Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi courts will notify women by text message when they get divorced, in a new regulation that took effect on Sunday, officials said. The measure approved by the justice ministry appears aimed at curbing seemingly rampant cases of men secretly ending marriages without informing …
Read More »Ghosn set for court hearing in Japan over detention
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is likely to appear in a Japanese court next Tuesday to hear the reasons for his detention, after his lawyers deployed a little-used article of the Constitution. The shock move was the latest in a series of unexpected twists in …
Read More »Suspected Ebola case in Sweden: officials
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | A patient in Sweden has been admitted to hospital with a suspected case of Ebola, a highly infectious and potentially fatal disease, health care officials said Friday. “Test results will probably be received sometime this evening. At this stage it is just a suspicion, other …
Read More »US car sales falter in 2018 as consumers abandon small cars
Chicago, United States | AFP | Major auto makers announced their end-of-year US sales totals Thursday, showing a slowing market even as Americans’ demand for more expensive SUVs and trucks drove up priaces. US consumers continued the trend away from small cars and sedans, but appeared increasingly squeezed by higher …
Read More »372,000 German drivers join legal action against Volkswagen
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | Some 372,000 German owners of Volkswagen cars fitted with motors that cheated emissions tests have joined a collective legal action against the auto giant, official figures showed Thursday. Hundreds of thousands of people signed up to the collective action between late November and …
Read More »F1 pays tribute to stricken Schumacher on his 50th birthday
Maranello, Italy | AFP | Ferrari issued an emotional message on Thursday to mark the 50th birthday of Michael Schumacher, who has not been seen in public since he suffered head injuries in a skiing accident five years ago. The German, who won a record seven Formula One drivers’ championships …
Read More »MOTORING: Uganda top car in 2019
Race between Rav4, Subaru Forester, Kluger, Harrier Kampala, Uganda | MOTORING GURU | When The Independent’s motoring guru did a column in December 2017 predicting the popular car of 2018, the focus was on the evergreen compact SUV; the Toyota RAV4. Buried deep in that review was mention of an emerging …
Read More »MOTORING: 2019 car of the year awards
Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | The organizers of the 2019 European Car of the Year (ECOTY) have announced the seven finalists of this year’s competition that will fight for the ECOTY crown. The seven finalists in alphabetic order are; Alpine A110, Citroen C5 Aircross, Ford Focus, Jaguar I-Pace, Kia Ceed, Mercedes-Benz …
Read More »Ebola, violence-weary DRC region proudly stages unofficial vote
Beni, DR Congo | AFP | Thousands of voters, weary from frequent armed attacks and an ongoing Ebola outbreak, proudly cast ballots in a northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo — even though they will count for nothing. Citing security and health fears, the country’s national electoral commission …
Read More »WHO chief warns DRC unrest threatening gains in Ebola fight
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization chief warned Friday that growing unrest in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was disrupting efforts to rein in an Ebola outbreak, threatening gains made in fighting the deadly virus. The security situation in the Ebola-hit Beni and Butembo areas has deteriorated …
Read More »