Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has banned Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators from all airports across the country, following Wednesday night's attack on the operators at the main Gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in the commercial city of Lagos that left several persons, including policemen, dead. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - Catholic faithfuls in Mauritius Thursday greeted with joy the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope to take over from Benedict XVI, who resigned last month, citing deteriorating health. Full text...

Rabat-Morocco (PANA) - In a recent report, the International Medical aid group, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has urged Morocco and Spain to take immediate and drastic measures to ensure that their security forces discontinue abuses against sub-Saharan migrants. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, Thursday congratulated Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected Pope the day before. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The nine activists working for a Mauritanian anti-slavery NGO Initiative for the resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) were released from detention Wednesday night, the organisation has announced. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A UN report released Thursday said the number of deaths in detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nearly doubled in 2012, and the conditions in which prisoners live remain extremely poor in the majority of the detention centres. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday welcomed the appointment of Pope Francis (Bergoglio) of Argentina as the 266th Pontiff of the Catholic church, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has congratulated Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was elected the new Bishop of Rome on Wednesday evening and has taken the name Pope Francis I, as well as Catholics across the world. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - As Nigeria's estimated 20 million Catholics join their counterparts around the world to celebrate the emergence of a new Pope, the Nigerian media Thursday gave a big play to the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as the new head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Armed robbers Wednesday night attacked foreign exchange operators outside Nigeria's main gateway Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, killing two policemen and escaping with a huge amount of money, the local media reported Thursday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Thanks to modern communication networks, Tanzanians of all faiths late Wednesday instantly joined the huge crowd at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to welcome, congratulate and pray for newly-elected Pope Francis as successor of retired Benedict XVI. Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Association of journalists in Burkina Faso (AJB) on Wednesday condemned the arrest of Malian journalist Boukary Daou and demanded his release. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina has emerged the new Pope (Bishop of Rome), succeeding Pope Benedict XVI who resigned last month. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A new Pope (Bishop of Rome) has emerged and will soon be named, after a white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Wednesday evening, on the second day of voting by the cardinals. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The sub-regional rights body, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has supported Togo's media groups for staging a news blackout in protest against a new law recently passed by the country’s parliament, PANA reports Wednesday. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) – Two Tunisian rappers have been held in custody for "using threatening and insulting speech" against the Tunisian police and judges in a Youtube video, according to a communiqué released by the Home Affairs ministry. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian military said Wednesday it killed four armed persons, including a woman, in a joint raid with the police on their hideout at Alu Quarters in the northern city of Sokoto. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Winnnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of South African global icon Nelson Mandela, has been linked to a double murder that took place in Soweto 25 years ago, as a result of the testimony of one of the victim’s fathers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The recent military intervention in northern Mali has been followed by a serious escalation of retaliatory violence by government soldiers who appeared to be targeting members of various ethnic groups perceived to be supportive of the armed groups, the UN Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), MONUSCO, has confirmed the death of four crew members aboard one of its helicopters that crashed on Saturday in the eastern province of South Kivu. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Worried by sporadic attacks on journalists, two of them fatal, within a span of six months, media stakeholders in Tanzania have resolved to meet heads of the country’s public security agencies over the matter, citing deterioration of their safety and working environment. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian media on Tuesday organised a blackout to press demands for the release of the editorial director of privately-owned newspaper in the country. Full text...

Lomé,Togo (PANA) - The overwhelming majority of the Togolese media on Tuesday observed a blackout to protest against the law strengthening the administrative and disciplinary powers of the Supreme Audiovisual and Communication Authority (HAAC), the media regulatory body. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Nine policemen accused of killing a Mozambican taxi driver in an incident that made headlines around the world were on Tuesday denied bail by the Benoni Magistrate's Court. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Mauritanian communication minister, Mr. Hamdi Ould Mahjoub, on Tuesday approved applications for the creation of three privately-owned television stations. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh, is among the dignitaries who visited the Venezuelan Embassy in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal capital, to commiserate with the Government and People of Venezuela over the death of President Hugo Chavez. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – The UN and partners have invited people all over the world to participate in setting the world’s future development agenda by voting in an innovative survey known as "MY World". Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Detained Gambian journalist Baboucarr Ceesay has been released from custody without being charged with any crime, PANA confirmed from here Tuesday. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Apparently fed up "with life", a 27-year-old Tunisian, Adel Khédhiri, set himself on fire Tuesday morning in central Tunis, causing panic among bystanders, according to eyewitnesses. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Determined to rid Tripoli, the Libyan capital, of armed militias, the Libyan government has established a special task force saddled with the responsibility to rid various farms on the outskirts of Tripoli of occupants suspected to be "criminals", the official spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, Al-Moujdi Irki, announced here Sunday. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Accra-based sub-regional rights body, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has condemned the physical attack against two Ghanaian photo-journalists, Nii Martey Botwe and Vincent Dzatse, by the country's military personnel. Full text...

Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - A French national, Tomas Carlos Pedraza, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for importing into Mauritius a prohibited drug, PANA learned from a judicial source in the nation's capital, Port Louis. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The African Union (AU) has welcomed the signing of the implementation modalities for the security pact agreed by Sudan and South Sudan last December. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The military Joint Task Force (JTF) battling the Islamic sect Boko Haram Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The global press freedom body, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), has called on Gambian authorities to ''immediately release'' detained journalist, Baboucarr Ceesay, PANA reports from here Saturday. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Mr. Baboucarr Ceesay, vice president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), has been arrested and detained by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency, his wife, Darboe, confirmed to PANA Saturday. Full text...

Ziguinchor, Senegal (PANA) – A man of about 60 years old was killed Thursday by a mine in Casamance, southern Senegal, where a separatist rebellion broke out since 1982, reliable sources told PANA on Saturday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director, Anthony Lake, has urged Zimbabweans to protect children as the country heads towards a constitutional referendum and elections. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - ECOWAS has expressed deep shock and sadness over the sudden death of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, according to an ECOWAS press statement, obtained here Saturday by PANA. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria has formally protested to Senegal over the attack by Nigerian citizens on its embassy in Dakar, during which cars were vandalised, office equipment and fittings destroyed and the national flag desecrated. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The Accra-based sub-regional rights body, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Thursday urged Ghanaian authorities to intensify their efforts and bring to book the attackers of journalist Isaac Kofi Normanyo. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Ms. Helen Clark, on Friday called for scaled-up efforts globally to stop violence against women, calling it a weapon of war in much of the world and a major obstacle to equality and development. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Former Nigerian International Soccer star, Nwankwo Kanu, has lost 1.4 billion naira (about US$ 9.3 million) to fraudsters, allegedly aided by the Manager of an Hotel he owned, according to reports in the local Punch newspaper. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - A former Nigerian State Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, was on Thursday re-arraigned before a Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged money laundering, five years after he was first arraigned for the same offence, according to local media reports. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has called on Muslims and Christians in the country to offer prayers on Friday and Sunday respectively for the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday declared that the federal government will not grant amnesty to members of the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – In collaboration with the European Union (EU) and Interpol, the Libyan government has launched a new passport control system for effective airport and land border patrols, EU sources told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday that despite the military progress in Northern Mali, there is still a general sense of insecurity in the area, as most displaced people are afraid to return to their homes. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan authorities have arrested and repatriated a total of 655 people who tried to enter the country illegally, the Libyan Bureau in charge of illegal immigration announced Wednesday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has warned that he would use force against outlaws, after demonstrators besieged the headquarters of the General National Congress (GNC) Full text...