Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr and a Japanese kickboxer half his age will be aiming to knock each other out next month, despite the match-up being an exhibition, the fight’s Japanese promoter said Saturday. The bout between Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa, first announced earlier this …
Read More »AU warns Gabon as Bongo remains incapacitated
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | The African Union on Saturday warned Gabon to respect constitutional order after a high court intervened in a crisis surrounding the country’s hospitalised President Ali Bongo. A statement by AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat emphasised that the 55-member group of African nations had a …
Read More »Canada will not extend Mali peacekeeping mission: minister
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Canada will not extend its peacekeeping mission in Mali beyond July 2019, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in an interview that aired Saturday. Sajjan, interviewed by CBC Radio on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, said that UN officials were “working with other …
Read More »DR Congo Ebola response effort suspended in Beni after clashes
Beni, DR Congo | AFP | Efforts to fight an Ebola outbreak in DR Congo’s restive eastern Beni region were suspended Saturday after clashes just a “few metres” from a local emergency centre and the hotels of several response teams, the health ministry said. UN peacekeepers from the MONUSCO mission …
Read More »Nigeria, Uganda, Mali, Morocco qualify for Cup of Nations
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Nigeria, Uganda, Mali and Morocco qualified for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday while Libya scored eight goals to keep alive their hopes of also featuring at the finals. Nigeria drew 1-1 with South Africa in Soweto, Uganda edged Cape Verde 1-0 …
Read More »Baby snatched by monkey dies in Taj Mahal city
New Delhi, India | AFP | A baby died after a monkey snatched it from its mother’s arms, Indian police investigating the incident in the city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, said on Thursday. The 12-day-old boy was being fed by his mother when a rhesus macaque monkey …
Read More »Madagascar rivals set for election run-off
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Two former presidents of Madagascar look set to compete in a hotly-contested run-off election in December after partial results Thursday showed they were frontrunners in the first-round vote. With 80 percent of the ballots counted from last week’s vote, Andry Rajoelina was on 39.63 percent …
Read More »HRW denounces Angola’s expulsion of 400,000 Congolese
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A global rights watchdog on Thursday called on Angola to halt mass deportations after more than 400,000 migrants mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo fled or were expelled from Angola in just weeks. Human Rights Watch (HRW) says migrants have been targeted in …
Read More »Nigeria ‘sex-for-marks’ don charged with corruption
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A Nigerian professor accused of demanding sex from a student to boost her marks has been charged with corruption, one of the country’s main anti-graft bodies has announced. The woman came forward in April with a recording of the management and accounting lecturer demanding that …
Read More »France ‘deeply concerned’ over health of Mali hostage
Paris, France | AFP | The French government said Wednesday that it was “deeply concerned” over Sophie Petronin, a 73-year-old hostage in Mali, after a new video in which her kidnappers say her health has deteriorated. A seven-minute video of the charity worker released in June had already showed her …
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