Egyptian police shot dead an African migrant and wounded another on
Tuesday as they tried to cross illegally into Israel, a security
official said.

A Zambian court Tuesday ruled that electoral authorities can use a two-year-old voter roll in this months presidential election, sayingit was impossible to update it before the polls

South Africa's ruling ANC has suspended the former defence minister and will haul him before a disciplinary committee, days after he threatened to form a breakaway party, officials said Tuesday.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki prepared to hold talks
Tuesday with Zimbabwe's political rivals in a bid to save a flagging
power-sharing deal.

Richard Ciza was alerted by neighbours last week that a posse was looking for him. He ran and hid for two days in the forest of eastern Burundi.

Ethiopia on Tuesday condemned Human Rights Watch's call on the
country's lawmakers to reject a draft law that would give government
more control in the affairs of foreign aid groups.

As Somalia sinks ever deeper into hunger and despair, attacking foreign ships bottle-necking into the Gulf of Aden is proving to be one of the few profitable activities in the country.

Egypt will need more time to ensure security measures are in place before it goes ahead with its decision to open an embassy in Iraq,Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Egypt's key CASE-30 stock index shot up 6.3 percent to 6,126 points inearly trade on Tuesday, surging for a second straight day amid aspectacular global market rally.

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - South Africa's growing black middle class is showing resilience to the global financial crisis, boosted by their spending power which grew by more than a third last year, a survey found on Monday.

One neurosurgeon in Africa for every 1.2m people: Tutu

Africa has only one neurosurgeon for every 1.2 million people, a challenge topping the agenda at an international neurosurgery conference held in South Africa, organisers said Monday.

HARARE, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Former South African president Thabo Mbeki arrived in Zimbabwe late Monday in a bid to rescue a fragile power-sharing agreement between the country's political rivals.

HARARE, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Simba Makoni, a former finance minister and the third place candidate in Zimbabwe's presidential vote, warned Monday the country risks falling into deeper international isolation if a power-sharing deal collapses.

'If the deal fails we will remain a pariah,' Makoni told reporters,

NEW DELHI, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Emerging powerhouses India, Brazil and South Africa have set their trade target at 15 billion dollars by 2010, up from around 10 billion dollars a year ago, India's foreign minister said Monday.

Pranab Mukherjee also said trade between the three southern hemisphere economies was on the upswing 'in all three directions.'

NOUADHIBOU, Mauritania, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish NGO Medicos del Mundo on Monday blasted Morocco for abandoning a new group of African immigrants in a no-mans land littered with mines between the Western Sahara and Mauritania.

HARARE, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe swore in his two vice presidents Monday, a senior government official said, despite an ongoing dispute with the opposition over a power-sharing deal.

The Catholic Churchs highest body in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday said it was deeply worried about the latest outbreak of violence to the east of the conflict-torn country.

MANILA, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Five Filipino seamen kidnapped in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta earlier this month have been released by their captors, an official said Monday.

Gunmen had boarded their vessel, the MV Aveiro, in the waters of Bonny and seized them at gunpoint on October 4, the official said.

LUXEMBOURG, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri on Monday hailed a European Union offer of 'advanced status' relations, saying Rabat would benefit from 'all' the advantages of the bloc, except its institutions.

TORONTO, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, with his trademark big-hitting, and newboy Ajantha Mendis, delving into his bag of bewildering spin tricks, led Sri Lanka to a five-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Canada Twenty20 final here on Monday.