Ethiopian PM's deadline for Tigrayan troop surrender arrives

Abiy Ahmed appears poised to send forces into the regional capital, Mekelle, as international calls for a peaceful resolution to the civil conflict seem to fall on deaf ears.

Also in the programme: Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam has delivered her annual address to a legislature emptied of opposition members; the trial of a well-known women's rights activist resumes in Saudi Arabia; and a coronavirus outbreak in the Gaza Strip threatens to overwhelm the Palestinian territory's fragile health care system.

(Photo: An Ethiopian refugee, fleeing from the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, walks past a World Food Programme tent at the Um-Rakoba camp, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, on Monday. Credit: Reuters)