Sri Lanka Attacks: Why target minority christian community?

Victims of attacks carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo receive treatment at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) unit in Beni General Hospital.

President Muhammadu Buhari has demanded a “crushing response” from the military in the wake of bandits’ abductions and killings in Kaduna and Zamfara respectively.

Good governance and an active civil society spare Ghana from the militia attacks that the neighboring countries are faced with. According to experts, democratic processes are well in place in the West African country.

Images show key Afghan political figures including President Ashraf Ghani praying and reacting to rocket blasts that can be heard on a live broadcast by state media in Kabul. The prayers were held at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, ahead of a speech by the President.

A surge in Taliban attacks could pose a real threat to the Afghan government and its "unprepared" security forces, according to a report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

A UN World Health Organization (WHO) report has revealed that hundreds of health workers and patients have been killed or injured in the last few years.

The aftermath of a mob attack on Indian businesses and vehicles in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital were evident on Friday (August 13). Congo's police said the mob on Thursday (August 12) looted Indian shops and warehouses, set a car on fire and stoned three other vehicles in Kinshasa's Limete neighbourhood in response to a false rumour that a second Congolese national had died in India.

US President Joe Biden threatens "devastating" response if the Taliban attack US interests. In a televised address to the nation, Biden defended the US pullout of Afghanistan after 20 years of conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that Russia condemns the twin suicide bombings at Kabul's airport and expresses condolences to the families of those who died. The blasts near Kabul airport on Thursday killed at least 85 people, including 13 US servicemen, and were claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage recorded a rare twin birth Tuesday as a 25-year-old named Surangi delivered healthy male calves, the first elephant twins born in captivity in the country for 80 years. Official records show there are about 200 domesticated elephants in the island country and an estimated 7,500 in the wild.

Sri Lanka's aim to become the world's first 100 percent organic food producer is threatening its famous tea industry. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's ban on chemical fertiliser earlier this year has sparked concerns of a severe reduction in tea, the island's main export commodity, as well other crops by the end of this year.

The trial of 20 people charged over the November 13, 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris, that were France's deadliest peacetime atrocity, will get underway on September 8, 2021. 130 people were killed and 350 wounded when Islamist suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Stade de France stadium, bars and restaurants in central Paris and the Bataclan concert hall. More than five years after the events and in the lead up to the trial, AFP spoke to survivors, first responders and former government officials about that night.