AFRICA

Maasai Mara, Kenya | AFP | Five-month-old bloodhound Shakaria gambols through the long savannah grasses of Kenya’s Maasai Mara reserve, her playful mood swiftly turning to keen determination as she is ordered to track a human scent. Straining at the leash, she pulls her handler along an invisible scent path …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa has widened a corruption probe into allies of ex-president Jacob Zuma to other countries including India, China and Dubai, the police minister said Sunday. Fikile Mbalula made the announcement days after South Africa issued an arrest warrant for one of the brothers …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudan on Sunday released dozens of opposition activists arrested last month in a crackdown on protests against rising food prices, an AFP correspondent reported. The release of detainees, including some top opposition figures, came three days after the US embassy voiced concern over the arrests …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Sunday ordered an inquiry after police admitted responsibility for the death of a 22-year-old student who was hit by a stray bullet as they sought to break up an opposition rally. The young woman’s death on Friday night triggered an …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s president on Sunday praised opposition icon Morgan Tsvangirai who died last week as an outstanding political figure who had endured political hardship and deserved his place in the country’s history. Tsvangirai, the strongest and fiercest opponent ever to Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party’s …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Thousands of Libyans on Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of the start of protests that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rallies and concerts despite the country’s political and economic morass. In the capital Tripoli, and across many cities in the North African country, thousands packed …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Hundreds thronged Zimbabwe’s main airport Saturday as the body of opposition icon Morgan Tsvangirai, who died of cancer in neighbouring South Africa, arrived home for burial. Tsvangirai, a fearless opponent to the ruling ZANU-PF party, died on Wednesday at the age of 65 after a …

Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Five people were killed Saturday in an ambush by suspected Ugandan Islamist rebels in the Beni region of Democratic Republic of Congo’s chronically troubled east, officials said. Local official Leon Bahungako said the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group were behind the attack in which …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzania’s main opposition party Saturday accused police of shooting dead a female university student and seriously injuring at least four other people while trying to disperse a peaceful demonstration in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam. The local police have admitted a person was …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia said Saturday that a state of emergency will remain in place for six months, as the authorities move to quell “chaos and unruliness”. The council of ministers declared the country’s second emergency decree in two years on Friday evening. It capped a tumultuous …