Joint West African Force Takes on Boko Haram

Nigeria and four of its neighbours have agreed to set up a joint military force to take on the Islamist militants of Boko Haram. The force will be based in the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, but will be under Nigerian command. Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin will also commit troops. At a summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, they decided the force should be operational by the end of July.

The city of Milan is struggling to cope with the huge flow of migrants arriving from southern Italy. For the past two nights, hundreds of people have slept in the city's main train station, due to a shortage of beds. The migrants are mostly from Syria and Eritrea and have arrived in Italy after travelling for months.

The British actor Sir Christopher Lee has died. He was ninety-three. He became famous as a star of Hammer horror films, appearing in The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and others. In later years, Christopher Lee became known to a new generation with his roles in the Lord of The Rings trilogy and the Star Wars prequels.

(Picture: Niger's President Mahammadou Issoufou (L-R), Benin's President Boni Yayi, Chad's President Idris Deby, and Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari have a discussion during the summit of Heads of State and Presidents of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Abuja, Nigeria; Credit: EPA)