AFRICA

Sochi, Russia | AFP |  Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, on Thursday asked Russia’s Vladimir Putin to protect his country from the United States. Speaking during his first visit to Russia as president, Bashir also said he wanted …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa was set to be sworn in as president on today, marking the final chapter of a political drama that toppled his predecessor Robert Mugabe after a military takeover. Mnangagwa, until recently one of Mugabe’s closest allies, will take the oath of office …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Every time Chareka Mutungwazi, 76, tries to collect his pension money, he spends the night, like scores of others, sleeping outside a bank in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. He is lucky if he is allowed to take out just $20 of his monthly $63 (53 …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Emmerson Mnangagwa, who will be inaugurated on Friday as Zimbabwe’s next president, is a political veteran and party hardliner who for decades worked closely with Robert Mugabe. Here are key dates in his career: – September 15, 1942: Born in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia …

Beijing, China | AFP | A Chinese metal trading firm said Thursday it is investigating whether children are toiling in Congolese mines that supply it with cobalt, a key resource for mobile phones and electric cars. Yantai Cash, a cobalt exporter based in eastern Shandong province, told AFP that it is …

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Equatorial Guinea’s constitutional court has confirmed the results of this month’s elections in which the ruling party secured a landslide victory with 92 percent of the vote. In an announcement late Tuesday, the court said it had validated the outcome of the November 12 poll …

E-learning innovations: How digital technology can help reinvent basic education TECHNOLOGY | Rohen d’Aiglepierre, Amélie Aubert & Pierre-Jean Loiret | African countries have worked hard to improve children’s access to basic education, but there’s still significant work to be done. Today, 32.6 million children of primary-school age and 25.7 million adolescents …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Nicknamed “the Crocodile” for his ruthlessness, Emmerson Mnangagwa who will take over as Zimbabwe’s next president, is a hardliner with ties to the military who could prove as authoritarian as his mentor Robert Mugabe. It was his political ambition to take over which set off …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Even before Robert Mugabe’s resignation, many Zimbabweans tempered their yearning for his downfall with the knowledge that his likely successor has a similar reputation for brutality and corruption. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who until recently was one of Mugabe’s longest-serving and closest allies, will be sworn in …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare on Wednesday that they were witnessing “unfolding full democracy” as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him …