Jack Kim

Grains exporter Canada and Morocco, among the region's top wheat importers, on Thursday announced the start of negotiations for a free trade agreement, Morocco's official media reported.

Ghana is on track for a record 800,000-tonne cocoa harvest this season, the head of sector body Cocobod told Reuters on Thursday, adding that any impact from smuggling from neighbouring Ivory Coast was limited so far.

Nigeria's combined crude oil and condensate production is currently 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) but output from Africa's largest crude exporter still remains within its OPEC quota, the state oil company says.

Air Mauritius will fly direct to China from July in a move it hopes will help boost tourism in the Indian Ocean island, which is suffering from the downturn in Europe.

Italy's oil and gas major Eni has won an international tender to operate block 35 in deepwater offshore Angola as it pushes to expand on its core African market and boost deepwater development.

Norway's oil and gas producer Statoil told Reuters on Wednesday it saw potential for big discoveries in Angola's ultra-deep water blocks, known as pre-salt blocks, in which it was awarded concessions on Monday.

A Royal Dutch Shell executive said on Wednesday the company could not be held solely responsible for damage to the environment caused by oil extraction in the Niger Delta where it operates.

Algeria must urgently create jobs for its young unemployed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report published on Wednesday, highlighting a problem that has fuelled unrest throughout the region.

Canada's Africa Oil Corp said on Wednesday it had completed a farmout agreement for three east African exploration blocks to London-listed Tullow Oil Plc, which now holds a 50 percent stake in each of them.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has hit out at the heads of parliament and the judiciary, accusing them of interfering in his government's business, media reported Wednesday.

Armed men damaged a studio used by Al Jazeera television in the West Bank on Wednesday, witnesses said, linking the attack to the channel's coverage of documents that have embarrassed Palestinian leaders.

A Palestinian gunman opened fire at Israeli soldiers, who shot back and killed him, near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Thursday, the military said.

At least 48 people were killed in Iraq on Thursday in bombings targeting Shi'ite pilgrims and police, a third day of bloodshed that posed a challenge to Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw.

South Korea agreed on Thursday to a North Korean offer of high-level military talks, a major breakthrough in the crisis on the peninsula which improves the prospect of renewed aid-for-disarmament negotiations.

Iran said it had no fresh offer to make to revive a nuclear fuel swap proposal but was ready to discuss it in talks with world powers on Friday, and Russia said ways of easing sanctions on Tehran should be addressed too.

President Barack Obama urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to let the value of China's yuan currency rise and delivered a strong message on U.S. concerns over Beijing's human rights record at a summit on Wednesday.

Tunisian police fired shots into the air on Thursday to try to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding that ministers associated with the rule of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali leave the government.

Plans for a delayed 300 MW wind farm in Kenya can now proceed after lenders agreed to rely on the government's assurance that it backed the plan, instead of proper guarantees, the chairman of the project said.

Safaricom's second tranche of its five-year medium-term note worth 4.5 billion shillings was fully subscribed, the Kenyan mobile phone operator's chief executive said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday led by losses in the technology sector and on worries that China's rapid growth may lead to more aggressive measures to tackle inflation.

Mauritius private equity group Ciel Capital plans to venture into Kenya, east Africa's biggest economy, in the first half and is in talks with key players in various sectors, a senior partner said.

Consumer prices rose a lower than expected 0.9 percent in Morocco in 2010, with gains in food prices offset by lower communications costs, the state planning and statistics authority (HCP) said on Thursday.

Malawi's central bank will be able to cut interest rates this year from their current 13 percent because of the southern African nation's steadily easing inflation, Reserve Bank Governor Perks Ligoya said on Thursday.

South African utility Eskom said on Thursday a 10-year, $1.75 billion international bond launched this week with a 5.75 percent coupon was more than 2-1/2 times oversubscribed.

Nigeria has issued guidance for its $500 million debut Eurobond indicating a yield of around 7 percent, higher than that of West African peer Ghana, market sources said on Thursday.

South Africa's Reserve Bank left its repo rate steady at 5.5 percent as expected on Thursday, citing an improving economic outlook and sustained recovery in domestic consumption.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the Tunisian capital on Wednesday to demand the dismissal from the new coalition government of ministers associated with ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a one month delay to the inauguration of parliament after a special election court asked for more time to look into fraud allegations, his office said Wednesday.

Twenty Afghan civilians, including 13 children, were killed by a roadside bomb in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, a senior official said, in the country's deadliest insurgent attack in nearly six months.