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A Kenyan court sentenced 24 Somalis to seven years each in prison yesterday for attempting to hijack an Iranian merchant vessel, FV Ariya, in the Gulf of Oman in October 2010. The men — who were arrested by the Dutch navy working under Nato command — were
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Montreux. – A UN-backed international conference started yesterday in the Swiss lakeside city of Montreux, aiming to end a three-year-long conflict in Syria.
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A House of Representatives candidate in the American state Florida, Joshua Black, has made controversial remarks about US President Barack Obama, saying he should be hanged for war crimes.
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The new interim president of the Central African Republic says she will hold talks with militant groups in an attempt to restore order in the conflict-ridden country.
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Ukraine’S prime minister denounced anti-government protesters as “terrorists” yesterday, but in what appeared to be his first real move to end weeks of unrest President Viktor Yanukovich held talks with opposition leaders.
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A fuel tanker is suspected to have been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Angola, the ship’s owners said yesterday, in what would be the most southerly attack to date by pirates off West Africa.
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East African nations have approved a resolution allowing 5 500 troops into South Sudan to end over a month of fierce fighting that has devastated the world’s youngest nation.
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Cairo. — Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi will go on trial on February 16 over charges of espionage along with 35 others, official news agency MENA reported yesterday.
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Johannesburg. — Africa’s economic growth is projected to accelerate to 4.7 percent this year and five percent in 2015, compared with an estimated growth of four percent last year, a UN report said yesterday.
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Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday it was a mistake for UN chief Ban Ki-moon to withdraw an invitation to Iran to attend peace talks on Syria, but did not see it as a catastrophe.
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Bangui. — The election of Catherine Samba-Panza as the new interim leader of the Central African Republic was unanimously hailed by the country’s political class: the anti-Balaka self-defence militia, the ex-Seleka rebels and civil society.
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What began as an ordinary Friday night for a barman at an upscale London steakhouse ended on a more dramatic note after former UK prime minister Tony Blair entered the establishment.
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Algeria will hold exploratory talks with rebel groups from neighbouring Mali in an attempt to revive peace negotiations there, it said on Sunday, an initiative welcomed by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Mali exploded into violence when Tuareg separatist fighters
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Brussels. — The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union (EU) yesterday made a decision to suspend certain of its restrictive measures against Iran for six months. The EU has lifted the prohibition on the provision of insurance and transport in relation to Iranian crude oil
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Kabul. — Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government and Nato-led forces stationed in Afghanistan have downplayed a US call to give up fighting and initiate dialogue with the Afghan government to end the protracted conflict in the war-hit country. “Following the