Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has been discharged from a South African hospital were he had been receiving medical treatment, his spokesman said Tuesday. “He was discharged last week (on) Monday. He is now fine, he is out of danger,” Luke Tamborinyoka told AFP. Tamborinyoka …
Read More »Home-made bomb explodes in restive Cameroon region
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | A home-made device exploded overnight near a police station in Cameroon’s restless English-speaking region, where separatist leaders have launched a campaign for independence, concurring sources said Tuesday. There were no reported casualties, they said. The bomb detonated near a police unit called the Mobile Intervention Group …
Read More »Iraq ex-president and Kurdish leader Talabani dies
Sulaimaniyah, Iraq | AFP | Ex-Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, a veteran leader of the struggle for Kurdish self-determination and a unifying elder statesman, died on Tuesday in Germany aged 83, Kurdish officials said. Talabani was Iraq’s president from 2005 to 2014 and a key figure in Iraqi Kurdistan, where voters …
Read More »Mugabe back in S.Africa after wife evaded assault claim
Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe returned to South Africa on Tuesday for the first time since his wife claimed diplomatic immunity over allegedly assaulting a model in a Johannesburg hotel room. Mugabe, 93, was not accompanied by his wife Grace as he met President Jacob Zuma …
Read More »Nyusi re-elected party president in Mozambique
Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi vowed on Monday to push ahead with national peace talks after he was overwhelmingly re-elected leader of the ruling Frelimo party at a five-yearly conference. Nyusi, who has ruled the country since 2015 and is likely to stand again in 2019 …
Read More »Nairobi university shut over protests ahead of Kenya presidential re-run
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Campuses at one of Kenya’s largest universities were closed on Tuesday after demonstrations broke out ahead of the country’s tense presidential election re-run, a university official said. Students at the University of Nairobi were ordered to vacate their dormitories on short notice after overnight protests …
Read More »Barca board members resign over closed doors decision
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed on Monday two of the club’s board members resigned in the wake of his decision to play a match behind closed doors after a violent crackdown by police of an independence referendum for Catalonia on Sunday. Police fired rubber …
Read More »Trump says Las Vegas massacre an ‘act of pure evil’
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump decried the massacre of at least 58 Las Vegas concert goers as an “act of pure evil” Monday, but refrained from addressing calls for gun control or an unproven claim of responsibility from the Islamic State group. Delivering televised remarks from …
Read More »Security tight in Cameroon anglophone region as toll rises
Buea, Cameroon | AFP | Police maintained a tight grip in English-speaking Cameroon on Monday a day after the anglophone minority declared symbolic independence, as the toll from weekend clashes rose to at least 17 dead, according to an unofficial tally. Highways in the anglophone Southwest Region remained blocked or filtered …
Read More »Facebook beefing up team to thwart election manipulation
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook on Monday said it will hire more than 1,000 people to thwart deceptive ads crafted to knock elections off course. The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to …
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