Programs

Kenya has detained nine suspects in connection with an attack by a Somali group on a Nairobi hotel and office complex that killed 21 people, a police officer said on Friday, showing the search for possible accomplices in the raid is gathering pace. The officer, who asked not to be named, also told Reuters police were pursuing a woman suspected of ferrying weapons to Nairobi from Kiunga, near the border with neighboring Somalia, via the…

Zimbabwe on Friday faced a “total internet shutdown,” a media group said, after a days-long violent crackdown on people protesting a dramatic fuel price increase. Badly injured people streamed into a hospital in the capital after alleged assaults by security forces. “Our country is going through one of the most trying periods in its history,” the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference said in a sweeping statement lamenting the government’s “intolerant handling of dissent” and its failure…

Algeria will hold a presidential election on April 18, the presidency said on Friday, although it did not say whether veteran leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika would stand as a candidate. Bouteflika, 81, has been in office since 1999 and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, since when he has used a wheelchair. Algeria’s ruling coalition has previously urged him to run again for the presidency. Candidates have 45 days to…

Congo’s constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge to the presidential election results. But the African Union continental body has issued a surprise last-minute request for Congo’s government to suspend the announcement of final results, citing “serious doubts” about the vote. Declared runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud. Upholding the official election results could spark violence in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer…

The grieving dad told reporters his daughter had been watching the sunrise with a friend at the beach with her feet in the water. He says it is believed she was hit by a freak wave and she could have died after being hit into some rocks which were close by. Sinead was working towards a degree in Philosophy at Cambridge University. Her father said the university has now decided to award her the degree…

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said that he would take the development of the Niger Delta more seriously if re-elected. Buhari stated this in Benin City and Warri in Edo and Delta states respectively during the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential mega rally. The President, who was accompanied by the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole; Rotimi Amaechi, former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, members of the Senate and House of Representatives and many…

The Czech Republic has decided to pay Nigerians and other migrants to encourage them to leave the central European country. The offer is under a programme that focuses particularly on migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Mongolia, Russia, and Vietnam. According to a report published on RemixNews, a Czech Republic-based newspaper, the Czech government would pay any migrants who would voluntarily leave the country and other EU countries 4,000 EUR. The programme tagged ”Returns” established by…

Tanzania’s High Court on Monday rejected a petition from some opposition leaders to halt parliamentary debate on draft legislation they say would criminalize many legitimate political activities and cement “one-party” rule. Accusing opposition groups of trying to foment violence to derail economic reforms, President John Magufuli’s government wants to amend the law governing political parties. The changes would expand grounds on which authorities can suspend political parties and jail their members. Critics say that would…

Judges at the International Criminal Court have acquitted former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former youth minister Charles Ble Goude of crimes committed following disputed elections in 2010, saying prosecutors failed to prove their case. In a stunning blow to prosecutors, Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser ordered the immediate release of the 73-year-old Gbagbo and Ble Goude, following the judgment midway through their trial. Tarfusser said Tuesday that a majority of the three-judge chamber ruled…

Far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s new government wants to save 1 trillion reais ($269.48 billion) over 10 years via pension reforms economists say are vital to undo the growing fiscal deficit, a Brazilian newspaper reported on Monday.   Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has surrounded himself with generals and liberal economists as top advisers, made pension reform a staple of his campaign. But he has given few details before his inauguration or as president. He…