Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korea fired off an “unidentified projectile” Sunday according to South Korean defence officials, a week after its latest missile launch. “North Korea fired an unidentified projectile at Pukchang, South Pyongan province in the afternoon today,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in …
Read More »West African girls show the way in Senegal tech battle
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | West African schoolgirls, some not yet teenagers, have taken a starring role at an engineering competition in Senegal, busting stereotypes with robotics expertise and innovative projects for their communities. The Pan-African Robotics competition (PARC) in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Saturday reflects the growing …
Read More »Beijing’s new weapon in economic war: Chinese tourists
Beijing, China | AFP | Slapping import bans on products like mangoes, coal and salmon has long been China’s way of punishing countries that refuse to toe its political line. But Beijing has shown that it can also hurt others by cutting a lucrative Chinese export: tourists who normally flock …
Read More »Wenger desperate for lifeline in Premier League finale
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Arsene Wenger will hope an unexpected slip from Liverpool or Manchester City helps silence a growing army of critics as Arsenal try to salvage their traumatic Premier League campaign by snatching a Champions League berth in Sunday’s season finale. Rocked by Arsenal’s failure to …
Read More »Australia declares game-up for ‘fake refugees’
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Australia Sunday gave 7,500 boatpeople until October to prove they are genuine refugees or be kicked out, declaring the “game is up” for illegal arrivals ripping off taxpayers. Before the conservatives took power and adopted a tough line on the issue in 2013, an estimated …
Read More »Trump seeks to win over Muslim leaders with Islam speech
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | US President Donald Trump tells 50 Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia Sunday of his “hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam” a day after Washington took issue with Shiite Iran. Trump’s major speech on Islam takes place on his first foreign trip as president …
Read More »What might come of Brazil’s latest political crisis?
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Brazil is bubbling over the release of a recording that purports to show President Michel Temer approving payment of hush money to a politician jailed for corruption. In a matter of days, eight lawmakers have called for impeachment proceedings against the president, the …
Read More »Joy as Chibok girls reunited with parents
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | There were emotional scenes Saturday as 82 kidnapped Chibok girls released by Boko Haram Islamists earlier this month were reunited with their parents. At the reunion held in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja, fathers gripped their daughters in tight hugs, while mothers shrieked with joy, wiping …
Read More »East African leaders press EU to lift Burundi sanctions
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP | The presidents of Tanzania and Uganda called Saturday on the EU to lift sanctions on Burundi, but a diplomatic for the European bloc dismissed the appeal. The joint plea, by Yoweri Museveni and John Magufuli came at a meeting of the East African …
Read More »EAC SUMMIT: Museveni promises to resolve EPA disagreement
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has taken over chairmanship of the East African Community (EAC) from Tanzania’s John Pole Magufuli with a promise to harmonize the region’s vision on the EU-EAC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) “I failed to find a solution for EAC EU trade deal but I am optimistic President Museveni will …
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