Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia’s top court on Saturday rejected an appeal by opposition leader Alexei Navalny against a decision to bar him from running in the country’s 2018 presidential election. The Supreme Court agreed with Russia’s Central Election Commission that Navalny cannot register as a candidate due to …
Read More »Key events around the world in 2017
Paris, France | AFP | From the inauguration of US President Donald Trump to the exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar, here are 12 events that marked 2017. – A year of Trump – On January 20 Republican billionaire Donald Trump, 70, is inaugurated as US president, vowing: “America first.” Suspicions …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Troubled South African leader Zuma heads towards exit
ANALYSIS: Troubled South African leader Zuma heads towards exit Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s jovial leader Jacob Zuma is a former herdboy who fought in the anti-apartheid struggle and has held onto the presidency despite a plethora of scandals. Now aged 75, he has survived by building …
Read More »Bad outlook for Ugandan banks
Low private sector lending, decline in interest rates to take toll on the bank’s profitability for the year ending Dec 2017 Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | Uganda’s commercial banks seem to be laying down new strategies as the industry anticipates to record subdued earnings in 2016 owed to low private …
Read More »Liberians hopeful of first democratic handover since 1944
Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Liberians were awaiting Wednesday the result of a presidential election they say represents far more than the choice of a successor to Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Sirleaf’s predecessor Charles Taylor fled the country in 2003 with hopes of avoiding …
Read More »When Kadaga fumbled on age-limit Bill
Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Kilak North MP, Anthony Akol, is baffled by rulings the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has been making recently. Akol who was one of the six MPs suspended by Kadaga told The Independent on Dec. 19 that, in his view, there is a problem in …
Read More »Russians endorse Navalny to challenge Putin in March vote
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Thousands of Russians on Sunday endorsed the candidacy of Alexei Navalny, seen as the only Russian opposition leader who stands a fighting chance of challenging strongman Vladimir Putin in a March vote. Thousands of people who back the charismatic 41-year-old lawyer were meeting in 20 …
Read More »RPF celebrates 30 years
How the struggle to liberate Rwanda has shaped the character of post genocide reconstruction THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | This year, the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) celebrated its 30th birthday in a magnificent conference hall at its headquarters in Gasabo, 15km outside of Kigali. The party headquarter complex …
Read More »Five conclusions from Barca’s El Clasico cruise
Madrid, Spain | AFP | Barcelona further tightened their vice-like grip on the La Liga title by sweeping aside eternal rivals Real Madrid 3-0 on Saturday to leave the European champions 14 points adrift down in fourth place. Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal were on target for the …
Read More »South Sudan ceasefire goes into effect
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | A ceasefire between South Sudan’s warring parties went into effect just after midnight Sunday, in what is the latest bid to end a devastating four year war. Government and several armed groups signed a ceasefire deal Thursday during peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, to begin …
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