Wafideen Checkpoint, Syria | AFP | Syrian and Russian forces kept up military pressure on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta Thursday as their controversial unilateral truce failed to yield a humanitarian breakthrough. More than 40 trucks loaded with aid were unable to reach the 400,000 people living in the battered enclave, prompting …

Hong Kong, China | AFP | Steel and aluminium producers across Asia sank Friday on news of Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs, though some analysts said the long-term effects on the sector might not be as bad as thought. The president said Thursday he would slap levies of 25 percent on …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called on his players to show they can meet the club’s standards after a second humbling 3-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City in five days on Thursday. City moved 16 points clear at the top of the …

Kolwezi, DR Congo | AFP | In early 2014, according to local folklore, a man digging a septic tank or a well in his garden in Kasulo came across rocks with a distinctive grey-green sheen: cobalt. From then on — rather like the find at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 that …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura has called upon police officers to embrace team work in their day to day duties. While closing a two day Police Council Meeting at Marine base, in Kigo Kajjansi, Kayihura noted that many resolutions had been agreed …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | Ethiopia on Thursday acquired a stake in a port in the breakaway state of Somaliland, its operator DP World said, as a legal dispute rages over another major Horn of Africa shipping hub. Dubai-based DP World last week accused Djibouti of illegally seizing …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan prosecutors opened an investigation on Friday into possible corruption at the country’s state oil giant when it was run by former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter Isabel. Investigators will probe “irregular financial transfers” reported by Sonangol’s new management, prosecutors said in a statement. …

Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Mobile phones are helping transform how relief agencies respond to humanitarian crises by enabling them to pin point where aid is needed most after hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters. At the same time, mobile apps that need just a few taps of the finger to …

Vienna, Austria | AFP | Facebook apologised on Thursday for censoring the prehistoric “Venus of Willendorf” figurine, considered a masterpiece of the paleolithic era. “Our advertising policies do not allow nudity or implied nudity but we have an exception for statues. Therefore, the ad with this image should have been …

Verulam, South Africa | AFP | A South African court on Thursday remanded in custody a man and a woman accused of abducting an elderly British couple in a case with suspected links to the so-called Islamic State. Fatima Patel and Sayfydeen Aslam del Vecchio are alleged to have snatched …