In the news

Lawyers defending Malian Islamist suspect Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz for his role as police chief in Timbuktu in 2012 told judges at the International Criminal Court that he was the “wrong man”, the BBC reported. “He should not be convicted because he happened to be in the wrong place at …

A 39-year-old woman in Germany has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for secretly punching holes in her partner’s condoms to get pregnant, local media reported. A court in western Germany has found a woman guilty of sexual assault after the aggrieved lover, 42, filed a complaint against her. …

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has announced his candidacy for a second term in presidential elections scheduled for May 15. On Twitter, President Farmajo said he was seeking a second term in “response to the call of the Somali people” and to continue “on the path of progress and development”. …

Zimbabwean government on Saturday ordered banks to stop lending with immediate effect in a move Harare said was designed to stop speculation against the Zimbabwean dollar and was part of a raft of measures to arrest its rapid devaluation on the black market, Reuters reported. The southern African country reintroduced …

Authorities in Mozambique say over 14,000 HIV patients have abandoned antiretroviral therapy in the first three months of the year in the central province of Zambézia. Male patients form the largest part of those no longer taking the drugs, according to Dr Cheinaze Veríssimo – the provincial head of the …

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has suspended and put under house arrest minister Edouard Bamporiki, in charge of youth and culture, authorities have announced. The minister’s suspension was as a result of “matters of accountability under investigations”, a statement from the prime minister’s office said. He is accused of “serious cases …

A 38-year-old farmer in Ghana has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for attempting to kill his 16-year-old biological son for money ritual, 3news website reported. Kwabena Ebo, a resident of Ayisakro, a community near Axim in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region, was charged with trading …

An evangelist is in trouble after telling people he knows of a gate leading to heaven from south-western Nigeria that he can show them – for a fee, the BBC reports. Pastor Ade Abraham was reported to police by one of his followers, who said the pastor had charged him …

Liberian president George Weah has sacked the head of the country’s only international airport after dark runways, caused by power failures, had forced numerous incoming flights to land in neighbouring Sierra Leone instead. A presidential press release says the new man to manage the airport will be Darlington Karnley, who …

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed a third case of Ebola in the northwestern city of Mbandaka, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday. It is a 48-year-old man who is a high-risk contact of the first patient, who died on April 21, Reuters agency …