Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Friday distanced itself from the controversy over Russia-linked Facebook ads which may have influenced last year’s US election, saying Moscow had nothing to do with them. “We don’t know who places ads on Facebook and how,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told …

Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | Uganda’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Amb. Nelson Ocheger, has appealed for the support of Parliament to provide funds for the construction of the country’s permanent High Commission in Abuja. Ocheger, who on Wednesday met Opposition MPs at the rented High Commission Building located on Mandara …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump’s contentious travel ban expires Sunday with little clarity over whether America’s door will reopen for travelers from six majority-Muslim countries. Based on the policy, US embassies or representatives in Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen should resume granting visas to their …

Tehran, Iran | AFP | President Hassan Rouhani vowed on Friday that Iran would boost its missile capabilities despite warnings from Washington that it is ready to ditch a landmark nuclear deal over the issue. His comments came as Iran displayed a new missile at a military parade marking the anniversary …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Sierra Leone’s anti-graft agency indicted the country’s football federation president Isha Johansen and secretary general Chris Kamara on six counts of abuse of office and corruption on Thursday, following a year of investigations. The indictment was issued in Freetown by Anti-Corruption Commission chief Ade Macauley, …

Kampala,Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | An effective Opposition must act as the last check to prevent impunity in governments in much of Africa, the Deputy President (Speaker) of the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu has said. Meeting a delegation of selected MPs from the Opposition, Sen. Ekweremadu said that the Opposition …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia has pledged to abolish the death penalty in a clean break with the former regime of Yahya Jammeh, giving activists hope that more African states will follow its example. President Adama Barrow, elected in December 2016, signed a UN treaty on the abolition of …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | America’s President is many things to many people but “mentally deranged US dotard” is perhaps the most memorable of names to have yet been coined for the billionaire reality television star-turned world leader. Kim Jong-Un’s rhetorical flourish might seem like an outlandish tongue-lashing of the …

Dhaka, Bangladesh | AFP | The United Nations will need $200 million over the next six months to face the “catastrophic” influx of more than 420,000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, a top UN official said Friday. The Rohingya Muslims, escaping ethnic unrest in Myanmar, have overwhelmed Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar in under …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia is “deeply concerned” by the escalation of tensions over North Korea, the Kremlin said on Friday, after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un exchanged stinging barbs. “Moscow is deeply concerned by an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula related to …