Nigeria: The Government is in talks with Islamist militant group Boko Haram about a possible ceasefire, with the ultimate aim of securing a permanent cessation of hostilities, Information Minister Lai Mohammed says. It is the first time in years that the Government has said it is talking to Boko Haram about a ceasefire in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people and ravaged the northeast of a country that has Africa's biggest economy.
United States: A cellphone video has surfaced of a Texas sheriff's deputy fatally shooting an unarmed black man who had his pants around his ankles as he failed to listen to officers and continued to approach them. The Houston Chronicle obtained a civilian witness's video of Friday's shooting. The recording cuts out as the Harris County deputy shoots because of a car passing in front of the cellphone. A spokesman for the sheriff's office says the man, identified as Danny Ray Thomas, had an object in his hand, but no weapon was recovered.
Tanzania: A truck and a minibus have collided in Tanzania, killing at least 26 people and injuring nine others. The country's traffic police commander, Fortunatus Musilimu, says the dead in Mkuranga included 12 women and seven children.
Somalia: A suicide car bomber has blown himself up at a checkpoint near Somalia's Parliament and Interior Ministry in the capital Mogadishu, and the city's ambulance service says three people have been killed. Nur Mohamed, a Mogadishu police officer, told Reuters the bomb had gone off at the heavily guarded Sayidka checkpoint.
Russia: The death toll from a fire in a shopping centre in the Russian city of Kemerovo has risen to 37, news agencies report, citing local authorities. The fire tore through the shopping centre in the city of Kemerovo, with early figures saying 69 people were missing. Tass news agency said 40 of those missing were children. The Investigative Committee, which investigates high-profile crimes, is reporting directly to President Vladimir Putin. News agencies said more than 100 people had been evacuated from the mall, which contains cinemas, restaurants and shops. There was no immediate indication of the cause of the fire. Kemerovo, a coalmining centre in Siberia, is located about 3600km east of Moscow.
Brazil: Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is rallying support as part of a campaign tour ahead of his likely arrest in coming weeks. Today, da Silva visited a farm and spoke to a few hundred supporters in southern Brazil. But it seems all but certain that he will be jailed soon. As early as tomorrow, judges could order him to begin serving his sentence on a corruption conviction. Even if they do, he will remain free at least until early April while the Supreme Court considers a habeas corpus petition. Da Silva is leading polls for October's presidential election, but he is also likely to be barred from running.
Australia: The federal Coalition Government has lost its 29th straight Newspoll, as Labor's primary vote climbs. The latest Newspoll of 1597 voters published in the Australian shows the Coalition trailing the Opposition by 47-53 per cent. Labor improved its primary vote to 39 per cent against the Government's 37 per cent.
Britain: The leader of Britain's Opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has apologised for anti-Semitism within his party, as he faced the prospect of protests over a perceived failure to act on such incidents in the past. "We recognise that anti-Semitism has occurred in pockets within the Labour Party, causing pain and hurt to our Jewish community in the Labour Party and the rest of the country," Corbyn said in a statement posted on Facebook. "I am sincerely sorry for the pain which has been caused." Labour has faced persistent criticism in recent years for anti-Semitic comments made by party members and even MPs. Corbyn himself was criticised last week for a comment made in 2012 showing solidarity with the creator of a mural deemed by many to be anti-Semitic.
Egypt: A British journalist expelled from the country last month did not have valid accreditation and was filming without a permit, Egyptian authorities said today. The State Information Service said that the Times' correspondent Bel Trew, expelled after being threatened with military trial, also covered Egypt unfairly and published false information. The move comes as part of a heavy crackdown on media ahead of this week's presidential election, which President Abdel-fattah al-Sisi is set to win after all serious competitors were arrested or intimidated into dropping out. Trew, who had been in Egypt for seven years, was expelled in late February after being arrested while reporting in Shoubra, a central Cairo district. Trew said in an account on the Times' website that she has been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.
- agencies
