US First Lady Melania Trump on Wednesday announced that she would visit Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt on her first major international solo trip to promote child welfare and education. Trump, 48, made the announcement at a reception welcoming spouses of visiting heads of state and other foreign delegations on the sidelines of the UN General Ass ...

After more than a century of conflicting evidence, Anglo-French animosity and a H.G. Wells novella involving murder most fowl, scientists said Wednesday they have finally solved the riddle of the world's largest bird. For 60 million years the colossal, flightless elephant bird -- Aepyornis maximus -- stalked the savannah and rainforests of Madag ...

CAPE TOWN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) - Thousands went to the streets here in the South African capital on Tuesday morning to voice their anger over rising crime and high unemployment. Protests took place in several communities hit hard by crimes and unemployment. The mass rally was largely peaceful, except at one location where protesters scuf ...

NAIROBI, Sept. 25, (Xinhua) - China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) has drilled the longest railway tunnel in East Africa, the company said Monday. The tunnel is part of phase 2A of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) that runs from the Kenyan Capital city of Nairobi to Naivasha town. An Aijun, general manager of SGR project head offi ...

When asked to name a long-running war somewhere the world, many people are likely to point to notorious hotspots such as Afghanistan or Syria. How many would name Kivu? Yet this conflict in the heart of Africa ranks among the longest, bloodiest and potentially most dangerous wars in recent history. Fighting in Kivu, a region in the east of ...

In Ivory Coast, cocoa once guaranteed farmers a sweet life. Then the world's number one producer was whacked, as oversupply and falling demand from health-conscious consumers hit prices. But some producers proudly say they are not only weathering the cocoa storm but even flourishing. The thanks, they say, are due to fair-trade deals that d ...

The West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR), a renowned community radio station based in Dakar, Senegal, has organized a training programme for some radio journalists in Ghana. The two-day programme aimed at equipping selected radio journalists with professional production techniques in curbing irregular migration with radio reporting. Starting on ...

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday over unprecedented levels of child mortality in southern Niger during the past month, with 10 children dying per day. Most deaths are linked to surging cases of malaria or malnutrition that have forced the intensive paediatric care unit in the city of Magaria to fill up, said the charity, wh ...

France is pushing for the Aquarius rescue ship to dock in Malta and unload the 58 migrants on board, a source in the presidential office said on Tuesday. We are clear on the fact that it shouldn't spend four to five days at sea going towards France or Spain or anywhere, the source said on condition of anonymity. It needs to dock soon and it i ...

The struggle to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a perfect storm of challenges, including rebel violence and pre-election manipulation, the UN said Tuesday. Attacks by armed opposition groups in North Kivu province hit by the outbreak have risen in recent weeks, including a deadly raid in the town ...

Scientists said Monday they had succeeded for the first time in wiping out an entire population of malaria-carrying mosquitos in the lab using a gene editing tool to programme their extinction. So-called gene drive technology works by forcing evolution's hand, ensuring that an engineered trait is passed down to a higher proportion of offspring - ...

Abu Dhabi's Yahsat on Monday launched its satellite broadband service in Ivory Coast in a bid to boost internet access in this west African nation where only 27 percent of the population is online. Named YahClick, the service offers broadband internet connectivity to businesses, government agencies and remote areas of the country. This broad ...

The UN World Food Programme on Monday took its campaign to fight world hunger to a global cinema audience with an innovative, interactive advertisement. Billed as a world first, the advertisement that will appear in cinemas in more than 30 countries will feature an on-screen code that movie-goers can scan with their smartphones to interact on Fa ...

Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold agreed Monday to buy Africa-focused rival Randgold Resources to create a global industry champion worth $18.3 billion. The blockbuster all-share deal was described as a merger but is effectively a takeover because Barrick investors will own a majority 66.6-percent stake. Randgold shareholders will hold the rest ...

Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold has bought Africa-focused rival Randgold Resources to create a global industry champion worth $18.3 billion, the pair said on Monday. The blockbuster all-share deal was described as a merger but is effectively a takeover because Barrick investors will own a majority 66.6-percent stake. Randgold shareholders wil ...

Girls are the primary victims of humanitarian crises, suffering abuse from forced marriage to denial of schooling and are 14 times more likely to die than boys in a conflict, the Plan International NGO said Sunday. The group will Monday unveil at the United Nations conclusions from three investigations into the fate of youngsters -- ethnic Roh ...

Western Province and the Sharks cruised to bonus-point victories Saturday and set up a top-of-the-table South African Currie Cup clash next weekend. Leaders and defending champions Province scored six tries en route to a 38-12 victory over visiting Griquas at Newlands stadium in Cape Town. Sharks scored four as they overcame Golden Lions 37-2 ...

Panama announced on Saturday it will revoke its flag from the migrant rescue ship Aquarius due to non-respect of international legal procedures relating to the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean. Aquarius spent 19 days docked in the French port of Marseille after Gibraltar revoked its flag last month, and the ship only set sail again da ...

African Union election observers urged eSwatini Saturday to lift a ban on political parties and allow candidates to campaign freely in the tiny country, which went to the polls this week. The AU statement came a day after parliamentary elections in landlocked eSwatini, which is ruled by an absolute monarch and was known as Swaziland until earlie ...

Abidjan, Sept 21 (AIP) - A few months before the presidential elections scheduled for December 23, 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen a significant increase in human rights violations, the UN Joint Representative and Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNJHRO) in Kinshasa, Abdoul Aziz Thioye, has said. W ...