Africa, Unrest | featured news

South African police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse striking miners at a gold mine near Johannesburg on Monday, the latest outbreak in a wave of labor militancy spreading from platinum mining into other parts of the sector.

Labour unrest in South Africa's platinum belt spread on Wednesday, raising concerns that anger over low wages and poor living conditions could generate fresh violence after 34 striking miners were shot dead by police last week.

It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it's really on the run. Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies turn up, victims of drug cartels. This month eight people died in a shooting in a California hair salon.

After French helicopters attack his bunker at the presidential residence, former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is seized by forces for Alassane Ouattara, the official winner of last fall's election. Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to concede defeat in elections or in battle, was seized by opposition forces Monday and taken to the hotel where his rival's government was based, according to French and U.N. officials.

Brent crude rose towards $120 a barrel and U.S. crude hit a 2-1/2-year high above $108 on Monday as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa kept the focus on oil supplies as economic growth bolstered demand for fuel.

The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast began moving some 200 employees out of the main city Sunday after repeated attacks on its headquarters, as fighters loyal to the internationally recognized president prepared for a battle to oust the incumbent leader.

Thought to be all but defeated, Laurent Gbagbo's forces fought back Saturday, retaking control of Ivory Coast's all-powerful state-run television network that has been the embattled president's voice in his standoff with Alassane Ouattara.

NATO investigating reports that coalition jet struck pro-democracy forces in country's east, killing at least seven. Pro-democracy forces in Libya say at least seven of their fighters have been killed in a NATO air strike on the outskirts of the ...

Libyan rebels pushed past the oil town of Brega on Sunday, moving toward the major refinery at Ras Lanuf in the second day of a counterattack aided by allied airstrikes against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces.

A woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by Qaddafi militia members.