PARIS (Reuters) – France will not play Africa’s policeman and sort out a territorial dispute in Mali, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday, a day after Mali’s president and Tuareg separatist rebels both criticized Paris for doing too little. After ... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s government launched a widely unpopular road toll around the economic hub of Johannesburg on Tuesday, a move likely to heighten tensions with its union allies and alienate some voters in the run-up to next year’s election... More »
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Central African Republic needs up to four times more peacekeepers than are now deployed to quell a worsening sectarian conflict and provide security for aid workers, the European Union’s top humanitarian official said. The country has desce... More »
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s state-run Ethio Telecom said on Thursday it had picked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world’s second largest telecom equipment maker, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the capital Addis Ababa. The introduction of th... More »
BAMAKO (Reuters) – European Union observers and the United Nation’s mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Monday praised the West African nation’s weekend legislative election, despite low turnout and some voting abuses. Sunday’s vote was largely peaceful except for a ... More »
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) – Madagascar’s government has replaced a third of the country’s regional governors with senior military officers, raising concern that a run-off vote in the first presidential election since a coup in 2009 will be rigged. European and so... More »
BRUSSSELS (Reuters) – Al Qaeda members may be among thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat from Africa to Europe, posing a potential security risk for the European Union, Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said on Monday. Italy is seeking m... More »
DAKAR/NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Nine months after they were scattered across the Sahara by waves of French air strikes, Islamists in Mali are making a comeback – naming new leaders, attacking U.N. peacekeepers and killing two French journalists. Their return is m... More »
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics expects to supply half of the smartphones sold in Africa this year and aims to double these sales on the continent in 2014, an executive said. Africa has a growing young population that is increasingly tech savvy and u... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The State Department will formally designate the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Wednesday, congressional sources and others briefed on the matter said. The designation is significant ... More »
DAKAR (Reuters) – When Abasiama Idaresit started a digital marketing firm in Nigeria’s bustling economic capital three years ago, he quickly learned how brutal life can be in a market where tech startups are in their infancy. No-one would lend him money to hir... More »
MBUZI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Congolese troops and M23 rebels bombarded each other near the Ugandan border on Monday and international envoys called on both sides to cease fire and allow a peace deal to take hold. Congo’s army accused the reb... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A Kenyan court charged four Somali men on Monday with terrorist offences for helping al Qaeda-linked militants carry out an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people. Few details have emerged so far about the how the Septem... More »
NIAMEY (Reuters) – Four Frenchmen held hostage in the Sahara desert by al Qaeda-linked gunmen for three years left Niger on a French government plane on Wednesday morning. The men, who were kidnapped in 2010 while working for French nuclear group Areva and a s... More »
ABYEI (Reuters) – Abyei officials welcomed a push by the African Union to involve the U.N. Security Council in helping plan a referendum to resolve a dispute in the remote border region. The AU last year promised Abyei a plebiscite in October 2013 but shied aw... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – With the world tantalizingly close to wiping out polio, conflict in Syria has allowed the crippling disease to take hold again, putting at risk the rest of the region as well as plans for global eradication. War, unrest and poverty have ofte... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the army and M23 rebels risked dragging neighboring countries into the conflict and it urged all sides to return to the negotiating table. Follo... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali security agents shut down two radio stations and ordered its reporters to leave a building they were occupying for non-payment of rent, a government official said on Sunday. The official said the Shabelle Media Network’s stations h... More »
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) – Madagascar’s first presidential election since a military-backed coup was free and fair, European Union (EU) and Southern African observers said on Sunday, as early results trickled out two days after the poll. The announcements were a... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders rebuffed calls from southern European states on Friday for emergency action to tackle a wave of illegal migration from Africa despite the deaths of hundreds of people in Mediterranean boat disasters. EU leaders meeti... More »
CONAKRY (Reuters) – The United Nations and the international community on Sunday called upon Guinea’s electoral commission to publish results of a September 28 election aimed at completing a transition to democracy, saying it was concerned over the delay. Disp... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s third-largest mobile operator Cell C on Wednesday lodged an antitrust complaint against MTN Group and Vodacom, charging its bigger rivals with “discriminatory pricing”. Unlisted Cell C said in a statement it had lodged t... More »
WASHINGTON/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – After U.S. raids in Libya and Somalia that captured an Islamist wanted for bombing U.S. embassies in Africa 15 years ago, Secretary of State John Kerry warned al Qaeda they “can run but they can’t hide”. Nazih al-Ragye, better kn... More »
BISSAU (Reuters) – Under pressure from Western donors, Guinea-Bissau is struggling to organize elections to turn the page on a military coup but many in the West African country say a failure to reform the army means a new government will be vulnerable. The ti... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. forces launched raids in Libya and Somalia on Saturday, two weeks after the deadly Islamist attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, capturing a top al Qaeda figure wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. off... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said on Saturday its drug omalizumab was almost doubly effective in improving quality of life for patients with a severe form of hives, compared with a placebo, according to a late-stage study. The third and final la... More »
LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) – In Nigeria, as elsewhere, foreign exchange markets can be a barometer of internal strife, so when central bank governor Lamido Sanusi noticed a surge in dollar demand at forex bureaux in July, he feared something was amiss. The bank fou... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab on Tuesday dismissed comments by a Kenyan minister that Americans and a Briton were among the militants who attacked a shopping mall in Nairobi, and also said it had been in touch with the attacke... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations envoy for Somalia called on Tuesday for additional African troops to counter al Shabaab, which he said numbered some 5,000 people and posed an international threat. Nicholas Kay, U.N. special representative for Somalia, co... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group said on Tuesday there were “countless dead bodies” in a Kenyan shopping mall as security forces searched for militants still holed up in the complex after a weekend attack that authorities say killed 62 p... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called the attack in a Nairobi mall a “terrible outrage” and said the United States was providing all the cooperation it could to Kenya. “We stand with them against this terrible outrage that occurred,... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium said on Monday it was investigating suspected foreign state espionage against its main telecoms company, which is the top carrier of voice traffic in Africa and the Middle East, and a newspaper pointed the finger at the United Stat... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Six tales from gold-rush New Zealand to Zimbabwe to the English countryside and elsewhere on the planet were shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker prize, organizers said on Tuesday. Two-time Booker nominee and Irish writer Colm Toibin headed a... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s main mining union has offered to compromise on some of its demands for higher pay after launching a strike that hit production at most of the country’s gold mines on Wednesday. The stoppage called by the National Union o... More »
PRETORIA (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday appealed to unions and companies in the gold industry to avoid an imminent strike that could seriously damage Africa’s largest economy, force mine closures and cost thousands of jobs. Gold mine... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe faces its worst food shortages in four years following a drought and poor harvest, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Tuesday, a month after veteran President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF disputed re-election. The agency said it was w... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African union leaders warned on Monday, a day before a strike in the gold sector, that mine owners’ handling of pay talks could provoke violence, and bosses said wage hikes would force mine closures and cost thousands of jobs. Th... More »
LAMU, Kenya (Reuters) – A mega-port project on the north Kenyan coast conceived in the 1970s may finally be gaining traction based on commercial oil finds in Uganda and Kenya, but it needs more financing to compete with a Chinese-backed port in Tanzania and ot... More »
ACCRA/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – When Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N ), the world’s top retailer, bought control of major South African discount chain Massmart Holdings (MSMJ.J ) in 2011, American shopping mall developer Irwin Barkan had an epiphany. An industry veteran... More »
MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida officials trying to eradicate the Giant African Land Snail, one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, plan to deploy a new weapon in the battle – Labrador retrievers. State agriculture authorities say they hope the dogs wi... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will review relations with Zimbabwe given its “serious concerns” about the conduct of the southern African state’s election, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday. The EU’s verdict on the fairness of ... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – When Zimbabwe’s veteran president Robert Mugabe suavely hosted journalists at State House on the eve of last month’s election, there was only one question that caught him off guard. Asked if the presence of Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagw... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian mining mogul Clive Palmer says his oil and gas business has identified what could be one of the world’s largest gas fields off the coast of Papua New Guinea, potentially worth $35 billion. After $50 million worth of exploration ov... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British boy band One Direction, one of the pop music industry’s biggest acts in the last two years, plan to show the world what they’re really like in a new 3D documentary that will premiere in London on Tuesday. The five singers told a news... More »
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Workers downed tools on Monday at the South African unit of Japanese auto maker Toyota (7203.T ), the company said, signaling the start of a nationwide strike in the auto sector over wages. The strike, which could affect over 30,000 assem... More »
MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – South Africa’s government and ruling African National Congress (ANC) party said they were staying away from one-year anniversary commemorations on Friday to mark the killings of 34 striking platinum miners shot dead by police... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hip hop magnate and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons apologized on Thursday for a controversial sex tape parody of African-American slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman that appeared on a Def Jam YouTube channel. In an apology pos... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR ) chief executive Titus Naikuni said the airline has so far lost about $4 million in revenue as a result of last week’s fire at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, local media reported on Monday. Th... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – An Ethiopian military aircraft carrying ammunition crash-landed at Mogadishu’s international airport on Friday, bursting into flames and killing at least one crew member, airport staff and security officials said. The plane got into troub... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A fire engulfed Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, choking a vital travel and trade gateway to east Africa, witnesses and officials said. Firefighters struggled to contain the blaze at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, the reg... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Intercepted communication between al Qaeda leaders was one component of a broader pool of intelligence that prompted a threat alert closing numerous U.S. embassies in the Middle East and Africa, U.S. sources said on Monday. The New York ... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The City of Johannesburg apologized to Nelson Mandela and his family on Monday for mistakenly posting a non-payment notice on the former South African president’s house warning him his electricity was about to be cut off. The city, whi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution on Sunday after an al Qaeda threat that U.S. lawmakers said was the most serious in years. The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies an... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States issued a worldwide travel alert on Friday warning Americans that al Qaeda may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. The State Department travel alert was based on the same inte... