Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- British intelligence got wind of the bomb blasts that ma rred Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary celebrations in Abuja on Friday, an d warned the Nigerian authorities, local newspapers reported on Saturday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Despite the security breaches arising from the two bomb blasts and an accidental discharge from a policeman in Abuja, the federal capital, Nigeria Friday put on one of the most memorable independence anniversary celebrations in Africa to mark 50 years of independence from Britain. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has described as ''the worst anniversary gift any nation can get'' the bomb explosions in the capital city of Abuja Friday, leaving at least seven persons dead and scores injured. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's main militant group Movement for the Emancipat ion of the Niger Delta (MEND) has taken its campaign to call global attention to the neglected oil-producing region to a new level, with its first-ever attack on the inland capital city of Abuja Friday. Full text...

Abuja- Nigeria (PANA) -- Seven persons died and scores were wounded in bomb explo sions that rocked Nigeria's capital city of Abuja, close to the venue of the country's 50th independence anniversary celebra tions, Friday, the police said. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- African ministers in charge of domestic security and social affairs kicked off a meeting here Friday to tighten loopholes that ha v e enabled drug trafficking cartels across the globe to use Africa as a key route to reach international markets. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence, Margot Wallstrom, on Wednesday began a week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to investigate the recent mass rape by rebels in the country's eastern region. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- The family of a murdered 25-year-old Zimbabwean woman has said they do not hold the family of her alleged assailant responsible for he r brutal death, PANA reported from here Wednesday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- A Tanzanian navy spokesman has confirmed the ar rest of one Somali pirate following a spate of terrorizing raids on a foreign oi l exploration company off the southern coast of the country. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- A Tanzanian navy spokesman has confirmed the ar rest of one Somali pirate following a spate of terrorizing raids on a foreign oi l exploration company off the southern coast of the country. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- The body of the murdered 25-year-old Zimbabwean accoun tancy student Linda Gasa was interred at an emotional ceremony in the capital, Harare, Sunday, a family spokesman has said. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- The body of the murdered 25-year-old Zimbabwean accoun tancy student is due to be flown to Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, Friday morni n g, Malawi health officials have said. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (ME ND) said it had located the three French oil workers who were abducted off the coast of Bonny Island in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region by unknown gunmen on Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) sai d Tuesday efforts to train anti-piracy detectives from the five East African countries which have suffered the worst ef fects of piracy off the coast of Somalia, was underway at the Kenyan coastal city. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- A Niger workers' group on Monday strongly condemned the kidnapping of seven expatriates on Niger's territory and called on the government to tackle insecurity at the uranium-mining sites, sources close to the organization told PANA. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- An autopsy carried out on the body of the murdered 25- year-old Zimbabwean accountancy student has revealed that she was poisoned, poli c e have confirmed. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Director General of Nigeria's National Agency for Fo od and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr. Full text...

Blantyre- Malawi (PANA) -- Police have arrested three people after exhuming remains of the missing Zimbabwean 25-year-old accountancy student in the southern Malawi resort district of Mangochi. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- A senior police officer in Zimbabwe has appeared in co urt for allegedly hiring out guns from the station he commanded to private companies and organisations. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Violent crimes increased sharply in South Africa in the week following the 11 June-11 July 2010 FIFA World Cup in the African nation, according to an investigation by the South African newspaper Beeld. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has announced th at South Africa's murder rate declined by 8. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- A South African woman appeared in court in Zimbabwe We dnesday on charges of trafficking heroin. Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- A Mauritanian, Ould Ahmedou Hadramy, was arreste d after raising a false alert with the police through SMS, warning them of a car bomb, a deputy public prosecutor to the regional court of Nouakchott disclosed T u esday on the national television. Full text...

Port-Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritius will host the second Regional Ministeri al Conference on Piracy 7-8 October 2010, PANA reported from here Tuesday. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- The Beninese government has expressed concern about the disappearance of an executive of the Ministry of Finance, Peter Urban Dagnivo, who has been mi ssing since 17 August, PANA reported. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Nigerian and Ivorian authorities to act quickly to combat the growing number of women trafficked for prostitution, saying it had uncovered "five brothels where Nigerian women and girls are engaged in prostitution". Full text...

