Africa

The head of Boko Haram -- the enigmatic Abubakar Shekau -- has openly taunted the countries being menaced by the armed Islamist group as they call for a united effort to crush it.
      

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi acknowledged Tuesday that police committed rights abuses after the overthrow of his Islamist predecessor, but said they were expected given the "exceptional" security threats faced by Egypt.
      

The army of Libya's internationally recognized government announced on Jan. 18 that it would cease fire, two days after an Islamist-backed militia alliance announced a truce.
      
"We declare a ceasefire from midnight (2200 GMT) Sunday," said the army said, stressing however that it would continue to pursue "terrorists", as UN-brokered peace talks resume in Geneva next week.

Police in Niger fired tear gas Jan. 18 to break up a banned opposition demonstration in the capital Niamey, a day after deadly riots over the publication by France's Charlie Hebdo magazine of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
      
Around 300 demonstrators had gathered at a central square for a long-planned march on parliament.
      

A Turkish woman, who had aimed at being the first Turkish woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by herself with a sailing boat, was rescued by a nearby ship about 120 nautical miles away from Cape Verde, after the steering wheel of her boat locked.

BELGRADE - Libyan Ambassador to Belgrade Shradi Tajouri has hosted a reception to mark Libya's Independence Day, and the event was also attended by Serbian Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an will pay consecutive official visits to Ethiopia and Djibouti later this month, marking his first official visits this year.

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was convicted of embezzlement in May 2014, faces a retrial after the Court of Cassation ruled that legal procedures were not followed properly.

It still remains unclear whether Mubarak will be released from custody, the BBC reports.

An Egyptian court ordered on Jan. 13 a retrial in an embezzlement case against Hosni Mubarak, dropping the only remaining conviction faced by the ousted former president and potentially leading to his release.
   

LONDON - Serbia is ranked 54th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom in 2014, which is an improvement by 9 ranks compared to last year, according to a recently presented survey.

Reporters without Borders, who ran the survey, said that Finland was ranked first for the fourth year in a row, followed by the Netherlands and Norway.