‘Assad cannot slaughter his way to legitimacy’ – Obama

More than 40 villagers were massacred by suspected extremists in northern Mali, while 12 troops were killed in neighboring Burkina Faso.

Abiy Ahmed has said civilians should take up arms to halt the advance of Tigrayan forces "once and for all." A conflict, which has killed thousands since November, is spreading with no end in sight.

Limited electricity supply is hampering Syria's industrial revivial, as manufacturing grinds to a halt at 6pm in the former economic hub of Aleppo.

Authorities in Amhara accuse rebels from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Tigray of having killed dozens of civilians after a military loss. Also, Moroccans turn out to the polls for legislative and regional elections that are likely to be a close race. Finally, a woman in Uganda gives coding classes to children in her garden in a bid to encourage more young people to discover maths and science.

The Syrian province of Idlib, one of the last remaining rebel strongholds in the country's north, is experiencing a new wave of Covid-19 infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. This comes as the regime intensifies bombings in the region, putting local hospitals under even greater pressure. We take a closer look.

The upsurge in violence in Syria combined with its plummeting economy are making life increasingly bleak for civilians, United Nations investigators say.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemns the presence of foreign troops in Syria at talks in Moscow with the war-torn country's President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has been a key ally of the Assad regime throughout the Syrian conflict, which erupted in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests. Russia's military intervention in 2015 helped turn the tide of the war in Assad's favour.

Nine people are reported to have died after Nigerian air force jets fired on a village in Yobe State whilst targeting Boko Haram militants in the area.

With an increase of attacks from Boko Haram, ordinary people in northern Cameroon have banded together to stop the militants from terrorizing their villages. But there are many challenges facing the local vigilante members, who are putting themselves at risk for others.

"We apologize and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says of a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul that mistakenly killed 10 civilians, including children, during the chaotic US pullout last month. Kirby was delivering the message on behalf of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

A US general said the drone strike "tragically killed" as many as 10 civilians, including seven children. At the time, the Pentagon said they hit "IS" terrorists heading to Kabul airport in an explosive-laden vehicle.

A new Syrian-Jordanian deal on energy for Lebanon is being seen by some as another step towards the international rehabilitation of the brutal Assad regime.