BBC News with Jonathan Izard.

The FBI Director James Comey has confirmed for the first time that his agency is investigating alleged Russian government interference in last year's U.S. presidential election. Mr. Comey told the Congressional Intelligence Committee that the FBI was investigating if there was a collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. President Trump has always dismissed the charge.

Some of the biggest consumers of Brazilian meat have suspended imports over allegations that companies have been selling rotten produces for many years. China has banned red meat imports from Brazil, while the EU announced it would stop buying meat, poultry, and other products from companies implicated in the scandal.

The five main candidates for the French presidency are to meet shortly in the first of three televised debates. The two current front runners in the opinion polls, the liberal centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far right politician Marine Le Pen, will seek to consolidate their positions ahead of the election's first round next month.

Security services in the United Arab Emirates are reported to have detained a leading human rights activist. Amnesty International says that Ahmed Mansoor was taken into custody after his apartment was searched overnight. Amnesty and other rights groups have called for his immediate release and expressed concern that he might be at the risk of being tortured.

The Nigerian government has unveiled a new immigration policy which it says will help to prevent Jihadist entering the country. The Minister of the Interior said the new approach to immigration would enhance security and make doing business easier.

The authorities in Nepal are to provide GPS tracking devices to some mountaineers who attempt to scale Mount Everest this year. They say they will help to locate the climbers if they are in trouble and prevent them from making false claims of reaching the summit.

And the U.S. billionaire and philanthropist David Rockefeller has died at his home in New York, aged 101. He was the last surviving grandson of the oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who was America's first billionaire.

BBC News.