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Mali’s military government says it is investigating allegations that soldiers “coldly executed” at least 24 civilians in the north of the country on Monday. That claim was made by a separatist Tuareg rebel alliance, called Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), which is battling the Malian government in the same region. The FLA accuse Malian forces and Wagner mercenaries of intercepting two passenger vehicles travelling to Algeria from the Malian city of Gao and killing the civilians on board, including women and children.

In a statement, army chief Gen Oumar Diarra said the allegations “relayed by terrorist networks, allies and sponsors” follow other “unfounded” claims against state forces.

For many years, the Malian government has been struggling against both Tuareg rebels seeking a breakaway state in the north and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. The military which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021 hired Russian mercenaries from the paramilitary group Wagner to help improve security in the country.

Both government forces and the Russians have often been accused by rights groups of committing gross human rights abuses against civilians, which they deny. Last month, Mali was one of three countries under military rule to leave the West African regional bloc Ecowas, after refusing its demands to restore civilian rule.

The withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger dealt a huge blow to Ecowas, which at 50 years old is considered Africa’s most important regional group.

Mali’s military leaders also ended ties with former colonial power France, whose troops left the country in 2022 after more than a decade fighting Islamist insurgents.

The following year, all 12,000 UN peacekeepers left Mali on the junta’s instructions.

A dispute over a cigarette turned violent when a sex worker stabbed her colleague at a taxi rank in Verulam CBD, South Africa, on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

The altercation occurred while the women were waiting for customers.

Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) responded to a distress call at approximately 10:29 PM and arrived to find a woman lying on the ground with a stab wound to her neck.

The victim, who identified herself as a sex worker in the area, said the suspect—also in the same line of work—had approached her for a cigarette.

When she refused, an argument ensued, leading to the suspect pulling a knife and stabbing her before fleeing the scene.

Emergency responders provided medical assistance, and the victim survived the attack. Authorities have since launched an investigation to track down the suspect.

South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has restored eight units at power plants after implementing its highest stage of controlled power cuts early Sunday due to multiple failures at Majuba and Camden power stations over the weekend. On Saturday, Eskom applied Stage 3 power cuts, locally known as load-shedding, reducing 3,000 megawatts from the national grid.

“Of the 10 units that we lost overnight, we have essentially returned six units,” Eskom group CEO Dan Marokane told reporters on Sunday.

He added that five to six more units were expected to become operational during the day, boosting the 3,200 MW of capacity recovered overnight.

“We anticipate getting out of this stage by the end of the week,” he said, noting that, given the pace of recovery, Eskom would consider reducing power cuts by Monday.

Early Monday morning, Eskom announced that outages would be scaled down to Stage 4 until further notice.

Regular breakdowns at Eskom’s fleet of ageing coal-fired plants, which provide the bulk of electricity in Africa’s most industrialized economy, often cause load-shedding. The system follows an incremental approach, with Stage 1 cutting 1,000 MW and Stage 6 being the highest implemented to date.

Delta Air Lines is offering $30,000 (£23,792) to each person on board a plane that crash-landed in Toronto on Monday – all of whom survived. As it landed in the Canadian city, the plane skidded along the runway in flames before flipping over and coming to a halt upside down. Passengers described their amazement as most of them walked away without injuries. It remains unclear what caused the incident, which is under investigation. There were 76 passengers and four crew on the flight, which had travelled from the US city of Minneapolis before making its crash-landing in Canada. A spokesperson for Delta said the money offer had no strings attached and did not affect customers’ rights.

Toronto law firm Rochon Genova says it has been retained by certain passengers and their families over the crash-landing.

Lawyer Vincent Genova said the group expected a “timely and fair resolution”, highlighting that his clients “suffered personal injuries of a serious nature that required hospital attention”. In an email to the BBC, Mr. Genova said the $30,000 compensation is an “advance” payment meant to assist plane crash victims with short-term financial challenges, and the airline will seek to deduct it from any later settled claims. There is precedent to these types of payments, like in 2013, when Asiana Airlines offered passengers of a San Francisco plane crash $10,000 in initial compensation.

Last year, Alaska Airlines offered a $1,500 cash payment to passengers after mid-air door-plug blowout on a flight from Portland.

Following this week’s incident in Toronto, the plane crew and emergency responders were praised for their quick work in removing people from the wrecked vehicle. The plane’s various safety features have also been credited for ensuring no loss of life.

All of the 21 passengers who were taken to hospital had been released by Thursday morning, the airline said. Delta’s chief told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the flight crew were experienced and trained for any condition. The airline’s head Ed Bastian told CBS the plane crew had “performed heroically, but also as expected”, given that “safety is embedded into our system”. He said Delta was continuing to support those affected. Several theories about what caused the crash have been suggested to the BBC by experts who reviewed footage, including that harsh winter weather and a rapid rate of descent played a role.

One passenger recalled “a very forceful event”, and the sound of “concrete and metal” at the moment of impact. Another said passengers were left hanging upside down in their seats “like bats”.

The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered from the wreckage. The investigation is being led by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), supported by US officials.

On Wednesday evening, the wreckage was removed from the airport runway.

The accident was the fourth major air incident in North America in a space of three weeks – and was followed on Wednesday by a crash in Arizona in which two people lost their lives when their small planes collided.

Experts continue to insist that air travel is overwhelmingly safe – more so than other forms of transport, in fact.

That message was emphasized by US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who told CBS on Wednesday there was no pattern behind the incidents, each of which he said was “very unique”.

A Scottish businessman who disappeared in Kenya has been found dead.

Campbell Scott, from Fife, was attending a conference at the JW Marriott Hotel in Nairobi when he was last seen by colleagues on 16 February.

The 58-year-old was a senior director at credit scoring firm Fico. His employer confirmed to the BBC on Monday that local police had identified his body.

A spokeswoman for the firm said staff were “devastated” by the news.

She added: “Campbell was a leader in our international Scores business.

“He joined FICO in 2014 and was instrumental in introducing Scores to new markets and growing our business with existing partnerships. We mourn his passing and will miss his humour and kindness.

“Our thoughts are with Campbell’s family and friends. We ask that the media respect their privacy.”

Mr Scott studied at Woodmill High School in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Technical College, going on to work for a number of companies before joining Fico. The JW Marriott hotel is located in the Nairobi’s Westlands district, an affluent business area.

Police launched a search following his disappearance and were assisted by Interpol, according to newspaper reports.

The UK Foreign Office has been approached for comment.