Aleppo: Push to include battered city in Syria truce
US Secretary of State John Kerry is seeking Russia's co-operation to stop bombing of northern province.
| Aleppo Bombing, Middle East, Syria's Civil War, War & Conflict
Diplomatic pressure is mounting to extend a ceasefire in Syria to Aleppo province after 10 days of fierce bombing that has killed hundreds of people there.
Russian officials said on Sunday they were calling on the Syrian government to include Aleppo in a temporary truce already in place in Latakia and around the capital, Damascus.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Geneva in an effort to salvage stumbling peace talks, called for a "countrywide" cessation of hostilities.
"We are talking directly to the Russians, even now," Kerry said, after a week in which Moscow refused to rein in its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Armed guards at India's dams as drought grips country
Government says 330 million people are suffering from water shortages after monsoons failAs young boys plunge into a murky dam to escape the blistering afternoon sun, armed guards stand vigil at one of the few remaining water bodies in a state hit hard by India’s crippling drought.
Desperate farmers from a neighbouring state regularly attempt to steal water from the Barighat dam, forcing authorities in central Madhya Pradesh to protect it with armed guards to ensure supplies.
India is officially in the grip of its worst water crisis in years, with the government saying that about 330 million people, or a quarter of the population, are suffering from drought after the last two monsoons failed.
Anti-immigrant AfD says Muslims are not welcome in Germany
The far-right party has seen its support jump due to the migrant crisis
Members of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have backed an election manifesto that says Islam is not compatible with the constitution and calls for a ban on minarets and the burqa.
Set up three years ago, the AfD has been buoyed by Europe's migrant crisis, which saw the arrival of more than one million, mostly Muslim migrants, in Germany last year. The party has no lawmakers in the federal parliament in Berlin but has members in half of Germany's 16 regional state assemblies.
Opinion polls give AfD support of up to 14 per cent, presenting a serious challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and other established parties ahead of the 2017 federal election.
Iranian refugee who set himself on fire dies in Australia
Pushed to breaking point after suffering three years of detention on Nauru island, a young Iranian migrant protested by setting himself on fire on Wednesday. The distressing scene was filmed by several other migrants. After being airlifted to Australia, he died in a hospital in Brisbane.
Hundreds of migrants, including around 40 children, are currently being held in a detention centre on Nauru. Most of them end up on the island after trying to reach Australia. However, under a controversial agreement in place between the Australian government and Nauru, migrants caught trying to make their way to Australia are often transferred directly to a detention centre in this tiny island state.
Following the visit of a team from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the camp, 23-year-old Omid set himself on fire.
Hundreds of migrants, including around 40 children, are currently being held in a detention centre on Nauru. Most of them end up on the island after trying to reach Australia. However, under a controversial agreement in place between the Australian government and Nauru, migrants caught trying to make their way to Australia are often transferred directly to a detention centre in this tiny island state.
Following the visit of a team from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the camp, 23-year-old Omid set himself on fire.
Security camera footage shows Aleppo hospital during deadly airstrike
Updated 0925 GMT (1625 HKT) May 2, 2016
Security footage obtained by Britain's Channel 4 shows a pediatric hospital in Aleppo in the moments before -- and after -- it was hit by a missile from a fighter jet last week.
The Al Quds field hospital was located in a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo and, at 9.38 pm -- the security camera's timer is an hour out -- there is a thump as a bomb explodes nearby. It is unheard on the silent tape, but the hospital staff react. Some rush downstairs, anticipating casualties.
Cocoa farms spring back to life in Sierra Leone
A training programme for youth in Sierra Leone brings 4,500 hectares of land back to life through cocoa farming.
Kailahun, Sierra Leone - As Mary Sia Kombo walks through the trees and shrubs of her family's cocoa farm, images of her father flood her memory.
"He used to carry me to the farm with him," recalls 23-year-old Kombo. "It was a special time spent with my father. I learned a lot."
Though her father died in 2007, she remembers how he encouraged her to pursue farming - and to work hard at it.
"He showed me many techniques of farming. I'm always missing him," she says.
However, the farm her father owned could not be maintained after the devastation of the country's 11-year civil war. When the war ended in 2002, he father tried to revitalise the farm, but it was difficult. After his death, there was still a lot of work to be done.
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