Africa

Ghana's President John Mahama has said the African Union could ultimately seek a UN mandate for a force to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist insurgents but it must first establish its own regional military operation to combat the militants.

West African leaders will seek a mandate from the African Union at a summit meeting next week to put together a multinational force and it will be months before the force is ready, said Mahama, who chairs the West African body.

Gerard Depardieu has claimed he shot two lions in self-defence and then ate them whilst in Africa, according to reports.

The French actor said the incident took place in 2011 when the car he was travelling in broke down in Burkina Faso.

He made the initial extraordinary boast in September to a French film magazine and claimed he can drink 14 bottles of wine a day, but now appears to have confirmed them to the Independent Magazine in the UK.

Asked if he ate the creatures after they were killed, he said "Yes."

He said: "The two lions waited in front of us and wouldn't move. Hours passed, we couldn't get out of the car, the African driver was very afraid. "We had no choice, we had to shoot them."

The nation of Morocco has failed to meet a deadline to confirm it will go ahead with the hosting of January's African Nations Cup finals amid fears over the spread of the Ebola virus, throwing the 2015 tournament into jeopardy.

Morocco officials, who want the 16-team event postponed, said they had rejected an ultimatum set by the Confederation of African Football to confirm their hosting of the continental championship, set for January 17 to February 8.

A decision on the tournament will now be made next week when CAF have an executive committee meeting in Cairo but Morocco are almost certain to be stripped as hosts.

Zambia has appointed Guy Scott to be its interim leader until an election can be held, making him the continent's first white head of state in 20 years.

Guy Scott, a Cambridge-educated economist born to Scottish parents, was previously vice president in the central African country.

His appointment follows the death of Zambia's President Michael Sata in a London hospital following an unspecified illness.

Mr Scott, 70, is the first white head of state in an African country since South Africa's apartheid government of F.W. de Klerk. He is not eligible to stand in the forthcoming presidential elections due to citizenship restrictions.

• Zambian President Michael Sata dies in London aged 77

Poachers killed more than 33,600 African elephants each year between 2010 and 2012 making their losses unsustainable, a new study has shown.

Over that period alone an estimated 6.8% of the continent's elephant population was wiped out by the illegal ivory trade, scientists said.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researchers said that the very existence of the African elephant was threatened.

They wrote: "Our analysis demonstrates the heavy toll illegal ivory trade is taking on African elephants, and suggests current off-take exceeds the intrinsic growth capacity of the species."

They added: "These results provide the most comprehensive assessment of illegal ivory harvest to date and confirm that current ivory consumption is not sustainable."

The Health Protection Agency has told ITV News hospitals in the UK have been put on "alert" after an outbreak of the Ebola virus killed at least 78 people in Guinea, West Africa. But the HPA said it was "extremely unlikely" it would reach Britain.

ITV News' Science and Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty reports:

Read: How to spot signs and symptoms of deadly Ebola virus

Read: UK hospitals 'on alert' after deadly Ebola outbreak in Guinea

The Health Protection Agency's director of Global Health has said that UK hospitals have been put on "alert" over Ebola after an outbreak of the virus killed at least 78 in Guinea, West Africa.

Dr Brian McClusky told ITV News: "What we have done is make sure all hospitals in the UK have been alerted, so if a patient turns up, who has those symptoms, who has been to that part of West Africa, they can be tested and looked after in specialist facilities in London.

He added: "The chance of it spreading outside West Africa is relatively small, because essentially people get ill relatively quickly. They are not likely get on a plane and survive a journey.

"It's technically possible that somebody could get on a plane and arrive in the UK. It's extremely unlikely."

Read: 'Unprecedented' outbreak of Ebola in Guinea kills at least 78

The Head of PR for the World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken to Twitter to downplay the severity of the current Ebola virus in Guinea, with Médecins Sans Frontières.

MSF started by tweeting that this type of Ebola virus "kills 9 out of every 10 patients," before Gregory Härtl of WHO jumped in and told them not to "exaggerate."

Härtl continued to the discuss the issues with other followers, especially the issue of travel bans and airports.

Read more: Ebola is a 'regional threat' say West African ministers

More: 'Unprecedented' outbreak of Ebola in Guinea kills at least 78

The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, where the first reported outbreak was reported in 1976.

Medecins Sans Frontieres describes Ebola as:

Ebola spreads in the blood and shuts down the immune system at first, causing a high fever, headache and muscle pain.

The World Health Organisation categorises the Ebola virus as follows:

• Outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals, mainly bats, and spreads through human-to-human transmission.
• No specific treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.

Read more: 'Unprecedented' outbreak of Ebola in Guinea kills at least 78