AFRICA

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Major African tech start-up Andela sacked hundreds of its staff this week — the majority from Nigeria — in one of the largest layoffs in the continent’s budding tech industry. The start-up, backed by hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including Facebook and tennis …

Kigali, Rwanda | THE INDEPENDENT | Rwanda Police has cautioned teachers against administering corporal punishments to students in form of disciplining, saying that such acts amounts to “criminal actions.” The warning follows separate cases where teachers have been arrested for severely beating and injuring pupils. Among those arrested is a teacher …

Badagry, Nigeria | AFP | The days of heaping 50-kilo sacks of rice across the saddle of their motorbike and slipping a few notes to a customs officer are now gone. With Nigeria having snapped its borders shut, the legions of motorbike riders who used to satisfy the nation’s hunger for …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  A Rwandan Hutu rebel leader wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crime charges has been shot dead by the Congolese army, a DRC military spokesperson said on Wednesday. Sylvestre Mudacumura, commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), was …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP |  Algeria’s military has ordered police to block protesters from outside the capital from entering Algiers, the army chief said Wednesday, after months of mass rallies. “I have instructed the national gendarmerie to deal with these actions with firmness,” said General Ahmed Gaid Salah, the country’s …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP |  Official results in Tunisia’s presidential election confirmed on Tuesday a duel in the second round of voting between law professor Kais Saied and imprisoned media mogul Nabil Karoui. Saied led the first round with 18.4 percent of the vote, and is set to challenge Karoui …

Benin City, Nigeria | AFP |  Emerging from her ordeal, Gloria considers herself “privileged”. Last year, the 26-year-old left Nigeria with four other women, dreaming of a better life in Europe. On a tortuous journey, three of the five friends died before reaching Libya, where the two survivors were stranded for …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP |  Law professor and political outsider Kais Saied on Monday led Tunisia’s presidential polls with two-thirds of the votes counted, the electoral commission said, after the country’s second free vote for head of state since the 2011 Arab Spring. Saied was on 18.9 percent, ahead of imprisoned …

  Paris, France | AFP |  Established star Sadio Mane and the emerging 16-year-old Ansu Fati both scored as they shared the limelight among Africans in the top European leagues at the weekend. Senegal’s Mane boosted hopes of succeeding Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah as African Footballer of the Year with …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Two anti-establishment candidates in Tunisia’s divisive election claimed Sunday to have won through to a runoff, hours after polling closed in the country’s second free presidential poll since the 2011 Arab Spring. In a sign of voter apathy, especially among the young, turnout was reported by …