Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Former dictator Yahya Jammeh would face immediate arrest if he returned home, Gambia’s justice minister warned Sunday, days after his supporters called for his return from exile. After a year of hearings investigating abuses during his 22-year rule, “it can no longer be ruled out …
Read More »Tensions flare in French protests as pension dispute grinds on
Paris, France | AFP | Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to streets across France on Thursday in the latest mass protests against a pensions overhaul that critics say could cut benefits even while requiring people to work longer before retiring. Tensions flared in Paris and other cities as some black-clad …
Read More »Ten years after deadly Haiti quake, survivors feel forgotten
Port-au-Prince, Haiti | AFP | Ten years ago, Herlande Mitile was left disabled by the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti. Today, she uses a wheelchair jury-rigged with a piece of string, which means she cannot go far. Result: she is trapped in her village outside Port-au-Prince. It was meant to be …
Read More »Planes, trains and bills: Britain’s big projects dilemma
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A high-speed train that won’t start. An overcrowded airport that can’t expand. A new subway line that never runs. Britain’s attempts to revive its creaking infrastructure are turning into a headache for Prime Minister Boris Johnson just as his fight with Europe over Brexit winds …
Read More »Spain’s Sanchez faces tight parliament vote to remain PM
Madrid, Spain | AFP | Spain’s parliament will vote Tuesday on whether to confirm Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister at the helm of the country’s first-ever coalition government. Sanchez, who has stayed on as a caretaker premier since inconclusive elections last year, is seeking to be reappointed for another …
Read More »French pension talks resume as govt seeks to end standoff
Paris, France | AFP | French officials prepared to restart talks with unions Tuesday over a pension overhaul that has sparked the country’s longest transport strikes in decades, which labour leaders say could force millions of people to retire later than they thought. Public support appears to be shifting in the …
Read More »How gov’t intends to finance UGX 39.64 trillion election year budget
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Government intends to collect Shillings 21.54 trillion in domestic revenue in the 2020/2021 financial years to finance the proposed Shillings 39.64 trillion election year budget. This is slightly lower than the Shillings 40.48 trillion, budget for this financial year. According to the Budget framework paper …
Read More »Montenegro MPs held after violent protest over religion law
Podgorica, Montenegro | AFP | More than a dozen Montenegrin opposition MPs were detained in parliament on Friday after they violently protested a controversial law on religious freedom, which was passed after the group was taken away. The law has raised tensions in recent weeks between the government and a pro-Serb …
Read More »Italy’s education minister Lorenzo quits over lack of funds
Rome, Italy | AFP | Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement said Thursday he had resigned because his ministry is underfunded. Fioramonti wrote on Facebook that he informed Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of his decision on Tuesday, saying he had taken up the portfolio to …
Read More »MPs oppose feasibilty study on Uhuru falls
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament have rejected government’s decision to carry out feasibility studies for a hydropower dam at Uhuru Falls. This was after the Minister of State for Energy, Eng. Simon D’Ujanga on Thursday presented a report on “the establishment of a hydro-power dam at Uhuru …
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