Several foreigners held hostage, eight killed in Mali hotel attack
Several hostages, including a number of foreigners, were being held in a standoff in central Mali on Friday after gunmen stormed a hotel amid shootout with soldiers that left at least eight people dead, the military said.
A Ukrainian hostage managed to escape from the "four or five terrorists" who were still barricaded inside the hotel in Sevare, telling soldiers that he had been with three South Africans and a Russian when the shooting began.
Three bodies were still lying next to a burned-out minibus at the entrance to the hotel, a military sources said, as night fell.
Swimming: Schooling breaks national 100m butterfly record again in world champs semis
Swimming in his pet event, Joseph Schooling powered his way to finish fourth in his 100m butterfly semi-final and seventh overall on Friday evening while setting a new national mark with a 51.40 sec effort at the Fina World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
That erased the earlier record he set during the heats Friday morning when he clocked 51.65, which in turn eclipsed the 51.69 national record he set when he won a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last year.
Football: Jose Mourinho signs new four-year Chelsea deal
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Friday signed a new four-year contract to stay in charge of the English champions until 2019, the club announced.
The new deal for the 52-year-old was penned just a day before Chelsea begin the defence of their Premier League title at home to Swansea.
Mourinho is in his second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge after returning to the west London club in 2013.
Presenter's anti-racism message goes viral in Germany
A German TV journalist's impassioned appeal for a "rebellion of the decent" against racism and attacks on asylum seekers, has gone viral online.
The video message, in which presenter Anja Reschke urges citizens to stand up against hate mongering, was viewed more than five million times via Facebook alone within 48 hours.
She said that the vitriol, often published by people unabashed at giving their real names, was now receiving many "likes" on social media, and accused "little racist nobodies" of inciting arson attacks and other violence.
Kim Kardashian keeps up with Clinton at Hollywood fund-raiser
Reality TV diva Kim Kardashian had better things to do Thursday than tune in to the Republican presidential debate - like snaring a selfie with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
"Excited to be meeting our next President tonight!! Maybe she'll take a selfie with me," she said on Twitter before setting off to a celebrity-rich Clinton fund-raiser in Los Angeles hosted by Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun.
Two and a half hours later, she delivered the goods to her 34.2 million Twitter followers - a selfie with Clinton, with rapper husband Kanye West leaning into the frame in the background.
