Gambia president orders electoral commission reopened Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s electoral commission building reopened on Thursday as the president said it had been shut for safety reasons rather than because of the country’s disputed presidential vote result. President Yahya Jammeh’s political party has lodged a legal complaint …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s daughter, reportedly Africa’s richest woman, has been cleared to head the national oil company Sonangol, after a court rejected a legal challenge. Isabel dos Santos was put in charge of Sonangol in June in a move some analysts said …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Russian intelligence agencies over the last two years blanketed Democratic Party targets with malicious emails and have likely continued such efforts after November’s elections, a US federal law enforcement report showed Thursday. The report’s release coincided with an array of measures unveiled by Washington …

Tennis: Serena announces engagement to Reddit co-founder Washington, United States | AFP | Tennis superstar Serena Williams announced Thursday she is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, breaking the news with a poem on her verified Reddit account. Williams, 35, and Ohanian, 33, did not reveal a wedding date in …

Washington, United States | AFP |  The United States on Thursday fired back at Moscow over its meddling in the presidential election, announcing a series of tough sanctions against intelligence agencies, expulsions of agents and shutting down of Russian compounds on US soil. “I have ordered a number of actions …

Work on remodeling and designing Kololo Independence Ground to give it an international look ahead of March’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships has started. The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) Engineering Brigade has been contracted by the Kampala 2017 Local organizing committee to make the improvements ahead of the March 26, 2017 …

Tevez signs for Shanghai Shenhua – club Shanghai, China | AFP | Argentina’s former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has signed for Shanghai Shenhua in the latest big-money Chinese deal, the club said Thursday, reportedly making him the world’s best-salaried footballer. The acquisition of the 32-year-old from …

Ivory Coast warm up with friendlies against Sweden and Uganda Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | A cluster of Premier League stars including Eric Bailly and Wilfried Zaha was named Wednesday in defending champions the Ivory Coast’s 24-player squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations. The Ivory Coast warm …

Beijing, China | AFP | As soon as China abandoned its one-child policy a year ago, Zheng Xiaoyu and her husband started trying for a sibling for their nine-year-old son. Their efforts bore fruit with another boy — one of a million extra births this year. “The traditional Chinese thinking …

Burning ivory, waging war: world battles poaching in 2016 Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  It was one of the most momentous events in the battle against poaching: 11 giant pyres of elephant tusks going up in flames in Kenya as the world looked on. The largest-ever destruction of ivory, which …