Johannesburg / AFP Hundreds of coffee lovers queued early Thursday in an upmarket Johannesburg shopping centre as international chain Starbucks opened its first cafe in sub-Saharan Africa. The US-based global brand plans to open 12-15 more stores in South Africa over the next two years, with a long term plan of up to 150 outlets. “The timing is right. We are …

  Doni, Ethiopia / AFP Outside a small store on a dirt track in the remote Ethiopian town of Doni, long queues wait for government cash handouts by the most modern of methods — mobile phone. Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country and one of its fastest growing economies, is pushing a new electronic payment service by phone — called M-Birr, …

  London / AFP The 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Bronte, whose intense and passionate vision of rural life in “Jane Eyre” has haunted generations of readers, was marked in Britain. Fans hosted a birthday party in the house in northern England where Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne grew up and wrote their books. The anniversary highlights …