Gambia's electoral commissioner flees country after threats
Commissioner had declared President Yahya Jammeh, who has been in power since 1994 coup, lost last month's election, but the ruler has refused to accept defeat
Forced far from home, Syrians struggle to start over in Idlib
People struggle to start new lives in increasingly crowded area
Smuggled by boat or scaling wrecked bridges, residents escape Mosul's besieged west
"If they opened a route for a quarter of an hour, not a single person would remain on the western side"
Mozambique's opposition extends ceasefire to aid peace talks
Early last year, tens of thousands of Mozambicans fled across the border into Malawi to escape violence and alleged human rights abuses
Smog returns, but Beijing says skies are getting cleaner
China is in third year of "war on pollution" aimed at reversing damage done to its skies, soil and water after decades of untrammelled economic growth
China confirms human bird flu case in Guizhou province
H7N9 strain is highly pathogenic in humans, causing severe respiratory disease
At least 100 homes burned as fire erupts in Valparaiso, Chile
Drought in central Chile caused record number of forest fires in the area last year, wreaking havoc on Chile's forestry industry and forcing evacuations in recent weeks near the capital, Santiago
Syrian rebels say they froze talks on Russian-backed peace conference due to ceasefire violations
Rebels say violations are northwest of Damascus where government forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group trying to recapture area
Islamic State kills 24 with Baghdad car bomb, attack police stations in Samarra
U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are currently fighting to push Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, but are facing fierce resistance
Murders in notoriously violent El Salvador drop 20 pct in 2016 -police
2015 murder rate was more than 100 for every 100,000 inhabitants - probably the highest in the world for a country not at war - and dropped to 81.7 per 100,000 in 2016