Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe Monday appointed a Supreme Court judge widely seen as a loyalist to head the country's judiciary. Full text...

Karoi- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Prison authorities in the small farming town of Karoi in northern Zimbabwe Monday appealed to 16 hardcore criminals mistakenly released from jail in a general amnesty last week to come back and finish their sentences. Full text...

Brazzaville- Congo (PANA) -- Air Afrique's employees and flight personnel union said it was satisfied with the decisions made by leaders of member states to adopt Air France's restructuring plan in which the social component is given priority, union sources in Brazzaville said Wednesday. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's Education minister Kader Asmal Thursday signed the South African Teacher Development Project (SATDP) with the Canadian government in Pretoria. Full text...

Khartoum- Sudan (PANA) -- Following campus unrest, some 28 Malian nationals among 114 West African students who abandoned studies at the Khartoum-based Africa International University were expected back home in Mali Sunday night, after receiving flight tickets from their home government. Full text...

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Nigeria's National Child Rights Implementation Committee will meet in the northern city of Jos this week to fine-tune a draft national policy on children, sources close to the committee said. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Nine persons were reported killed at the week-end in two separate accidents involving a notorious Kenyan commuter bus service, fuelling calls for the renewal of a ban slapped on the accident-prone company last April. Full text...

Abidjan- Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) -- The Ivorian government is working on a bill to prescribe universal health insurance for the entire population including foreign nationals, a release in Abidjan said Friday. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UN and Senegalese government officials Friday hailed the adoption of the 'Dakar Youth Empowerment Strategy' at the 4th World Youth Forum hosted this week by the Senegalese capital. Full text...

Niamey- Niger (PANA) -- Niger police have dispersed some 60 African refugees who were occupying the premises of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Niamey, the local press reported Thursday. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Parliament in Cape Verde has set up a committee to prepare the statutes of a network on population and development. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Urban unemployment rate in Cape Verde dropped by about 3. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya police have arrested two managers of Universal Paramount Bank in Nairobi after armed robbers made away with Kshs 6. Full text...

Kwe Kwe- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- Two striking workers at a Government-owned steel works in Zimbabwe were shot dead by soldiers Thursday after a scuffle, police said. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- A coordinator of one of the panel discussion groups at the ongoing World Youth Forum in Dakar, Wednesday averred that the welfare of youths world-wide would improve tremendously if the UN fully implemented recommendations emanating from the gathering. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya has been ranked as leader of the world's road accidents cases, according to the Road Safety Council of the Automobile Assembly of Kenya. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Pretoria High Court has reserved judgement of an application by a lesbian couple to have part of South Africa's Child Care Act that prevents them from co- adopting children declared unconstitutional. Full text...

Port Louis- Mauritius (PANA) -- Mauritian Arts and Culture Minister Motee Ramdass said late Tuesday that local cinema was bursting with activities and more would come in future weeks. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Commercial activity ground to a halt in downtown Nairobi for about an hour Tuesday as thousands of people attended the memorial for the 219 identified victims of a 1998 bomb blast at the US embassy in the Kenyan capital. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Disgraced former cleric Allan Boesak has been appointed chancellor of Rekenaarskool Boland, a private computer school near Cape Town. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UNICEF would empower young people to fully participate in the development of their countries, an official of the UN children's fund Tuesday assured the fourth World Youth Forum in Dakar. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Outgoing Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity Salim Ahmed Salim has reassured African youths that the OAU would help remove the setbacks that make them lag behind youths in other parts of the world. Full text...

Harare- Zimbabwe (PANA) -- An editor of Zimbabwe's sole privately-owned daily newspaper dragged his colleague from another independent newspaper to court Monday for allegedly threatening to kill him. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- An International Labour Organisation economist, Grace Strachan, has said that the UN agency and its partners would not relent their efforts to create job opportunities for an estimated 70 million unemployed youths throughout the world. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Grace Strachan, senior economist at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said Monday that the institution was working towards creating opportunities for youths to make full use of their abilities and fulfil their aspirations. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Three world beauty queens Monday called on youths throughout the world to rally around their respective governments and other authorities fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic with a view to fulfilling their obligations as future leaders. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- Africa's legendary freedom fighter and former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, and his wife, Graca Machel, have reiterated their "lifelong" commitment to assist UNICEF in its service to protect children worldwide. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- An estimated 21,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Numsa, on Monday downed their tools at car manufacturing companies across the country. Full text...

