Iraqi forces launch final assault on Mosul Old City

We take a look at the Covid-19 situation in South Africa, which is about to expand its vaccination campaign. President Cyril Ramaphosa has also eased restrictions and has announced that the government will put in place a standardised vaccination certificate. We also head to Guinea, where Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has been sworn in as interim president. Finally, in Cameroon, we see how international NGOs are fighting back against a government crackdown.

Iraqi forces claim to have captured a high-ranking IS leader in an international operation.

In Iraq's vast western desert, some 200 families live in a hamlet largely cut off from the rest of the world, their only neighbour one of the country's biggest military bases. Lost in rocky ochre hills and surrounded by humble palm groves, Al-Sahl’s only education facility is a primary school, and residents rely on livestock and farming to survive.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Saturday.. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Saturday ⁣ ⁣

An anti-discrimination campaign to promote acceptance of the hijab has been canceled by the Council of Europe following outrage in France and across Europe. Some are furious it was even made, others that it was pulled.

The drive is the first to take place against the disease in three years. The Taliban had banned previous campaigns, leaving millions of children unvaccinated.

September 26 was an historic moment in Germany. That day, voters went to the polls to choose who would succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor after almost 16 years at the helm. But the election campaign was littered with fake news. We take a closer look in this edition of Fact or Fake.

Many of the migrants currently languishing at the Poland-Belarus border come from Iraq. Most of them hail from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan in the north of the country. This area is often described as a haven of peace, but the reality is somewhat darker. Our correspondent Lucile Wassermann went to meet the Iraqis ready to risk everything to flee their region.

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.

'Iraqi people have no confidence left in the political system'

Jedidia Ojo Kayode, a primary 5 pupil of Treasure Trove Montessori, Ogbomosho has became an internet sensation shortly after his campaign speech video for the role of the head boy of his school went viral.

'Iraqi people have no confidence left in the political system'