Tag: topNews

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya brought a new 50 megawatt (MW) solar plant online on Friday which it said would mean renewable energy, led by hydroelectricity, now makes up more than 90% of its power mix. The government is increasing electricity generation and investing in Kenya’s power grid to keep up with growing demand and reduce frequent blackouts in the east… Read More

ATHENS (Reuters) – Pirates have released three crew taken hostage from a Greek oil tanker off the coast of the West African country of Togo in November, the vessel’s manager said on Friday. A fourth hostage, a Filipino, died from illness during captivity, European Products Carriers Ltd added. It did not give details of the release. The tanker, Elka Aristotle,… Read More

WINDHOEK (Reuters) – Namibia’s dam water levels have almost halved from already low levels as the worst drought in more than 100 years pushes the desert nation closer to famine. Dams nationwide were at 19.3% of capacity compared to 35.6% this time last year, water utility Namwater said, a drop officials blame on climate change and a five-year drought ripping… Read More

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Global consumers purchasing teak may be fuelling conflict in South Sudan, a research group said on Tuesday, warning that armed groups are benefiting from an unregulated logging trade worth tens of millions of dollars. Washington-based research group C4ADS, which uses publicly available data to analyse illicit transnational networks, examined trade data to document the export of around… Read More

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – The United States imposed sanctions on the leader of an Islamist rebel group and five others on Tuesday for perpetrating serious human rights abuses including mass rape, torture and killings in eastern Congo, the U.S. Treasury said. Congolese officials have accused the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who are originally from Uganda, of… Read More

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) – Madagascar plans to increase its royalties on nickel and cobalt to 4% from 2% at present, a draft mining law said on Tuesday. The law, presented to reporters by Mines Minister Fidiniavo Ravokatra, showed that Madagascar also proposes to allow the government to take at least a 20% stake in any marketable mining production. Reporting by Lovasoa… Read More

LONDON (Reuters) – The son of Angola’s veteran ex-president faced corruption charges before the country’s supreme court in a trial which opened on Monday, state news agency ANGOP said, the most high-profile case yet under the government’s anti-corruption drive. Jose Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, the former head of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, along with three other defendents including the… Read More

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Four mineworkers were killed and one was seriously injured after a rock fall at a South African gold mine on Friday trapped five workers underground, the company and a mining union said on Sunday. The collapse at the Village Main Reef’s Tau Lekoa gold mine in North West province followed at least one earth tremor. The National… Read More

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan police officers were among those killed when gunmen suspected to be from Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked a bus on Friday near the border with Somalia, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said on Saturday. The vehicle belonging to the Medina Bus Company was attacked on a lonely stretch of road in the Kotulo area as it… Read More

(Reuters) – The U.S. military believes that an unarmed American drone reported lost near Libya’s capital last month was in fact shot down by Russian air defenses and it is demanding the return of the aircraft’s wreckage, U.S. Africa Command says. Such a shootdown would underscore Moscow’s increasingly muscular role in the energy-rich nation, where Russian mercenaries are reportedly intervening… Read More