Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali will adopt a law on “national consensus” that may amnesty rebels who took part in a revolt in 2012, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in a New Year’s speech. Keita, in a nationwide message late Sunday, said the law would draw on a so-called …
Read More »Obiang says war being prepared against him
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | The president of Equatorial Guinea said a war is being organised against his regime, days after a government official warned of a “destabilisation attempt”. A “war” is being prepared “because they say I have spent a lot of time in power,” President Teodoro Obiang …
Read More »Chad’s Deby sets delayed elections for 2018
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, on Sunday said general elections, scheduled for 2015 but much postponed, would be held in 2018. “I am happy to announce, on the cusp of the New Year, that legislative elections will be organised in 2018,” Deby said …
Read More »Thousands gather in Togo to protest president
Lome, Togo | AFP | Tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of the Togolese capital on Saturday, the latest in a series of mass protests against the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe. Anti-government marches have been held across the country nearly every week since August, attracting hundreds of …
Read More »Jay-Z, Beyonce imagine daughter as US leader in new video
President Blue Ivy Carter? New York, United States | AFP | Music power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce have imagined their daughter as a transformative US leader in a new video. Blue Ivy, who turns six on January 7, is depicted as leading an all-female constitutional convention in 2050 in a …
Read More »Russia’s top court upholds election ban on opposition leader
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 »Putin calls for ‘pragmatic cooperation’ in New Year wishes to Trump
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin called for “pragmatic cooperation” in his New Year wishes to US President Donald Trump, the Kremlin said on Saturday. In a statement on the Russian president’s New Year wishes to world leaders, the Kremlin said Putin told Trump that “a constructive …
Read More »Sudan imposes state of emergency in two states
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s president on Saturday announced a state of emergency in two states in the centre and east of the country, the official news agency said. President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree to install the state of emergency in North Kordofan and Kasala for six months, …
Read More »Libya strongman says backs 2018 elections
Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has said he will support 2018 elections in the war-torn country but also implied he would seize power if the polls did not occur. Late Thursday, Haftar said presidential and parliamentary elections were “a fundamental solution” to Libya’s crisis and should …
Read More »Facebook, Twitter face deadline in Brexit fake news probe
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Social media giants Facebook and Twitter are facing a deadline in Britain to cooperate with an inquiry into so-called fake news in the Brexit referendum campaign, a parliamentary committee chairman said Friday. The companies have been given until January 18 to share information requested …
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