Tag: topNews

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Eight infants died in a fire in a hospital in Algeria’s El Oued early on Tuesday the fire service was quoted as saying on state media without giving any further details. The government has opened an inquiry into the causes of the fire, it added. The quality of government services has often been a cause of frustration… Read More

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria’s one-time kingmaker and intelligence chief went on trial on Monday along with his successor and a brother of the ousted president for “conspiring against the army”, state radio reported. Mohamed Mediene, Bachir Tertag and Said Bouteflika were arrested this spring as the authorities grappled with mass protests demanding that Algeria’s entrenched ruling elite let go their… Read More

CAIRO (Reuters) – Thomas Cook operator Blue Sky Group said on Monday that 25,000 reservations in Egypt booked up to April 2020 had been cancelled. The cancellations came as Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, collapsed, forcing governments and insurance companies to coordinate a huge operation to return home some 600,000 travellers. Blue Sky currently has 1,600 Thomas Cook… Read More

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian authorities have detained at least 373 people as they try to quash rare protests, rights monitors said on Monday, as Egyptian bonds fell and stock losses eased following their sharpest falls in years. Hundreds demonstrated in Cairo and other cities on Friday in response to online calls for protests against government corruption. Defying a ban on… Read More

NAIROBI (Reuters) – A collapsed classroom killed seven children and injured a further 57 in Kenya’s capital Nairobi early on Monday morning, a government spokesman said. “There have been 57 students that have been taken to hospital for treatment, and we can also confirm that there have been seven fatalities,” said Cyrus Oguna, Kenya’s government spokesman. Local television showed pictures… Read More

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Fighters belonging to Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab stormed an army base near the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, looted it for weapons and then withdrew, a military source, residents and the group told Reuters. The assault began when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the base in El Salini, 60 kilometres (37 miles) southwest… Read More

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania is refusing to provide detailed information on suspected Ebola cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a rare public rebuke as the region struggles with an outbreak already declared a global health emergency. Transparency and speed are key to combating the deadly hemorrhagic fever because it can spread rapidly. Contacts of potentially infected… Read More

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia said on Saturday it had arrested an unspecified number of Islamist militant members of the Somali group al Shabaab and Islamic State who were planning to carry out attacks in the country on various targets including hotels. Some of those arrested were carrying out intelligence work including photographing potential targets, the National Intelligence Security Services… Read More

DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iranian sailor held hostage by Somali pirates for more than four years has been released with the help of the United Nations and a humanitarian group, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi thanked the Hostage Support Partnership group, U.N. officials in Somalia, and authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland and in Ethiopia for… Read More

KINSHASA (Reuters) – At least 28 people have been killed in a northeastern province of Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two days, the UN stabilizing mission in the country (MONUSCO) said on Thursday. A series of attacks in northeastern Congo has targeted civilians, including children, who were fleeing a resurgence in recent months of ethnic clashes between farming… Read More