Author: Amnewsworld

Angolans started casting ballots on Wednesday in what is expected to be the most competitive vote in its democratic history, with incumbent president Joao Lourenco squaring up against charismatic opposition leader Adalberto Costa Junior. A struggling economy, the high cost of living, soaring poverty compounded by the Covid pandemic, drought in southern parts of the country, and the death of a former strongman president all loom large. The ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party, which has held power for nearly five decades in the oil-rich nation, is facing the most serious challenge since the country’s first…

Thousands of people flocked to the outskirts of Buenos Aires on Saturday to pay tribute to one of the country’s most beloved and controversial pagan saints, San La Muerte. The Catholic Church rejects this popular saint depicted as a skeleton holding a scythe. However, many Catholics follow him in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Offerings are made in the form of money, flowers, fruit and especially bottles of sugar cane liquor. His followers say that one can ask him for favors in difficult situations, but also wish misfortune on those who have not behaved well towards them. AMN Reporters.

As Egypt prepares to expand to serve a population over 20 million, the Cairo metro has recruited Egypt’s first female train drivers, a novelty in a country where few women have formal jobs. Since April, commuters on the network’s newest line have seen women take the controls in the driver’s cab, with reactions ranging from raised eyebrows to outright disapproval, according to the two pioneers. Suzan Mohamed is one of the first female conductors on the Cairo metro. “I have a mixed feeling between happiness and responsibility as I should transport thousands of passengers every day. It is a big…

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has arrived in Sudan. A year ago he visited the country for talks on outstanding arrest warrants over crimes committed during the 2003 Darfur war under ousted president Omar al Bashir. “The ICC prosecutor and a court delegation will hold a number of meetings with senior officials and he will be visiting the Darfur region,” according to the local media. Khan’s visit will continue until August 25, His visit this year is the third by an ICC prosecutor to Sudan since Bashir’s ouster in April 2019. Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, held talks…

Emergency units and police officers were securing the Hayat hotel and its surroundings in Mogadishu on Sunday following Al-Shabaab’s violent attack. Health Minister Dr. Ali Haji Adam reported on Sunday afternoon, 21 deaths and 117 people wounded between Friday evening and Saturday night. Several civilians trapped in the hotel were rescued during and after the 30-hour-long siege by security forces. “During the operations, the security agencies were focused on getting out the citizens. They managed to save more than 106 people including children and women”, said Major General Abdi Hassan Mohamed, a Somalian police commissioner on Sunday. The hotel suffered heavy damage during…

The spokesperson for the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday, the 7-member peace committee had drawn up a “proposal” to start ceasefire talks with the rebels and end the war in the northern region. Will a ceasefire agreement and a national dialogue end the 20-month-long war in northern Ethiopia? On Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Office insisted the government wanted talks with rebel leaders in the Tigray region to start. For this purpose, a plan was drawn up by a 7-member peace committee established in June. “The peace proposal is three-pronged. Firstly, it proposes for peace talks…

In Western Kenya, a sunny sky can be an ominous sign of worse things to come. In Garissa, living creatures barely make it. Either death awaits or exile for those who wish to survive. According to National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), Kenya is facing an unprecedented severe drought due to the cumulative impacts of four consecutive failed rainy seasons. “I am 78 years old, Dubey Ibrahim Werar says. I have not seen a severe drought like this in all my life. For the last three years, there has not been a single drop of rain. All these houses have been abandoned…

Félicien Kabuga, the alleged “financier” of the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, will be tried from September 29 in The Hague where he will face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, a United Nations judge announced Thursday. “The Chamber orders the trial in its branch in The Hague with the opening statements from September 29 (…) and the first depositions from October 5,” said Judge Iain Bonomy, of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MTPI), in charge of completing the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Kabuga, once one of Rwanda’s richest men, will face seven…

At least thirty eight people have died and several dozen were injured in forest fires that affected Wednesday 14 departments in northern Algeria, reviving the spectre of the summer of 2021, the deadliest in the country’s modern history. “Thirty eight people died: two in Setif (east) and 24 in El Tarf (east), near the border with Tunisia, Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud announced during the 8:00 p.m. news). Several people suffered burns or breathing difficulties but no new official figure was given on the number of injured. A previous report by the civil protection said that four people had various degrees…

Ethiopian Girl Skaters is an all-girls skateboarding group that brings together young girls from different backgrounds, creating a community that challenges the stereotype that girls should not be involved in extreme sports like skateboarding. The project, founded by skateboarder Sosina Challa, invites many young girls to use their free time to learn a new sport that helps them improve their physical and mental health. AMN Reporters.