Kabul, 13 December, 2005— A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck northeastern Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan early on Tuesday morning. Officials were still trying contact isolated communities to determine whether the quake […]

Johannesburg, 13 December, 2005— The fuel shortage in South Africa has started affecting supplies in neighbouring countries dependant on exports from regional economic power and some petrol stations in Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique […]

Dar es Salaam, 13 December, 2005— After two consecutive five-year terms, Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa will retire after elections on 14 December. Known as a brilliant and largely socialist politician, he nonetheless adopted a pragmatic […]

Addis Ababa, 12 December, 2005— Ethiopia will pull back troops from its tense border with Eritrea to comply with a United Nations order to avert fresh conflict in the Horn of Africa, the Ethiopian foreign […]

Sana, 12 December, 2005— The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) has continued to express concerns over a perceived deterioration of press freedoms after the suspension of two local newspapers and the alleged beating of a press-rights […]

Nairobi, 12 December, 2005— Displaced people in the strife-torn western region of Darfur continue to be threatened and harassed even after their arrival in camps, aid workers say. “The security situation in Abu Shouk [the […]

Berlin, 7 December, 2005— A two-day conference of experts on population change in Germany ended here today. Organised under the initiative of Federal President Horst Köhler in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation, the conference brought […]

Sana, 9 December, 2005— Islamic scholars and groups from the Middle East and Asia attending a conference in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, have issued a joint statement demanding the immediate release of four kidnapped aid […]