Morocco fans gathered Thursday (Oct 20) to support their team near the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup countdown clock as it marked thirty days left before the tournament, in the Qatari capital Doha. Team anthems and jerseys: no doubt Moroccan fans in Qatar are getting in the World Cup mood. …
Read More »Ghana shops, traders shut down to protest soaring inflation
Traders in Ghana’s capital Accra close their stores and businesses in a three-day protest over the soaring cost of living, as the West African country battles the economic fallout from the Ukraine war. Ghana faces a high debt load and inflation at a historic high of 37 percent in September, …
Read More »British-Nigerian singer Little Simz wins Mercury Music Prize – an award for best album of the year
Simbiatu “Simbi” Abisola Abiola Ajikawo was born in Islington, London, to Nigerian parents. She is a British rapper, singer and actress. She rose to prominence with the independent release of her first three albums, namely A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons (2015), Stillness in Wonderland (2016) and Grey Area …
Read More »Guinea’s Cellou Baldé arrested, taken to an unknown destination
A member of Guinea’s ruling junta was arrested Monday in Conakry by police who took him to an “unknown” destination, his party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea said. “Cellou Baldé had just come out of a meeting” in the suburbs of Conakry, Mamadou Maladho Diallo, national treasurer of …
Read More »Ethiopia: AU renews calls for truce, peace talks, rebels vow to respect ceasefire
The African Union (AU) on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Tigray, where violence is escalating, with rebels in the northern Ethiopian region saying they were “ready to respect it. The town of Shire, in northwestern Tigray, has been bombed for several days in a joint offensive by Ethiopian …
Read More »Ethiopia restricts use of foreign currency
Ethiopia has ordered banks to deny foreign currency to businesses importing non-priority goods, in an effort to shore up dwindling foreign reserves in one of Africa’s major economies. The move effectively freezes the import of dozens of items such as alcohol and cars, as businesses must register with banks to …
Read More »Police and demonstrators clash in Tunisia following the death of a man
Mourners in Tunisia clashed with security forces on Friday (14 October) after a man died from injuries sustained during a police chase several weeks earlier. Demonstrators threw stones at security forces after the funeral of Malek Sellimi in the working-class neighbourhood of Upper Omran on the edges of Tunis. The …
Read More »Kenya denies defaulting on China railway debt
Kenya on Thursday denied it had defaulted on interest repayments on a loan advanced by China for the construction of a railway line from the port city of Mombasa that opened in 2017. The $5 billion project, financed 90 percent by China, replaced the so-called “Lunatic Express” — a line …
Read More »Sudan: Pupils return to school amid political, economic turmoil
It’s back-to-school time in Sudan, but nine-year-old Zahra Hussein is doing chores at home. Like millions of Sudanese children, she had to leave school because her parents could not pay her school fees. In first grade, “I was the third in the class,” the girl proudly tells AFP in her …
Read More »Gambia: Grief, fear and anger over deadly cough syrup
When Wuri Bailo Keita’s two-year-old daughter Fatoumatta developed a fever, he took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with malaria and sent home with a prescription for a paracetamol syrup. Less than a week later she was dead. The infant is just one of 69 Gambian children to …
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