The French-led operation in Mali has ousted the Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda's North African branch, from cities and town in the vast desert region they had captured a year ago in the wake of a coup.

BBC: Cameroon hostages: French Moulin-Fournier family freed

Yet there is speculation that it could be retaliation for France's recent intervention in Mali, where Islamist groups and members of al-Qaeda's North Africa branch - al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - had taken control of the country's vast northern desert region.

BBC: Is France under attack in Africa?

I. branch of North Sails.

FORBES: A billionaire is just another sailor

With assistance from UNESCO, the Education Ministry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Institute of the Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences undertook to promote the transmission of Yukagir oral traditions to youth and digitize the language and cultural materials, facilitating both transmission and preservation.

UNESCO: CULTURE

The cash machine was installed at a branch of Barclays in Enfield, north London.

BBC: 7 questions on blue plaques

Now called Branch Energy, they are mining diamonds in Angola's north-east.

ECONOMIST: As mediators reach for a miracle, the mercenaries move in

About an hour north of Frankfurt, in the small university town of Giessen, the local branch of the antiestablishment Pirate Party has taken the Tanzverbot on as a major issue.

WSJ: In Germany, Some Want to Boogie Every Day of the Year

The 27-year-old accountant from Mauritius left her Mill Hill home in north London and found that signal failures were sending all Northern Line trains along the Bank branch, through King's Cross.

BBC: Obituary: Rachelle Chung For Yuen

In comments that will be welcomed by Washington, Abe held out an olive branch to South Korea, a key U.S. ally that shares Japan's concern over North Korea's provocations.

NPR: PM Says 'Japan's Back,' Vows Stronger Ties With US