Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The Security Council has strongly condemned suicide bombin g at a gendarmerie training academy in Algeria that left dozens of people dead a n d injured many more. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The US branch of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) on Wednesd ay decried the sentencing of their colleague, Fatou Jaw Manneh, calling it "jung l e justice". Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Global media rights body, International Federation of Jo urnalists (IFJ), on Wednesday condemned the conviction of US-based Gambian journ a list, Fatou Jaw Manneh to a fine of 250,000 Delasis (about 8,000 Euros) describi n g it as an "unfair and unfounded sentence". Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Police in Zimbabwe have charged two members of a pressur e group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), but have released seven others, WOZA sa i d in a communiqué received by PANA in Dakar on Tuesday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A global media rights body, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade “to ensure j o urnalists’ safety” in his country, the body said in a communique’ received by PA N A Tuesday. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Principal Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrat e's Court on Monday convicted and sentenced U. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) -- Mr Abdulhamid Adiamoh, Managing Editor of Today newspape r, spent Monday night at the Gambia Police Headquarters in Banjul after he was i n vited by the police and abandoned, sources confirmed to PANA in Banjul on Wednes d ay. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he is concerne d about the current global food crisis and the rising costs of fertilizer and fu e l in Ghana. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- The Red Cross said Friday it had launched an international appeal for US$26. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday welcomed Canada's decision to deploy a frigate to Somalia to protect the agency ' s food ships against pirates, who have launched over two dozen attacks so far th i s year off the East African country's coast. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Sierra Leoneans from different works of life on Tuesday welcomed President Ernest Bai Koroma's sacking of his Transport and Avia t ion Minister Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- An Accra fast track high court on Tuesday jailed a 52-year -old businessman who crashed into President John Agyekum Kufuor's car in Novembe r last year for nine months. Full text...

Dakar; Senegal (PANA) -- A newspaper editor in Niger, Moussa Aksar was Friday rel eased by the prosecutor of Niamey Magistrate's court, after being charged with " d ivulging military secrets", the Accra-based media freedom watchdog, Media Founda t ion for West Africa (MFWA), disclosed. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has sounded th e alarm about the impact of escalating violence on young people in Somalia, wher e just last week seven children died in battles between anti-government forces an d Ethiopian troops based in the capital, Mogadishu. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has sounded th e alarm about the impact of escalating violence on young people in Somalia, wher e just last week seven children died in battles between anti-government forces an d Ethiopian troops based in the capital, Mogadishu. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The sub-regional media freedom body, Media Foundation fo r West Africa (MFWA), Friday hailed US Democrat Party Senator, Richard J Durbin’ s stance on disappeared Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, saying the devel o pment was a pointer that the the abominable human rights situation in the Gambia was gaining international attention. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Paris-based media freedom watchdog, Reporters Withou t Borders (RSF), has expressed concern over recent remarks by President Abdoulay e Wade and his top government officials against the Senegalese private media. Full text...

Lome- Togo (PANA) -- About 42,300 candidates have registered for Togo's civil service recruitment test, which started across the country on Friday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – Africa's air traffic continu-ed to grow above world level a lthough the growth is uneven in all the sub-regions of the continent, George Muh o ho, President of ACI-Africa, said in Accra on Thursday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A newspaper editor in Niger, Moussa Aksar, is being held incommunicado following his arrest and detention by the Police Criminal Investi g ations Department (CID), a sub-regional media freedom body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), disclosed on Thursday. Full text...

