Update: Kidnappers of Nigerian schoolgirls ‘demand ransom’

KADUNA (Nigeria), Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The people behind the kidnapping of six female secondary school students and two members of staff in Kaduna state in the north of Nigeria have demanded a ransom, the state governor said. The kidnappings happened before dawn on Thursday at the Engravers College –…

DR Congo to become third most populous country in Africa by 2050, report says

ACCRA, Oct 5 (NNN-GNA) — Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will rocket up from the world’s 16th most populous country in 2019 to ninth place by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau’s (PRB) 2019 World Population Data Sheet. According to the PRB’s data copied to the Ghana News…

Uganda detains supporters of presidential hopeful over banned red berets

KAMPALA, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ugandan security personnel detained six supporters of pop star and presidential hopeful Bobi Wine for wearing red berets, a banned symbol of his “People Power” pressure group, a spokesman for the movement said. Wine, 37, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has rattled the government…

Gunmen kidnap six schoolgirls in Nigeria

KADUNA, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gunmen kidnapped six schoolgirls and two staff members from a boarding school in northern Nigeria on Thursday, police said. Police said the girls and staff were taken in the early morning from a school called Engravers College in a remote area near the village of…

Nigeria releases 25 children cleared of suspected ties with Boko Haram -UNICEF

A boy walks past the remains of a village burnt down by Boko Haram on the outskirts of Maiduguri  MAIDUGURI (Nigeria), Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Nigerian army released 25 children on Thursday after clearing them of suspected ties with armed groups in the country’s restive northeast region, the United…

Cameroon president says dropping prosecution against ‘some’ political rivals

YAOUNDE, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cameroon’s President Paul Biya announced he had ordered prosecutions to be dropped against “some” opposition leaders, including a number from the main Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) led by his jailed rival Maurice Kamto. The move is the latest in a series of…

Chile’s drought killing thousands of farm animals

Cows seen on farmland left arid by a lack of rainwater in Colina, north of Santiago, Chile SANTIAGO, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Farmers are counting the cost of one of the driest austral winters in six decades, which has destroyed crops and left tens of thousands of farm animals dead…

US Pres Trump suspends entry of immigrants who cannot pay for healthcare

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation suspending entry of immigrants who will not be covered by health insurance within 30 days of entering the United States or do not have the means to pay for their healthcare costs themselves. The proclamation, issued by the…

Haitian protesters clash with police in new push for president’s ouster

PORT-AU-PRINCE, OCT 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Haitian opposition leaders led a large and mostly peaceful march in the capital on Friday as they called for the resignation of President Jovenel Moise, whom they blame for a deep economic and political crisis in the troubled Caribbean country. Although some violence flared between…

Spanish police saved from sea by smugglers they were chasing

Picture released by the Spanish Guardia Civil shows a speedboat surrounded by bundles of drugs in the sea, after a police high-speed chase with drug-smugglers, off the coast of Mijas, Malaga, southern Spain MADRID, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Three Spanish police officers who were thrown into the sea when their…