Baidoa, Somalia | AFP | With its security-sealed plastic boxes and cardboard polling booths, Somalia’s election –- under way since last month and still ongoing –- has the trappings of democracy, but few of the functions. Last week in the western city of Baidoa, 51 handpicked representatives of the Reer …
Read More »Museveni speaks out on Trump victory, Cameron defeat
President Yoweri Museveni has spoken out on the recent election and referendum reversals in the US and UK, that have led to the victory of Donald Trump and defeat of David Cameron. He explained that one leading factor has been a backlash after these nations launched “unjust” wars across the world. …
Read More »Zimbabwe war veterans in court for insulting Mugabe
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Five prominent Zimbabwe war veterans arrested earlier this year in a crackdown on critics of President Robert Mugabe, appeared in court Tuesday for insulting the 92-year-old leader. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) spokesman, Douglas Mahiya, and four executives briefly appeared before a …
Read More »Egypt court quashes Morsi life sentence
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian appeals court Tuesday quashed one of two life sentences handed down to Mohamed Morsi since his 2013 overthrow, in the Islamist ex-president’s second appeals victory in a week. The Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court, issued the verdict, Morsi’s lawyer and a …
Read More »Two weeks on, Trump still Trump
Washington, United States | AFP | Two weeks on from his election victory, Donald Trump shows every sign that he will govern as he campaigned — with late night tweet storms, attacks on the press and a flirtation with the extremes of US political life. True, the president-elect has backed …
Read More »Kanye suffers mental breakdown
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Rapper Kanye West was taken to a hospital in Los Angeles after his doctor called the emergency services to report he was suffering a mental breakdown, news reports said Tuesday. The musician’s personal physician Michael Farzam told police that his 39-year-old patient was …
Read More »VIDEO: Trump vows to withdraw from TPP ‘on day one’
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump on Monday announced the United States would signal its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal on his first day in the White House, as one of six immediate steps aimed at “putting America first.” The Republican billionaire — who for …
Read More »Trump is ‘just the president’, says defiant fugitive Snowden
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on Monday downplayed the importance of President-elect Donald Trump and again defended his decision to leak documents showing massive surveillance of US citizens’ communications. “Donald Trump is just the president. It’s an important position. But it’s one …
Read More »Kanye scraps US tour after rant about Jay Z, Beyonce
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Rap superstar Kanye West has pulled the plug on his North American tour, organizers said Monday, two days after a rambling onstage tirade against fellow artists Jay Z and Beyonce. The “Saint Pablo Tour” was set to run through December 31 but all …
Read More »Leave Trump’s tweets alone, says advisor
Washington, United States | AFP | President-elect Donald Trump’s habit of firing off tweets, even at such critical times as when forming a new government, is a harmless and legitimate way to “cut through the noise,” one of his top advisors said Monday. Trump was known during the campaign for …
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