BBC News with David Austin

Chad says its army has killed one of the most senior Islamist militants in North Africa Moktar Belmoktar. Moktar Belmoktar was at one point a leading figure in the North African militant group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Tomas Fessy reports

The deputy chief of staff for the Chadian army, General Zakaria Ngobongue announced in state television that Moktar Belmoktar was killed on Saturday during a military operation in Mali’s far north. Chadian troops have totally destroyed the main jihadi base, general Ngobongue saying in the mountains bordering Algeria. He said several other fighters were killed in the attack while dozens of vehicles, weapons and equipment were seized. Moktar Belmoktar claimed responsibility for the attack on a gas facility in eastern Algeria earlier this year in which foreign workers have been killed.

Airborne troops in the international mission in southern Afghanistan have shot dead two Afghan shepherd boys both under the age of seven. The governor of Oruzgan province said Australian soldiers had killed them by mistake. A Nato-led force said a coalition helicopter had opened fire on them during an operation against the Taliban on Thursday. Nato officials called it a tragedy.

Massed rallies have been taken place across Portugal to demonstrate against the government’s austerity measures. At one rally in the capital Lisbon, students and teachers gathered in front of the Education Ministry to protest against education cuts.

The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged the Egyptian government and opposition to overcome their differences on the latest state of his first foreign tour. Mr. Kerry told business leaders in Cairo that in order to get the economy back on its feet, it was vital to establish a sense of security. He made the remarks as protests continued in a number of Egyptian cities.

“The best way to ensure human rights and strong political checks and balances in any democracy, in Egypt just like in the United States is through the broadest possible political and economic participation. Getting there requires a genuine give and take among Egypt’s political leaders and civil society groups just as we are continuing the struggle in our own country.”

Thousands of people in Zimbabwe have attended the birthday party of the president Robert Mugabe. The cake was said to weigh 89 kilogram matching the president’s age. Special gold coins were minted to mark the occasion. Reports say the party costs some 600,000 dollars. In his birthday speech, Mr. Mugabe denied he’d launched the campaign of violence to intimidate political rivals. Mr. Mugabe, who is been in power for more than 30 years, will contest the presidential election later this year.

World News from the BBC

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been granted more time to try to form a coalition government, five weeks after a general election failed to produce a decisive result. President Shimon Peres gave Mr. Netanyahu another two weeks saying democracy takes effort. Mr. Netanyahu complained that some potential partners were boycotting others. From Jerusalem, Yolande Knell

In a televised address, Mr. Netanyahu indirectly referred to how the second and third biggest parties were driving a hard bargain. Centrist Yesh Atid and the far-right Jewish Home are refusing to enter a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties who would oppose their efforts to end military draft exemptions for students’ religious seminaries. If the prime minister can’t muster a parliamentary majority by the 16th of March, President Peres could ask another politician to try. However, most analysts still expect Mr. Netanyahu to meet his deadline.

At least 20 people have been injured in Macedonia when police clashed with members of the country’s ethnic Albanian minority in the capital Skopje. Correspondents say the protest came in response to violence on Friday following a demonstration held in protest against the appointment of a former guerrilla leader as defense minister. They say many Macedonians oppose the appointment of Talat Xhaferi, a former leader of a militia that fought for the rights of Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian minority more than ten years ago.

Police in Brazil are investigating the appearance of two alleged human skulls in the center of Sao Paulo. One of them was left at an Avenida Paulista building, one of the most expensive addresses in the Brazilian financial capital. CCTV images reportedly show a woman placing the skull by the front door and leaving. The other skull was left in a bag a week ago next to a building designed by Brazil’s most famous architect Oscar Niemever. Investigators have yet to establish any connection between the two cases.

BBC News