Brazil: news anchor dies in helicopter crash

SAO PAULO, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ricardo Boechat, one of Brazil’s best-known journalists, has been killed in a helicopter crash in São Paulo.The aircraft carrying the 66-year-old news anchor hit a lorry on a ring road on Monday morning. The pilot is also thought to have died.Tributes have been paid…

Restive Cameroon: Four killed in hospital attack

YAOUNDE, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least four people were reportedly burnt alive – trapped inside a hospital in the restive south-west of the country that was set on fire. The hospital, in the town of Kumba, was serving a large area because several other health facilities in the same…

Ethiopian churches attacked over fake rumours

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seven churches were reportedly attacked over the weekend in the south of the country.Some of the evangelical churches were set ablaze and others were completely destroyed.This happened in Alaba Kulito, a town in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region.Ethiopia’s state broadcaster said the…

DRC needs new polls in six months: defeated presidential candidate Fayulu writes to African leaders

KINSHASA, Feb 12 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Martin Fayulu, the defeated second-placed candidate in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Dec 30, 2018 elections has launched a call for fresh polls to be held in the country. The call is his latest ‘protest’ of the results of the election which he insists was…

Ethiopia PM Abiy bags 2018 African Gender Awards

https://www.facebook.com/PMOEthiopia/posts/540821189742402 Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister- ADDIS ABABA, Feb 12 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed bags the 2018 African Gender Award presented to him during the closing ceremony of the 32nd AU Heads of State summit that ended in Addis Ababa on Monday. The award…

Pres Cyril Ramaphosa deposits South Africa’s AfCFTA instrument of ratification

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 12 (NNN-SANEWS) — President Cyril Ramaphosa has handed over South Africa’s deposit of instruments on the ratification of the African Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the sidelines of the 32nd Ordinary Session of Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The development came after…

Two players in hospital after fire strikes another Brazilian club

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A fire broke out at the training centre used by Rio de Janeiro football club Bangu, sending at least two players to hospital with smoke inhalation but causing no serious injuries. The accident happened three days after 10 Flamengo youth players died and…

UN expert says suspension of Nigeria’s chief judge breaches human rights

GENEVA, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The suspension of Nigeria’s most senior judge by President Muhammadu Buhari broke international human rights standards on independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, a UN expert said. Buhari, who was voted into office in 2015, is hoping to win a new term in…

Canada: Police free 43 Mexicans from near slavery

MONTREAL, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Forty-three Mexicans duped in immigration scams have been freed after being forced to work for almost nothing in Canadian hotels, police said. The workers, mostly men, were lured to Canada by traffickers. Once the Mexicans paid a large sum of money, they were promised they…

US Pres Trump to make ‘big’ border speech in Texas’s El Paso

EL PASO (Texas,US) — President Donald Trump takes his politically explosive push for walling off the Mexican border to the frontier city of El Paso, days before a deadline for Congress to meet his demands. “Will be heading to El Paso very soon. Big speech on Border Security and much else…