Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s administration levied sanctions against Russia’s top spy agencies and more than a dozen individuals Thursday for trying to influence the 2016 US presidential election and two separate cyberattacks. The announcement follows a lengthy delay, which had caused anger on Capitol Hill and …
Read More »Ex-Zimbabwe leader Mugabe calls ouster ‘coup d’etat’
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe described his departure from office in November as a “coup d’etat” that “we must undo” in his first TV interview since then, aired on Thursday. Mugabe, 94, spoke slowly but clearly to South Africa’s SABC broadcaster from an office in …
Read More »Trump boasts he made up trade claim in Trudeau meeting
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump boasted he made things up in a conversation with Canada’s prime minister, insisting the US ran a trade deficit with its neighbor despite having “no idea” if the claim were true, the Washington Post reported. The US president recalled the exchange with …
Read More »COMMENT: Washington meddles in politics
How the U.S., which has been covertly interfering in other nations’ politics for decades, has made itself vulnerable COMMENT | WILLIAM M. LEOGRANDE | “They have no damn right,” former Vice President Joe Biden said on Feb. 16, denouncing Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. “It’s our sovereign right …
Read More »Nigeria promises return of kidnapped schoolgirls
Damaturu, NIGERIA | AFP | Nigeria’s president, in a visit to the country’s troubled northeast, on Monday predicted success in what he described as relentless efforts to release more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. The jihadists are still holding 112 of the 219 students they abducted from the Borno …
Read More »S.Africa’s new president vows faster land redistribution
Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who came to power last month, vowed on Wednesday to “escalate the pace” of redistributing land from wealthy whites to poorer blacks. Land ownership is a sensitive subject in South Africa, 24 years after the end of apartheid rule, and …
Read More »Putin hails Crimea annexation in speech ahead of vote
Sevastopol, Undefined | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday thanked residents of Crimea for voting to annex the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, calling the move “real democracy” in a speech days ahead of Sunday’s presidential election. “With your decision you restored historical justice,” he told the crowd of …
Read More »Mauritius president refuses to resign over financial scandal
Port Louis, Mauritius | AFP | Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has refused to resign, vowing to fight allegations that saw her embroiled in a financial scandal, the presidency said in a statement Wednesday. Gurib-Fakim, Africa’s only female head of state, has been accused of using a bank card provided by an …
Read More »German parliament confirms Chancellor Merkel for fourth term
Berlin, GERMANY | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel, bruised by half a year of post-election coalition haggling, was Wednesday elected by parliament to her fourth and likely final term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy. Lawmakers in Berlin’s glass-domed Reichstag voted 364-315 with nine abstentions for Merkel who …
Read More »Top State Dept aide fired after comment on Tillerson sacking
Washington, United States | AFP | One of the US State Department’s most senior officials was sacked on Tuesday after his comments on the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to contradict the White House version of events. “This has been the honor of a lifetime and I …
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