Africa

That is roughly triple the 257 cases it reported a week ago.

It says the figure - for the past three weeks - is probably an underestimate and assesses the global risk level as "moderate".

The infection is usually mild, but this is the first time it has spread widely outside Central and West Africa.

The WHO said cases had been identified in 27 countries where it is not already "endemic" - meaning places it is expected to be found.

Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, with the cargo plane believed to have made one stop, in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.

The man's age and nationality have not yet been determined, police say.

"The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition," Royal Dutch Military Police spokeswoman Joanna Helmonds told the AFP news agency.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong confirmed the cases of interest were Fijian nationals returning from Africa.

"In Fiji, we currently have Covid-positive travellers in quarantine who arrived in the country from African states before we knew about Omicron.

"They have been quarantined in line with the stringent measures we apply to countries we consider a red zone for ongoing viral spread. Their specimens will be forwarded this week overseas for genetic sequencing."

The World Health Organization has recommended the widespread rollout of the first malaria vaccine, in a move experts hope could save tens of thousands of children’s lives each year across Africa.

Hailing “an historic day”, the WHO’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that after a successful pilot programme in three African countries the RTS,S vaccine should be made available more widely.

According to National Geographic, biologist Nick Pilford captured the female leopard on a camera trap set up in the Liosaba Conservancy, Kenya, after he received a tip-off that a "panther" had been spotted there numerous times. 

And the trap paid off as he managed to snap a photo of the rarest of the big cats.

"Almost everyone has a story about seeing one, it's such a mythical thing," Pilfold said.

Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic revealed an "emerging trend" of making and smuggling beads, bracelets and bangles and rhino horn powder.

The lead investigator told BBC News the trade in rhino horn was now "morphing" into a market for luxury items.

At least 7,100 rhinos are estimated to have been killed in Africa since 2007.

Today, about 25,000 of the animals remain.

Julian Rademeyer from Traffic explained that the production of rhino horn "trinkets" mirrored some of the patterns seen in the trade in ivory.

Diet is key to maintaining diversity and was strikingly demonstrated when an undergrad student went on a McDonald's diet for ten days and after just four days experienced a significant drop in the number of beneficial microbes.

Similar results have been demonstrated in a number of larger human and animal studies.

Their 1984 Band Aid prediction that "there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime" has once again been proven wrong -- and this time in spectacular fashion.

The Algerian town of Ain Sefra, deep in the dry, hot Sahara desert was hit by a freak snowfall on December 19. It's the first time snow has fallen in the region in 37 years.

The BBC's Dickens Olewe looks at six comments he allegedly made about Africa which are doing the rounds on the internet.

'Africans are lazy fools only good at eating, lovemaking and thuggery'

According to fact-checking website Snopes this claim was first posted on 25 October 2015 on Politica, a fake news website. It was later picked up by blogs and other fake and satirical news websites on the continent.

Port Moresby, starting on Tuesday, will be hosting 79 government leaders from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP).

“Ninety-nine percent of us (Papua New Guineans) are peace-loving people,” O’Neill said.

“I am sure they will enjoy their stay here.”

He appealed to all residents of the nation’s capital to show the Melanesian culture of respecting and caring for the visiting dignitaries.