JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African High Court ruled on Friday that it could not compel President Jacob Zuma to set up a commission of inquiry into alleged influence-peddling in his government. The opposition Democratic Alliance had asked the court to force Zuma to establish a commission based on a report last year by an […]
Read More
YAOUNDE (Reuters) – The government of one of Cameroon’s Anglophone regions ordered its border with Nigeria closed this weekend in response to calls by activists for protests to demand more rights for the country’s English-speaking minority. The move on Thursday represents an escalation in a crackdown on months of protest spurred by complaints about political […]
Read More
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on Feb. 16, 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission said on its official Twitter account on Thursday. The date will mark the end of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term. He has not said if he will run again. Buhari came to […]
Read More WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. air strikes killed several Islamic State militants in Libya earlier this week, the U.S. military said on Thursday, the second series of strikes in the country in recent days. In a statement, U.S. Africa Command said the strike took place 100 miles (161 km) southeast of Sirte on Tuesday in […]
Read More
By Ahmed Elumami TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Islamic State militants in Libya set up a desert army composed of at least three brigades after the lost their stronghold of Sirte last year, a senior prosecutor said on Thursday. Hundreds of militants are believed to have escaped from Sirte before or during the seven-month campaign to oust […]
Read More
TUNIS (Reuters) – The Tunisian navy has arrested more than 550 Tunisian and African migrants trying to sail to Europe in September, nearly three times more than last month, official data showed. Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe as Libya’s coast guard, aided by armed groups, has […]
Read More By Emma Farge DAKAR (Reuters) – A dormant Senegalese rebel movement has called for the abandonment of a planned mineral sands project operated by Australia-listed Astron, saying it amounts to “a declaration of war”. A spokesman for the Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance (MFDC) on Thursday said that it had not been consulted about […]
Read More By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Genetic data from the skeletal remains of seven people who lived centuries ago in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province is offering intriguing new evidence that our species, Homo sapiens, is older than previously believed. Scientists said on Thursday they sequenced the genomes of the seven individuals including a boy who […]
Read More
By Feisal Omar and Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Al Shabaab fighters killed at least 15 soldiers in an attack on a military base near Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, the militant group and Somali officials said on Friday. The militants used guns and car bombs to take control of the base and a nearby town, Barire, […]
Read More
By Robin Respaut and Dave Graham SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) – The Pentagon named a senior general to command military relief operations in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Thursday and the Trump administration sent a Cabinet emissary to the island as U.S. lawmakers called for a more robust response to the crisis. The U.S. territory […]
Read More
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning comedic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus said on Thursday that she was battling breast cancer and highlighted the case for universal healthcare. Louis-Dreyfus, 56, who plays foul-mouthed fictitious former U.S. President Selina Meyer on HBO’s “Veep,” said “1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I’m the one,” in a short post […]
Read More
By Chris Kenning CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed a controversial bill into law on Thursday to expand state-funded coverage of abortions for low-income residents on Medicaid and state employees. The bill, approved by the state legislature in May, would also keep abortions legal in Illinois if the U.S. Supreme Court follows […]
Read More
