Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) on Wednesday paraded a 50-year-old Iranian-trained Nigerian, Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, for alleged active involvement in espionage and terrorist activities. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – The movement of persons and goods resumed Tuesday at the border crossing point of Ras Jadir between Libya and Tunisia after it was closed for five days, official sources told PANA here. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – The European Commission on Wednesday approved a loan of 8.4 million euros for Guinea to enable the West African nation provide potable water for its citizens in rural and semi-urban areas, the European bloc said in a statement obtained by PANA here. Full text...

Yaounde, Cameroon (PANA) – Reacting to the abduction of seven members of a French family Tuesday in the northern part of Cameroon, the French embassy here Wednesday issued a travel alert to its citizens in the Central African country. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - For the second time in a week, six foreign workers have been kidnapped from an oil service ship by gunmen who invaded the ship off the coast of Bayelsa in Nigeria's Niger Delta oil region, the police said Wednesday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Police on Wednesday denied claims that Oscar Pistorius may have physically assaulted his girlfriend before allegedly shooting her, after reports that a bloodied cricket bat was found at his home where the tragedy occurred last week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - One of Nigeria's oldest and most prolific actors, Justus Esiri, has died at the age of 70, the local media reported Wednesday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A court in Nigeria has ordered the country's federal government to pay 37.6 billion naira (US$237 million) as compensation to the victims of the Odi Community in Bayelsa State in the country's oil producing region. Full text...

Yaoundé, Cameroon (PANA) – Seven French tourists, all from the same family, were on Tuesday morning kidnapped in northern Cameroon, near the park of Waza at the Nigerian border, Cameroonian national television (CRTV) reported. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Burundi anti-riot police Tuesday "violently" dispersed journalists demanding the release of their jailed colleague, Hassan Ruvakuki, the local correspondent of Radio France International (RFI, Swahili section). Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – Togo security forces Tuesday stopped journalists from a planned peaceful demonstration in front of the National parliament building where they were to protest against a vote on the bill amending laws of the High authority of audio-visual and communication (HAAC), Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – An international military exercise, code named "Flintlock 2013", began Tuesday in South-eastern Mauritania, security sources told PANA here. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South African Paralympic and Olympic running star Oscar Pistorius again broke down in court as his bail application resumed on Tuesday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Sudanese Army said on Monday it clashed with rebels in the Blue Nile Region where it freed Mafo, a strategic area. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - The Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Mrs. Rebecca Grynspan, will be paying a working visit to Burundi from 20 to 22 February, according to an official communiqué issued Monday in Bujumbura. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Four bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of a car that plunged into a river in Nigeria's southern River State late on Sunday, according to rescuers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - One person was killed Monday when an explosive device went off under the FESTAC/Mile 2 link bridge in Nigeria's commercial city of Lagos, according to the local P.M. News. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan Monday ordered the country's security agencies to ''take all necessary action to locate and rescue'' the foreign construction workers who were abducted from their camp by terrorists in northern Bauchi State Saturday. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) – The Togolese Journalists Unions have called out their members to a peaceful demonstration Tuesday in front of the the National Parliament building here as parliamentarians prepare to vote on the bill amending laws of the High authority of audio-visual and communication (HAAC), reliable sources told PANA here Monday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – As part of its efforts to reconcile the warring tribes in Kufra, located some 1,400 km from South-east Tripoli, the Libyan government has mounted heavy security to ensure that the reconciliation programme between Al-Tibou and Al-Zawya tribes took place peacefully, PANA learnt here Monday from official sources. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - The Committee for the upgrading of the teaching profession (CRPE), an umbrella group for teachers in Congo, rose from its meeting here Monday, saying its members would begin an indefinite strike on 25 February to press for the payment of outstanding wages and a special status. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyans on Sunday marked the second anniversary of the popular uprising of 17 February 2011 that ended the more than 40-year reign of Col. Muammar Kadahfi. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Three suspects are in police custody for questioning in connection with Sunday’s murder of a Catholic priest in Zanzibar, Tanzania’s Inspector General of Police Said Mwema has said. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Authorities in Zanzibar have appealed to the public to remain calm following the assassination of a local Catholic priest early Sunday, saying the police force had swung into action searching for the murder suspects. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian Army has announced plans to set up a special task force that can be deployed to confront emergency security situations in the country, which has been wracked by terrorism and kidnapping, among others crimes, the private Vanguard newspaper reported Sunday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Unknown attackers on a motorbike early Sunday shot and killed a Roman Catholic priest who was on his way to celebrate Mass at Mtoni parish in Zanzibar, according to reports reaching here from the East African offshore island which is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Seven workers of a road construction firm, SETRACO, has been abducted by gunmen in Jama'are in Nigeria's northern Bauchi state, according to local media reports on Sunday. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – Commander Sekou Camara, governor of Guinea’s capital, Conakry, has been charged with torture and violence against civilians during the 2009 transitional period led by General Sekouba Konate, sources told PANA on Saturday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Cote d’Ivoire on Friday deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), making it set to become the Court’s 122nd state party, a statement by ICC said. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Hundreds of Malians displaced by the recent unrest in their country that forced them out of their homes say they want to go back as soon as the security situation improves and they get the means to trek their way back, a study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The South Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund has allocated US$ 56.5 million for aid and emergency preparedness, to enable the country respond adequately to humanitarian needs, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press statement Friday. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Three staff members of the Daily Observer, Gambia’s biggest newspaper, have been arrested and detained by the country's National Intelligence Agency (NIA), PANA learnt gere Friday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - An extremely emotional Oscar Pistorious sobbed uncontrollably ahead of his bail hearing at a Pretoria court on Friday afternoon. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - One of Nigeria's most popular hip hop music stars, Susan Harvey, better known by her stage name 'Goldie', has died, the local media reported Friday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The New York-based international press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Thursday released its latest report on the state of press freedom, saying ''attacks and censorship erode press freedom worldwide''. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – In an attempt to secure its eastern region, the Libyan defence ministry Wednesday deployed 25 armoured vehicles and army transport cars to Benghazi. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - A summit on piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea will be held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in April, according to Miguel Trovoada, the Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea Commission. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - Togolese Catholic faithfuls say they are not "upset" by the sudden resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, according to Bertin Agbobly Atayi, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Lomé, the Togolese capital. Full text...

