AFRICA

Rwandan has massively hiked import duties on secondhand clothes and shoes, coming mainly from Europe and North America, to help promote local manufacturers, officials said Friday. The measure “takes effect from July 1,” a manager in the Rwandan Receipts Agency, Drocelle Mukashyaka, told AFP. RWANDA: Rwanda multiplies import duties on …

Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Moise Katumbi on Thursday warned President Joseph Kabila risked plunging the country into an “even worse crisis” by letting doubt linger over when he will step down. Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, is widely believed to be considering casting aside the …

Recent arrests show the Islamic State’s growing presence in East Africa, where they are recruiting young Kenyans for jihad abroad and raising fears some of them will return to threaten the country. Kenyan intelligence agencies estimate that around 100 men and women may have gone to join the IS in …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Data from one of the black boxes of a crashed EgyptAir plane showed smoke alarms had sounded on board, while soot was found on the wreckage, an Egyptian-led investigative committee said Wednesday. The black box had been retrieved from the bottom of the Mediterranean after …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Three years after huge crowds of Egyptians rallied to oust Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, democratic hopes have given way to a spiralling crackdown on freedoms in the name of stability. On June 30, 2013 millions took to the streets of Cairo and other cities to …

Researchers have revealed that Tanzania is lying on a huge deposit of valuable gas – helium. The discovery, according the LIVESCIENCE, occurred after researchers applied new methods of searching for the rare element. The researches from United Kingdom and Norway focused on identifying pockets of helium gas as a result of …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Sweden were elected on Tuesday to serve a two-year stint on the UN Security Council, with the Netherlands and Italy locked in a tight race for a remaining spot. Five non-permanent seats were up for grabs in the vote …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | An influential grouping of Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo called for elections to be held on schedule this year and for President Joseph Kabila to step down when his second term ends. Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, is …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | One of the two black box flight recorders from the EgyptAir plane that plunged into the Mediterranean last month has been repaired, Egypt’s investigation commission said Tuesday, prompting hopes it could provide clues on why the aircraft went down. The two black box recorders were …

The Ugandan United Nations battalion in Somali has been hailed by the African Union (AU) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) after they completed a year’s tour of duty. “What you are doing is really important. You are a very important part of a bigger effort to help Somalia …