Bloomberg Two years into his rule, Tanzanian President John Magufuli has some unexpected new fans: his political opponents. His chief rival in the 2015 vote, Edward Lowassa, has praised his reforms and urged others to support them. Another challenger became one of his regional commissioners, while two opposition lawmakers recently defected to the ruling party and will run as candidates ...

WASHINGTON / Reuters The Taliban are openly active in 70 percent of Afghanistan’s districts, fully controlling 4 percent of the country and demonstrating an open physical presence in another 66 percent, according to a BBC study published. The BBC estimate, which it said was based on conversations with more than 1,200 individual local sources in all districts of the South ...

Bloomberg Mali will deploy additional troops to its central region in a bid to halt an escalation of extremist attacks as pressure mounts to stabilise the West African nation before elections later this year. “Our biggest concern is the security of central Mali,” Security Minister Salif Traore said in an interview in the capital, Bamako. “We are under time constraints ...