All News

Mubarak trial enters last day before verdict
Wed, 22 Feb 2012
The landmark murder and corruption trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak entered its final day of hearings on Wednesday, with the judge expected to announce the date of the verdict. The...
Nigeria: 20 Killed As JTF Pursues Boko Haram
Tue, 21 Feb 2012
Maiduguri — The Joint Task Force in Borno State said it killed eight Boko Haram fighters in a shootout at the Baga Fish Market in Maiduguri yesterday. But witnesses said many more people, most...
South Sudan slashes spending after halting oil output
Mon, 20 Feb 2012
South Sudan has halved spending on everything but salaries to compensate for the loss of revenue following an oil shutdown due to a row with Sudan. Oil makes up 98% of its budget, after it split...
African leaders meet in Benin for security talks
Sat, 18 Feb 2012
African leaders gathered Saturday for talks on insecurity in the Sahel region where fresh violence in northern Mali has sparked what rights groups say is the area's worst human rights crisis in...
Senegal braces for more protests as poll approaches
Sat, 18 Feb 2012
Dakar braced Saturday for more protests just days before presidential polls in which President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a highly disputed third term which has upset one of Africa's most stable...
Sect gunmen free 119 in Nigeria prison, kill guard
Fri, 17 Feb 2012
LAGOS, Nigeria — Armed gunmen from a radical Islamist sect stormed a federal prison in Nigeria amid heavy gunfire and explosions, killing one guard and freeing 119 inmates in an assault marking...
Haiti: UN Peacekeepers Accused of Raping Young Boys
Tue, 14 Feb 2012
GONAIVES, Haiti (defend.ht) - At least two United Nations peacekeepers from Pakistan, based in Gonaives, are facing accusations of raping at least three Haitian males of age 12, 14 and 15 according...
Police: Explosion strikes central Nigeria city
Tue, 14 Feb 2012
LAGOS, Nigeria — Police are reporting an explosion in a central Nigeria city that has seen attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect. The Kaduna State Police spokesman told The Associated...
DR Congo president's aide killed in plane crash: official
Mon, 13 Feb 2012
A close aide to DR Congo President Joseph Kabila was killed and the country's finance minister seriously injured in a plane crash on Sunday in the east of the country, the president's office...
Six killed in Libyan tribal clashes
Mon, 13 Feb 2012
A fierce gunfight between two tribes in Libya's remote southeastern desert has killed six people in the past two days and wounded another 20, officials and tribal sources told AFP on Monday....
11 Somalis die after smugglers' boat capsized
Fri, 10 Feb 2012
NAIROBI, Kenya— The United Nations says that at least 11 people drowned and another 34 are missing after a boat crewed by human traffickers overturned this week in the Gulf of Aden. Friday'...
Nigeria's Dangote opens $1 bn cement plant
Fri, 10 Feb 2012
Nigerian manufacturing group Dangote has opened a one-billion-dollar cement plant near the economic capital Lagos, one of the largest investments in the oil-rich west African country. "We...
Uganda government denies backing anti-gay bill
Thu, 09 Feb 2012
Uganda's government has distanced itself from a controversial anti-gay bill calling for severe penalties on homosexuality after it was reintroduced in parliament this week. But in a...
US to deport Liberian over child soldier allegations
Tue, 07 Feb 2012
A US immigration judge has ordered the deportation of a Liberian accused of presiding over atrocities during the West African country's civil war in the 1990s. George Boley, 62, the former leader...