) when they fired upon a bus ferrying people to a local market, local authorities said - the latest deadly attack in a region racked by violent insurgency. The bus was attacked by unidentified gunmen as it travelled its twice-weekly route from the village of Songho to a market in Bandiagara, 10 kilometres (6 miles) away, said Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass.

The pharma giant and its German partner BioNTech announced preliminary lab results showing a 25-fold increase in protection. Germany has ordered millions of booster doses as a new government takes over in Berlin.

It began as one of Hitler's craziest ideas: to construct 4,000 kilometres of defences along the entire coastline of mainland Europe. Some 76 years later, local governments, private individuals and companies are trying to give a second life to sections of the infamous Atlantic Wall. In the Finistère department of Brittany in western France, a half-buried bunker now houses a museum featuring the voices of those who lived under German occupation. Meanwhile, an abandoned bunker on Brittany's Cap Fréhel peninsula is now home to a group of bats. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at these sites and more.

They're nicknamed the gorillas – or bodyguards – of the French Republic. The police officers of the force's Protection Unit are in charge of the security of French and foreign dignitaries but also candidates for France's presidential elections, as well as other figures who require special protection. We take a rare look at the strenuous selection process policemen and women have to go through before taking on the job. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24's James Vasina.

Zimbabwe loses 260,000 hectares of forest annually. Once a year, the group Friends of the Environment organizes a multi-day walk across the country, planting trees along the way.

The birth rate in the world's most populous country, China, has fallen for a fifth consecutive year to hit a record low. The population is ageing and the workforce is shrinking. Despite ending the decades-long one-child policy, the baby boom officials had hoped for never materialised. These rapidly changing demographics foreshadow a crisis that could undercut the country's economic and social stability.

Two years ago, the Chinese city of Wuhan became the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic and its 11 million inhabitants were forced to stay home for 76 days. Today, not a single positive Covid-19 case has been reported in Wuhan for months and health rules there remain among the strictest in the country. Above all, authorities are focusing on their victory over the virus. According to the official version of events, the virus did not even originate in Wuhan but was imported from abroad. Our correspondents report.

Poland plans to build a wall on its border with Belarus to prevent undocumented migrants from crossing into its territory illegally. But environmental campaigners warn a wall could have a dire impact on local wildlife. DW’s Jack Parrock reports.

The Olympic torch relay began its second day on Thursday (February 3) atop the Great Wall, with Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan and Chinese Olympic medallists among those taking turns carrying the flame along a route shortened to three days because of COVID-19. The relay for the torch that will open the Feb. 4-20 Winter Games is much more modest than the globe-spanning relay for Beijing's 2008 Summer Games, a tour that was disrupted by protests.