The World Health Organization said Sunday it was boosting its response to a plague outbreak in Madagascar that has killed 24 people, as the government banned public meetings to reduce infections.

Madagascar’s parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to dismiss the president, Hery Rajaonarimanpianina, for alleged constitutional violations and general incompetence.

A drought has ravaged villages across the southern part of Madagascar, the world’s fourth biggest island, leaving its people hungry and its children with less physical reserves dying.

Malagasy officials have raised the death toll from a recent bubonic plague outbreak to 47 as the bacterial disease spreads through the country.

An angry mob in Madagascar has lynched two European men and a local fellow, who are suspected of murdering a child to harvest his organs, authorities say.

A suspected bomb-maker was killed in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo on Monday when an explosive device he is believed to have been building blew up prematurely, police said.

Madagascar's Special Electoral Court (CES) late Saturday cancelled eight candidacies including those of the three controversial contenders to run in this year's presidential elections.

The International Contact Group has urged three Madagascar's controversial candidates to withdraw from the presidential race by July 31.

France has suspended the visas of Madagascar's three leading presidential candidates, including transition President Andry Rajoelina, amid the election dispute.

Madagascar shipped its first refined nickel last week, a statement from the company explorer of cobalt and nickel in the country said on Monday.

Three Chinese people were decorated by the Malagasy government on Tuesday for promoting relationship between China and Madagascar.

20120904
AP
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Madagascar's police chief says villagers attacked by cattle rustlers turned on the alleged thieves and killed 67 of them.

20120903
AFP
Nine people were killed as police and gendarmes intervened after a gang of armed cattle thieves seized a thousand cattle in southern Madagascar, the gendarmerie said Sunday.

20120811
AFP
Senior regional officials seeking to end a three year crisis in Madagascar flew in on Friday to meet political parties after talks between the country's rival leaders ended in deadlock.

20120806
AFP
Madagascan leader Andry Rajoelina and the man he toppled in 2009, rival Marc Ravalomanana, will hold their second talks in two weeks on Wednesday to end a bitter deadlock, sources said Sunday.

20120805
AFP
Six people remained in custody in Madagascar at a pre-trial hearing Saturday after an army mutiny two weeks ago at a military base that left three dead, the police chief said.

20120802
AFP
Madagascar will hold a much-delayed presidential election in May, a key step in ending a protracted crisis sparked by a coup in 2009, the electoral commission announced Wednesday.

20120801
AFP
The Southern African Development Community on Tuesday condemned the failed bid by former Madagascan president Marc Ravalomanana's wife to return home while peace talks were in progress.

20120725
AFP
Madagascar's deposed ex-president Marc Ravalomanana and current leader and rival Andry Rajoelina met briefly on the Seychelles, government sources said Tuesday, on the eve of landmark talks.

20120724
AFP
Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina arrived on a remote Seychelles island Monday ahead of a meeting with the man he ousted in 2009, at crunch talks brokered by the regional bloc.