Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The family of Tanzania’s only billionaire Mohammed Dewji, who was kidnapped last week in Dar es Salaam, on Monday announced a reward of nearly half a million dollars for information on his whereabouts. Gunmen snatched Dewji, 43, listed by Forbes as Africa’s youngest billionaire, as …
Read More »Gambia launches probe into ex-dictator’s abuse
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The West African state of The Gambia on Monday launched an 11-member truth commission tasked with shedding light on summary executions, disappearances, torture, rape and other crimes under regime of ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh. “Today marks… the beginning of the much-anticipated mechanism that is expected …
Read More »As rape crisis grows, South African pupils learn how to fight back
Soweto, South Africa | AFP | In a classroom in the South African township of Soweto, girls listen carefully, knowing they need to learn how to avoid the threat of rape that hangs over their daily lives. “You are going to pretend that it is the rapist’s testicles,” says trainer …
Read More »Lewinsky affair not an abuse of power, says Hillary Clinton
Washington, United States | AFP | Hillary Clinton has said her husband Bill’s affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky was not an abuse of power and he was right to not resign from the US presidency in the wake of the scandal. The two-decades old episode has …
Read More »Keino one of 7 Kenyan officials charged over 2016 Olympics graft
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two-time Olympic gold medallist Kipchoge Keino was one of seven Kenyan officials charged Monday in a scandal involving the mismanagement of funds during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Four of the suspects were in court while the others, including former sports minister Hassan Wario …
Read More »‘Genius’ behind ‘Teletubbies’ in new go-to-sleep kids show
Cannes, France | AFP | “Teletubbies” creator Andrew Davenport has come up with a new show “guaranteed to stop children climbing the walls”, BBC bosses claimed Sunday. Davenport, an actor and puppeteer known as the “J.K. Rowling of the under-fives”, also wrote and made the worldwide hit “In the Night …
Read More »Saudi Arabia vows retaliation if punished over missing critic
Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Saudi Arabia warned Sunday it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed on the oil-rich kingdom over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the Riyadh stock market plunged on growing investor jitters. From tech tycoons to media giants, a host of Western companies …
Read More »Museveni visits site of deadly Uganda landslide
Bududa, Uganda | AFP | Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni visited eastern Bududa Sunday after 43 people died when a landslide caused a river to burst its banks, sending water and boulders cascading downhill. Wearing military uniform and carrying a cleft stick Museveni looked across the Sume river at the remains …
Read More »DR Congo identifies ‘second wave’ of Ebola in east
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A second wave of the Ebola virus has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where an initial outbreak has already killed 125 people, a minister said Saturday. The latest wave is centred in Beni, a town in North Kivu near the border …
Read More »Boulders litter Uganda villages crushed by deadly landslide
Bududa, Uganda | AFP – Michael O’HAGAN | On a muddy outcrop on the banks of the Sume river, grief-stricken families gaze at enormous boulders that stand testimony to the force of the deluge which engulfed their homes. Hundreds of newly-deposited rocks, each the size of a van, litter the …
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