Jack Kim

Egyptians are facing a blizzard of posters and TV adverts seeking their votes in the first free parliamentary election in decades but some campaigners are turning to tricks like tearing down rival posters in a race where every vote counts.

A top Egyptian court on Monday overturned a decision barring members of President Hosni Mubarak's former party from standing in a parliamentary election that starts later this month.

South African stocks capped a volatile week with a sideways close on Friday, as concerns about the outcome for Italy's debt crisis kept investors on the sidelines, although platinum miners and other battered-down shares ticked higher.

South Africa's government bonds were weaker on Friday as the market priced out the chance of a rate cut after a hawkish monetary policy statement while the rand jumped against the dollar as global sentiment turned pro-risk.

Zambia's new government unveiled an expansive 2012 budget on Friday, with big increases in social spending and farming subsidies to be paid for by a rise in mineral royalties and a debut $500 million Eurobond.

Tourist arrivals in Mauritius rose by 3.8 percent in October from a year earlier, the government said on Friday, helped by a surge in tourists from China.

South Africa needs to adress uncertainties including allocation of mineral rights and ownership which are impeding growth in the mining sector, the National Planning Commission said on Friday.

South Africa's National Planning Commission unveiled a plan on Friday to reduce unemployment and poverty plaguing Africa's biggest economy, but key elements may be blocked by a powerful union in a governing alliance with the ruling ANC.

Swaziland said on Friday it would delay paying civil servant salaries this month, a move prompted by a liquidity crisis that has already triggered unprecedented public protest in Africa's last absolute monarchy.

South Sudan's armed forces on Friday accused Khartoum of orchestrating an attack in the south's Upper Nile border state a day earlier that killed 18 troops.

The United Nations on Friday accused Sudan of bombing a refugee camp in South Sudan and called for an investigation into the attack, evidence of the escalating tensions between Khartoum and Juba.

Somali forces allied to Kenya attacked an al Shabaab base near Afmadow on Friday and said they would press towards the strategic town seen as an obstacle to seizing the key port city of Kismayu.

Rivals President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai together on Friday condemned political violence in Zimbabwe and said parties should freely hold meetings at a time when tensions are rising ahead of possible elections in 2012.

At least two people were killed in fighting between militias outside Libya's capital Tripoli, troops in the area said on Friday, in a sign that armed groups are vying for power in the absence of a unified army.

ArcelorMittal, the world's top steel maker, is on track to produce between 1.2 million and 1.3 million tonnes of iron ore from its Liberia mine in 2011, exceeding a 1-million-tonne target, and does not expect a decline in prices to impact the project's planned expansion, the company said on Thursday.

Bollore plans to invest 18 billion CFA francs in Abidjan port by 2013 to make it the region's key sea hub, the French logistics and transport group's Africa chief said.

South Africa's Energy Minister Dipuo Peters wants an audit of the country's oil refineries to establish their reliability in the face of increasing unplanned refinery shutdowns, the ministry said on Thursday.

Zambian finance minister Alexander Chikwanda is expected to unveil a pro-poor budget on Friday, reflecting the shift in political priorities in Africa's biggest copper producer since opposition leader Michael Sata's September election upset.

Commodities giant Glencore has signed a deal to buy energy trader Mercuria's 15 percent stake in South Africa's Optimum Coal Holdings (OCH) in its drive to acquire the whole company worth around $1 billion, sources close to the agreement said.

Nigeria plans to change the base year for its gross domestic product (GDP) to 2008 from 1990, a move that could lead to a huge jump in the estimated size of Africa's second biggest economy, the national statistics chief said on Thursday.

South Africa's government bonds weakened on Thursday, erasing earlier gains as the Reserve Bank said the inflation outlook had deteriorated, a hint that the chances of another rate cut had diminished.

South Africa's Reserve Bank held interest rates on Thursday, choosing to focus on rising inflationary pressures in preference to propping up a sluggish domestic economy as uncertainties clouded the country's future rate path.

A refugee camp in South Sudan's Unity state was bombed on Thursday, South Sudan officials and witnesses said, threatening to raise tensions with Sudan.

One of al Qaeda's commanders in the Sahara has said the group profited from the Libyan conflict by securing weapons and he called on Islamists in Libya not to disarm.

A violent Islamist sect responsible for scores of killings in northeast Nigeria is increasingly linking up with global jihadist movements like al Qaeda, a military commander in the area told Reuters on Monday.

South Africa's ruling ANC kicked out its firebrand Youth League leader, Julius Malema, from the party for five years on Thursday after finding him guilty of dividing and bringing the 99-year-old liberation movement into disrepute.

Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf may, if re-elected, offer government posts to rivals in a spirit of reconciliation after a deadly crackdown on an opposition protest, a spokesman said on Thursday.

A four-hour power cut hit Zambia's capital and main mining region on Wednesday, although it was not clear what if any impact there was on output from Africa's biggest copper producer.

Fire broke out on Wednesday on the Okordia/Rumuekpe oil pipeline in Nigeria and some production has been shut down, but the blaze has since been put out, a spokesman for operator Royal Dutch Shell said.