Society

A Nigerian atheist and outspoken critic of religion was sentenced to 24 years in jail on Tuesday after pleading guilty to blasphemy charges in the largely Muslim northern state of Kano, Reuters reported. Charges against Mubarak Bala are linked to comments he posted on Facebook in April 2020 that were …

At least six people have been burnt to death in an explosion at a petrol station in the northern Nigerian state of Jigawa, local media reported. Reports say some of the victims were sleeping in a small mosque within the gas station in the town of Marke when the fire …

Long queues have been witnessed at petrol station in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, as the city struggles with fuel shortages, the BBC reports. Fuel prices have not changed, but only limited amounts are being sold per day. The shortage started to bite on Monday although the authorities …

Police in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, are looking for a shopping trolley rider filmed holding on to a fuel tanker that was speeding on a major highway, local media reported. The incident happened on Sunday following heavy rains, the man was seen smiling and waving at other motorists, local media …

The prices of petrol and diesel at the pump increased in Rwanda on Monday, amid instability in the global oil market, Reuters agency reported, citing utility regulator. According to the regulator, the fuel price increase is due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We had seen these expected increases based on …

An eight-carriage cargo train derailed as it was traveling from the Lualaba to Kasaï province, in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the BBC reports. Clementine Lutanda, a local administrator from the Lubudi neighborhood where the train began its journey, told the BBC that the crash left seven people dead and …

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) said 168 people are missing following an attack on a train last week in which eight people were killed and several wounded, Reuters agency reports. Suspected bandits blew up the track on the Abuja-Kaduna route in the northwest of the country and then opened fire …

Five more victims of a boat accident involving women and children fleeing armed gang violence in central Nigeria have been found, the BBC reports. The head of the Niger state emergency agency, Ahmad Ibrahim Inga, told the BBC the bodies of four children and one man were found on Thursday. …

UN investigators have found new evidence of mass graves believed to contain migrant bodies at a smuggling point in northwest Libya. The organisation’s fact-finding mssion said the discovery – in the town of Tarhuna – provided further evidence that human rights violations in Libya are “widespread, systematic or both.” The …

A teenager in northern Mozambique who was presumed dead and whose funeral was held in November has turned up in her home village of Lindi, local media reported. The community is referring to Eurélia Manuel Benjamim as having been resurrected from the dead, but she says she had just gone …