20110812
Reuters
COTONOU (Reuters) - A spike in pirate attacks off Benin has forced dozens of ships to steer clear of the West African state's waters, the head of the country's navy said of a trend that is likely to hit the its port-heavy tax revenues and hurt economic growth.

20110811
Reuters
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The U.N.'s food agency said it has been able to reach more parts of famine-struck Somalia in the last month but there were still significant security challenges in Mogadishu even though Islamist rebels have left the capital.

20110811
Reuters
LILONGWE (Reuters) - Malawian activists are planning a mass protest for Wednesday after talks with the government on political reforms that could see the United States and Britain resume aid to the country became deadlocked.

20110811
Reuters
SHALGHOUDA, Libya (Reuters) - Rebel forces in western Libya pushed north toward the town of Zawiyah near the Mediterranean coast on Thursday, trying to get within striking distance of the capital, Tripoli.

20110811
Reuters
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has begun procedures to end the country's three-decade old state of emergency, the government said on Thursday, a key demand of the protesters who toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February.

20110811
Reuters
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has reduced penalties for foreign companies that violate a government mandate to sell a majority of their shares to locals, according to a government notice obtained on Thursday.

20110811
Reuters
KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - The parents of four Nigerian children who died during a 1996 meningitis outbreak in a case involving accusations of wrongful testing against Pfizer Inc each collected cheques for $175,000 from a compensation trust fund on Thursday.

20110811
Reuters
BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Gunmen killed one soldier and seriously wounded five people in western Burundi, the latest attack in a spate of violent incidents that have raised fears of a new insurgency in the central African country.

20110811
Reuters
PRETORIA (Reuters) - Plans to introduce national health insurance, one of the biggest changes proposed by South Africa's ruling African National Congress, will require an estimated 125 billion rand in 2012 and 214 billion rand by 2020, a government source said on Thursday.

20110811
Reuters
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian state investigators accused a former agriculture minister and a businessman with illegally confiscating land, state media reported on Thursday.

20110811
Reuters
RABAT (Reuters) - Libya warned on Thursday that any of its citizens found using a Thuraya satellite phone without a permit would be treated as a spy for NATO.

20110808
Reuters
NALUT, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels said on Sunday they were firmly in control of the town of Bir al-Ghanam, a staging post about 80 km (50 miles) south of Tripoli, rejecting a government assertion they had been pushed back.

20110808
Reuters
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) - Five militants escaped from a prison in Nigeria's main oil-hub Port Harcourt on Sunday by using their metal beds as ladders to climb over the walls, a spokesman for the prison said.

20110808
Reuters
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Fighting erupted on Sunday in Mogadishu between government troops and al Shabaab insurgents a day after the rebels said they were leaving the Somali capital and the government declared it controlled most of the city, residents and officials said.

20110808
Reuters
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's liberal Wafd party said on Sunday it may quit an electoral deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, highlighting growing tensions between liberals and Islamists over their vision for Muslim-majority Egypt.

20110808
Reuters
PRAIA, Cape Verde (Reuters) - Voters in the West African archipelago of Cape Verde went to the polls on Sunday in a hotly contested election that threatens to split the poor but stable nation's ruling party in two.

20110808
Reuters
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security forces have confiscated the entire edition of an independent newspaper in the capital Khartoum, its editor said on Sunday, the latest sign of a media crackdown.

20110808
Reuters
PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - The parliamentary majority held by Mauritius's ruling coalition shrank after one party pulled out of government on Sunday, a day after a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

20110808
Reuters
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Power and petrol shortages are afflicting the Libyan capital Tripoli, deepening public frustration as months of conflict with NATO-backed rebels take their toll on the seat of leader Muammar Gaddafi's power.

20110808
Reuters
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - A Qatari plane made a quick stop in the rebel-held Libyan city of Misrata on Saturday to offload ammunition destined for rebel fighters, sources with knowledge of the flight said.