France has ordered troops into its former colony of the Central African Republic, hours after a sectarian bloodbath left more than 120 people dead in the troubled nation's capital of Bangui.
ELSEWHERE:
LONDON - A fierce storm has battered northern Europe, leaving three people dead or missing, causing mass transport disruption and threatening the biggest tidal surge in decades.
LONDON - A man on trial for the gruesome murder of a British soldier tried to behead him because he thought it the most "humane" way to kill him, comparing it to halal butchery, a court has heard.
SANAA - A suicide bomber has rammed an explosives-packed car into Yemen's defence ministry complex, allowing gunmen to launch an assault that killed 25 people including three foreign doctors.
KIEV - The US has urged Ukrainian authorities to heed the demands of thousands of pro-EU demonstrators, as protesters kept up a blockade of top government buildings and occupation of a central Kiev square.
VATICAN CITY, Dec 5 AFP - Pope Francis has set up a committee to fight child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and give pastoral care to victims, following a recommendation from a council of cardinals he has asked to advise him.