Nouakchott- Mauritania (PANA) -- Mauritanian Opposition group, under the aegis of the Coordination of the Democratic opposition in Mauritania (COD), on Thursday c alled for a collective action against terrorism in member States of the Sahel-Sa h ara region. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The African Union Commission President Jean Ping on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack in Mogadishu, near the presidential p alace, which killed 31 persons, including six Somali MPs and vowed to continue t h e AU peacekeeping operation there. Full text...

Brussels- Belgium (PANA) -- The European Union (EU) has strongly condemned Tuesda y's attack on a hotel in Mogadishu that killed 31 people, including six Somali MPs. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A repentant commander of the militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Soboma George, is feared to have been killed in a clash by r ival cult groups in Port Harcourt, capital of southern Rivers state, Tuesday evening. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Campaigning for his re-election for a second fi ve-year term, President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has pledged his government would intensify marine patrol on the Tanzanian side o f Lake Victoria in order to end increasing acts of piracy on the lake. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's speedy arrest and transfer of the suspected plan ners of the 11 July (7/11) twin bombings in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, to fac e trial there has helped boost the usually cold security relations between the tw o neighbouring East African nations. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan Police have smashed a suspected human trafficking ring following the arrest of 89 Ethiopian immigrants accused of entering the co u ntry illegally and whose plans were to end up in South Africa, police sources sa i d Wednesday. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- An 82-year-old man in southern Zimbabwe was Tuesday ja iled for 20 years by a magistrates court for raping a five-year-old girl. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Governor of Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos Stat e, Babatunde Fashola said the crime rate in the state has reduced by 75 per cent through the collaboration between the neighbourhood watch officers and the Niger i a Police Force. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and the Sudanese gove rnment are investigating the abduction of two police officers serving with the mission, who were seized early Saturday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The Governor of Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos Stat e, Babatunde Fashola said the crime rate in the state has reduced by 75 per cent through the collaboration between the neighbourhood watch officers and the Niger i a Police Force. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN/AU Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and the Sudanese gove rnment are investigating the abduction of two police officers serving with the mission, who were seized early Saturday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- A would-be member of parliament in Nigeria has been shot dead hours after announcing his intention to run in next year's general electio n s, but police said they could not yet say if the killing was politically motivat e d. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigerian tennis player Toyin Dairo has been arrested by operatives of the country's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for all e gedly being in possession of 1. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Unrelenting counterfeit drugs dealers may face life impr isonment, confiscation of assets and making the offence a non-bailable one, if t h e Nigeria's anti-counterfeiting agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Ad m inistration and Control (NAFDAC) goes through with its advocacy with the Nationa l Assembly. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The capital of Nigeria's oil-rich south south Bayelsa state, Yenagoa, was jolted by drive-by shootings which left about seven people dead in its trail, the private newspaper, Punch, reported here Sunday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL ) is investigating the marriage of Nigerian Senator Ahmed Yerima to an under-aged Egyptian girl, in violation of Ni gerian and Egyptian laws, the local press reported Friday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) - â" Police in South Africa are following leads o n the whereabouts of the gunmen who shot a senior official of the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) outside his Sandton home north of Johannesburg on Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya has a mooted a comprehensive programme to mop up illegal firearms in Nairobi, following a terrorist attack on a Christian crusade in the capital last month and last week's interception of 300 bomb detonators on the outskirts of the capital, Assistant Minister for Internal Security Peter Orwa Ojode said here Tuesday. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The mother of former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) P resident Sani Lulu Abdullahi has been released by the gunmen who abducted her last week, the News Agency of N igeria reported Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Following Sunday's twin bomb attacks on Kampala, Uganda, Kenyan authorities have dispatched anti-terrorism detectives to help their Ugan d an counterparts hunt down the bombers. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said the country is witnessing increased cases of smuggling of explosive devices, guns and bomb detonators, as a direct result of the lawlessness in Soma lia. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The unknown gunmen who kidnapped the mother of former Pr esident of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- The mother of the immediate past President of the Nigeri a Football Federation (NFF), Sani Lulu Abdullahi, has been kidnapped, the local media reported Tuesday. Full text...