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union said on Saturday it was concerned about alleged irregularities and a lack of transparency in Zimbabwe’s election, its strongest criticism so far of a poll that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has branded a “farce”. The ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union, which has eased sanctions on Zimbabwe to encourage reforms, praised Zimbabweans on Thursday for turning out in large numbers to vote peacefully but said it was too early to assess the election’s fairness. Prime Minister... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party on Thursday said Zimbabwe’s elections had been a “monumental fraud” after a source in President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF earlier claimed a resounding victory. “It’s a monumental fraud. Zim... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A senior source in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party claimed a resounding victory in Wednesday’s parliamentary and presidential election against Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). “We’ve take... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe police vowed to crack down on any attempts to leak early results from Wednesday’s vote, complicating plans by some civic groups to pre-empt official announcements by the country’s election commission. The move means it could be hour... More »
PRETORIA (Reuters) – Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is “steadily improving”, South Africa’s government said on Thursday as the former president celebrated his 95th birthday in hospital showered by tributes from around the world. Thousands of South Africa... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British actor Idris Elba may be best known as an enterprising Baltimore drug lord on the HBO series “The Wire,” but he has a growing presence in sci-fi films and will play South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela in his first bi... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, will undergo a procedure on Tuesday to install a pacemaker, his assistant said. De Klerk, 77, received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with his successor, Nelson Mandela, in 1993 for over... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Ailing anti-apartheid leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela remained in hospital on Monday in a “critical but stable” condition, the government said. Mandela has been in a Pretoria hospital for more than three weeks ... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – An Iranian ship laden with arms seized by Yemeni authorities in January may also have been bound for Somalia, according to a confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday. Yemeni forces intercepted the ship, the Jihan 1, off Yem... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Money at the Central Bank of Somalia is not used to run government institutions in the war-torn Horn of Africa country, with an average 80 percent of withdrawals made for private purposes, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters o... More »
PRETORIA (Reuters) – South African police on Friday detained the owner of a radio-controlled helicopter drone carrying a camera that was filming scenes around the Pretoria hospital where ailing anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is being treated. F.C. Hamman, ... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africans prepared on Thursday to say farewell to ailing anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela after his condition deteriorated further in hospital, forcing President Jacob Zuma to cancel a trip to neighboring Mozambique. Zuma was ... More »
MAPUTO (Reuters) – Mining company Rio Tinto (RIO.L )(RIO.AX ) has suspended coal shipments from northwest Mozambique after the opposition Renamo party, a former guerrilla group, threatened to disrupt the Sena railway “coal corridor” to the Indian Ocean. Althou... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Chartered (STAN.L ) said on Wednesday it was comfortable with analysts’ forecasts for its full year operating profit, with growth proving resilient in its main markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The London-based bank said ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis said its drug omalizumab significantly improved itch in patients with a severe form of hives, according to a late-stage study. The second of three late-stage studies found that more than one third of patients with ch... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, the movie studio famous for family films like “Madagascar” and “Shark Tale”, has entered into a licensing agreement in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling destination, in a push to diversify revenues. The dea... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Case numbers in Africa’s meningitis season this year were the lowest in 10 years thanks to a cheap new vaccine designed to treat a type of the disease common in the so-called meningitis belt, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. T... More »
BELGRADE (Reuters) – The European Union summoned Serbia and Kosovo back to Brussels on Thursday, pressing for an historic accord to settle relations between the Balkan foes and open the door to membership talks with Belgrade. On the table is an agreement to en... More »
BRUSSELS/PRISTINA (Reuters) – Serbia’s hopes of starting talks this year on joining the European Union hung in the balance on Thursday after it balked at demands from its former province of Kosovo for a seat at the United Nations. Kosovo said the EU had summon... More »
The author is a Reuters columnist and the opinions expressed are his own. For more from John Wasik see link.reuters.com/syk97s By John Wasik CHICAGO (Reuters) – Most emerging market talk focuses on BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – or may... More »
(Reuters) – Equity markets, especially in the U.S., are being held aloft by two historical anomalies – quantitative easing and high corporate profits – either of which could start to go away in 2013. Friday’s surprisingly good update on the state of the U.S. j... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Trying to prevent HIV infection through vaginal gels or daily tablets has proven ineffective in the southern African region ravaged by the disease because people did not use the medicines properly, a study released on Monday said. A gr... More »
BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) – The European Union should complement a mission to train Mali’s army, routed by rebels last year, by providing equipment from uniforms to vehicles and communications technology, a French general said on Wednesday. General Francois Lecoi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – For pharmaceutical companies, Africa is changing. Not only is the continent’s economic growth grabbing attention in boardrooms but the shifting nature of its disease burden is luring Big Pharma, as new opportunities open up for treating chron... More »
TILORMA, Sierra Leone (Reuters) – When the European Union’s chief election observer Richard Howitt asked people in this remote village last month if they had concerns about Sierra Leone’s looming presidential poll, he got a sobering response: what is voting? T... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The European Union has frozen further budgetary support to Rwanda over allegations that the Central African state supports anti-government rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, the EU’s ambassador to Congo said on Wednesday. ... More »
