Bangui / AFP The Central African Republic’s capital was rocked by deadly overnight clashes as France’s defence minister was due on Monday to formally end a military operation there, hailing it as a “success”. Local sources said about 10 people had been killed in a settling of scores between armed groups Sunday night in Bangui’s restive Muslim PK5 neighbourhood. The …

  Lagos / AFP Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Nigerian officials of sexually exploiting women and girls living in camps for victims of Boko Haram in the restive northeast. HRW said it had in July documented 43 cases of women and girls in seven internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, the epicentre of the seven-year Islamist insurgency, who had …

  Tokyo / AFP Japan Airlines on Monday slashed its full-year earnings outlook, and warned its fiscal first-half net profit nosedived owing to a slump in its international business. While falling oil prices have helped carriers’ profits — fuel is often an airline’s single-biggest expense — the loss of a fuel surcharge imposed to deal with previously sky-high crude prices …