Africa

Zimbabwe's government has again forced a "total internet shutdown," a media group says, after a days-long violent crackdown on people protesting dramatic fuel price increases.

The African Union continental body issued a surprise last-minute demand late Thursday for Congo's government to suspend the announcement of final results of the disputed presidential election, citing "serious doubts".

A doctor and a 16-year-old have been killed in Sudan amid demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir.

The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and journalists, yesterday condemned the killing of an investigative journalist working for Tiger Eye in Ghana, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, also known as Ahmed Divela.

Zimbabwe’s inflation hit a fresh 10-year high of 42.09 per cent year-on-year in December, from 31.01 per cent in November, the statistical agency Zimstats said on Thursday

The UN rights chief on Thursday slammed Sudan’s “repressive response” to anti-government demonstrations that have turned into daily rallies against President Omar al-Bashir, including the use of live ammunition against protesters.

Continental leaders will gather at the African Union this week to discuss the disputed election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokesperson for the body said on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Chad on Jan. 20, where he is expected to announce the resumption of diplomatic ties with the African country, his office said Thursday.

A Ghanaian undercover journalist has been shot dead as he drove home, after a politician called for retribution against him.

Eighteen people died after a bus overturned in western Ethiopia on Wednesday, leaving scores of others with serious injuries, police said.

The US embassy in Zimbabwe says it is "alarmed" by credible reports that security forces are targeting and beating activists and labour leaders. A local doctors' rights group says it has treated 68 gunshot cases.

Zimbabwean doctors on Thursday said they had treated almost 70 people for gunshot wounds while police rounded up hundreds after violent protests this week triggered by a steep rise in fuel prices.

One month after protests erupted across Sudan against rising bread prices, anti-government demonstrations have turned into daily rallies against a defiant President Omar al-Bashir who has rejected calls to resign.

Kenyan security forces on Thursday resumed their search of the hotel complex attacked by Islamists with sniffer dogs and bomb experts, as information emerged about one of the attackers who killed 21 people.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday called for calm as he vowed to tackle the "monumental task" of fixing the shattered economy that has sparked violent protests this week.

Burkina Faso's security ministry says a Canadian national has been kidnapped by suspected extremists in the West African nation near its border with Niger.

Fifty people remained missing on Thursday as Kenyan security forces searched for suspects involved in the brazen attack on a Nairobi hotel complex that killed 21 people.

The American man who was among the 14 people killed in an attack on a luxury hotel complex in the Kenyan capital Nairobi was a consultant who survived the 9/11 attacks, and specialised in emerging economies.