In the drought-ravaged south of Madagascar, people are eating white clay mixed with tamarind to cope with famine. Half of the population in the southern region of the Indian Ocean island -- 1.5 million people -- is currently in need of emergency food aid, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). Around 31 million euros ($37.6 million) are urgently needed to feed the hungry.

Ten orangutans have been airlifted back to their natural habitat on Indonesia's Borneo island, in the first release of the apes into the wild for a year due to the dangers of coronavirus infection. A group of 10 apes -- shuttled inside transport cages encased in netting -- took to the air this month to avoid days-long land and sea routes that could expose them to coronavirus.

It is not known how many of the reptiles remain at large. So far, 27 have been captured after they escaped from a commercial breeding farm earlier this week.

In South Africa, a luxury railway route links coastal Cape Town with the interior capital city Pretoria. The trip, completed across two days aboard the so called 'Blue Train', is renowned for its opulence and 5-star service. Previously, it was primarily accessible to overseas tourists. But now, after significantly lowering the prices, more South Africans have been taking the trip, after international tourism declined due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two teenagers escape from bandit's camp in Kaduna

Nigeria has experienced one of its largest jailbreaks — involving more than 1,800 inmates — after gunmen attacked a prison in the south of the country.

The Governor of Nigeria's Imo State visits the prison in Owerri where 1,800 inmates escaped after a heavily armed gang attacked the facility using explosives. The attackers blasted their way into the Owerri prison, engaging guards in a gun battle and breaking out inmates, the national corrections authority said in a statement.

Twenty-five barbary macaques have broken out of their enclosure in southwestern Germany. Police suspect that their escape was enabled by construction work.

A dozen children crowd around plastic tables in the Makoko neighbourhood of Lagos. Intently focused on plastic mats printed with chess boards, the children thoughtfully move pieces on the board as supervisors observe their moves. Nigerian lawyer Tunde Onakoya started the "Chess in Slum Africa" foundation in the Lagos neighbourhood where he grew up to teach children that they can deploy the same strategies they use on the board to achieve their full potential in life.

The father-son duo bowed deeply in court and apologized before a three-judge panel in Tokyo. They expressed "regret" and apologized for the "trouble" caused in helping Carlos Ghosn flee justice.

When it comes to gas supplies to the EU, Russia's state-owned corporation steps on the brakes. Is Russia building up political pressure in order to push through the operation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?

Michael Taylor and his son were the first to receive sentences in Japan over the case after pleading guilty to helping former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn flee.