WORLD

Somalia’s president has called on the international community to lift an arms embargo on his country as government soldiers battle to regain territory from the armed group al-Shabab. Speaking on Thursday at a Somalia conference held in London and attended by world leaders, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, said government forces would defeat the al-Qaeda-linked group in “a few ...

US President Donald Trump has insisted he is not under investigation, while dismissing the FBI director he fired as a “showboat” and “grandstander”. Mr Trump also told NBC News it was his decision alone to sack James Comey. Mr Comey was leading an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and ...

Harare – President Robert Mugabe, 93, is in Singapore again this week for a medical check-up, the second one in just two months. But his spokesperson George Charamba says there are good reasons for this. Here’s what Charamba told the local CapiTalk radio station: Eye problems OK, this has always been the official line. But Charamba says the problems can ...

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s spokesman has hit back at critics who accuse him of falling asleep at public events, saying the 93 year old is in fact closing his eyes to protect them from bright lights. George Charamba was quoted by the state-owned Herald newspaper as saying that Mr Mugabe travels regularly to Singapore to receive specialised treatment for an ...

Gbenga Oduntan, University of Kent Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is locked in a standoff with the country’s Senate after it twice refused to confirm his choice for the country’s corruption buster. The Senate’s rejection of Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Commission, for a permanent appointment came after he failed screening amid allegations he is himself ...

Tripoli – Libya’s coastguard on Wednesday intercepted a wooden boat packed with almost 500 migrants after duelling with a German rescue ship and coming under fire from traffickers, the navy said. The migrants, who were bound for Italy, were picked up off the western city of Sabratha, said navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem. The German non-governmental organisation “Sea-Watch tried to disrupt ...

The African Union (AU) is developing a policy designed to hold companies to account by setting down guidelines on how they should conduct business on the continent.  The aim of the policy is to implement a set of guiding principles drawn up by the United Nations. It will provide a roadmap for states, regional economic communities and regional institutions to regulate the ...

New York – The United Nations says this week’s attack on the UN peacekeepers by a Christian rebel group was the biggest for the mission in the Central African Republic, leaving four soldiers dead, 10 injured and one missing. The UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday that UN troops and “local actors” were continuing to search for the missing ...

A US Senate panel investigating Russian interference in last year’s election has issued a rare formal demand for documents from President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser. Michael Flynn has failed to voluntarily co-operate with the investigation, the Senate Intelligence Committee says. He was forced to resign in February after failing to disclose the content of his talks with Russian ...

The official White House read out on the meeting between President Trump and Russia’s foreign minister say Mr Trump asked Russia to “rein in the Assad regime” in Syria. “President Trump emphasised the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies,” ...