Prague, Czech Republic | AFP | Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei broke the world record for the women’s half marathon on Saturday in Prague, becoming the first female to beat the 1hr 5min mark. The 23-year-old’s scorching time of 1hr 4min 52sec smashed the previous record set by compatriot Peres Jepchirchir in Dubai …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP | The offices of Uganda’s leading private newspaper were ransacked overnight and all its computers stolen, its editor said Saturday, dealing a fresh blow to independent media in the country. “Almost all our desktops, a couple of laptops, cameras and hard drives were stolen,” said The Observer …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba Saturday pledged to implement the policies of the ruling ANC as the party remains deeply divided over the sudden firing of his predecessor. Gigaba on Thursday replaced Pravin Gordhan, ousted in a shock midnight cabinet reshuffle by …

  Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma’s sweeping cabinet overhaul exposes deep divisions between the ANC’s apartheid-struggle old guard and a new generation often accused of not living up to expectations. Malusi Gigaba, 45, who replaced Pravin Gordhan, 67, as finance minister is a fervent …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Pravin Gordhan, who was sacked late Thursday, is liked and admired by many ordinary South Africans — an unusual achievement for any finance minister. He held onto the purse strings for longer than many analysts expected after he was parachuted into the job in …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma has come under fire from both his own party and the opposition over a cabinet reshuffle in which he fired his internationally respected finance minister. Zuma is no stranger to scandal. Here are five of his biggest career controversies: – …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The backlash against South African President Jacob Zuma’s shock reshuffle has intensified pressure on him to resign ahead of the 2019 general election. Here are four of his possible successors: – The negotiator – Cyril Ramaphosa, a 64-year-old veteran with strong anti-apartheid struggle credentials, …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Swedish and Norwegian newspapers on Friday said they would refrain from the tradition of publishing April Fools’ Day jokes this year over fears that it might spread “fake news”. Magnus Karlsson, editor-in-chief at the daily Smalandsposten said on its website that he doesn’t want the newspaper’s …

Shanghai, China | AFP | State-owned Chinese energy giant PetroChina on Thursday announced it slumped to a record-low profit for 2016 as global oil price weakness slashed earnings by 78 percent. Net profit fell to 7.86 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), the Beijing-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong …

MTN pays $98 million part of Nigerian fine: officials Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | South African telecoms giant MTN has paid nearly $100 million of a $1.7 billion fine for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards in Nigeria, officials said on Friday. “MTN has paid 30 billion naira ($98 million, 92 …