Wigan, United Kingdom | AFP | Pep Guardiola’s quest to win an unprecedented quadruple with Manchester City came to a stunning and controversial end when they fell to a 1-0 defeat at third-tier Wigan in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday. In an uncanny repeat of the …
Read More »Indian politician killed in bomb attack ahead of polls
New Delhi, India | AFP | Four people including a candidate in upcoming state elections have been killed by a bomb while travelling in a restive northeast region of India, police said Monday. The blast tore through a car in Meghalaya state late Sunday as Jonathone N Sangma, a 43-year-old …
Read More »Police accused of killing Boko Haram founder reinstated
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Five Nigerian police officers who were accused of killing Boko Haram’s founder Mohammed Yusuf while in their custody have been reinstated, a police oversight body said on Monday. The officers were charged with committing a terrorist act and unlawfully killing the Islamist group’s spiritual leader …
Read More »France urges UN’s top court to dump E. Guinea case
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | France on Monday urged the UN’s top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption. “France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever …
Read More »Myanmar seizes drugs and equipment worth $7 mn in lab raid
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade. Soldiers and local officials found …
Read More »Hundreds stranded in cable car accident on Malaysia’s Langkawi
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | AFP | Hundreds of tourists were stranded for hours after a cable car broke down on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, authorities said Monday, with some left dangling in cabins over a jungle-clad mountain as night fell. Over 1,000 tourists, including some Western and Chinese visitors, …
Read More »French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood dies aged 62
Paris, France | AFP | Noted French jazz violinist Didier Lockwood, a disciple of the late Stephane Grappelli, has died of a heart attack in Paris, his agent said. Lockwood, who turned 62 on February 11, died early on Sunday morning. The night before his death, he had performed at …
Read More »BBC launches Igbo, Yoruba language services in Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | The BBC this week launches its new Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria, as part of an expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world. The digital-only services go live online and on social media on Monday, joining a …
Read More »Togo talks offer ‘last chance’ to resolve crisis
Lome, Togo | AFP | After six months of political crisis, a dialogue between Togo’s government and the opposition opening on Monday is seen by many as the last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the rule of embattled President Faure Gnassingbe. But the talks have raised a welter …
Read More »In Kenya, anti-poaching dogs are wildlife’s best friends
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 …
Read More »