by Chinedu  Asadu ABUJA, Nigeria  — Africa’s fashion industry is rapidly growing to meet local and international demands but a lack of adequate investment still limits its full potential, UNESCO said Thursday in its new report released at this year’s Lagos Fashion Week show. Currently valued at $15.5 billion worth of exports annually, the earnings from the continent’s fashion industry could triple over a decade with the right investment and infrastructure, according to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who launched the organization’s first report on fashion in Africa in Nigeria’s economic hub of Lagos. With a young population of 1.3 billion…

by Chinedu Asadu ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Supreme Court refused Thursday to void the recent election of President Bola Tinubu and dismissed the political opposition’s challenges, which argued that the vote was flawed and that Tinubu was not qualified to seek or hold the presidency. The court held in a majority ruling that the grounds of the challenges were “devoid of merits,” ending a dispute that had put Africa’s most populous country on the edge after the February election. An appeals court in Nigeria also rejected the petitions last month. Two other candidates in the election separately challenged Tinubu’s win,…

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields left Sunday’s game against Minnesota in the second half with a right hand injury. Fields got hurt when he was sacked by Danielle Hunter with about 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Chicago punted on the next play, and Tyson Bagent entered the game when the Bears got the ball back. The Bears said Fields would not return to the game. He was sacked four times before he left. The Bears also lost right guard Nate Davis to an ankle injury in the first half. It was Bagent’s NFL debut. He signed…

by Chinedu Asadu ABUJA, Nigeria  — Nigeria’s leader increased the wages of some government workers in last-minute efforts to appease labor unions whose planned strike this weekcould shut down government offices in all sectors of Africa’s largest economy. Low-grade workers will in the next six months be paid an additional 25,000 naira ($32) a month, President Bola Tinubu said Sunday in a nationwide broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 63rd independence anniversary. The increase expected to take effect this month takes the minimum wage to 55,000 naira ($71), still far below the 200,000 naira ($258) the unions had requested. The labor unions…

by Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Steven Groves WASHINGTON  — The threat of a federal government shutdown suddenly lifted late Saturday as President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare after Congress rushed to approve the bipartisan deal. The package drops aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion,meeting Biden’s full request. The bill funds government until Nov. 17. After chaotic days of turmoil in the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly abandoned demands for steep spending…

by Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Steven Groves WASHINGTON  — The threat of a federal government shutdown was suddenly easing Saturday after the House quickly approved a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open, once Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage. The rushed package would leave behind aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but increase federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting President Joe Biden’s full request. The bill would fund government until Nov. 17. It goes next to the Senate,…

by Juan A. Lozano HOUSTON  — The family of a Black high school student in Texas on Saturday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state’s governor and attorney general over his ongoing suspension by his school district for his hairstyle. Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31 at the Houston-area school. School officials say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code. George’s mother, Darresha George, and the family’s attorney deny the teenager’s hairstyle violates the dress…

Share by Jon Gambrell, Lujan Jo and Mathew Lee DOHA, Qatar  — Five Americans detained for years in Iran walked off a plane and into freedom Monday, most arm-in-arm, as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets owed by a third country, South Korea. The successful negotiations for the Americans’ freedom brought Biden profuse thanks from their families but heat from Republican presidential rivals and other opponents for the monetary arrangement with one of America’s top adversaries. “Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned…

by Joseph Omoremi CHICAGO, IL – Organic and processed Uganda products may soon become a regular stable in the United States as 19 Ugandan exporters have been trained in targeted sectors and 17-distribution centers identified across the United States by the African Global Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) in a concerted efforts to raise the quality and quantity of African products entering the U.S. market. “America is built on private enterprise. If we can connect the two continents together to build a strong private sector in Africa and create job opportunities and healthy foods here, AGCC would have accomplished some of his…

  by Jennifer Peltz NEW YORK  — Americans are looking back on the horror and legacy of 9/11, gathering Monday at memorials, firehouses, city halls and elsewhere to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil. Commemorations stretch from the attack sites — at New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania — to Alaska and beyond. President Joe Biden is due at a ceremony on a military base in Anchorage. His visit, en route to Washington, D.C., from a trip to India and Vietnam, is a reminder that the impact of 9/11 was felt in every…