SmallShop....Africa News

Wittenberg Univeristy students share experiences after travel to Africa

In Arizona, an eight-year-old girl — an immigrant from the west African nation of Liberia — was allegedly raped by four Liberian boys two weeks ago. It caused outrage in the U.S. and far beyond, partly because the girls parents blamed her for bringing shame to the family.

How deep is the religious and political friction in the country and what does the future hold for Nigeria? Can there be a secular solution to a sectarian crisis?

A strike by tens of thousands of South African council workers entered its third day, disrupting local government services and keeping up pressure on President Jacob Zuma.

Deadly clashes have erupted between members of a Muslim group and police officers in the north of Nigeria. The group Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia (Islamic law) across the country, has attacked police stations and churches. Al Jazeera's Roza Ibrahimova reports on the unrest which is spreading across the northern provinces.

South Africa is bracing itself for a week in which bus, train and municipal workers are all set to go on strike. The industrial action will see more than 160,000 people stop work in claims for higher wages.

At least two students among them a Kenyan were injured in a shooting incident this afternoon at a Ugandan international school. The shoot out at Bugema seventh day secondary school occurred when police called in to quell riots at the school used live bullets. The students who were protesting against new school rules that required the students to get new registration cards.

Approximately 2 years ago when Ndia Mp Njeru Robinson Githae advised Kenyans to broaden the range of their diet to allow some delicacies like rats, many laughed off the suggestion as if it was coming from a mad man about town. But it seems as if some people were taking Githae's counsel seriously. Early this week we brought you the pictures of Pokot residents scrambling for the carcas of a donkey, and recently in Naivasha, there was the case of a man who slaughtered dogs and offered them as goat meat. Today, once again in Naivasha, it dawned on residents that they have been feasting on baboon meat in the belief that it was pork.

The ministry of Medical Services has issued a warning on the use of herbal contraceptives. The Director of Medical Services Dr. Francis Kimani has asked Kenyans to be on the lookout especially for Chinese herbal contraceptives, which are causing abnormal growth in women and children.

A man is nursing gunshot wounds in the mouth at the Aga Khan hospital after he was allegedly shot by a retired police officer in what is believed to have been a road rage incident in Nairobi.....

Dozens of livestock have died in North Horr and Marsabit due to the prolonged drought.

It may be widely known as the "killer bee," but to some of South Africa's poor, the African bee is proving to be an economic life-saver.

Protesters took to the streets of Brazzaville on Wednesday shortly after President Denis Sassou-Nguesso was declared the winner of Sundays presidential election in a poll widely criticised by rights groups and the opposition.

Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor took the stand in the Hague on Tuesday, to emphatically denounce the war crimes charges against him at the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende has criticized President Obamas remarks on Kenyas leadership and governance saying the countrys structures were rock solid.

Ghanaweb "There is this rumour which has more or less taking centre stage in our Ghanaian society. This rumour, I must say, has with time evolved into a legendary status all of its own. Thanks of course to the media. Some say that our former ex president Jerry John Rawlings is fiercely jealous of our ex president John Agyekum Kufour. Thanks to the success of the latter's perceived accomplishments. As a matter of fact, the countless foreign invitations extended towards the ex president after his successful eight years stewardship of this country by leaders and institutions have not helped eradicate this rumour. But rather have helped inflame it."

Monitor Online "A senior cabinet minister yesterday said Sudan President Omar El Bashir faces arrest if he visits Uganda – only days after the government invited the leader to attend a top-level summit. The government’s U-turn on Gen. Bashir, whose arrest is being sought by the International Criminal Court over charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur region in his country, came during a visit to Kampala by the ICC chief prosecutor, Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo."

the Namibian: "A FORMER prison guard who is accused of having been involved in an attempted robbery that would have been the largest cash-in-transit heist in Namibia’s history – were it not foiled – is set to hear on Friday whether he will be released on bail after close to eight weeks in Police custody."

The acute water shortage in Nairobi has persisted. However, the government has taken a step towards addressing the crisis by launching a new initiative to supply water in jerricans.

In his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa, Obama did recognize his Kenyan roots.But the u.s. leader picked out Kenya as one of the african countries that have failed to realise their potential. But as Brenda Mulinya reports, a section of Kenyan leaders are putting up a brave face, in the wake of the stinging rebuke.

US President Barack Obama, in this excerpt from his speech at the Parliament of Ghana in Accra, outlines the potential role of Africa in a global partnership.

While Ghanaians could only watch president Obama from afar, there was no denying the excitement his visit has generated in Accra. The people appeared to appreciate his presence despite the expected tight security that kept them at bay when he delivered his keynote speech in parliament.

The African penguin which nests along the southern coastline of the continent is under threat because of commercial fishing and oil spills. Emma Hurd reports.

Hundreds of Green Point stadium construction workers added their voice to the national labour strike today with a protest outside the stadium gates. Like other protesters across the country, they await a result from national negotiations, which includes the demand for a 13% wage increase.

Corruption by government officials runs into billions of dollars according to corruption watchdogs in Kenya. From corruption perpetuated by the elite, to the ordinary Kenyan who has to bribe his/her way through everyday life. Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from Kibera, Kenya's largest slum.

4th of July marks Liberation day for Rwanda. 15 years ago, the Patriotic army liberated the East African country and marked the end of the horrific genocide. The day is feted nationally every year.

Six suspected gangsters have been shot dead in the last 24 hours in Nairobi and Thika as police stepped up a man hunt for armed gangsters who have run amok killing and maiming several people among them senior government officials in Nairobi and its environs.

A newly released East African bribery survey index ranks Kenya as the most corrupt country in East Africa. The survey by transparency international among the East African countries also ranks the Kenya police as the most corrupt in the East African region.

Twelve people have been killed in a fresh round of fighting in Mogadishu. The latest exchanges pit government forces against the Al-Shabaab militia. The Somalia crisis is in focus in ongoing AU summit in Sirte, Libya.

Uganda's long history of conflict is encouraging security firms to hire large numbers of former Ugandan soldiers to work as as guards in Iraq, reports Andrew Simmons.

Thugs in Juja have devised new ways of terrorizing their victims. They have resorted to the use of petrol bombs for those who fail to cooperate with them. One person is nursing injuries at Kenyatta National Hospital after sustaining serious burns when his house was set ablaze by a gang after he refused to give in to their demands. Four other families have faced similar attacks in just the last one week in Juja.