Top news: French fighter jets struck targets in the north of Mali on Sunday as France launched a military intervention to halt the advance of Islamist rebels. France has deployed 400 troops to the country, and seven other countries have vowed to aid the effort aimed at combating a well-armed that rebel movement that amid political turmoil has consolidated control of a swath of territory larger than Afghanistan.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the strikes had succeeded in stemming the rebels' advance and promised that France would not get dragged into prolonged military interventions in its former colony.
The rebel movement in Mali's north, which defense officials have said has ties to al-Qaeda, has emerged as a serious challenge to the Malian government, arming itself with weapons from Libya following the fall of Muammar al-Qaddafi. French defense officials said over the weekend that the rebels were better armed than expected and that a French helicopter pilot had been killed in the fighting. In a statement, the French defense ministry said that its fighter planes had destroyed "numerous targets in northern Mali near Gao, in particular training
camps, infrastructure and logistical depots which served as bases for
terrorist groups." U.S. officials said that they are likely to support the French mission by providing surveillance drones and other limited assistance.
Despite pummelling by French forces, Malian militants say that they remain defiant. "Our jihadists are not a bunch of sheep waiting to be slaughtered inside
a closed pen," Oumar Ould Hamaha, a rebel commander, told the Associated Press. "Listen closely to me. Our elements are
constantly on the move. What they hit is a bunch of cement. France is
going to reap the worst consequences possible from this. Now no French
person can feel safe anywhere in the world. Every French national is a
target."
Egypt: An Egyptian court overturned Hosni Mubarak's life sentence and ordered a retrial to consider charges stemming from his involvement in the deaths of protesters during the uprising against his regime.
The United Nations human rights chief called for an international commission to investigate human rights abuses in North Korea.
A roadside bomb in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed 14 soldiers and wounded at least another 25.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said
that his government will reach a decision by the end of the year on
whether to grant legal immunity to U.S. troops who stay past the 2014
end of the NATO mission.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to push forward with a controversial West Bank housing settlement on a strip of land known as E-1.
A Syrian government airstrike killed at least 13 people, including eight children, in an early morning attack on a Damascus suburb.
With more than 600,000 having fled the country, the International Rescue Committee said that Syria faces a "staggering" humanitarian catastrophe.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said
he did not support a referendum on the United Kingdom's continued
membership in the European Union but added that he will try to
renegotiate the country's membership agreement.
In an event billed as a "March Against Scoundrels," thousands of Russians took to the streets to protest a ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans.
A protest Sunday drew
over 300,000 to the feet of the Eiffel Tower to express opposition to
French President Francois Hollande's plan to legalize same-sex marriage.
In a daring raid, French commandos failed to liberate an intelligence agent held hostage by Somali militants.
President Obama informed Congress that U.S. warplanes entered Somali airspace in support of the failed French raid there.
The Central African Republic reached a peace deal with rebels that will allow President Francois Bozize to stay in office until 2016.
As his supporters staged rallies across the country, the Venezuelan government announced that Hugo Chavez is responding favorably to treatment for a respiratory infection.
On Saturday, Haiti quietly marked the third anniversary of the earthquake that killed more than 300,000.
As authorities continue prepare the city for the coming World Cup and Olympic games, Police in Rio de Janeiro engaged in a tense stand-off Saturday with a settlement of indigenous people.
AFP/Getty
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