Ikitsuki, Japan | AFP | Japanese rice farmer Masatsugu Tanimoto doesn’t think of himself as a Christian, and you’d almost never find him in a church. But every so often, he and others meet to recite prayers drawn from another time and place. The group, dressed in sober kimonos and …

DR Congo crisis talks suspended, hopes for deal by year end Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Talks to end DR Congo’s dangerous political crisis were suspended on Saturday until after Christmas after a fruitless 48 hours of negotiations over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to quit power. Kabila’s second and …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis urged the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics to feel compassion for children, notably victims of war, migration and homelessness in his Christmas Eve mass but also those “not allowed to be born”. Addressing a 10,000-strong crowd late Saturday, the pontiff urged worshippers …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday claimed the military had routed Boko Haram in a key northeastern stronghold, a year after saying the Islamist militants had been “technically” defeated. A campaign lasting for months in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile) forest in northeastern Borno state …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Tunisia said Saturday it had arrested three men linked to the suspected Berlin Christmas market attacker, including his nephew. Here is what we know about the case so far. – Shot dead in Italy – German authorities launched a Europe-wide manhunt for 24-year-old Tunisian Anis …

Washington, United States | AFP |  An online Santa tracker run by a Canadian and American defense agency mapped the jolly old gift-giver’s path around the globe Saturday, in what has become a Yuletide tradition. Every Christmas Eve since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking …

Beirut, Lebanon | AFP |  Syria’s conflict has killed more than 310,000 people, uprooted over half the population and left much of the country in ruins since it erupted almost six years ago. Here are some key statistics: – Huge death toll – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said …

Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Pilgrims on Saturday thronged Bethlehem for Christmas Eve as Europeans worked up some holiday spirit despite tight security in the shadow of the Berlin market attack. Crowds of Palestinians and tourists flocked to Bethlehem’s Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity, ahead of …

Paris, France | AFP |  Pregnancy causes “long-lasting” physical changes to a woman’s brain, with significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a study said. Some alterations lasted at least two years, they reported, but did not appear to erode memory or other mental …

VIDEO: Uganda has become the latest country in the region to experience the wave of easy taxi services following an influx of several service providers. After the entry of Uber, a technology company that connects riders and drivers at the touch of a button in Uganda early this year, followed …