Africa (except North Africa)

JOHANNESBURG, July 3 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Constitutional Court has spared former President Jacob Zuma's jail for now by accepting his urgent application, scheduling hearing on July 12.

"The hearing will take place on a virtual platform. Directions would be issued in due course," said Constitutional Court acting registrar Dunisani Mathiba.

Constitutional Court of South Africa on Tuesday sentenced Zuma to 15 months in jail for being in contempt of court. He was given five days to report at the police stations to be taken to prison to start serving his sentence.

BEIJING (AP) — Two astronauts made the first space walk on Sunday outside China’s new orbital station to work on setting up a 15-meter (50-foot) long robotic arm.

Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo were shown by state TV climbing out of the airlock as Earth rolled past below them. The third crew member, commander Nie Haisheng, stayed inside.

The astronauts arrived June 17 for a three-month mission aboard China’s third orbital station, part of an ambitious space program that landed a robot rover on Mars in May.

HARARE, July 1 (NNN-Xinhua) — Zimbabweans to a great extent took heed of the enhanced COVID-19 Level 4 lockdown measures announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday.

Police warned that those who wanted to connive with rogue officers to circumvent the regulations would be punished.

Although the measures were supposed to take immediate effect on Tuesday, enforcement was difficult as many people had been caught unawares.

CAPE TOWN, July 1 (Reuters) - South Africa's top court on Thursday re-affirmed an earlier ruling that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not deliberately mislead lawmakers about donations to his 2017 campaign to lead the ruling party.

The Public Protector, an anti-graft watchdog, had been unhappy with last year's ruling by the high court, which found that Ramaphosa did not, as alleged, intentionally mislead parliament about fundraising and donations. These included 500,000 rand deposited into Ramaphosa's son Andile's account.

30 June 2021; MEMO: Ethiopia on Wednesday said it would shift its focus to building up its defense along the western border, where the country has been constructing a $5billion massive hydro dam near the border with Sudan, Anadolu reports.

BANGUI, June 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian instructors sent to the Central African Republic have carried out “indiscriminate killings,” lootings, and occupied schools, according to an annual UN report, though Moscow says they are unarmed and not involved in fighting.

The testimonies detail excessive force which amounts to violations of international humanitarian law, the report by UN experts submitted to the Security Council recently.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The fighters now retaking parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray region will pursue soldiers from neighboring Eritrea back into their country and chase Ethiopian forces to Addis Ababa ”if that’s what it takes” to weaken their military powers, their spokesman said Tuesday, as a conflict that has killed thousands of civilians looked certain to continue.

MBABANE, June 29 (Reuters) - Demonstrators in the small southern African kingdom of eSwatini demanded reforms to its system of absolute monarchy on Tuesday, and security forces tried to repel them with gunfire and tear gas.

"I can hear gunshots and smell teargas. I do not know how I will get home, there is nothing in the bus rank, there is a strong presence of riot police and the army," Vusi Madalane, a shop assistant in the capital Mbabane, said by telephone.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government declared an immediate, unilateral cease-fire Monday in its Tigray region after nearly eight months of deadly conflict as Tigray fighters occupied the regional capital and government soldiers retreated in a region where hundreds of thousands are suffering in the world’s worst famine crisis.

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 28 (NNN-BUANEWS) – South Africa will move to lockdown Level 4 for 14 days, with stringent measures, to curb the spread of COVID-19, said President Cyril Ramaphosa, yesterday, during a televised speech.

From today to July 11, “all gatherings, whether indoors or outdoors, are prohibited. These include religious, political, cultural and social gatherings. A curfew will be in place from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., and all non-essential establishments will need to close by 8:00 p.m.,” he said.