Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia’s leader promised Wednesday to release “politicians” from jail and shut down a detention centre where human rights groups allege torture is routine. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn made the undertaking in comments to reporters in the capital Addis Ababa, although he did not …
Read More »Kim’s Olympic gambit pushes Trump’s button
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump is not one to hold back when it comes to indulging in nuclear and diplomatic brinkmanship with North Korea’s leader whom he calls “Little Rocket Man.” True to form, after Kim Jong-Un boasted that he could launch a devastating …
Read More »Museveni signs bill removing Uganda presidential age limits
Kampala, Uganda | AFP & THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a bill removing presidential age limits, a spokesman said Tuesday, clearing the way for the 73-year-old’s expected sixth run at the Uganda presidency in 2021. The controversial constitutional amendment removes the age limit of 75 …
Read More »Bulgaria takes over revolving EU presidency
Sofia, Bulgaria | AFP | Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest member state, on Monday took over the bloc’s six-month revolving presidency with the ongoing migrant crisis and Brexit among the top items on its agenda. “Bulgaria will take charge of the EU presidency at a key moment for the union …
Read More »Mali president eyes amnesties under ‘national consensus’ law
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali will adopt a law on “national consensus” that may amnesty rebels who took part in a revolt in 2012, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in a New Year’s speech. Keita, in a nationwide message late Sunday, said the law would draw on a so-called …
Read More »Obiang says war being prepared against him
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | The president of Equatorial Guinea said a war is being organised against his regime, days after a government official warned of a “destabilisation attempt”. A “war” is being prepared “because they say I have spent a lot of time in power,” President Teodoro Obiang …
Read More »Chad’s Deby sets delayed elections for 2018
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, on Sunday said general elections, scheduled for 2015 but much postponed, would be held in 2018. “I am happy to announce, on the cusp of the New Year, that legislative elections will be organised in 2018,” Deby said …
Read More »Thousands gather in Togo to protest president
Lome, Togo | AFP | Tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of the Togolese capital on Saturday, the latest in a series of mass protests against the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe. Anti-government marches have been held across the country nearly every week since August, attracting hundreds of …
Read More »Jay-Z, Beyonce imagine daughter as US leader in new video
President Blue Ivy Carter? New York, United States | AFP | Music power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce have imagined their daughter as a transformative US leader in a new video. Blue Ivy, who turns six on January 7, is depicted as leading an all-female constitutional convention in 2050 in a …
Read More »Russia’s top court upholds election ban on opposition leader
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia’s top court on Saturday rejected an appeal by opposition leader Alexei Navalny against a decision to bar him from running in the country’s 2018 presidential election. The Supreme Court agreed with Russia’s Central Election Commission that Navalny cannot register as a candidate due to …
Read More »