Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia’s president Edgar Lungu has deployed the army to help combat a cholera outbreak that has claimed 41 lives in the capital Lusaka and affected 1,550 more since September. The initial outbreak began on September 28 according to the World Health Organization and Zambia’s health …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram fighters opened fire on a group of loggers in a remote village in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, killing four people, a survivor and a militia leader said. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the loggers while they were loading firewood into pickup vans at Maiwa village, …

Paris, France | AFP | Israel has formally notified the UN’s culture and education body of its withdrawal from the organisation, two months after it announced it would follow the US by walking out over resolutions critical of the Jewish state. In a statement UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said she …

Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has said he will support 2018 elections in the war-torn country but also implied he would seize power if the polls did not occur. Late Thursday, Haftar said presidential and parliamentary elections were “a fundamental solution” to Libya’s crisis and should …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Social media giants Facebook and Twitter are facing a deadline in Britain to cooperate with an inquiry into so-called fake news in the Brexit referendum campaign, a parliamentary committee chairman said Friday. The companies have been given until January 18 to share information requested …

Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Mourners on a cold, barren hill outside Kabul wept Friday as they buried loved ones killed in a suicide attack targeting Shiites, the latest victims in one of the bloodiest years in the war-torn country. At a Shiite cemetery spread over the hills dozens of …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Three pro-democracy activists have been released after spending five months in prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo over a protest march against President Joseph Kabila, their organisation said Friday. Jean Mulenda, Jean-Pierre Tshisitshabu and Patrick Mbuya have left Kasapa central prison in the …

Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP | A Vietnamese court has jailed nine people for “attempting to overthrow the state”, official media reported Friday, the latest heavy sentence doled out in a harsh crackdown this year against activists in the one-party state. Communist Vietnam routinely jails its critics, but 2017 has been …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A gunman opened fire on a church south of Cairo on Friday, killing at least nine people in the latest apparent jihadist attack on Egypt’s Christian minority. The attacker targeted the Saint Mina Coptic church in the district of Helwan, just south of Cairo. Health …

YEAR IN REVIEW: December 2017 Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Oct.03: That is when Raphael Magyezi, the Igara West MP, finally tabled the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2017, that sought among other issues, to scrap from the Constitution Article 102 (b). The article barred anyone aged below 35 and above …