New York, United States | AFP | Record numbers of Latinos have registered to vote this year, giving them unprecedented power to influence the US presidential election on November 8. But will they actually vote? Pundits have long described the Latino vote as a “sleeping giant” because turnout in the …
Read More »Assange, Ecuador’s awkward guest who just won’t leave
Quito, Ecuador | AFP | For Ecuador, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has become the worst kind of guest: he makes messes he doesn’t clean up, he spills secrets, he meddles, and there’s no telling when he will leave. Four years after Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, …
Read More »Americans struggle to explain X-rated election to kids
Washington, United States | AFP | How should parents and teachers talk — or not — to children about the 2016 White House race, in an X-rated election season dominated by brutal insults, sex scandal and sleaze? It’s a minefield for educators as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Trump still alive, but Republican Party in tatters
Washington, United States | AFP | After nearly 18 months of vitriolic campaigning and two incendiary presidential debates, it is clear that the 2016 race for the White House is truly like no other. The release of a 2005 video containing lewd and sexist comments made by Republican nominee Donald …
Read More »Trump vows not to quit race
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump rejected calls that he step aside as the Republican presidential nominee over lewd videotaped remarks about women, telling The Wall Street Journal on Saturday there is “zero chance I’ll quit.” “I never, ever give up,” the newspaper quoted Trump as saying following …
Read More »TRUMP: I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone I’m not
Washington, United States | Donald Trump, facing the deepest crisis of his presidential campaign, apologized early Saturday for crude and aggressively sexual remarks about women that he made in 2005, as criticism swelled from within his Republican Party. The Republican nominee, in a shocking video released by The Washington Post …
Read More »US vows response to Russian hack at ‘time and place of our choosing’
Washington, United States | AFP | Directly accusing Russia of trying to manipulate the 2016 US presidential election, the United States on Friday issued a stark warning that it would act when it wants to protect its interests. “We will take action to protect our interests, including in cyberspace, and …
Read More »Obama casts early ballot in 2016 election
Chicago, United States | AFP | President Barack Obama cast an early ballot in his adopted hometown of Chicago on Friday, highlighting a Democratic drive to get voters to the polls before November 8. During an unannounced visit, Obama stood before a voting machine at the Chicago Board of Elections …
Read More »Kenya’s controversial election commission quits
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The election commission that oversaw Kenya’s flawed 2013 polls and was tarnished by a corruption scandal will receive a $2 million pay-off in return for agreeing to leave office early, local media reported Thursday. The nine commissioners will share the pot of cash, according to …
Read More »The US presidential election: a how-to guide
Washington, United States | AFP | The American presidential election falls this year on November 8. The quadrennial exercise always takes place on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, as prescribed by the US Constitution. How the voting system works The vote, by universal suffrage, is conducted in a …
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