Why Jack Ma went to Kenya, Rwanda with 38 Chinese billionaires in tow RWANDA |PEREZ TIGIDAM| Jack Ma, Asia’s richest man and founder of Alibaba Group recently completed a two-day trip to East Africa, visiting Kenya and Rwanda with 38 fellow Chinese billionaires, all no doubt poised with expensive fountain …
Read More »Apple removes some VPN services from Chinese app store
Beijing, China | AFP | Apple has removed software allowing internet users to skirt China’s “Great Firewall” from its app store in the country, the company confirmed Sunday, sparking criticism that it was bowing to Beijing’s tightening web censorship. Chinese internet users have for years sought to get around heavy internet …
Read More »US responds to North Korea missile test with show of force
Washington, United States | AFP | North Korea said Sunday its latest ICBM launch was a “warning” over efforts to slap sanctions on the hermit state, as the US carried out a successful test of its missile defense system in a pointed show of force. A bilateral mission led by …
Read More »Chinese quit Museveni’s refinery deal
US$4bn project fails to get investor again KAMPALA, UGANDA |HAGGAI MATSIKO| President Yoweri Museveni’s oil refinery project has once again suffered a major blow with a major Chinese contractor quitting. As has happened in many major infrastructure deals, frustration over in-fighting, intrigue and lobbying had already taken root with cabinet officials, …
Read More »S. Korea speeds up US missile defence over North’s missile test
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile test has prompted the South to speed up the deployment of a US missile defence system, Seoul’s defence minister said Saturday, despite strong protests from China. The US military will also roll out “strategic assets” to the South …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Chinese quit Museveni’s refinery deal
In The Independent this week: Chinese quit Museveni’s refinery deal COVER STORY: Chinese quit Museveni’s refinery deal: US$4bn project fails to get investor again THE LAST WORD Hubris of The Economist: How this British newspaper ignores Rwanda’s context in its neocolonial desire to define that country NEWS ANALYSIS Amending constitution …
Read More »Chinese police guard late dissident Xiaobo’s home, empty or not
Beijing, China | AFP | At a small park outside the Beijing home of late Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, security officers sat around a stone table surrounded by shrubbery, scrutinising everyone who neared the gate they guarded. More than a week after the Nobel Peace Prize winner succumbed to …
Read More »Microsoft cloud to help Baidu self-driving car effort
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Microsoft’s cloud computing platform will be used outside China for collaboration by members of a self-driving car alliance formed by Chinese internet search giant Baidu, the companies announced on Tuesday. The US software giant is one of more than 50 entities that have joined …
Read More »Foreign Affairs says ‘list of 23’ not on death-row in China
Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed as false a story reportedly circulating on social media of 23 Ugandan prisoners said to be on death row over drug trafficking offences. According to a statement released Monday, the ministry said the list of 23 is actually of those who were previously …
Read More »China pressures Botswana over Dalai Lama visit
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | China piled pressure on Botswana on Saturday over a scheduled visit to the southern African country by the Dalai Lama, who it considers a dissident separatist threat. Botswana’s President Ian Khama announced on Wednesday he would meet the Tibetan spiritual leader during his visit to the …
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