Ottawa, Canada | AFP |  Canada’s telecommunications regulator on Wednesday declared access to high-speed internet an essential service that must be available to all, including rural and remote areas of the world’s second-largest nation by land mass. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said a new Can$750 million fund …

JAMMEH APEEAL: Six foreign judges, excluding Nigerian Fagbenle, have now been appointed by Jammeh to serve on the Supreme Court Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  The Gambia’s top court on Wednesday said it was adjourning until January 10 a case filed by strongman Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking to annul the …

Uganda Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has confirmed that the Income Tax Amendment Bill (copy bottom) is now law. Kadaga told parliament on Wednesday that technically, the law has been assented to despite President Yoweri Museveni returning the bill to parliament for the third time last month, seeking amendments. The Income Tax Bill …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Friday on a US-drafted resolution to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on South Sudan, now in its fourth year of war. It remained unclear however whether the measure would be adopted, with diplomats saying …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian troops have rescued 1,880 civilians from a Boko Haram redoubt in the restive northeast in the past week and arrested hundreds of insurgents, a military commander said on Wednesday. The Sambisa forest, covering about 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles), is a stronghold of …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Talks on defusing an explosive crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) resumed Wednesday, a day after bloody clashes, as the Catholic church appealed for a deal by Christmas over the future of President Joseph Kabila. The call by bishops sponsoring talks between the …

Chicago, United States | AFP | The families of three Orlando nightclub shooting victims have filed suit against Facebook, Twitter and Google accusing them of providing “material support” to the Islamic State group by allowing the spread of extremist propaganda that inspired the attack. The assault by gunman Omar Mateen, …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Volkswagen on Wednesday opened a new assembly plant in Kenya and launched plans for a ride-sharing service in Rwanda as it seeks to take advantage of surging car demand in Africa. The German car manufacturer’s move into East Africa comes just weeks after it signed …

ACP-EU MPs Overwhelmingly Reject Resolution on Presidential Term Limits Members of the European Parliament and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) parliamentary group have rejected a motion to impose presidential term limits on member states. The ongoing ACP-EU joint parliamentary assembly in Nairobi  voted against the motion for presidential terms limits, that was …

Paris, France | AFP | From Donald Trump’s victory to Brexit and the onslaught on Syria’s Aleppo, here is a snapshot of ten stories that dominated the news in 2016: – Trump earthquake – On November 8, Republican billionaire Trump, a 70-year-old populist with no political experience, wins the US …