Manchester City and Ivory Coast star Yaya Toure retained his title as African Player of the Year after seeing off compatriot Didier Drogba and Cameroon's Alex Song.

A town engulfed by fighting in South Sudan remained tense Thursday as peacekeepers and police deployed patrols and "a significant number" of people who had fled to safety stayed at a U.N. base, officials said.

At least 49 men were beaten and detained for up to 17 hours allegedly by supporters of President Mohamed Morsy during deadly clashes near the presidential palace in Cairo on December 5, human rights activists say.

At least 55 people have drowned or are missing after a boat capsized off the Somali coast on Tuesday evening, the United Nations Refugee Agency said Thursday in a statement.

A former Rwandan minister was sentenced Thursday to 35 years in prison after being found guilty by a U.N. tribunal of genocide, incitement to genocide and rape as a crime against humanity.

A French national working for green energy firm Vergnet has been kidnapped in Nigeria, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

Sudan's government has been bombing its Nuba people for over a year. Filmmaker Yoletta Nyange hid from bombing raids to make the documentary "Erasing the Nuba," which tells of their plight.