Ziguinchor, Senegal (PANA) – Thirty-four-year-old Mauritanian, Mouhamed Ahmed Aidara, a suspected member of the Al-Qaeda terror group, has been arrested by Senegalese soldiers in the Southern part of the country, official sources told PANA here. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa’s famous paralympian Oscar Pistorious is in police custody after killing his model girlfriend at his Pretoria home in the early hours of Thursday morning, the police said. Full text...

Conakry, Guinea (PANA) – Eleven Guinean soldiers who died in a plane crash in Liberia early this week were on Wednesday buried in the Guinean capital, Conakry, with president Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian returnees, who hail from the disputed Bakassi Peninsula, have instituted a court action here against the Nigerian Federal Government, claiming damages of 30 billion Naira (about US$ 200 million) for alleged betrayal leading to the loss of their ancestral home to Cameroon in the Bakassi Peninsula. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian ministry of Finance has said it discovered a total of 45,000 "ghost" workers during the implementation of its Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) scheme in 251 Federal Government Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – An international human rights group, Front Line Defenders, Wednesday called on the Gambian authorities to ensure ''the immediate and unconditional release'' of detained Moslem cleric and human rights defender, Imam Baba Leigh. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) – A spokesman for the Rwandan Catholic Church, Smaragde Mbonyintege, on Tuesday said that the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI came as a heavy blow for the whole Catholic community of Rwanda. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - A two-day forum on Africa's indigenous peoples rounded off Tuesday in Tunisia, with participants discussing relevant policies on indigenous peoples’ integration into development initiatives, organiser African Development Bank (AfDB) said. Full text...

Douala, Cameroon (PANA) - The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was the main issue being discussed during masses celebrated early Wednesday to mark the start of the Lent for Catholic faithful in Cameroon, PANA reported. Full text...

Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - A Mauritian court has sentenced a Malagasy to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, PANA learned Wednesday from judicial source in Port Louis, the capital of the country. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - The South African Football Association (SAFA) on Wednesday welcomed the eight-year sentence handed down by a Cape Town court to a former Premier Soccer League coach for match-fixing. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) has expressed concern over widespread looting and displacement in various parts of the Central African Republic (CAR), and appealed to the government to enhance access to vulnerable population so they can receive assistance. Full text...