Washington, United States | AFP | The White House on Monday said a decision that could see Chinese leader Xi Jinping rule for life was an internal matter for the authorities in Beijing. “I believe that’s a decision for China to make,” said spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, after the country’s Communist …
Read More »US should lower ‘threshold for talks’ with N. Korea: Seoul
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged the United States to “lower the threshold for talks” with North Korea on Monday as his aides held rare talks with a Pyongyang general on ways to defuse tensions. Moon has sought to use the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that …
Read More »Monica Lewinsky says Clinton relationship was ‘abuse of power’
Washington, United States | AFP | Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky says she has been reexamining her affair with president Bill Clinton through the “new lens” of the #MeToo movement and has concluded it constituted a “gross abuse of power.” Lewinsky, 44, in an essay published in the latest issue …
Read More »Trump on Florida shooting: ‘I’d run in there’ even without gun
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump said Monday he would have rushed inside the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead earlier this month, whether or not he was armed at the time. “I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a …
Read More »Jail for Tanzania lawmaker who defamed president Magufuli
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Tanzanian court on Monday handed five-month jail terms to two regime opponents, including a lawmaker, for defaming President John Magufuli, their defence counsel said. Joseph Mbilinyi, a lawmaker with main opposition party Chadema in the southern town of Mbeya, was sentenced with party …
Read More »Tense Burundi not ready for elections: UN envoy
United Nations, United States | AFP | Burundi is not ready to hold credible elections because the ruling party and its allies remain firmly in control of political life and tensions remain high, a UN envoy said Monday. In power since 2005, Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza is leading a push for …
Read More »LIVE: Ramaphosa announces cabinet reshuffle
Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office 11 days ago, has reshuffled cabinet Monday as he draws a line under his graft-tainted predecessor Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa announced his new ministers in a televised address from the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of …
Read More »S.Africa awaits Zuma graft decision due next month
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African state prosecutors on Monday said they would next month release their decision on whether or not to prosecute former president Jacob Zuma for corruption. Zuma faces the risk of jail over 18 criminal charges linked to 783 payments totalling four million rands …
Read More »Kenya court enables return of deported opposition firebrand Miguna Miguna
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s High Court on Monday ordered immigration authorities to allow an outspoken member of the opposition alliance to return to the country, after his deportation earlier this month. Miguna Miguna, a firebrand member of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, was forced onto an …
Read More »S. Korea’s Moon supports #MeToo, urges ‘stern punishment’ for abusers
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Monday threw his support behind the #MeToo campaign spreading across the country, urging measures to combat the widespread abuse of women and punish offenders. The remarks came as a growing number of South Korean women accused prominent figures …
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