US and Sudan to exchange ambassadors

WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States and Sudan will send ambassadors to each other’s countries for the first time in more than two decades.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok made the announcement during Hamdok’s visit to Washington.It has been 23 years since…

‘At least 18 dead’ in clashes in northern Mozambique

MAPUTO, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 18 people have died in clashes between militants and the country’s defence and security forces over the past five days in Mozambique’s gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado, media reports say.Twelve of the dead are reported to be insurgents, one was a member…

UN: Half of Zimbabwe’s population now starving

HARARE, Dec 6 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — Drought, flooding and economic problems in Zimbabwe have plunged 7.7 million people into severe hunger. This represents half the population, in what is the worst hunger crisis for more than a decade. This has prompted the World Food Programme (WFP) to rapidly expand an already…

Experts discuss control of illicit arms trade in West Africa

ACCRA, Dec 6 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — More than 30 arms control officials from five West African countries and international experts gathered in Accra to discuss ways to firm up the control of illicit arms trade in the region.They were from Ghana, Zambia, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia with the experts from…

Egypt continues biggest wave of arrests of journalists since 2014

CAIRO, Dec 6 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — The list of journalists arrested in Egypt since the start of a wave of anti-government protests in September keeps on getting longer, with four more arrests in the past ten days. This is the biggest crackdown on media personnel since the protests that followed Gen.…

Uganda among six African states with half of world’s malaria cases

GENEVA, Dec 6 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — Uganda has again been named one of six African countries that account for more than half of all malaria cases in the world, according to the latest 2019 World Malaria report.The 2018 report had also shown that Uganda accounted for 4 per cent of the…

Top Nigerian senator guilty of stealing $19.6m

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu ABUJA, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Prominent Nigerian senator Orji Uzor Kalu has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of 39 fraud charges amounting to $19.6m.Kalu is a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress and a chief whip in the…

At least 265 dead in floods, landslides as rains batter East Africa

File photo NAIROBI, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two months of relentless rains have submergedvillages and farms and sent rivers of mud crashing into houses across East Africa, with at least 265 killed, as meteorologists warn of more to come. The extreme downpours have affected close to two million people and…

Floods: 6 people killed in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Dec 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — Over 15,000 people have been affected by heavy rains in Sri Lanka while six deaths have been reported, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said. Four deaths were reported from the Nuwera Eliya District, in the central highlands, which is one of the worst affected by…

Australian ‘patriot’ found guilty of plotting terror attacks

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An Australian man with links to far rightgroups was found guilty of plotting terror attacks against leftistorganisations, local media reported. A Melbourne court heard that Phillip Galea created a “Patriot’s Cookbook”— a document designed to encourage others to take up violent acts againstleft-wing groups and…