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Suicide bomber kills six in Mogadishu ice-cream parlour

Suicide bomber kills six in Mogadishu ice-cream parlour

A suicide bomber blew himself up in an ice-cream parlour in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing six people and wounding eight, an official said. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast, but the Islamist insurgent group al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in the capital and elsewhere. The group is allied with al Qaeda and wants to rule Somalia according to its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. The Gelato Divino parlour is located near K4 Junction in the heart of Mogadishu, near the international airport. "A suicide bomber blew up himself in the ice-cream restaurant,"…
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Call for South African President to testify on role in state capture

Call for South African President to testify on role in state capture

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER ADVOCATE Vuyani Ngalwana, one of South Africa leading legal minds and an acting-judge in the high court, has called for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to be called to testify before the Zondo Commission about his role, when he was deputy president, in state capture. Ngalwana has written to the chairperson of the Commission, Deputy Judge President to make a case why Ramaphosa should be invited to testify. He has also called for Kgalema Motlanthe, a former deputy president to Zuma, to also be asked some questions at the commission. The acting-judge also expressed a view that…
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From a self-made cake boss to a ‘salon for all’: 10 upbeat stories from 2020

From a self-made cake boss to a ‘salon for all’: 10 upbeat stories from 2020

BEH LIH YI FROM a stateless scientist developing COVID-19 vaccine technology to countries wooing "digital nomads" to help revive their economies, there have been brighter headlines in a year dominated by the pandemic. Here are 10 upbeat stories from 2020 about efforts to improve people's lives during the coronavirus outbreak: Stateless scientist works on COVID-19 vaccine technology Stateless Nowras Rahhal, who arrived in Germany two years ago from Syria, is among a team of scientists in Germany working to develop COVID-19 vaccination technology, by allowing vaccines to be applied to the skin rather than injected into muscle. Before leaving Syria,…
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Ethiopian migrant who became symbol of integration in Italy killed on her goat farm

Ethiopian migrant who became symbol of integration in Italy killed on her goat farm

AN Ethiopian migrant who became a symbol of integration in Italy, her adopted home, has been killed on her farm where she raised goats for her cheese business, according to the police. A Ghanaian employee on her farm in the northern Italian region of Trentino has admitted to killing Agitu Ideo Gudeta, 42, with a hammer and raping her, Italian news agency Ansa reported. The report could not immediately be confirmed. Gudeta had made her home in the mountains of Trentino's Valle dei Mocheni, making goat's cheese and beauty products in her farm La Capra Felice (The Happy Goat), which…
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Uganda opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine arrested, police fire teargas at protesters

Uganda opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine arrested, police fire teargas at protesters

UGANDA opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, and his campaign team were arrested in Kalangala in the country's central region, he said in a post on Twitter. The arrests spurred protests at a field in Kalangala Island in Lake Victoria where a helicopter was parked and which Wine's supporters said they believed would be used to fly him back to the capital Kampala. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd who were protesting, a witness, who did not want to give his name for security reasons, told Reuters. No further details of the arrests were…
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Opposition in Central African Republic calls for repeat of disrupted election

Opposition in Central African Republic calls for repeat of disrupted election

ANTOINE ROLLAND A group of influential opposition politicians in the Central African Republic has called for an annulment of last Sunday's election, saying that a third of voters were unable to cast their ballot because of insecurity. Voting took place amid an offensive by armed groups in rural areas long beyond the reach of government control in the sparsely-populated country of 4.7 million people. In the build-up, the government relied on United Nations' peacekeepers to deliver election materials to the provinces by plane because roads were made unpassable by heavy rains or rebel checkpoints. Results are expected to trickle in…
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Tropical storm Chalane hits Mozambique but causes little damage

Tropical storm Chalane hits Mozambique but causes little damage

MANUEL MUCARI THE powerful tropical storm Chalane made landfall near the central Mozambique city of Beira, bringing heavy rain and wind but less damage than had been initially expected to an area devastated by a cyclone nearly two years ago. Beira, a low-lying coastal city of 500,000 people, is home to Mozambique's second-largest port, which serves as a gateway to landlocked countries in the region. Myrta Kaulard, United Nations resident coordinator for Mozambique, said most of the rains had been concentrated in an area north of Beira, where thousands were also resettled after Cyclone Idai about two years ago. International…
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Ivory Coast opposition leader Affi released 2 months after election-spat arrest

Ivory Coast opposition leader Affi released 2 months after election-spat arrest

IVORY Coast opposition leader Pascal Affi N'Guessan was released yesterday after nearly two months in custody for creating a breakaway government after a disputed presidential election marred by violence. His release is seen as a key step in repairing relations between the opposition and President Alassane Ouattara's ruling party after an Oct. 31 election that pulled hard at the seams of the West African nation's fragile peace. Affi "is a free man and will be able to see his family again today", though he will remain under "judicial supervision", his lawyer Me Pierre Dagbo Gode told Reuters. Government spokesman Sidi…
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Egypt student jailed for 3 yrs for online sexual harassment

Egypt student jailed for 3 yrs for online sexual harassment

MENNA A FAROUK A former Cairo student was jailed for three years on Tuesday for using social media to sexually harass women and will face charges of sexual assault next month in a case that triggered a #MeToo moment in the country. Ahmed Bassam Zaki, formerly at the American University in Cairo, will face the court again on Jan. 9 on charges of indecent assault and blackmail investigated after scores of women joined an Instagram campaign to accuse him of sex crimes. The case has attracted widespread attention from media, religious figures and women's groups in a country where rights…
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UN rights experts urge Uganda to halt pre-election violence, arrests

UN rights experts urge Uganda to halt pre-election violence, arrests

UNITED Nations human rights experts have called on Uganda to rein in violent security forces and drop charges against political opponents and activists arrested in what the experts termed an election clampdown. Popstar Bobi Wine has emerged as the strongest challenger to President Yoweri Museveni in the presidential election scheduled for January 14. On Sunday Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said one of his bodyguards was killed when military police ran him over while Wine's convoy was taking a wounded journalist to seek medical help. Military police said the bodyguard had fallen from a speeding car. "We are…
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