Incident

A plane which crashed whilst trying to land in western Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday has left at least 19 passengers dead.

An official of Kinshasa's small city-centre Ndolo airport, from which the flight took off, confirmed the crash, but did not provide any additional information.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has sounded the alarm over the complete absence of safety for journalists in Somalia following the death of veteran journalist, Barkhad Awale Adan.

Awale Adan was killed in the afternoon of Tuesday, 24 August 2010, during gunfire exchange between the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamists group, Al-Shabaab, in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Russia has slammed a Thai appeals court's decision to allow the extradition of alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout to the US.

Bout, a Russian citizen, will face terrorism charges. Moscow dubbed the decision "illegitimate".

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's sister, Bridgette, is critically ill and is admitted at Parirenyatwa Hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU), officials at the hospital confirmed on Saturday.

The death toll in the simultaneous bomb blasts that rocked Kampala last night has climbed to 64 according to Police reports.

Simultaneous explosions ripped through crowds watching the World Cup final at Kyadondo rugby club and the Ethiopian restaurant in Kabalagala.

Police fear Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group was behind the attacks.

Manute Bol, of Sudan, who became famous for playing basketball in the United States and contributed millions of dollars to help the Sudanese, died on Saturday. He was 47.

News reports said he died of kidney failure. The Washington Post reported that this was due to complications from a rare skin disease that Bol contracted from a medication he had received in Africa.

The Kenyan Government on Monday called in the military to help investigate a grenade attack on a crusade at Uhuru Park on Sunday in which six people were killed and 104 injured.

Five people died and more than 70 others were on Sunday hurt after two explosions caused a stampede at a 'No' rally in Nairobi's Uhuru Park.

The explosions took place as a Nairobi preacher was conducting prayers after the main rally, which was otherwise peaceful.

Nelson Mandela's family was struck by tragedy on the eve of the opening of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament, forcing him to withdraw from the opening ceremony.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation announced that Mandela had learned on Friday morning that his great-granddaughter, 13-year-old Zenani Mandela, had been killed in a car accident on Thursday night.

Lead poisoning caused by illegal gold mining has killed 163 Nigerians, including 111 children, since March in several remote villages in northern Nigeria, a senior government official said yesterday.

The death toll from a boat accident in the Indian Ocean near the Kenyan border has risen to 20.

Eight more bodies have been recovered from Tanzanian waters after the vessel capsized in Tanga on Sunday night. The bodies were found along the Tanga coast on Monday night.

Tanzanian authorities said mv Fauz, a Kenyan registered boat, had more than 70 illegal immigrants when it capsized.

More than 100 people have been killed by floods and thousands others displaced as the rains continue to wreak havoc.

Some 500 families have been displaced in Trans Nzoia District by the floods that have destroyed human life and vegetation.

Kenya Red Cross Society communications officer Nelly Muluka said some of the displaced families risked contracting water- borne diseases.

Heavy shelling rocked Somalia's capital today, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, as rebels fired mortars at the country's lawmakers meeting for the first time this year, medics said amid a chaotic session that saw the Speaker ousted.

More than 100 people died at Tripoli's international airport when a flight from Johannesburg crashed while landing early Wednesday.

The airline operating the aircraft, Afriqiyah Airways, said in a statement posted to its website that flight 8U 771 had been in an accident at 6 am on Wednesday, Tripoli time. The flight left Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

The draft constitution passed by Parliament on Thursday will change the face of Kenya by introducing the most far-reaching institutional reforms the nation has seen since independence.