New European leader chooses Africa as 1st overseas visit

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The new European Commission president says she chose Africa as her first visit outside Europe as it has some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and some of its biggest challenges, including climate change. Ursula von der Leyen spoke after meeting with...

Police: Al-Shabab extremists kill 8 on bus in northern Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya say suspected al-Shabab extremists have stopped a bus in the north near Somalia and killed eight passengers, all of them non-Muslims. A police report seen by The Associated Press on Friday says an unknown number of extremists stopped the bus and singled out non-locals....

6-story building collapses in Nairobi; at least 4 killed

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A six-story residential building collapsed Friday in Kenya's capital, officials said, with at least four people killed and others trapped in the debris. The scene was all too familiar in a city where an audit once found more than half of buildings unsafe for habitation. Associated...

Rwanda opposition leader says she was barred from traveling

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — A prominent Rwandan opposition leader said Friday that authorities barred her from leaving the East African nation this week to receive a human rights award in Spain. “I wrote a letter to the minister of justice requesting permission to travel but the minister didn’t...

Report: Burundi's youth militia runs pre-vote extortion ring

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Burundi’s ruling party is using its feared youth militia to extort money from citizens for next year’s elections, Human Rights Watch asserted Friday. The Imbonerakure youth militia, which the United Nations has blamed for killings, disappearances, torture and gang rape,...

Italian priest, and 2 Kenyan men who say he’s their father

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Steven Lacchin grew up a fatherless boy, but he knew some very basic facts about the man who was his father. He knew Lacchin, the name on his Kenyan birth certificate, was his dad’s name. He knew that Mario Lacchin abandoned him and his mother. When he was older, he learned...

Governor of Nairobi arrested while fleeing graft charges

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's anti-corruption commission says the governor of Nairobi has been arrested while trying to flee prosecution for alleged money laundering and other crimes. The commission said Friday on Twitter that Mike Mbuvi was detained in the southern town of Voi. It shared a video showing...

6-story building collapses in Kenya’s capital, with people feared trapped in the rubble

Nobel body: ‘Highly problematic’ that peace winner silent

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute has called it “highly problematic” that the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner won’t attend any event next week where he could be asked questions publicly, while the spokeswoman for Ethiopia’s prime minister...

Hojgaard in 5-way tie for 1st-round lead at Mauritius Open

BEL-OMBRE, Mauritius (AP) — Rookie Rasmus Hojgaard was among five players tied for the lead after the first round of the Mauritius Open on Thursday. The 18-year-old Dane hit a 6-under 66, including an eagle on the par-5 seventh, for a share of the lead alongside South African Brandon Stone, Grant Forrest...