United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid and medical evacuations. A slightly amended text was circulated to council members late Thursday but it was unclear whether Russia …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump and America’s powerful gun lobby on Thursday cast citizens with weapons as a solution to shootings, as it emerged an armed deputy was on campus during a deadly Florida rampage but failed to act. National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre hit …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | A former South African soldier was sentenced to death in South Sudan on Friday for attempting to overthrow the government. Ex-colonel William Endley, 55, was “sentenced to death by hanging” for espionage and conspiring to overthrow the government, said judge Lado Eriminio Sekwat at …

Bamenda, Cameroon | AFP | Cameroon’s veteran opposition leader and perennial presidential hopeful John Fru Ndi said Thursday he will not challenge the long-ruling President Paul Biya in this year’s elections. Fru Ndi, 76, hailing from the troubled anglophone west of the country, has lost to Biya three times — …

Dapchi, Nigeria | AFP | Anger erupted in a town in remote northeast Nigeria on Thursday after officials fumbled to account for scores of schoolgirls who locals say have been kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists — a disappearance reviving traumatic memories of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Police said on Wednesday …

Port-au-Prince, Haiti | AFP | Haiti on Thursday suspended the operations of British charity Oxfam pending the outcome of its investigation into allegations that its staff sexually exploited Haitians after a devastating 2010 earthquake. The country’s ministry of planning and foreign aid said Oxfam GB had made a “serious error” …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States blasted Russia on Thursday over the bombing of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, saying it has a “unique responsibility” for the more than 400 deaths in the Damascus suburb. After fresh air and rocket strikes by Syrian government forces killed another 46, State …

Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | Rebels have wanted to kill him, NGOs accuse him of exploitation and Chinese newcomers have rattled his Congo mining empire, but George Forrest, one of Africa’s biggest businessmen, remains unbowed. The head of the Forrest Group, which is worth an estimated $800 million (650 …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | An elderly British couple have been kidnapped in South Africa, police said Thursday, amid reports they were abducted by extremists suspected to have links to the Islamic State group. The British foreign office confirmed that a pair of Britons had been kidnapped and warned …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | NBI | Ethiopia’s President Dr. Mulatu Teshome has said that one of the common challenges within the Nile Basin is that the majority of its inhabitants live under extreme poverty. Speaking during Thursday’s regional Nile Day 2018 celebrations at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, …