AFRICA

Fractured Ethiopia parliament endorses emergency decree Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA | AFP |  Ethiopia’s parliament approved a nationwide state of emergency on Friday despite unusual opposition from some lawmakers, in the latest sign of fractures within the all-powerful ruling coalition. The council of ministers made the emergency declaration last month, one …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Three aid workers were confirmed killed in a Boko Haram attack in northeast Nigeria, the UN said on Friday, in the latest violence to underscore the jihadists’ enduring threat. The world body and two security sources initially said four people were killed in the attack …

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 …

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. …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa has warned the Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to “avoid turning our gains into vain.” He called upon the TCCs and other international partners to “establish predictable and sustainable solutions …

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 …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African court has fined a self-styled prophet who sprayed his followers in the face with insecticide as a supposed cure for illness. Pastor Lethebo Rabalago was found guilty by a court in the northwest town of Limpopo of five charges of grievous assault …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Four UN peacekeepers were killed on Wednesday when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali in a deliberate attack, capping a bloody week for civilians and security forces in the West African nation. Jihadists have ramped up their activities in central Mali in recent …

Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Unknown attackers have killed six humanitarian workers including one from the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF in the northwest of the Central African Republic, the UN said Wednesday. The world body’s Minusca mission “condemned the attack which led to the death of the …