A Vietnamese blogger was sentenced to nearly three years in jail on Friday for smearing white paint on the national flag in the one-party communist country where defacing state symbols is deemed an egregious offence. Huynh Thuc Vy, an outspoken activist who is eight weeks pregnant with her second child, has been under house arrest since August a ...

Archaeologists have discovered stone tools and cut animal bones, signs of human handiwork, in Algeria that may be up to 2.4 million years old, showing signs of human civilisation much earlier in the region than previously thought. Research has until now pointed to the East Africa Rift as the region where early hominids first used stone tools. The e ...

Archaeologists in Algeria have discovered stone tools and cut animal bones that may be up to 2.4 million years old, bringing into question East Africa's title as the cradle of humanity, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science. The artifacts -- more ancient than those discovered in the region until now -- were found in Set ...

Policemen fired tear gas and used batons on Thursday to break up an anti-government protest by hundreds of opposition supporters in the heart of the Guinean capital Conakry. The political opposition has been demonstrating against what it considers a violation by the authorities of an agreement reached in August over the appointment of local gove ...

US television celebrity Oprah Winfrey on Thursday paid emotional tribute to Nelson Mandela as she prepared to host a star-studded concert in Johannesburg to cap celebrations marking 100 years since his birth. Winfrey will co-host the Global Citizen festival on Sunday, where artists including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Cassper Nyovest, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell ...

Accra, Nov. 29, ndash; Mr Antonio Guterrres, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General has observed that, the decades-long Palestinian struggle for self-determination, independence and a life of dignity faces numerous obstacles. The obstac ...

South Africa's land reform program is in the limelight amid fears of Zimbabwe-style land seizures, graft and capital flight. Blacks make up 80 percent of the population but, as the latest land Audit Report shows, they possess title deeds to only four percent of all farms and agricultural holdings by individuals. This as opposed to white farmers ...

Some 200 soldiers deployed a year ago to bolster security in Lesotho after the killing of the country's top army commander have left the landlocked kingdom, an official said Wednesday. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc, deployed a force after Khoantle Motsomotso was shot dead in barracks by officers from a percei ...

Among the troupes of minstrels who roam the length and breadth of Madagascar performing Hira Gasy folk operas at country fairs, burials and ancestral spirit ceremonies, one stands out. The Rasoalalao Kavia company use Hira Gasy to name and shame alcoholics, sex offenders and some of society's other bad apples. The Rasoalalao Kavia company were i ...

South Africa looks to introduce a new minimum wage of 223 per month, while Nigeria's 75 per month proposal is blocked by state governors to press demands for increased budget subsidies. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a new wage bill aimed at tackling salary inequality in Africa's most industrialized economy. The Nati ...

Two former presidents of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana, will face each other in a run-off election next month to decide who will lead the Indian Ocean island nation, the country's top court announced on Wednesday. The run-off comes after neither candidate won the 50 percent of votes required for a first-round victory on Novem ...

Two former presidents of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana, will face each other in a run-off election next month to decide who will lead the Indian Ocean island nation, the country's top court announced on Wednesday. The run-off comes after neither candidate won the 50 percent of votes required for a first-round victory on Novem ...

The UN children's fund warned Tuesday that a funding gap and the start of winter could leave nearly one million children out in the cold in the Middle East and North Africa. Years of conflict, displacement and unemployment have reduced familiesâ financial resources to almost nothing. Staying warm has simply become unaffordable, said Geert ...

Niger has ordered the closure of two centres run by British charity Marie Stopes International on grounds it was illegally performing abortions, the health minister told AFP on Tuesday. We have decided to close this charity on grounds of a 2006 law which bans abortions, said Health Minister Idi Illiassou. Our inquiries have shown that this ...

The rising star of Nigerian politics, Kingsley Moghalu, vows to end the oil curse with his 2019 presidential bid while Sierra Leone's new Unity Party engages in a daring battle for women's rights. Youth-driven political parties have sprung up across Africa in the wake of growing political awareness about the ravages of bad governance. This ...

South Africa's Johan Goosen is set for a return with Montpellier after missing more than six weeks with an ankle injury, the club announced on Monday. Goosen -- who retired from the sport in 2016 before joining the Top 14 runners up this summer -- was carried off the field on a stretcher in October's victory over Toulon. But the 13-time Sprin ...

The government of Guinea, the world's third largest producer of bauxite, signed on Monday a $3 billion (2.6 billion euro) deal to tap reserves of the mineral in two new regions as well as build a railway and plant to process it into alumina. The consortium includes the Guinean bauxite mining company SMB and transport firm UMS, the Singaporean fi ...

The Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday accused Washington of sparking needless fear after the US embassy in Kinshasa warned of a possible terrorist threat against its mission in the country as it heads towards key elections. You have to distrust information coming from people who want to spread needless fear and uncertainty among the Co ...

The November Tests ended this weekend and the next time the Northern hemisphere's finest meets their Southern hemisphere counterparts will be at the World Cup in Japan. AFP Sport looks at three countries from each hemisphere who are the likeliest to lift the Webb Ellis trophy on November 2, 2019 in Yokohama. NEW ZEALAND http://c ...

Stade Abidjan of the Ivory Coast will debut in the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup this week -- 52 years after becoming champions of Africa. They overcame a two-goal first-leg deficit against Real Bamako of Mali to win the 1966 African Cup of Champions Clubs (since renamed the CAF Champions League). But the Abidjan outfit have never come cl ...