The Constitutional Court has set October 13 to rule on an application for a temporary order on the government decision to purchase vehicles for Members of Parliament. In August Twaha Sanywa Twaha, a resident of Kajjansi, petitioned the court challenging the decision to buy cars for MPs of the 10th Parliament, …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP |  Zambia’s opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema was arrested Wednesday on charges of sedition and unlawful assembly, police said. Hichilema, who disputed the result of August polls which re-elected President Edgar Lungu, was detained along with Geoffrey Mwamba, the vice-president of his United …

Washington, United States | AFP | Recruits into the Islamic State group are better educated than their average countryman, contrary to popular belief, according to a new World Bank study. Moreover, those offering to become suicide bombers ranked on average in the more educated group, said the newly released study …

San Francisco, United States | AFP |  Twitter shares dove in after-hours trades Wednesday on the heels of a report that Google does not plan to bid for the culture-changing but unprofitable one-to-many messaging service. The technology news website Recode cited unnamed sources close to the situation as saying Google …

Washington, United States | AFP | With Barack Obama’s presidency coming to a close and US policy for Syria at an impasse, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has stepped up efforts to secure its ally Bashar al-Assad in power. US officials fear the Kremlin is racing to consolidate its gains in Syria …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP |  Michael O’HAGAN | Standing on a drab side-street next to an open sewer in the Ugandan capital Kampala, Brian Mugabi points to the site of his former family home and reflects on how much the game of chess has changed their lives. Ten years ago Mugabi …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is selling two of his jets in a bid to cut costs as the West African country battles to overcome a recession. In a statement released late on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said that Buhari is reducing the number of …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | An American woman was killed by a rock thrown in a town outside the Ethiopian capital, the US embassy said Wednesday, as anti-government anger sparked fresh protests after a deadly stampede. Protesters stoned the vehicle the woman was travelling in as demonstrations sprung up …

Berlin, Germany | AFP |  A medical charity scored a small victory Wednesday in its bid to break a US pharma giant’s hold on an eye-wateringly expensive Hepatitis C drug when a European body partially revoked the firm’s patent. Patient groups around the world have accused Gilead Sciences of charging …

ABOARD THE ASTRAL, Italy | AFP | The horror, terror and joy felt during perilous rescues of migrant boats have been captured in powerful new images published Wednesday, as the latest deadly episode in the Mediterranean fuelled calls for Europe to change tack on the crisis.   DEATH IN THE …