East Africa may lose its crown as 'cradle of mankind'
Archaeologists in Algeria have discovered stone tools and cut animal bones that may be up to 2.4 million years old, bringing into question East Africa's title as the cradle of humanity, according to research published on Thursday in the journal Science.
The artifacts - more ancient than those discovered in the region until now - were found in Setif, some 300km east of Algiers, by a team of international researchers, including Algerians.
The tools closely resemble those called Oldowan, found until now mainly in East Africa.
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Zimbabwe starts building new parliament, paid by China
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday laid the foundation stone for huge new parliament to be built with Chinese funds outside the capital Harare.
The imposing circular complex will be built over 32 months by the Shanghai Construction group at Mount Hampden, 18km north-west of Harare, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Officials say the current colonial-era parliamentary building in the city centre is too small to accommodate lawmakers.
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WATCH: 'We are not agreed on the president… There is a crisis of legitimacy,' says Chamisa
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through Harare on Thursday, in the first rally since a deadly crackdown on an election protest in August.
Many protester showed their support for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Nelson Chamisa.
Addressing the crowd, Chamisa said: "The people have voted, the vote must count, the voice must count. You voted and that vote must be respected.
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Post Zim election violence: Rights groups raise concern over Motlanthe-led commission
The Kgalema Motlanthe-led commission of inquiry into Zimbabwe's August 1 shootings has concluded its work, but rights groups have expressed concern over the lack of transparency on how it handled evidence.
According to NewsDay, the NGO Forum, a grouping of several human rights non-governmental organisations, expressed fears of tampering with evidence by the commission's secretariat and its silence on issues of safety and security of witnesses.
The NGO Forum director Blessing Gorejena said her organisation was worried that the commission has concluded its work without acknowledging the evidence they had presented before it.
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WATCH: US urged to send Ebola experts in as DRC outbreak worsens
Global health experts are urging the Donald Trump administration to allow US government disease specialists - "some of the world's most experienced" - to return to northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to help fight the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history.
The US experts have been sidelined for weeks, ordered away from the region because of State Department security concerns. New statements in two top medical journals this week are calling on the US to change its mind and send them back where they are sorely needed.
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Nigerian police kill over 100 'bandits' in crackdown
Nigerian police claimed on Friday that over 100 "bandits" had been killed in a crackdown targeting crime in the northwest state of Zamfara, following a surge in kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.
Zamfara has been plagued by violent crime over the past year, with Amnesty International warning in July that people living in the impoverished state were "at the mercy" of armed bandits who take hostages and raid villages.
A joint operation team on Thursday "repelled ambush attacks from armed bandits" at Mahanga Forest in Zamfara State and "in the process killed one hundred and four bandits," national police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood said in a statement.
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