International

Uganda has deployed an additional 1,700 troops in volatile Somalia, bringing the total number of Ugandan peacekeepers in the Horn of African country to 8,000, a military spokesman said here on Monday.

Zambia has been recording about 90 defilement cases per month since the start of this year, signaling
that the country still faces challenges in tackling one of the growing problems, the Post of Zambia reported on Monday.

Morocco’s prime minister has hit out at courtiers around King Mohammed in rare criticism that could signify the start of a confrontation between the Islamist-led government and powerful figures close to the palace.

Syrian troops have killed dozens of civilians in the city of Hama, activists have said, as UN military observers toured protest centres near the capital Damascus, and both Brussels and Washington imposed new sanctions.

North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters, which will draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch if it goes ahead.

The city commission in Sanford, Florida, has rejected the resignation of the police chief who had stepped aside amid criticism over his department’s investigation into the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Questions as to whether the international community and, in particular, the East African governments, have any interest in stopping Joseph Kony’s two-decade reign of terror in the region have emerged, with calls for sustained international efforts to bring the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to justice.

Economic growth that relies on unsustainable patterns of consumption and production is undermining humankind’s quest for harmony with nature and called for science-based sustainable development solutions, an international forum has been told as the world marked the International Mother Earth Day.