World review: Ex-King's love child seeks royalty, Russia hackers 'target US polls' again

The love child of the former Belgian King Albert II is hoping a court will grant her the same rights and titles as her father's legitimate children.

Artist Delphine Boël, 52, has taken her case to the appeals court in Brussels.

King Albert finally admitted he was Ms Boël's father in January this year, having fought her paternity claim for more than a decade.

Her mother, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, claims she had an 18-year affair with Albert before he was king.

Rumours of an illegitimate child first emerged in 1999 in an unauthorised biography about Albert's wife Queen Paola, prompting a royal scandal and enduring media gossip in Belgium.

Ms Boël first alleged on the record that King Albert was her biological father during a 2005 interview, but it was not until he abdicated in 2013 - when he lost his immunity to prosecution - that she opened court proceedings.

Her lawyer said on Thursday that she was seeking the same rights as Albert's three other children, Philippe, now King of Belgium, Prince Laurent and Princess Astrid.

Hackers with ties to Russia, China and Iran are attempting to snoop on people and groups involved with the US 2020 presidential election, Microsoft says.

The Russian hackers who breached the 2016 Democratic campaign are again involved, said the tech firm.

Microsoft said it was "clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts" targeting the election.

Both President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden's campaigns are in the cyber-raiders' sights.

Russian hackers from the Strontium group have targeted more than 200 organisations, many of which are linked to US political parties - both Republicans and Democrats, Microsoft said in a statement.

The same cyber-attackers also targeted British political parties, said Microsoft, without specifying which ones.

Strontium is also known as Fancy Bear, a cyber-attack unit allegedly affiliated with Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

France has recorded almost 10,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, marking its highest single-day count since the start of the outbreak.

Health authorities reported 9,843 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Thursday, surpassing the previous daily record by almost 900.

The figures were released on the eve of a key meeting of ministers and health experts about toughening measures.

France has the seventh-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world.

More than 30,800 people in the country have died of coronavirus.

The number of patients in intensive care units in the country has also been rising in recent days.

While hospital figures are still far from the peaks reached in April, there are concerns over the strain that rising infection rates could put on the health system.

A top Brazilian expert on isolated Amazon tribes has been killed by an arrow that struck him in the chest as he approached an indigenous site.

Rieli Franciscato, 56, died on Wednesday in a remote region of Rondônia state in north-western Brazil.

He was in the area to monitor a tribe as part of his work for the government's indigenous agency, Funai.

Witnesses said Mr Franciscato and his party came under fire as they approached an indigenous group.

Mr Franciscato, who was accompanied by police, attempted to take shelter behind a vehicle, but was struck in the chest by an arrow, witnesses said.

A policeman who witnessed the incident said Mr Franciscato managed to remove the arrow, which hit him above the heart.

"He cried out, pulled the arrow from his chest, ran 50m (164ft) and collapsed, lifeless," the officer said in an audio recording posted to social media.

Nigeria's Imo State University has set up a committee to investigate sex-for-grades claims after videos of lecturers allegedly having sex with students were shared online, according to Punch newspaper.

One of the videos shows an alleged lecturer being arrested by police while he was half-naked.

The other video shows a lecturer masturbating in an office after reportedly having sex with a student.

Local media outlets have reported that the lecturers were recorded by the students with assistance from security officials.

The university's public relations official Ralph Obinjoku has been quoted by the Punch newspaper as saying that the management would not spare anyone found guilty.

He spoke about one of the videos where a lecturer was being arrested and said the committee formed had been asked do a "thorough job".

Last year, in a documentary about sex-for-grades allegations, BBC Africa Eye recorded incidents at the University of Ghana and the University of Lagos.

Compiled by D.Tarus