Weak Rand Drives South African Corn, Wheat, Soybean to Records

South African grain and oilseed prices surged to records after the rand weakened and international prices increased, making imports pricier just as the country becomes a net buyer of the commodities after a drought damaged local harvests. Yellow corn for July delivery rose 2.7 percent to 3,815 rand a metric ton on the South African Futures Exchange in Johannesburg Monday, the highest level since trading started in August 1996.

Digital campaigns get the vote

USA president Barack Obama is scheduled to serve his last full day in the White House on 19 January 2017. When he looks back at the legacy of his administration, including the elimination of Osama bin Laden, introduction of Obamacare, initial steps towards normalising relations with Cuba, shutting down the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison for "combatants", and many others, are likely to be high on the list of his achievements during his eight-year presidency.

War-weary Somalis flee for Europe as rebuilding too slow

When hundreds of Somalis were reported drowned in the Mediterranean last month, Abdi Deeq didn't rethink his plans to flee the Horn of Africa nation and risk the illicit crossing to Europe. More than two decades of Somali civil war and a bloody al-Qaida-aligned insurgency have left the 22-year-old student with little hope his country is becoming safer or more prosperous.

Investigators: Smoke detected on Egypt jet just before crash

A massive space shuttle external propellant tank is squeezing through the streets of Los Angeles to join a display of the retired orbiter Endeavour at the California Science Center. A massive space shuttle external propellant tank is squeezing through the streets of Los Angeles to join a display of the retired orbiter Endeavour at the California Science Center.

EgyptAir crash debris recovered

An engineer stands in front of a C-130 HAUP of the Hellenic Air Force, which took part and is on stand by, in the searching operation of the missing Egypt plane, at the military air base of Kastelli on the southern Greek island of Crete on Friday. CAIRO -- Search crews found human remains, luggage and seats from the crashed EgyptAir jetliner Friday but face a potentially more complex task in locating bigger pieces of wreckage and the black boxes vital to determining why the plane plunged into the Mediterranean.

Congo’s political crisis stokes fears of widespread violence

A simmering political crisis in Congo that the U.S. and its allies have been unable to defuse is stoking fears in Congress that one of Africa's largest countries is on the verge of slipping into widespread violence. Tension is building in Congo over President Joseph Kabila's maneuvering to avoid national elections and remain in office beyond his constitutionally permitted term, according to U.S. officials and members of a coalition opposing Kabila.

House chairman complains about Pentagon response on Benghazi

The chairman of the House Benghazi committee on Thursday complained that the Pentagon has failed to provide the names of all the pilots who sent drones over Libya the night of the deadly 2012 attacks, slowing the more than two-year-old investigation. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said in a statement that the Defense Department ignored a request for nearly five weeks for the pilots who sent drones over Benghazi and Tripoli, and that the Pentagon, at the end of April, then provided an incomplete list.

Egyptian Airliner With 66 On Board Crashes In Mediterranean Sea

An EgyptAir passenger jet that took off from Paris with 66 people on board suddenly disappeared over the Aegean Sea on Thursday morning, shortly before it was due to land in Cairo. As Egyptian and Greek authorities mounted a search-and-rescue operation focused around the island of Karpathos, President Francois Hollande of France confirmed that the plane had crashed and acknowledged that "the terrorist hypothesis" was one of several that investigators were looking into.