Africa

DOCTORS Without Borders says that human testing on a potential Ebola drug is being stopped because there aren’t enough patients due to a decline in Ebola cases.   The drop-off in Ebola infections is good news for Liberia, but it means there are not enough sick people to take part in the study, AP reported.…

ZIMBABWE’S 90-year-old President Robert Mugabe fell down a staircase Wednesday as he walked off a podium after addressing supporters at Harare International Airport, an AFP correspondent said.   He had just returned from Ethiopia where he took over the rotating chairmanship of the African Union.   Africa’s oldest leader, who turns 91 later this month,…

A ROADSIDE bomb near Egypt’s second largest city Alexandria killed a bystander and injured two others yesterday, while authorities defused two more explosives at Cairo International Airport, officials said.   According to AP, the latest reports are part of recent spike in small bombs being planted around Egypt. Many of the devices have been so-called…

HUNDREDS of teachers in northern Kenya bordering Somalia have refused to return to work, fearing attacks by Islamic extremists, a union official and teachers said Tuesday.   According to AP, the estimated 700 teachers demonstrated outside parliament in Nairobi demanding that the government transfer them to schools in safer regions.   The protesting teachers were…

UGANDA has assured the International Criminal Court of “full cooperation” on the case of a Ugandan rebel commander who faces trial at the international court, the country’s attorney general said Monday, AP, Reported.   Uganda’s government would help with investigations as well as identifying potential witnesses for Dominic Ongwen’s case, Peter Nyombi, told reporters in…

LESOTHO’S government says that two soldiers have been shot outside the royal palace gates. Thabo Thakalekoala, the prime minister’s press secretary, said Monday, that both men survived, while a private security guard was shot dead during the incident Sunday.   According to AP, the press secretary said the two men were attacked by “renegade” soldiers…

AFTER 13 months of fighting and six failed ceasefires, diplomats are being forced to accept that any deal to end the war in South Sudan will, at best, result in a return to the status quo that precipitated the carnage in the first place. The latest peace proposal drafted in Addis Ababa by regional bloc…

LIBERIA has delayed planned re-opening of schools, saying they are not yet fully prepared to prevent the spread of Ebola.   The schools - closed in July - had been due to open today, but teaching will now begin on February 16.   The BBC’s Mark Doyle says several schools he has seen are woefully…

US negotiators travel to EU headquarters in Brussels Monday to jumpstart talks on the world's biggest-ever free trade deal, which after nearly two years remain bogged down by public opposition. The future of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact, or TTIP, is in doubt in the face of bitter opposition by activists and mixed signals…

OVER 38,000 Somali children are at “high risk” from dying from starvation despite hunger levels improving by almost a third across the war-torn nation, United Nations (UN) experts said Thursday.   The grim assessment, based on the latest data collected by the UN, comes just over three years since intense drought and war sparked famine…

BURUNDIAN soldiers shot dead 17 rebels at point-blank range after they surrendered in January, witnesses have told the BBC.   The rebels, with hands raised, were lined up on the edge of the cliff before being killed, one witness said.   Burundi’s army denied the allegation, saying 95 rebels were killed in a five-day battle…

A SOUTH Sudanese militia has freed 280 child soldiers as part of a wider deal to release about 3,000 under-age fighters, the United Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said. More releases will occur in the coming weeks, said the agency, which helped negotiate the children's freedom. The soldiers were recruited into an armed group which has…