Firefighters in Tunisia are battling a major blaze that has raged for two days in a pine forest near the border with Algeria, a civil defence official said on Thursday.Regional civil defence director Abdel Laabidi told AFP that around 470 hectares (1,100 acres) of forest had already burned, and that firefighters and an army helicopter …

Tunisia firefighters battle forest blaze on Algeria borderThu, 20 Jul 2023 15:10:25 GMT Read More »

Shops and schools in Kenya reopened on Thursday despite a call by the opposition to continue anti-government protests that have led to over a dozen deaths and sparked appeals for political dialogue.Sporadic clashes broke out on Thursday in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, an opposition stronghold, according to AFP journalists, with police firing tear gas and live …

Shops, schools reopen in Kenya despite protest callThu, 20 Jul 2023 12:31:55 GMT Read More »

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided against attending an upcoming BRICS summit in Johannesburg in person because he did not want to “jeopardise” the talks, a top South African diplomat said Thursday.Putin’s potential visit had posed a diplomatic and legal dilemma for South Africa ahead of the August 22-24 meeting.He is the target of an International …

Putin opted out not to ‘jeopardise’ BRICS summit: S.AfricaThu, 20 Jul 2023 12:05:29 GMT Read More »

Egyptian researcher Patrick Zaki on Thursday walked out of prison, his family said, a day after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted him a pardon in the wake of an international outcry.Zaki’s three-year prison sentence on Tuesday for “spreading false news” had prompted some participants to walk out of a government dialogue aimed at giving the …

Egyptian researcher leaves prison after pardon: familyThu, 20 Jul 2023 11:55:27 GMT Read More »

Vitaliy Bylenko looked ruefully at the mountains of grain in his barn, contemplating the growing obstacles to shifting the stockpiles after Russia this week exited a deal allowing Black Sea exports.Ukraine, European countries and the United States have lamented Moscow’s decision to scrap the landmark accord brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July.But …

‘No way out’: Ukraine farmers lament collapse of grain dealThu, 20 Jul 2023 11:52:15 GMT Read More »

Russian missiles and drones hit the Ukrainian port of Odesa for a third “hellish” night in a row as Crimean authorities said a teenager had been killed in Kyiv’s latest attack on the peninsula.Russian forces also targeted Mykolaiv, another Black Sea port through which Ukrainian grain is exported, after Moscow’s exit from a key deal …

Russia pummels Ukraine ports in third night of missile attacksThu, 20 Jul 2023 11:37:40 GMT Read More »

A body was found in central Johannesburg early Thursday after an unexplained blast ripped through a busy street at rush hour the previous evening, the emergency services said.The explosion blew a hole in the road  and gouged out cracks, skittling pedestrians and cars.”(In the) early hours of this morning, we managed to recover a body …

One dead, 48 injured in unexplained Johannesburg blastThu, 20 Jul 2023 11:30:53 GMT Read More »

Cheikh Thiam passes the ball to one of his friends, a group of students and fellow football fans, and darts across an artificial pitch in Senegal’s capital Dakar.They have paid the equivalent of $60 to be there, about a third of the national monthly income, but it is an upgrade from the crowded beaches they …

Young Senegalese football lovers flock to artificial turfThu, 20 Jul 2023 10:56:41 GMT Read More »

A body was found in central Johannesburg early Thursday after an unexplained blast ripped through a main road at rush hour the previous evening, the emergency services said.”(In the) early hours of this morning, we managed to recover a body of a male person on site where the explosion occurred,” Emergency Management Services spokesman Robert …

One dead, 41 injured in unexplained Johannesburg blastThu, 20 Jul 2023 09:56:49 GMT Read More »

Air strikes, street battles and artillery fire shook Sudan’s capital Khartoum and the major southern city of El-Obeid on Thursday, witnesses told AFP.”Artillery fire targeted paramilitary bases of the Rapid Support Forces,” said a resident of El-Obeid, 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum.Fighting between the RSF and the regular army, led by feuding generals, …

Fighting in Sudan’s capital, south after generals briefly surfaceThu, 20 Jul 2023 08:34:59 GMT Read More »