Ethiopians donate blood as government seeks public support for Tigray conflict

France on Tuesday became the latest country to advise citizens to leave war-torn Ethiopia as Tigrayan rebels claimed to be advancing closer to the capital Addis Ababa.

Germany's incoming coalition — made up of Social Democrats, Greens and the neoliberal FDP — has agreed on a political roadmap. DW takes a look at the key issues they're taking on, including the COVID pandemic.

Indian government forces have killed the head of a Pakistan-based militant group in Indian-administered Kashmir. Noor Mohammad Tantray, head in the Kashmir valley of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, was killed in a gun battle after being trapped in a house near the city of Srinagar on Monday evening. The 47-year-old, a mere three feet tall, took over the group in Indian Kashmir in 2016.

Every morning in the Rwandan capital Kigali, long queues appear outside milk bars, where people come to socialise and unwind over large pints of ikivuguto, a fermented milk mixed with honey. Milk drinking became engrained in the country's culture as the result of a government policy initiated after the 1994 genocide to revive the economy and fight malnutrition. In 2006, the government set up the Girinka programme, in a bid to ensure that even the poorest families were able to afford a cow.

Authorities in Nigeria reject the conclusions of an independent report that found that security forces were behind the death of 11 people at an anti-police brutality protest last year. Also, South Africa's president calls for solidarity between countries in the face of travel bans following the discovery of the Omicron variant. And on World AIDS Day we take you to Kenya, where the prevalence of HIV has fallen drastically in the past two decades, but the fight against new infections remains a daily battle.

Fighting continues in Ethiopia, where rebel groups are advancing on the capital Addis Ababa. While much has been said about the northern front, where the army is at war with the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF), another armed group – allied to Tigrayans – is fighting from the south and west of the country. The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) now controls a large swathe of territory. Together, the TDF and OLA plan to topple the government and take over the capital. The government accuses these rebel groups of committing crimes against civilians, including several massacres. Our regional correspondent reports.

Ethiopian authorities have closed all secondary schools so pupils can harvest crops for those on the frontline of the civil war, state-affiliated media says. ... More than 2 million pupils were already out of school due to the war which started in the northern region of Tigray last year, the government says.

The SPD's Olaf Scholz, Germany's next chancellor, has presented his Cabinet ministers for the new government, to be sworn in on Wednesday. He offered a few surprises.

The leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens and the Free Democrats met in Berlin to officially sign their three-party coalition deal.

After more than a year of war in Tigray, Ethiopia's ethnic divides now run deeper than ever. This will make it hard for the country to heal if peace ever comes.

Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire has resigned amid an escalating security crisis that led to street protests calling for his ouster. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore accepted Dabire's letter of resignation on Wednesday.

Germany's "traffic light" coalition of SPD, Green Party, and FDP is taking power. Will the new government modernize the country? Guests: Derek Scally (Irish Times), Anna Lehmann (taz), Thomas Sparrow (DW)