Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:26:47 GMT
Pontiff makes first papal visit to country as he starts 11-day tour that will also include stops in Cameroon and Angola
Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Algeria for the first papal visit to the country, calling for peace on the opening stop of a tour of Africa that signals the continent’s growing importance to the Catholic church.
The 11-day trip, which will include stops in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, is the longest by Pope Leo since being elected to the papacy in May last year.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:17:34 GMT
Armed men fired at Berekum Chelsea bus on Sunday
Frimpong dies of wounds at hospital
Berekum Chelsea winger Dominic Frimpong was killed in an armed robbery on his team’s bus as they returned from a match on Sunday, the Ghana Football Association said.
Berekum Chelsea said six “masked men wielding guns and assault rifles” had blocked the road as the team returned from their Ghana Premier League match against Samartex.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:00:38 GMT
Presidential elections in Djibouti and Benin at the weekend highlighted how a costly electoral system is reshaping democracy
Alexis Mohamed would have loved to stand against his former boss. A longtime adviser to Djibouti’s president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, Mohamed resigned last September, citing democratic regression in the country.
But at the election at the weekend, Mohamed was not on the ballot. Now outside the country, he says he cannot return home to file nomination papers or campaign freely without credible security guarantees. Even if he were allowed to compete, nomination costs would still loom as a steep barrier in a political environment many critics describe as ceremonial, with Guelleh the habitual winner.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 06:00:38 GMT
Late-night gallery tours and new venues signal a city staking its claim as a regional arts capital
On a recent weekday evening, the doors of more than a dozen galleries and museums across Abidjan stayed open till midnight, several hours later than usual, as art enthusiasts went around town on a bus tour. It was the Night of the Galleries, designed for people to drop in after work and enjoy Abidjan art week to the fullest.
The after-hours special showcase was first tested in January 2024 on the sidelines of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament hosted and won by Côte d’Ivoire. The tradition continued this year during the art week’s third edition, which ran from last Tuesday to Sunday.
Continue reading...Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:16:15 GMT
Officials confirm misfire as Amnesty gives death toll after speaking to survivors of strike on market in Yobe state
A Nigerian air force strike targeting jihadist rebels hit a market in north-east Nigeria, killing more than 100 people and injuring many others, Amnesty International and local media have said.
Officials confirmed a misfire had occurred but did not provide details.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:05:16 GMT
Lack of ballot papers and defective computers disrupt election that Keiko Fujimori appears to be leading
Peruvians will have to wait at least until the end of Monday to know the result of the presidential election held on Sunday, after the voting process descended into chaos in some polling stations due to a lack of ballot papers or defective computers.
In an unprecedented move, Peru’s electoral agency ONPE announced on Sunday night that it would extend voting for an extra day to allow tens of thousands of Peruvians in the country and abroad, who had been unable to vote, to cast their ballots.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:35:21 GMT
President contrasts his health with challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, who fainted during a TV debate
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is seeking to lunge and leg press his way to a historic fourth term, as the octogenarian politician uses a flurry of workout videos to convince voters he is fighting fit ahead of October’s crunch election.
Lula looks set to face off against a senator almost half his age in what will be the leftist’s seventh presidential campaign since he first sought Brazil’s top job in 1989, when he was 44.
Continue reading...Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:38 GMT
As Trump’s actions spark a desire for stability, analysts say Carney is in effect assembling a union government
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, is on the brink of securing a majority government, with his Liberal party poised to win at least two closely watched byelections and courting an “almost unprecedented” string of defections from rival parties.
Carney’s ability to turn a strong minority into a narrow majority through electoral gains and floor crossing has strengthened his reputation as a pragmatic leader above the cut and thrust of partisan politics. But his efforts to bring in lawmakers from across the political spectrum has also sparked a fierce internal debate over the Liberals’ values and the risks of consolidating more power.
Continue reading...Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:00:31 GMT
Crime and corruption top voter concerns in highly unpredictable election with 35 candidates for president
Peruvians go to the polls on Sunday hoping to break a cycle of instability that has produced nine presidents in a decade as well as surging violent crime, corruption scandals and overwhelming distrust in institutions and politicians.
About 27 million people who are eligible to vote must choose between a record 35 presidential candidates as well as contenders for the bicameral congress – all from a ballot sheet measuring nearly half a metre, the longest in the country’s history.
Continue reading...Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:26:29 GMT
Officials said many killed at popular tourist site were young, with more people reported injured or missing
At least 30 people, many of them young, have died and dozens more are reported to have been injured after a crush at a mountaintop fortress in northern Haiti that is a popular tourist spot.
Jean Henri Petit, the head of civil protection for the country’s Nord department, said the incident took place on Saturday at Citadelle Henry, also known as Citadelle Laferrière, a large 19th-century fortress built shortly after the Caribbean country’s independence from France.
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