Can Xi Jinping's China pull it off? Can happy pictures of a torch relay reduced to 72 hours and tightly cropped images of top-level competitions make the world forget about the empty seats, the Covid bubble, the artificial snow, the tight security and the pressure on sponsors over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong?

Denmark is the EU's first nation to lift all domestic Covid restrictions, raising hopes in northern Europe and beyond. Here in France, new infections have never been higher, but the authorities are relaxing rules too. That's because the vaccination rate is near 90 percent and hospitals are managing. The omicron variant is more infectious but milder. Milder if you are vaccinated, warns the World Health Organization. Many nations remain vulnerable.

Is there no stopping all-out civil war in Myanmar? On the first anniversary of the coup that ended power sharing between Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and a military whose candidates had just been trounced in a general election, a silent strike took place to protest the brutal crackdown against calls to return to civilian rule. Can peaceful protest still work?

Condemn or cooperate? West African leaders are grappling with that question as they scramble for the antidote to coup contagion. Since regional bloc ECOWAS decided earlier this month to play hardball with Mali's junta, tensions have spiralled far and wide. Now Bamako is expelling France's ambassador amid a war of words over the hiring of the Russian mercenaries of Wagner, right under the noses of French and EU forces there to fight a jihadist insurgency.

Every two years, football comes home... to Africa. This year, the Africa Cup of Nations is hosted by Cameroon and, no doubt, there's plenty to criticise: dodgy calls by the ref, questionable Covid-19 protocols and a deadly stampede that left eight dead. And yet, football fans the world over are enthralled. Every day brings new twists: minnows have upset powerhouses, and stars who normally spend winter in the European leagues have shown up for their national sides. So what exactly is it about AFCON that's got us riveted?

Saying they feel exposed in the face of an Islamist insurgency rampant across the Sahel region, soldiers in Burkina Faso have taken to national television to confirm the ousting of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. But what will a coup change in yet another poor, landlocked nation where radicals seem to prey on weak institutions? Seven years ago, young people were instrumental in the popular uprising that led to the downfall of strongman Blaise Compaoré. Do these soldiers represent a different generation, or a return to the past?

How strong is the West's resolve when it comes to Ukraine? A steady diet of diplomacy is so far failing to lift the uncertainty over Vladimir Putin's true intentions when it comes to those 100,000 troops amassed at the border.

Call it an Olympic-sized gamble. Ahead of Chinese New Year holiday travel and the Winter Games, authorities there are sticking to their zero-Covid policy. As Omicron tears through much of the rest of the world, can the coronavirus really be barred from the Beijing Olympics?

Order has been restored in Kazakhstan after protests turned to open revolt in clashes last week. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev calls it an attempted coup, blaming foreign terror networks, but he's also arrested the former head of security left over from his once all-powerful predecessor. At 81, Nursultan Nazarbayev is out as head of the country's ruling supreme council. We ask about his whereabouts and his exit from the limelight. From Angola to Uzbekistan, controlling your legacy is tricky when you run an oil-rich oligarchy.

Why are Mali's neighbours coming down hard? A harsh embargo has been decided after coup leaders in that landlocked West African state reneged on their promise of a quick return to civilian rule. How harsh? We talk border closures and trade embargoes. It's not as if the region has never seen a putsch before: look no further than neighbouring Guinea.