A military armoury in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown came under attack on Sunday, the government announced, as it imposed an immediate national curfew.The government said those attempting to break into the armoury at a major army barracks had been repelled, but the public were asked to stay at home.Witnesses told AFP they heard gunshots and …

S.Leone imposes curfew after military armoury attackedSun, 26 Nov 2023 09:52:53 GMT Read More »

Growing calls for the world to come to grips with the many ways that global warming affects human health have prompted the first day dedicated to the issue at crunch UN climate talks starting next week.Extreme heat, air pollution and the increasing spread of deadly infectious diseases are just some of the reasons why the …

Heat, disease, air pollution: How climate change impacts healthSun, 26 Nov 2023 06:14:31 GMT Read More »

Britain’s Booker Prize for fiction will anoint a first-time winner when the 2023 recipient of the prestigious prize is announced at a ceremony in London on Sunday.None of this year’s six finalists — two Americans, a Canadian, two Irish and a Kenyan author — have been shortlisted before and only one has previously been longlisted.The …

UK Booker Prize set to name first-time winnerSun, 26 Nov 2023 03:03:45 GMT Read More »

Chad began campaigning Saturday for a vote on a new constitution, in a perceived test of legitimacy for the ruling junta and the Itno dynasty’s 30-year reign.Transitional president General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, whose junta has governed since 2021, had promised to hand power to civilians and hold elections this year before postponing them to …

Junta-run Chad opens campaign for key December referendumSat, 25 Nov 2023 20:28:57 GMT Read More »

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has won another term in office, the election commission said on Saturday, but his victory in a vote boycotted by most opposition candidates is already facing legal challenges.Rajoelina won 58.95 percent of the votes cast in the November 16 presidential election first round, according to the results presented by the poll …

Madagascar President Rajoelina’s re-election contestedSat, 25 Nov 2023 15:47:38 GMT Read More »

From the musical nights of his youth that earned his nickname “the disc jockey” to his political adventures over the past decade, life has been one long party of one kind or another for Andry Rajoelina, who on Saturday secured a second elected term as Madagascar’s president. With his smooth features, slim build and thick black …

Rajoelina, Madagascar’s ambitious president who parties onSat, 25 Nov 2023 14:55:28 GMT Read More »

Kenya is drawing up measures to tackle a flood disaster that has killed 70 people and driven tens of thousands from their homes, President William Ruto said on Saturday, describing it as an “emergency situation”.Kenya and neighbouring Somalia and Ethiopia, countries that are only just emerging from the worst drought in four decades, are now …

Kenya’s Ruto pledges action to tackle deadly flood emergencySat, 25 Nov 2023 11:39:14 GMT Read More »

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has won re-election in the first round of a ballot boycotted by nearly all opposition candidates in the Indian Ocean island nation, the election commission said Saturday.  Rajoelina won 58.95 percent of the votes cast in the November 16 presidential election, according to the results presented by the poll body which need …

Madagascar’s Andry Rajeolina re-elected president in boycotted pollSat, 25 Nov 2023 10:28:49 GMT Read More »

Conflict-weary Somalia on Friday became the eighth member of the East African Community (EAC) in a move hailed as a milestone for the troubled Horn of Africa country.Somalia’s population of 17 million will boost the EAC’s market to more than 300 million people as the bloc seeks to expand free trade across the region.Its admission …

Somalia joins East Africa trade bloc in ‘milestone’Fri, 24 Nov 2023 18:24:07 GMT Read More »

South Africa’s ex-Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius will be released from prison in January after he was granted parole on Friday, a decade after he shot dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in a crime that gripped the world, prison authorities said. Steenkamp’s mother, who had said she did not believe the ex-athlete was rehabilitated for he had …

S.Africa’s Pistorius granted parole over girlfriend’s murderFri, 24 Nov 2023 15:03:31 GMT Read More »