A US federal court in Florida sentenced "Chuckie" Taylor, son of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, to 97 years in prison Friday for torture and summary executions in the West African country during his father's 1997-2003 rule.

Thierry Levy, the French lawyer representing Gabonese clients accused of "propaganda", was outraged when officials rejected his travel visa to Gabon at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Somali pirates said Friday they had freed a Saudi-owned supertanker, the Sirius Star, captured back in November. After lengthy negotiations, the pirates are thought to have made off with a $3 million ransom.

A court in Senegal sentenced nine gay men to eight years in prison, the highest sentence in a country where homosexuality is banned. The men also belonged to an association to fight AIDS, a "criminal organisation" according to the judge.

Nine hostages on a French ship seized by pirates offshore from Nigeria have now been freed, according to Bourbon, the owner of the vessel. Terms of the release were not communicated, but all hostages are in good health.

A Chinese naval taskforce has escorted four Chinese merchant ships through the pirate-riddled waters of the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia.

Recent winner of the presidential elections in Ghana, John Atta Mills, officially takes his new position today in what is heralded as a democratic example for Africa.

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is picking up speed, with a total of 1,732 deaths so far out of 34,306 cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. The United Nations has warned the number of cases could top 60,000.

A French warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden off of Somalia has thwarted an attack by pirates, arresting 19 people and seizing assault rifles, two rocket launchers and more than 1,000 litres of oil.

Spanish photographer Jose Cendon (our picture) and a British unnamed reporter, kidnapped by an unknown group on November 26 in the Gulf of Aden, have been freed according to the police of Puntland, a region in northern Somalia.

Ghana's electoral commission has announced that opposition leader John Atta Mills has won the country's presidential elections after the last remaining constituency voted on Friday.

Defying a power-sharing deal signed on September 15 with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe seems intent on forming a new government giving the opposition a minor role only.

Ethiopia said the final phase of Ethiopia's troop pullout from neighbouring Somalia is underway. Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to rescue an embattled transitional administration and oust the Islamic Courts Union.

The lone member of parliament in racist South Africa to oppose the apartheid regime, Helen Suzman died peacefully at her home in Johannesburg, aged 91. She was a ardent critic of the post-apartheid ANC regime.

A French warship foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden after it received a distress signal from the boat. The eight men arrested will be taken to Somalia for trial.

British missionaries David and Fiona Fulton have been convicted after pleading guilty to charges of sedition or inciting resistance to lawful authority in the West African state of Gambia. They have been sentenced to one year jail with hard labour.

The National Council for Democracy and Development of Guinea, which seized power after the death of President Lansana Conte last week, has appointed banker Kabine Komara as the new civilian prime minister.

The Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda reportedly killed more than 400 people over the Christmas period in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, NGO Caritas said. On Monday the UN reported the LRA had killed 189 civilians in the region.

The Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda (LRA) reportedly killed 189 people over a period of three days between Dec. 25 and Dec. 27 in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN humanitarian agency OCHA said citing local authorities.