Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s electoral agency has suspended more than 200 officers for accepting bribes to influence the outcome of the 2015 vote won by the opposition. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said late Tuesday that 205 staff were found guilty of corruption after an investigation by …
Read More »Gambia elects MPs for post-Jammeh era
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Polls closed on Thursday evening in The Gambia with voters expected to usher in a new generation of lawmakers to scrutinise a raft of reforms promised by President Adama Barrow, in the first election since longtime leader Yahya Jammeh left power. Turnout was low when …
Read More »Kenya court orders parliament to pass gender quota
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s High Court on Wednesday gave parliament 60 days to enact legislation that would make it obligatory to have more female lawmakers, or face dissolution. The 2010 constitution requires that no more than two thirds of lawmakers should be men, a principle hailed at the …
Read More »Hayatou exits, new era for African football
Africa elects new football chief after three decades Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Madagascan Ahmad Ahmad was elected president of the Confederation of African Football Thursday, ousting veteran leader Issa Hayatou after 29 years in office to usher in a “new dawn” for the sport on the continent. Ahmad, …
Read More »Hayatou beaten, African football has a new president
Madagascar’s football chief Ahmad Ahmad was elected president of the Confederation of African Football Thursday, ousting veteran leader Issa Hayatou after 29 years in office. Ahmad won the election in the Ethiopian capital by 34 votes to Hayatou’s 20, official results showed. Delegates cheered and pumped their fists in the …
Read More »High turnout as Dutch vote in Europe’s first far-right test
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Millions of Dutch flocked to the polls Wednesday in a test of the “patriotic revolution” promised by far-right MP Geert Wilders, with Europe closely watching the outcome amid signs his support may be waning. Following last year’s shock Brexit referendum, and Donald Trump’s victory in …
Read More »ANALYSIS: African soccer supremo Hayatou’s bid for eighth term
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Issa Hayatou, the last of the old generation leaders in world football, faces a rare and determined challenge when he bids for an eighth term as head of the Confederation of African Football in Thursday’s election. Ahmad Ahmad, head of the Madagascar Football Assocation, …
Read More »Erdogan likens Germany’s blocking rallies to Nazis
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Germany on Sunday for blocking rallies in support of him ahead of a vote on boosting his powers, likening the ban to “Nazi practices”. The attack came a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Turkish Prime …
Read More »Le Pen in Lebanon controversy over headscarf refusal
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen capped her visit to Lebanon with controversy on Tuesday when she refused to wear a headscarf to meet the country’s top Sunni Muslim cleric. On her last day in the Mediterranean country, Le Pen arrived at Sheikh Abdellatif …
Read More »Somalia’s new president Farmajo vows to rebuild failed state
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Supporters of Somalia’s new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, a veteran diplomat and former prime minister, hope he can be the answer to corruption and extremism in the world’s most notorious failed state. The 55-year-old father of four, better known as Farmajo, holds both American and …
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