World

Google and French newspapers said Thursday they had signed an agreement aimed at opening the way to digital copyright payments from the online giant after months of heated negotiations. The accord signed with the APIG alliance of French dailies involves “neighbouring rights,” which call for payment for showing news content …

The toll from a powerful explosion that gutted a church-owned building in Madrid rose to four on Thursday after a priest died from his injuries. The 36-year-old, who was ordained a priest in June, was one of 11 people who were injured during Wednesday’s blast that officials said was caused …

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde warned on Thursday that the pandemic still poses “serious risks” to the eurozone economy as concerns grow about new virus variants and sluggish vaccination campaigns. The Frankfurt institution’s governing council held back from tweaking its ultra-loose monetary policy at its first meeting of the …

Four soldiers were killed and eight others seriously injured by a roadside bomb in southeastern Niger, a region hit by jihadist attacks, the government said. The troops were pursuing “terrorists” on Monday following an attack the previous day on a military position in Chetima Wangou in the Diffa region, the …

Rwanda’s capital Kigali was back under total lockdown on Tuesday after a surge in coronavirus cases in a country that has adopted some of Africa’s toughest anti-Covid measures. President Paul Kagame’s government announced the measures late Monday after a cabinet meeting, banning “unnecessary movements” in the capital. Rwanda imposed one …

Guinean President Alpha Conde has pushed ahead with a new government after fiercely disputed elections last October that claimed dozens of lives. The 82-year-old leader named 16 new ministers, according to a communique read on state TV on Tuesday night, as part of an expected reshuffle. Conde won a violently …

Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister, Sibusiso Moyo, who gained world prominence for announcing the 2017 coup that ousted Robert Mugabe, died from coronavirus on Wednesday, the government said. Moyo, 61, was the face of the November 18, 2017, coup which toppled the country’s autocratic president and replaced him with Emmerson Mnangagwa. …

Africa’s experience with several infectious diseases and dominance of the younger population may be the reason the continent is having a lower mortality rate in the second wave of coronavirus, World Economic Forum report says. The report, which draws on opinions of hundreds of executives and academics associated with the …

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine on Sunday urged the international community to demand he be released from “house arrest” after a disputed election returned President Yoweri Museveni to the office for a sixth term. The former ragga singer turned lawmaker, who came second in the presidential election, has not left …

More than 80 people have been killed in two days of ongoing clashes in Sudan’s restive Darfur, doctors said Sunday, just over two weeks since a long-running peacekeeping mission ended operations. The violence is the most significant fighting reported since the signing of a peace agreement in October, which observers …