Bamako- Mali (PANA) -- Mali is to establish lunchrooms in 838 schools throughout the country, which would generate 20,000 jobs, PANA learnt Thursday at the openi n g of the validation workshop of a national policy document of school education. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The days of United Nations missions fielding only unarmed observers are long past, according to the outgoing head of the world body's peac e keeping operations, who said on Tuesday that peacekeepers need to be able to wie l d force to get respect and make a difference. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- The newly appointed United Nations High Commissioner for H uman Rights says she comes to her work with a personal understanding of human ri g hts violations, based on her experience of living in South Africa during the apa r theid regime when non-whites such as herself suffered from institutionalized dis c rimination. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – A group of 41 Guinea Bissa-u students, under the banner o f “President Yahya Jammeh Fans Club”, have given a helping hand to the Gambian l e ader in his farm in his home village of “Kanilai”, pro-government newspaper, Dai l y Observer, reported Wednesday. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – The Ghana government on Tues-day strongly defended its prop osal to sell 70 per cent of its interest in the state-owned Ghana Telecom to UK- b ased telecom giant Vodafone for US$900 million saying it was the only way out to salvage the sick company. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – The Senegalese national as-sembly on Tuesday adopted a bi ll in Dakar establishing a nine-member parliamentary committee of enquiry on ren t s. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- A top Ghanaian music producer of Lebanese descent, Faisal Helwani, died in Lebanon on Sunday after a short illness, his colleague musician s said on Monday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Budding Zimbabwean musician Eric Moyo won the inaugural M-Net Idols contest for East and Southern Africa at the weekend, winning US$80,000 and a music recording contract with guaranteed sales worth US$25,000. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) – A Nigerian--born human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has be en named winner of the prestigious award – “Bernard Simons Memorial Award”, the A ccra-based media rights body, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), revealed h ere Friday. Full text...

Cairo- Egypt (PANA) -- The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) sa id on Thursday that the Egyptian security forces had arrested 14 Internet activi s ts known as the "6th of April Youth. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – Africa's labour movement, th-e Organisation of African Trad e Union Unity (OATUU), on Thursday lashed out at the International Criminal Cour t for indicting Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir for his alleged crimes i n Darfur saying the move is "unhelpful". Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- The Niamey Magistrate court trying Moussa Kaka, Radio Fr ance International (RFI) correspondent in Niger, on Wednesday ruled that there w a s no ground for further prosecuting the journalist on the charge of complicity i n undermining state security, the sub-regional media freedom watchdog, Media Foun d ation for West Africa (MFWA) said. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A sub-regional media freedom watchdog, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), on Wednesday urged the Gambian government to respect the rule of law by "either releasing all unlawful detainees in the country's prisons or bring them to open court and ensure their speedy and fair trial". Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A sub-regional media freedom watchdog, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), on Wednesday called for the immediate release of a Mauri t anian journalist, Mohammed Ould Abel Latif, who was arrested earlier in the week . Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived here Saturda y for a four-day visit to Ghana during which he will preside over the 30th trien n ial conference of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL). Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived here Saturda y for a four-day visit to Ghana during which he will preside over the 30th trien n ial conference of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL). Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – A Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Rugoho--Chin'ono was Satur day adjudged the overall CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A magistrate court sitting in Harare hasremanded some 14 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) pendingtheir trial on 26 August, WOZA , a pressure group in Zimbabwe, said ina statement made available to PANA here at the weekend. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Despite frosty political relations, Britainannounced S aturday it would give ex-colony Zimbabwe 9 million poundssterling for food aid t o millions of people facing starvation in thecountry. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A magistrate's court sitting in Harare has remanded in c ustody 14 members of a pressure group, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), pending t h eir trial on 26 August, the group said on Friday in a communiqué received by PAN A in Dakar. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Tributes are flooding in from around the world for world statesman Nelson Mandela who turned 90 Friday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- There are so many extra-ordinary photographs of South Africa's favourite son, but the one image that captures the mood of the c o untry's greatest sporting achievement - securing the rights to host the 2010 Wor l d Cup - is of Nelson Mandela, clutching that priceless 6-kilogramme solid gold t r ophy in Zurich, Switzerland. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) Friday warned that greater numbers of people fleeing fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were stretching the agency's resources to the limit as thousands gather in camps in search of safety. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Rights-based organisations under the umbrella of Coalit ion of International Criminal Court (CICC) on Thursday commemorated Internationa l Justice Day" coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the adoption of Rome Statu t e the treaty which gave birth to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The police department remains the most corrupt instituti on in Kenya, according to a released by Transparency International Kenya Thursda y . Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) -- Two British girls jailed last year after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle six kilogrammes of cocaine from Ghana to the United Kingdom were released Thursday after serving nine months in juvenile detention. Full text...

Accra- Ghana (PANA) – The final words to the dead -after burial is for them to "Rest in Peace". Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) – The Freetown High -Court on Friday issued a bench warrant for former Ombudsman Francis A. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission has in dicted former Ombudsman Francis A. Full text...

Banjul- Gambia (PANA) - – A Banjul Magistrate's Court has jailed a man for two yea rs in hard labour for human trafficking, The Point newspaper reported on Friday. Full text...