Conakry, Guinea | AFP | A Guinean minister and the international community appealed for calm on Wednesday after seven people were killed, including five young children, in violence linked to fraud allegations that marred local elections at the weekend. Sunday’s vote was the first of its kind since the end …
Read More »Anti-gay marriage lawmaker ahead in Costa Rica vote for next president
San José, Costa Rica | AFP | A conservative, evangelical lawmaker who fiercely opposes same-sex marriage emerged as the frontrunner to become Costa Rica’s next president, according to preliminary results from a first round election Sunday. Fabricio Alvarado of the right-wing National Restoration Party received 25 percent of the vote, …
Read More »US mulling sanctions on Venezuela oil: Tillerson
Buenos Aires, Argentina | AFP | The United States said Sunday it has not ruled out sanctions on Venezuelan oil as it turns the screw on President Nicolas Maduro, but is wary of hurting the country’s people. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Argentina as he tours Latin American to …
Read More »After Mugabe, Zimbabwe opposition stumbles before vote
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | With Zimbabwe holding elections this year, the opposition had been feeling cautiously optimistic — until its arch-enemy, Robert Mugabe, was ousted from power. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, now faces the threat of a revived ZANU-PF party at polls that …
Read More »Egyptians urged to boycott vote after withdrawals
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Five Egyptian public figures, including two former presidential hopefuls, called Sunday for voters to boycott the March presidential election after the withdrawal of all candidates but the incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Sisi, who has been in power since 2014, appears set to run unopposed after …
Read More »Egypt Islamist party backs Sisi re-election bid
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s ultra-conservative Islamist Al-Nour party has decided to support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in his bid to be re-elected in March, the party said on Sunday. Sisi, who has been in power since 2014, appears set to run unopposed after all other presidential hopefuls announced …
Read More »Sisi’s last real challenger quits Egypt presidential race
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A rights lawyer seen as the last real challenger to Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday quit the race to be president, the latest in a string of potential candidates to withdraw or be jailed. Sisi, who has ruled the North African country with an iron …
Read More »Buhari re-election talk ‘a distraction’: Nigerian govt
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s government on Wednesday hit back at claims that President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure had been a failure but refused to say if he would seek re-election. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday called for Buhari to step down as he had a poor grasp of economics, …
Read More »Zimbabwe elections expected before July: president
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said Wednesday that the country would go to the polls before July, in the first elections since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power. Mnangagwa, who took office in November after a shock military takeover led to Mugabe’s ousting, …
Read More »Nigeria’s former president says Buhari should not seek re-election
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Tuesday called on the country’s current leader not to seek a second term of office. Obasanjo, who headed a military government in the 1970s and was Nigeria’s first president when civilian rule was restored in 1999, said Muhammadu Buhari …
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