Senegalese troops are moving towards the Gambian border from two sides, witnesses confirmed, as pressure mounts for Gambia's president to step down.

Despite the lack of basic medical equipment and drugs in his native Senegal, neurosurgeon Seydou Badiane treats everyone he can, says Rita de Brún

The UN health agency has officially declared an end to the Ebola outbreak in Senegal.

The UN mission to combat Ebola has opened its headquarters in Ghana, where it will co-ordinate aid for the accelerating West African crisis.

US President Barack Obama flies to South Africa today hoping to pay homage to Nelson Mandela, who is critically ill in hospital.

President Abdoulaye Wade conceded defeat to his former protege Macky Sall, congratulating him several hours after polls closed when preliminary results showed the opposition candidate had trounced the 85-year-old incumbent.

Bangladesh is to build a nuclear power station under a deal with Russia.

AS the eldest of eight children, Marc Lievremont’s robust style in coaching the French rugby squad should perhaps surprise nobody.

Fulham striker Diomansy Kamara has joined npower Championship side Leicester on loan until the end of the season.

African leaders were under fire today after choosing Equatorial Guinea’s coup plotter and dictator of 31 years as their ceremonial leader for this year.

Michael Palin’s next travel series will be from Brazil, it was revealed today.

Senegal is one of the poorest countries in the world with its GDP only marginally higher than Haiti’s, but that has not stopped the government from going ahead with a plan to offer a new home to 163 victims of the catastrophic earthquake.

Niger is facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the country’s population in desperate need of food and up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition, aid officials said today.

Police in Senegal say 11 people died after the collapse of a terrace on which they had gathered to watch a World Cup match on television.

WE have a bully at the bird table.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy says international officials are working out ways to avoid gaps in air traffic control over the Atlantic Ocean.

READ it carefully. Today, 15 teams bid to scale the highest peak in each of the 32 counties in 100 hours or less.

The bodies of at least 20 whales have washed up on a Senegal beach, residents said today.

More than 50 schoolgirls were taken to hospital after they succumbed to what education chiefs in Senegal are calling “collective hysteria” – fainting and screaming.

SUDAN yesterday accused Chad of attacking its troops and bombing a village in Darfur, and vowed to respond to the “aggressive and serious” violations of a fledgling peace agreement.

AS THE funeral of the first member of the EU peacekeeping mission to be killed in Chad took place yesterday, Irish MEP Colm Burke called for the European Parliament to throw its weight behind peace talks in the country.

Mauritanian prosecutors called the Christmas Eve murder of four French tourists a terrorist act and said security forces were hunting three suspects believed to be members of a regional al-Qaida-linked network.

The death toll from cyclone Sidr which hit Bangladesh’s coast with winds of 150 mph has risen to at least 1,100.

IAAF president Lamine Diack believes disgraced American sprinter Marion Jones will be remembered as “one of the biggest frauds in sporting history”.

An Irish college student who spent four weeks in a West African jail for 'mooning' some friends in a Senegalese city was convicted of public indecency today and fined about €2,200 , lawyers said.

NEWS that a young student was freed on bail after mooning in Senegal has been greeted with delight in his home town.

The Donegal student arrested for public exposure in Senegal has been released on bail today pending his trial next week.

President Abdoulaye Wade led 14 contenders today as election officials began counting results from a vote many hoped would cement Senegal’s image as an example of democracy in Africa, despite its poverty.

TWO days from the arrival in Dakar just as the rally was entering Senegal, the motorbike race was hit by another bombshell yesterday with Marc Coma’s serious crash after only 57 kilometres of the special stage.

Reigning champion Luc Alphand is looking to join the ranks of motorsport’s elite by claiming victory in the 2007 Dakar Rally, which gets under way in Portugal tomorrow.

African countries are set for higher economic growth in 2007, a positive sign but a small step toward pulling the continent’s people out of poverty, an International Monetary Fund official said.

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has paid tribute to summer signing Craig Bellamy for helping him quietly mastermind a mini-revolution at Ewood Park, turning his relegation candidates into Champions League contenders.

FORMER skiing champion Luc Alphand admitted his relief at winning the Dakar Rally, although the event was overshadowed by three deaths during the race.

Former skiing champion Luc Alphand admitted his relief at winning the Dakar Rally, although the event was overshadowed by three deaths during the race.

Dakar Rally legend Stephane Peterhansel has warned his rivals he is hungry for even more success as he goes looking for a ninth victory on the desert marathon.

Amnesty International accused Spanish and Moroccan security forces yesterday of using excessive force and violating immigrants’ rights in trying to repel waves of Africans seeking to gain a foothold in Europe over the past month.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says there has been progress in Darfur but the world will not accept mere promises from Sudan’s new government to halt the violence.

Stephane Peterhansel claimed his second successive four-wheeled Dakar title after he finished 11th on the 16th and final stage of the event on Sunday.

Alastair Moffitt

Spanish biker Jose Manuel Perez has died following injuries sustained on this year’s Dakar Rally.

President Mary McAleese is to pay a morale-boosting pre-Christmas visit to Irish troops engaged in United Nations duty in Liberia next week.

RWANDA yesterday insisted it would soon attack rebels inside the Democratic Republic of Congo unless they were disarmed, as the UN Security Council warned any incursion could threaten regional stability.

A cholera epidemic in the capital of Senegal was spreading today with 400 cases reported and two deaths so far, health officials said.