Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the rebellious soldiers told The Associated Press by phone early Monday. They did not say where Kabore is being held, but said he is in a safe place.

Gunshots were heard late Sunday night near the president's residence and in the early hours of Monday a battle took place at the presidential palace while a helicopter flew overhead. The roads of the capital were empty Sunday night except for checkpoints heavily guarded by mutinous soldiers.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday won the first stage of his effort to overturn a U.K. ruling that opened the door for his extradition to U.S. to stand trial on espionage charges.

The High Court in London gave Assange permission to appeal the case to the U.K. Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court must agree to accept the case before it can move forward.

People who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer allowed in France's restaurants, bars, tourist sites and sports venues unless they recently recovered from the virus.

The new law came into effect Monday requiring a "vaccine pass" that is central to the government's anti-virus strategy.

A cluster of COVID-19 cases in Beijing has prompted authorities to test millions and impose new measures two weeks ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics, even as the city of Xi'an in north-central China lifted on Monday a monthlong lockdown that had isolated its 13 million residents.

Officials in Beijing said they would conduct a second round of mass testing of the Fengtai district's 2 million residents, where the majority of the capital's 40 coronavirus cases since Jan. 15 have been found. That came a day after authorities announced that anyone who buys or who has bought fever, cough or certain other medicines in the past two weeks would be required to take a COVID-19 test within 72 hours.

Friday will never be the same again.

For those with means in Dubai, the former first day of the weekend carried a gluttonous party tradition — an hourslong affair with infinite supply of seafood, pizza, dessert and Veuve Clicquot Champagne set to pulsing music known simply in this city-state as "Friday brunch."

Competing in the giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics will be a giant step for 17-year-old Kiana Kryeziu and her country of Kosovo.

Kryeziu is the first female athlete from Kosovo at the Winter Games after she met the qualifying standard during races held in Italy.

The Taliban and western diplomats have began their first official talks in Europe since they took over control of Afghanistan in August.

The closed-door meetings were taking place at a hotel in the snow-capped mountains above the Norwegian capital. Taliban representatives will be certain to press their demand that nearly $10 billion frozen by the United States and other Western countries be released as Afghanistan faces a precarious humanitarian situation.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha will pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia this week, the first by a Thai head of government since relations between the two nations were soured more than three decades ago by a massive jewel theft and the killing of four Saudi diplomats.

Prayuth's two-day visit starting Tuesday comes at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said statements from the prime minister's office and the Saudi foreign ministry.

U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters began closing in Monday on the last wing of a prison in northeastern Syria that has been controlled by militants for days, the force and a war monitor said. The raid aims to end one of the most brazen attacks by the Islamic State group in years.

Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said forces are deploying with the prison facility and taking over buildings near the northern wing of the prison, where dozens of IS militants have been holed up since Thursday. Dozens have been killed in clashes since.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday morning in bomb blast targeting their patrol on a road in Kirkuk city, north of the capital Baghdad, a military source said.

A fourth soldier was injured in the same attack, which was not immediately claimed.