Davos, Switzerland | AFP | South Africa’s likely next president promised pro-business reforms and tough justice for those guilty of state corruption, as he wooed investors on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Cyril Ramaphosa, who could replace Jacob Zuma as president within weeks, told investors in Davos …
Read More »Ex-official under Nigerian president is held in corruption probe
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s anti-graft squad said on Thursday it had placed David Babachir Lawal, once a senior official under President Muhammadu Buhari, in custody for alleged corruption. “He was invited to our office yesterday (Wednesday) and since then he has been in our custody,” the acting spokesman …
Read More »Sex and the White House: from Clinton to Trump
Washington, United States | AFP | Two decades ago this week US president Bill Clinton declared that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.” As it turned out, he did — and he was impeached for lying about his trysts with Monica Lewinsky. Today, another US president is accused …
Read More »Macron tells Davos elite: ‘France is back’
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron told the world’s business elite in Davos on Wednesday that France was back as a European powerhouse under his reformist government. “France is back at the core of Europe,” Macron said in English in a highly anticipated speech, before switching to French …
Read More »Trump takes ‘America First’ message to Davos elite
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Donald Trump rappels into the snowy Swiss Alps on Thursday to address Davos summiteers anxious to see whether they will get a pitch from a capitalist kindred spirit or a lecture from a populist president. Trump is due to deliver the closing address at the …
Read More »Buhari re-election talk ‘a distraction’: Nigerian govt
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s government on Wednesday hit back at claims that President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure had been a failure but refused to say if he would seek re-election. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday called for Buhari to step down as he had a poor grasp of economics, …
Read More »Brexit ‘a mistake, not a disaster’: ex-PM Cameron
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Britain’s planned departure from the European Union is “a mistake, not a disaster”, former premier David Cameron said during a conversation caught on camera in Davos Wednesday. Cameron stepped back from frontline British politics in the wake of the historic 2016 referendum, but was caught airing …
Read More »Zimbabwe elections expected before July: president
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said Wednesday that the country would go to the polls before July, in the first elections since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power. Mnangagwa, who took office in November after a shock military takeover led to Mugabe’s ousting, …
Read More »Equatorial Guinea dismisses ambassador after thwarted ‘coup’
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang, Africa’s longest-serving leader, dismissed the country’s ambassador to Chad on Tuesday, weeks after authorities said they had thwarted an attempted coup. Ambassador Enrique Nsue Anguesomo was removed due to “irregularities committed in the exercise of his functions,” and stripped him …
Read More »US senator pregnant, set to be first to give birth in office
Washington, United States | AFP | US Senator Tammy Duckworth, a decorated Asian American army veteran and double amputee, announced Tuesday she was pregnant with her second child. The 49-year-old Democrat from Illinois stands to be the first senator to give birth during her term. “Wanted to share some exciting …
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