A Kenyan court on Monday sentenced two Iranians to life in prison on terror-related charges, including the possession of explosives allegedly to be used in bomb attacks. "I shudder to imagine the amount of damage that could have been seen," judge Kiarie Waweru Kiarie told the court in the capital Nairobi. Ahmed Mohammed, 50, and Sayed Mansour, 51, who were arrested last June, were found guilty of possessing 15 kilos (33 pounds) of the powerful explosive RDX, found by police hidden in a hole in a golf course.

Galvanised by the Arab spring, Eritreans in exile in Europe are mobilising against the authoritarian regime of President Issaias Afeworki with a new tool -- the humble telephone. Every week, members of the diaspora make hundreds or even thousands of automated calls to their compatriots in the eastern African nation, chosing their numbers at random and playing them one-minute recorded messages to spread dissent.

One man was wounded in a firefight between the security detail of Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and alleged thugs Sunday but the security service said the incident was not political in nature. Bodyguards opened fire at a car carrying five people that had cut into the official convoy as it crossed the capital's October 6 bridge across the Nile. The fire was returned from the car before the driver and the passengers were arrested.

Oils, soap and smoked fish may have returned to Bangui's colourful market stalls, but underneath the luring smells and lively buzz of haggling vendors, the tills ring empty, a sign of the Central African Republic's crippling finances and the constant fear of looters. "I've been open since seven this morning, but at noon, I barely have 3,500 CFA francs (5.34 euros, $7) in my till. It's pathetic. Civil servants aren't being paid, the money doesn't circulate. We don't know what will become of us unless the situation in the country improves," said merchant Anour Tokis.