AFRICA

NETBALL WORLD YOUTH CUP, DAY 1: Botswana ?? 72 Malaysia 26 Gaborone, Botswana | THE INDEPENDENT |  Hosts Botswana capped an exciting opening day at the Netball World Youth Cup with an impressive 72-26 victory over Malaysia on Saturday. Day one also saw victories for favourites, defending champions New Zealand who overwhelmed North …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Women from Sierra Leone can now pass on their nationality to their children, following the passage of what women’s rights groups said Friday was a landmark change in the law for gender equality. Until the new Citizenship Amendment Act was passed on Wednesday, Sierra Leonean …

Kenya’s interior minister dies in hospital: govt Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya’s government on Saturday announced the death of Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery at a hospital in the capital Nairobi. Nkaissery, 68, a retired army officer, had held the position of cabinet secretary for interior and coordination of national …

  Paris, France | AFP | Long-overdue presidential and legislative polls can only be held at the end of year in troubled Democratic Republic of Congo, the head of the national election commission said Friday. “It will not be possible before December,” Corneille Nangaa told reporters in Kinshasa. Elections are …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The head of a West African force maintaining security in The Gambia told AFP Friday that army officials loyal to veteran former leader Yahya Jammeh were plotting against the new government. West African troops were first sent to The Gambia in January to compel Jammeh to …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A Kenyan court on Friday cancelled a contract to print presidential ballot papers for next month’s elections after the opposition claimed the winning company had links to President Uhuru Kenyatta. The election commission had awarded the $24 million contract to Dubai-based Al Ghurair. A panel …

Bata, Equatorial Guinea | AFP |  The leaders of the oil-rich African nations of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo will sue Transparency International over a case in France involving allegedly ill-gotten properties worth hundreds of millions, President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea has said. French human rights lawyer William Bourdon …

East African Court of Justice rules on European Partnership Agreement EPA Arusha, Tanzania| EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY MEDIA |  The First Instance Division of the East African Court had declined to grant orders sought by one Castro Pius from Tanzania, to stop the Partner States which have not signed the European Partnership Agreement …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A global treaty banning nuclear weapons is set to be adopted at the United Nations on Friday despite opposition from the United States, Britain, France and other nuclear powers that boycotted negotiations. Supporters describe the treaty as a historic achievement but the nuclear-armed states …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | Witnesses described looting and finding a dead body, but the trial of 12 soldiers accused of raping foreign aid workers in Juba proceeded Thursday in the absence of the victims. The chilling attack on a hotel compound during fierce fighting in the South Sudanese capital …