In the news

Human rights activists and supporters took part in a sit-in at the Casablanca Appeals Court to rally behind a journalist, who’s being tried over accusation of sexual assault in Morocco. In fact, The trial of editor-in-chief of the Akhbar Al Yaoun newspaper, Soulaimane Raissouni was postponed to March 2 at …

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it would temporarily reduce political content appearing on New Feeds for some users in Canada, Brazil and Indonesia this week and in the United States within the coming weeks. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in January that he wanted to “turn down the temperature” …

On Tuesday the Senegalese army said it took three rebel “bases” in the restive southern region Casamance and recovered weapons during an offensive launched in late January after months of a lull in the long-standing conflict. Officers of the Senegalese army took the press for a rare visit to two …

Somalia’s government spokesman Mohamed Moalimu has said a planned meeting next week will help end political uncertainty in the country. He told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the government was always ready to facilitate free and fair elections. The country missed the 8 February deadline to hold elections because of …

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has called for a meeting with federal state leaders next week to resolve the impasse on how to proceed with elections. The term of President Farmajo ended on Monday after talks on the elections collapsed on 5 February. Opposition groups have said they no longer …

The Ugandan government has announced the full restoration of internet and social media services. “We apologise for the inconveniences caused, but it was for the security of our country,” Peter Ogwang, State Minister for ICT and National Guidance, tweeted. He added: “Let’s be constructive, not destructive consumers/users of social media.” …

Officials in Nigeria’s north-western state of Kaduna say gunmen killed at least 23 villagers and injured others in a series of attacks on Tuesday. The authorities say 10 of the victims were shot dead in a village in Birnin-Gwari area. One of the attackers was killed by villagers. In a …

The Gambia is experiencing prolonged downtime of internet and mobile telephony resulting in general disruption of services. This is the second time in a week that the West Africa country has experienced hours of shutdown in communication services. Last week, the state-owned telecommunications company, Gamtel, apologised to consumers for the …

Due to increasing coronavirus cases among lawmakers and staff, Ghana’s parliament will suspend sittings for three weeks , Speaker Alban Bagbin announced on Tuesday. The number of MPs who have contracted the virus has risen to 17 while that of staff has gone up to 151. Speaker Bagbin said sittings …

The South African government has outlined its amended coronavirus immunisation plans. They were put on hold when a trial suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccines which were due to be distributed were less effective against a local variant of the virus. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said a Johnson and Johnson vaccine …