Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP |  Saudi Arabia raised $9 billion in its first global Islamic bond issue, the government announced on Thursday, a move analysts say could ease pressure on foreign reserves. The sale of Islamic bonds, known as sukuks, comes after the kingdom in October turned to the …

Washington, United States | AFP | Africa’s Matabele ants, fierce predators of termites, rescue their wounded soldiers and bring them back to the nest where they are “treated,” a new study showed Wednesday. This helping behavior for the injured is the first to be detected in the insect world, according to …

An IRC hospital in Somaliland Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) warned Wednesday of a health crisis in Somaliland after 28 people died of acute diarrhoea in the past 10 days. More than 411 cases, believed to be caused by cholera, have …

Ngomoromo, Uganda | AFP | Michael O’HAGAN |  In the no man’s land between South Sudan and Uganda wind lashes though scrubland, whipping hot dust into the eyes of David Otong Oroma and his sister as they struggle to push their heavily laden motorbike over the border. The pair fled …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s electoral agency has suspended more than 200 officers for accepting bribes to influence the outcome of the 2015 vote won by the opposition. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said late Tuesday that 205 staff were found guilty of corruption after an investigation by …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been charged with treason after allegedly refusing to give way to President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade on a main road, police said. Hichilema, who says he does not recognise Lungu as president, was accused of deliberately endangering his life in …

Xalapa, Mexico | AFP | Mexican reporter Noe Zavaleta has mourned murdered colleagues and received death threats himself, but he refuses to stop working despite the fear. His is the deadliest country for journalists outside of war zones — but with all the corruption and violence, there is just too much …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen a special forces commando operation, state media said Thursday, as tensions soar with Washington over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. President Donald Trump has sent a naval “armada” to the Korean peninsula in a show of force, accompanied by a …

President Museveni vows on corruption, “its an open war” he says President Yoweri Museveni has warned that the recent arrest of Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations Herbert Kabafunzaki on corruption charges is just a taste of what is to come. “Now we have started to open a …

Paris, France | AFP | Three bombs hidden in a hedge that exploded when the Borussia Dortmund Champions League team passed by proved that no sporting event is now safe from a militant attack, experts said. With the Boston marathon looming on Monday — four years after it was the …