Terror attacks on the rise in Mali: UN

UNITED NATIONS, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Security is worsening in Mali with terror attacks on the rise, targeting UN peacekeepers, Malian troops, international forces and civilians, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a report. The threat from extremist groups has spread from northern Mali to the centre of the West African…

Central African Republic president meets pope, sticks by troubled peace deal

Central African president Faustin-Archange Touadera VATICAN CITY, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera, during a visit to the Vatican Tuesday, stood by his country’s peace deal the day after several militia groups rejected it and the new government. “We are seeking peace, and in the agreement there…

Libya to hold elections by year end: Tripoli PM

Image of Fayez al-Sarraj, Prime Minister of the Government of National Accord of Libya. File photo TRIPOLI, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Libya should hold parliamentary and presidential elections by year end, the internationally recognised Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj said. The United Nations had planned for the North African oil producer…

UK, EU end Brexit talks with no sign of breakthrough

BRUSSELS, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterparts on Tuesday wrapped up the latest round of talks aimed at getting the Brexit deal through parliament in London as this month’s divorce deadline loomed. Barnier met UK attorney general Geoffrey Cox and Brexit minister Stephen…

Mexican farmers urge ‘mirror’ tariffs on US’s rural base

MEXICO CITY, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Leaders of Mexico’s agricultural sector are urging “mirror measures” on U.S. farm imports in politically sensitive products such as yellow corn and poultry, in an effort they argue would counter decades of subsidized imports from the United States. The three-month-old government of President Andres Manuel…

Ethiopia PM to mediate between Kenya and Somalia

The office of the Ethiopian prime minister said mediation efforts were designed to ‘ ease tensions NAIROBI, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, accompanied his Somalian counterpart Mohamed Farmaajo to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where the former will lead efforts to restore diplomatic relations between the…

Update: Maduro vows to defeat ‘crazed minority’

President Maduro took park in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez CARACAS, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to defeat a “crazed minority” that wants to remove him from power. In a challenge to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, he has…

Armed with memes, Algerian students join anti-Bouteflika protests

Algeria is set to hold a presidential election on April 18 ALGIERS, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of university students have marched in Algeria’s capital, as peaceful rallies against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid to seek a fifth term continued for a second week.Like their peers who held similar protests across…

U.N accuses Burundi of forcing it to close its human rights office in Bujumbura

GENEVA, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Burundi has forced the United Nations to shut its local human rights office after 23 years, the U.N. human rights office said. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement, read out Tuesday by an OHCHR spokeswoman, that the central African…

Kenya police summon finance minister over dams scandal

Henry Rotich is a Finance Minister NAIROBI, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenyan police have summoned Finance Minister, Henry Rotich for questioning for a second time over a multi-million dollar scandal involving advance payments for two dam projects, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said.The DCI said it…