Africa News

January 17, 2013

France battles Mali Islamists as hostage crisis unfolds
Bamako (AFP) Jan 16, 2013
French troops battled Islamist rebels in Mali Wednesday in a war that escalated as Al-Qaeda-linked fighters claimed to have taken 41 foreigners hostage in a retaliatory attack in neighbouring Algeria, with two reported dead. After days of airstrikes on Islamist positions in the northern territory the rebels seized in April, French and Malian ground forces battled the insurgents in the central towns of Diabaly and Konna, north of the capital, Bamako. In a dramatic development over the border in A ... read more

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Wave of Iraq attacks kills 42 Attacks in Baghdad and north Iraq killed 42 people on Wednesday as hundreds attended the funeral of a Sunni MP who died in a suicide attack a day earlier, as a political crisis grips the country. ... more		Mali: Hostages seen as Islamists' revenge The kidnapping of as many as 20 expatriate workers at a natural gas facility in southeastern Algeria underlines the danger of revenge attacks that now face Europe following France's military intervention against jihadist forces in Mali. ... more		Libyans file suit against French tech firm over torture Five Libyans tortured under Moamer Kadhafi have filed legal complaints against a French technology firm that provided his regime with surveillance equipment, a rights group said on Tuesday. ... more
				France strikes new Mali town, boosts troop numbers French warplanes hit a town newly-seized by Islamists in Mali as African troops on Tuesday prepared to join the offensive which has sent the jihadists fleeing from their northern strongholds. ... more		In Mali, an old war on terror reignites French military operations in Mali against Islamist militants who have carved out a desert sanctuary in the north of the country could trigger a new wave of terrorist attacks on Western Europe, a war that began long before the carnage of Sept. 11, 2001. ... more

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France pounds Islamist strongholds in northern Mali French warplanes have struck further north in Mali, pounding Islamist strongholds and forcing the insurgents to flee, as preparations for the African intervention force took shape in the capital. ... more		New 'Moby Dick' lizard species found in Madagascar A new lizard species has been discovered in Madagascar and named "Moby Dick" mermaid skink - after the albino sperm whale imagined by Herman Melville - for its flipper-like forelimbs and unpigmented skin, France's National Centre for Scientific Research said Tuesday. ... more		AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department		Trophy hunts mean most S. African lions are farm-raised Lions may be the well-reputed kings of the savannah, but South Africa's lucrative trophy-hunting industry means the regal cats are more likely to know the inside of a paddock ringed with an electric fence than the country's sweeping plains. ... more
				Kenyan officials impound two tonnes of ivory: police Officials in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa have impounded more than 600 pieces of ivory, weighing two tonnes, they said Tuesday, the latest in a series of seizures by Kenyan authorities. ... more		Four children die in Mozambique floods Floods in Mozambique have killed four children as the heaviest rains in over a decade battered the capital of the southeast African country, authorities said Wednesday. ... more

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Medicinal toothbrush tree yields antibiotic to treat TB in new way A compound from the South African toothbrush tree inactivates a drug target for tuberculosis in a previously unseen way. Tuberculosis causes more deaths worldwide than any other bacterial disease. A ... more		Mozambique floods kill 2, destroy homes Floods in Mozambique have killed two people and left hundreds homeless after heavy rains caused havoc, cutting roads and inundating parts of the capital, authorities said Tuesday. ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		French marines in Mali wait for orders to join the fight In a hangar at an airbase in Bamako, about 400 French marines, their kit lined up and ready, wait for orders to join the offensive against Islamist fighters in the north of Mali. ... more
				Hollande, in Gulf, defends France's Mali offensive French President Francois Hollande, on a visit to the Gulf, defended on Tuesday his country's intervention in Mali, saying it had prevented the African country from being overrun by "terrorists". ... more		Islamists seize 41 hostages at Algeria gas plant Algeria, which has opened its airspace to French warplanes hitting Islamists in northern Mali, was targeted Wednesday in a deadly revenge attack in which militants seized 41 Western hostages. ... more

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	Four Chinese abducted in Sudan's Darfur freed: UNAMID Four Chinese workers abducted by Darfur rebels on January 12 have been freed, a spokeswoman for the joint UN-African Union peace keeping force in the troubled western Sudan region said Wednesday. ... more		Angola grants 116 visas a day to Chinese citizens Angola granted more than 116 visas a day to Chinese citizens in the last six months of 2012, the vast majority linked to Chinese investment into the country, Angola's state news agency reported Monday. ... more		4 Chinese workers among 9 abducted in Sudan's Darfur: SUNA Armed men have kidnapped four Chinese nationals and five Sudanese workers engaged in road construction in Sudan's strife-ridden Darfur region, the official SUNA news agency reported on Monday. ... more		Algiers okays French strikes in Mali after rebel 'betrayal' Traditionally hostile to foreign interference, Algiers has thrown its support behind operations in Mali against Islamist forces in a surprise about-turn that saw it open its skies to French warplanes. ... more

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U.S. frets it'll get dragged into Mali war		France extends airstrikes to Islamist heartlands in Mali		Hundreds back Maliki amid calls for Iraq PM to quit		Mali Islamists flee bases, battered by French airstrikes		African forces face daunting task in Mali intervention
Nigerian sends air force technical team, commander to Mali		Central African PM dismissed after ceasefire deal		Several killed in failed French raid to free Somalia hostage		Sudanese army claims it killed more than 50 rebels		'Doomsday asteroid' poses no threat: NASA

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S.Africa poachers hack baby rhino with axe, machete

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