In the news

Five suspected robbers were set on fire after they failed in their attempt to snatch telephone handsets from passers-by at Nkpor, near Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria. “The suspects usually use a tricycle to rob unsuspecting members of the public of their telephones, bags, money and other valuables in the area,” …

A seven-year-old boy died when a wall collapsed at Prang in the Pru West District of the Bono East Region of Ghana. The deceased was playing with his other friends when the wall collapsed and trapped him. The Pru West District Director of the National Disaster Management Organization, Martin Owusu, …

More than 2,000 mummified rams’ heads dating from the Ptolemaic era have been discovered in the Temple of Ramses II in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt, authorities said on Sunday. Mummies of sheep, dogs, goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses were also exhumed by a team of American …

Sixteen people were found kidnapped in a single room at Ankaful Zongo in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly in the Central Region of Ghana. The victims, aged 12 and 20, are believed not to be Ghanaians as they were unable to speak any local language. They are suspected to be …

At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries have drowned in the sinking of three boats off Tunisia, the coast guard announced on Sunday. Twenty-nine bodies were found and the coast guard “rescued eleven illegal migrants of several African nationalities after the sinking of their boats” off the coast of …

Ugandan authorities have closed the boarding section of a primary school in the central Mubende region after seven schoolboys reported to have been sodomised by the school’s caretaker, local media reported. The caretaker reportedly pleaded guilty to the charges in court last week and is waiting for sentencing. State Minister …

Authorities in Burkina Faso on Monday announced the suspension of France 24 broadcasts in the country after the TV station aired an interview with the head of al Qaeda’s North African wing AQIM, Reuters reported. France 24 earlier this month aired an interview with Yezid Mebarek, also known as Abu …

An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Lagos has sentenced a 51-year-old man to life imprisonment for defiling his colleague’s nine-year-old daughter, Nigeria. “The need for proper and good parentage cannot be undermined at this age and time where defilement and rape are the order of the day,” …

Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja sentenced four men to death by hanging for armed robbery and kidnapping of a woman in Nigeria, reports said. “The victim was kidnapped while she was about to leave her house,” according to the state Director of Public Prosecution, Dr Babajide Martins. The …

Some suspected herdsmen have attacked and murdered a 49-year-old man in the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. “The victim was working on his fishing camp in the bush when the armed men shot at and killed him, “reports said. A farmer from the community was also shot …