Dakar- Senegal (PANA) -- UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan has urged governments worldwide to empower youths by placing them at the forefront of global change and innovation to enable them become the agents for development and peace. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The UN General Assembly is preparing for its final special session of the year with a summit on the world's children that would urge national leaders to deliver on child welfare promises. Full text...

Abidjan- Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) -- At the trial on the massacre last October of 57 people during post-election unrest in Cote d'Ivoire, the Prosecution has called for life sentences for eight security officers (gendarmes) charged with the murders. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF) has launched a new initiative to support research at historically black universities (HBUs) for the next five years. Full text...

Yaounde- Cameroon (PANA) -- The publisher and editor-in-chief of the bi-weekly "Mutations" newspaper in Cameroon, Haman Mana, was by Friday still in detention at the Secretariat of State for Defence (SED), despite public outcry against his arrest, sources in Yaounde said. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Junior medical doctors in Sierra Leone government-owned hospitals embarked on an indefinite nation-wide strike effective Wednesday. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- A court in Cape Verde has rejected a request by the public prosecutor for the extradition of Michael Fisher, a German national accused of internet fraud, legal sources said in Praia Tuesday. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- A Kenya Airways hostess was arrested by British police Friday for allegedly importing narcotic drugs into the UK, the local press reported in Nairobi Tuesday. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Out of 82,600 metric tons of food that Ethiopia requested from the international community for its war displaced population, only 20 percent has been secured. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Chris Obure, said Monday his country was anxious to receive support from the United Nations and other agencies to stem the influx of illegal weapons in the country. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- Kenya's minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Chris Obure, Monday said the country was looking forward to support from the UN and other donor organisations to help curb an influx of illegal weapons. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- President Thabo Mbeki has appointed Xolile Pallo Guma as Reserve Bank deputy governor to succeed Timothy Thahane who retired in April. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Junior and intermediate staff at Sierra Leone's institutions of higher learning Saturday confirmed the resumption a strike they had put on hold earlier in the month. Full text...

Freetown- Sierra Leone (PANA) -- Sierra Leonean President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Saturday donated one million leones (500 dollars) to journalists of the independent Voice of the Handicapped radio station and members of the Mask Devil Association who organised a clean-up campaign of the capital city, Freetown. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Eskom employees returned to work Friday after workers' unions and the company resolved their wage and benefits dispute. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- The National Union of the Cape Verdean Workers, a confederation of trade unions, plans to request the government to revise the country's labour law in order to remove "the uncertainties, incongruities and contradictions" from it. Full text...

Cotonou- Benin (PANA) -- A 12-page regional weekly, 'Entente-Info', has been launched this week in Cotonou, Benin. Full text...

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- 'Ali', the gripping biography of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, has been jointly acquired for South African distribution by Warner-Nu Metro Film Distribution and Anant Singh's Videovision Entertainment The film follows the life of boxing legend Cassius Clay who lit up professional sports in the 1960s. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- At least 25 secondary schools in Kenya have been closed within a week following a wave of pupil unrest which officials blame on indiscipline and drug abuse. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- Cape Verde's largest vocational training centre, constructed with assistance from Portugal, begins classes in October 2001. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- For Mzee Chilalo Masyaya and most of his Maasai folk, Safari Rally 2001 provided only a momentary glee because of the famine that has enveloped his area in this pastoral part of Kenya. Full text...

Praia- Cape Verde (PANA) -- A joint delegation of the International Federation of Journalists and the West African Journalists Association is currently in Praia, the Cape Verdian capital. Full text...