Decision comes as the African Union debates a mass withdrawal from the court South Africa’s attempt to withdraw from the International Criminal Court has been ruled “unconstitutional and invalid” by a Pretoria court. The decision is a victory for activists hoping to stem an exodus of African nations from the ICC.

Astronomers call them super-Earths, and they are abundant outside our solar system. But the more experts learn about them, the weirder our own planet seems in comparison. Planets the size of Earth and up to four times larger are believed to make up about three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft.

Film reviewer Armond White shouted: "You’re an embarrassing doorman and garbage man!" The 79th annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards turned awkward on Monday night when CityArts editor Armond White started to heckle director Steve McQueen. McQueen had just accepted his prize for “12 Years a Slave,” presented by Harry Belafonte, when the interruption broke out. As soon as McQueen took the stage, White started shouting from his table at the back of the room. “You’re an embarrassing doorman and garbage man,” White boomed. “F—you. Kiss my ass.”

65-year-old actor had undergone open-heart surgery. Actor James Avery - who played Uncle Phil in TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - has died. The 65-year-old's publicist told Sky News he died from complications following open-heart surgery in Glendale, California, on Tuesday afternoon. Fellow actor Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Avery's son, Carlton Banks, in the classic 1990s comedy series, paid tribute on his Facebook page.

Renowned writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o has been picked for a literary award organised by the Caribbean Philosophical Association. Prof Ngugi won the Nicol Guilln Lifetime Achievement Award for Philosophical Literature because of the global importance of his work, the awarding committee said.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya said it would introduce a single electronic system for processing imports and exports on Friday, replacing a mountain of forms and paper bureaucracy blamed for holding up trade.

Sixteen people were wounded in a grenade explosion outside a Catholic church during a Christmas eve mass in the Philippines' restive southern island of Mindanao, a priest and police said on Saturday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday met leaders of the New Ford-Kenya party, barely three days after they announced its dissolution.

Nairobi has landed a top position in cities spurring technology and real estate development with a potential of being the leading African country in socio-economic growth, a report has said.

A new partnership has been formed between European and African researchers to develop an AIDS vaccine that can be used to prevent infection with different strains of HIV worldwide.