AFRICA

  Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angola’s former first son Jose Filomeno dos Santos has spent hours contemplating the marble floor and wood-panelled walls of Luanda’s Supreme Court where he has been on trial since December. The 42-year-old child of Jose Eduardo dos Santos could soon hear whether he is guilty …

Conakry, Guinea | AFP |  Guineans will be called to vote Sunday on whether to adopt a new constitution, after months of protests sparked by charges that it is a trick by President Alpha Conde to stay in power. The government says the draft constitution will, among other things, codify gender …

  Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria on Friday announced the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa. The case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan earlier this week, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement on Twitter. “The patient …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Entrepreneur Antonio Almeida has learned to navigate around the potholes of doing business in Angola. Since launching his business two decades ago, the 44-year-old has opened seven luxury clothing stores, a customs brokerage firm and a suburban shopping centre in the capital Luanda. Along the way …

Au Cap, Seychelles | AFP | It is the world’s largest seed, and with a shape suggestive of a woman’s hips and myths of love-making powers, the coco de mer is an icon of the Seychelles. With a 10-kilogramme (22-pound) coconut wedged between his feet, experienced nut cutter Christophe Bristol uses …

Takpapieni, Togo | AFP |  Not so long ago, whenever he wanted to watch a football match or recharge his phone, Ousmane Kantcho had to go “into town” — a 15-kilometre ride by bicycle on poor roads in the savannah. His village, Tababou, lies more than 600 kilometres (375 miles) from …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa’s finance minister is expected to walk a tightrope during the annual budget presentation to parliament on Wednesday, as the economy teeters on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The continent’s most industrialised economy has in recent years lurched from one economic woe …

  Can the African Continental Free Trade Area succeed where previous free-trade initiatives have failed? Dianna Games weighs up the issues. Africa heads into a historic year in which the long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally becomes a reality, with trading under the scheme scheduled to begin on 1 …

  Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for three decades before he was ousted amid the Arab Spring protests in 2011, died Tuesday at age 91. The once burly autocrat with the trademark sunglasses, who became frail after multiple surgeries towards the end of …

Maseru, Lesotho | AFP |  Pressure mounted on Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to step down Monday as he appeared in court over the murder of his estranged wife after failing to turn up for a hearing last week. The latest twist in a saga that has gripped the southern African …