Crime

A court in the capital, Antanarivo, has sentenced former president Marc Ravalomanana and two officers to life imprisonment with hard labour for the part they played in the deaths of about 30 protesters before he was forced from office in 2009.

A gang of four armed men last Friday night kidnapped the son of first Republic Prime Minister, Dr Jhailil Tafawa Balewa in Abuja. Dr. Jhailil is also the leader of one of the Goodluck Jonathan 2011 campaign groups.

The Kidnappers who are still keeping the medical doctor turned politician in their hideout as at the time of filing this report are said to be demanding a ransom of N100m.

Fighting in Somalia's anarchic capital Mogadishu entered a fourth day Thursday, as African Union-backed Somali interim government forces continued street clashes and artillery exchanges with Islamist insurgents, Radio Garowe reports.

A major blow was yesterday evening dealt on the federal government amnesty programme when the leader of "Outlaws" and major urban guerrilla, Mr. Soboma George, was killed by four men while two of his close aides were injured.

Conflicting reports said two girls who were in his company also lost their lives though it is not yet clear what led to the attack and by which group.

A Kaduna Chief Magistrate's Court has ordered the arrest of the Commandant of the Nigerian Army Central Workshop, Kaduna , Brigadier General A. C. Ani, for refusing to appear before the court.

Ani was taken to court by a Kaduna based car dealer, Tanimu Ibrahim and Barrister Mustapha Saidu, for allegedly refusing to pay the balance of cost of a Mercedez Benz (C-class) 230, he bought from them.

A ROW is brewing within the inclusive government over the timing of the next elections and the level of Sadc's involvement in any such polls as regional leaders increasingly view fresh free and fair polls as the way out of Zimbabwe's decade-long political stalemate.

Nine people of Pakistani origin arrested for allegedly plotting the July 11 bombings in Kampala that killed at least 76 people, were yesterday freed from custody on police bond.

Mr Boney Katatumba, Islamabad's consul here, confirmed the release of the suspects, most of them employees of Tech Access, a Pakistani-based IT company.

At least six fighters were killed in clashes between Somali militants linked to local warlord Mohamed Said Atom and security forces of the breakaway Puntland state.

On Friday, fighters led by Atom raided a military base near the Galgala mountains which had been lost to Puntland on Wednesday.

GOVERNMENT ministers who disclose information to the media on cabinet meetings and proceedings will be arrested together with offending journalists in a move calculated to stem "damaging leaks", the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal.

SEVENTY-three people are feared dead after their boat capsized on Lake Albert on Saturday night. The mishap occurred at Kakoma in Runga village, Kigolobya sub-county in Hoima district.

By press time, the Police, assisted by local residents, had rescued 17 people. A body of an adult female and those of four children were recovered.

THE Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger Delta deployed soldiers with two Armoured Personnel Carriers to quell a clash in Warri between the second batch of ex-militants invited for training at Obubra, Cross River State, and the group that had not yet enrolled for the programme.

TRADE union leader Apollo Nyangasi was yesterday charged and remanded to Luzira Prison over the murder of his wife, Christine Dambio Nyangasi.

The 45-year-old Nyangasi is the national chairman of the Uganda Health and Allied Workers Union.

At least 17 civilians were killed in clashes between Islamist insurgents and Somali government troops in Mogadishu. Somalia's embattled government welcomes the African Union's decision to send more troops to Mogadishu

Ambulance staff collected ten bodies of civilians and 46 wounded following clashes on Tuesday, the head of Mogadishu ambulance services Ali Musa said.

Abdirashid Mohamed Irro, the minister for commerce of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, stated yesterday that his government was aware that militias trained in Southern Somalia have been sent to cause instability in Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in Northeastern Somalia.

Several thousand people in northern Somalia have been displaced in recent weeks by clashes between Somaliland troops and a new rebel group, according to local and UN sources.