Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in the capital, Bamako, to try to free hostages taken after it was stormed by gunmen. The hotel says 138 people remain inside. The gunmen stormed it shooting and shouting “God is great!” in Arabic, eyewitnesses say. Malian officials said 30 hostages have been freed. State TV earlier put the figure ...

Three fuel tankers have been impounded and about 37 people arrested in a crackdown on illegal fuel sites in Lusaka. The joint operation which involved the Energy Regulation Board, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Zambia Police also resulted in the recovery of 140 drums of fuel from four raided fuel sites in the light industrial area. ERB Public Relations ...

Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) has made a strong and passionate appeal to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to thoroughly investigate allegations that the NATSAVE Managing Director made an irregular payment for an advert in a French magazine of over K630,000 which was not published and a further 46,366 Euros to a French advertising agency. Executive Director Goodwell Lungu in a statement ...

ZAMBIA Civic Education Association (ZCEA) Executive Director Judith Mulenga has attributed the high number of children who are in school to weak compulsory laws on education. Ms. Mulenga has told QFM News that the country needs to come up with punitive laws which will deal with parents or guardians who fail to enroll children who have attained the school enrollment ...

Rainbow party Spokesperson Goodson Banda says the ruling Patriotic Front can only underrate his party their own peril. Mr. Banda says the Rainbow party is getting stronger everyday and that come 2016, the PF will be in for a rude shock. Mr. Banda has wondered where Patriotic Front is getting the impression that the Rainbow party under its leader Wynter ...

Vice President Inonge Win says her statement in Parliament last week on opposition political party meetings on the Copperbelt has been taken out of context. During the Vice President’s question time this morning, Ms. Wina says at no point did she insinuate that all political meetings on the Copperbelt had been banned. She says what she said was that at ...

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said European countries must “wake up” to terror threats, following the attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead. He spoke after it emerged that the suspected Belgian ringleader of the attacks had entered France undetected. Belgian PM Charles Michel has defended Belgium’s security services amid claims the attacks were organised there. It comes ...

Nakambala Leopards coach Patrick Phiri is delighted his players delivered on their promise to survive demotion from the Faz Super League this season. Nakambala beat Konkola Blades 2-1 at home in Mazabuka on Wednesday, to swap places and see the latter demoted from the Super League. The win ensured Nakambala, who have failed to leave the bottom three of the ...

The Patriotic Front (PF) has urged the opposition UPND against importing their infamous and violent campaign formula known as the Mapatizya formula into places such as the Copperbelt Province. And the ruling party says UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema must be the last person to play victim because he does not even have the morality to denounce the violence perpetrated in ...

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) says the continued blocking of opposition leaders from meeting people on the Copperbelt is indirectly de-campaigning President Edgar Lungu. YALI Governance Advisor Isaac Mwanza says President Lungu has a very good Political Advisor in Kaizer Zulu who should be advising the Head of State correctly. He says the President needs to distance himself from ...