ABUJA — Nigeria’s Senate on Wednesday approved all but one of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s ministerial nominees after he recently sacked the entire cabinet in the West African oil giant. “We hope when these ministers are deployed they will live up to the expectations of Nigerians…earnestly do what they promised us here,” said Senate President [...]

Kuala Lumpur – Heavily armed Somali pirates shot and wounded nine seafarers during a bloody attempt to hijack a North Korean cargo ship off Kenya on Wednesday, a maritime watchdog said. “There was a very violent attack against a North Korean vessel by Somali pirates who used automatic rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades),” Pottengal Mukundan, [...]

Lagos – A police spokesperson says a Nigerian who works for the French oil giant Total has been kidnapped by gunmen. Rivers State Police spokesperson Rita Abbey tells The Associated Press that the man was kidnapped early on Wednesday morning while he was driving his car near the city of Port Harcourt. Abbey says police [...]

Ethiopia has launched an electric car, despite suffering from power shortages. It is only the second African country to do so, after South Africa. Two versions of the Solaris Elettra will be manufactured in Addis Ababa, costing around $12,000 and $15,000. The cars will be sold in Ethiopia and exported to Africa and Europe. But [...]

Lagos – A Nigerian naval spokesperson says two sailors taken hostage by pirates off the coast of West Africa have been released. Commodore David Nabaida said the two men were let go early on Wednesday unharmed. Nabaida said he didn’t know whether a ransom had been paid for their release, though he said the pirates [...]

Nairobi – Somalia’s president wants thousands of troops trained in Kenya to be deployed to Mogadishu for an upcoming offensive against Islamist militants, but Kenya has denied the request – yet another complication for a military campaign that has already been delayed several times, officials said. The fact that Kenya could veto Somali wishes for [...]

Balanced reforms planned for Canada’s asylum system Ottawa, March 30, 2010 — Legislation to improve Canada’s asylum system, deliver quicker decisions on asylum claims and provide faster protection to those in need was introduced today by Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “This balanced reform would both increase support for refugees in need of [...]

PHOENIX — A teenage Liberian refugee charged in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old girl in Phoenix last summer pleaded guilty in the case Tuesday, authorities said. Maricopa County prosecutors said the 15-year-old boy, who was transferred from adult court to juvenile court last week, pleaded guilty to sexual assault, kidnapping, three counts of sexual conduct [...]

The Progressive Peoples Alliance has sent the name of the immediate past Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Chuka Odom, to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan for nomination as a minister. According to a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Ben Onyechere, the party said it still [...]

Nigeria sits atop a list of African countries which have suffered a massive outflow of illicit funds in Africa between 1970 through 2008, a new report from US-based Global Financial Integrity group has shown. The study, titled Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: Hidden Resource for Development, reveals that Nigeria lost $165.697billion, close to 19% of [...]