World News

Teachers in South Africa want the planned reopening of schools on 1 June halted, Independent Online news website reports. Educators Union of SA (Eusa) general secretary Siphiwe Mpungose is quoted as saying that they will file a court application on Monday against the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The DBE had announced that Grade 7 and Grade 12 will reopen ...

Hong Kong needs a controversial new security law to tackle “growing terrorism”, the territory’s security chief has said. John Lee said the city had become “shrouded in the shadow of violence”. After months of quiet, this weekend saw a fresh surge of protest after the government in Beijing proposed a security law that would radically change Hong Kong’s unique status. ...

Foreign visitors to Spain will no longer have to undergo a two-week quarantine from 1 July, the government has announced. It said the measure had been finalised in a cabinet meeting on Monday. Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya had previously said the requirement would be lifted in July, without giving a date. The news comes as the UK government prepares ...

Lufthansa has agreed a rescue deal worth €9bn (£8bn) with the German government that saves it from collapse. The German airline has been severely affected by a decline in travel due to the coronavirus and closed its budget airline Germanwings in April. The German government will take a 20% stake in the firm, which it intends to sell by the end ...

Negotiations remain the only way to overcome the ongoing political deadlock in Venezuela, especially given the potentially far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday. “Venezuela is mired in a deepening protracted crisis that only Venezuelans can resolve,” said Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Despite significant international facilitation ...

Zimbabwe’s justice minister has threatened to prosecute three female opposition members who allege they were arrested and then abducted from police custody and sexually assaulted. They say they were beaten and forced to drink each other’s urine. The three, including an MP, are being treated in hospital for their injuries. Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the women made up the ...

Sudan is required to pay punitive damages to some of the victims of the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania carried out by al-Qaeda, the US Supreme Court has ruled. More than 200 people died and thousands were injured in the attacks. Sudan was accused of giving al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden technical and financial support. The ...

In our series of letters from African journalists, Ismail Einashe writes that migrants are facing a tougher time since the outbreak of coronavirus. Thousands of African migrants are stuck in transit – unable to reach their destination or to get back home because the coronavirus pandemic has caused the world to come to a standstill. Take two key exit points: ...

Félicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, has been arrested near Paris, the French justice ministry has announced. Mr Kabuga was detained in a dawn raid in Asnières-sur-Seine, where he had been living under a false identity. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has charged the 84-year-old with genocide and crimes against humanity. He is ...

Nigeria has recorded 288 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 5,445. Announcing the new development on Friday night, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the country recorded the new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. The NCDC also said that four new patients have been confirmed dead to the virus ...