Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | Pakistan’s law minister Zahid Hamid has resigned, state media reported Monday, meeting a key demand of Islamist protesters who have clashed violently with security forces and blockaded the capital Islamabad for weeks. Hamid “has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to steer …
Read More »Saudi vows new Islamic alliance ‘will wipe terrorists from the earth’
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia’s crown prince vowed to “pursue terrorists until they are wiped from the face of the earth” as officials from 40 Muslim countries gathered Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance. “In past years, terrorism has been functioning in all of …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Heat in Harare
How Zimbabwe military discovered it may not be so easy to remove Mugabe Harare, Zimbabwe | KEVIN SIEF | When Zimbabwe’s military detained President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday night, Nov.14, it seemed the stage had been set for the ouster of Africa’s oldest leader. Two days later, it was clear that …
Read More »Angola’s new president picks apart the dos Santos empire
The start of the clean-up operation did not take long. Luanda, Angola | AFP | Within three months of taking control of Angola, President Joao Lourenco sacked his predecessor’s daughter as head of the state-run oil company and set about dismantling the empire built by Jose Eduardo dos Santos. A presidential …
Read More »UK archbishop Sentamu puts collar back on after Mugabe’s fall
London, United Kingdom | AFP | The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, put on his white cleric’s collar on Sunday for the first time since cutting it up ten years ago in a highly symbolic protest at Robert Mugabe’s rule. The Uganda-born cleric, the second most senior clergyman in the …
Read More »Trump renews support for embattled Senate candidate
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Sunday redoubled his support for embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore, ignoring the allegations of sexual harassment plaguing Moore’s Alabama campaign and branding his opponent as weak on crime, the military and immigration. In an early-morning tweet, Trump added that for …
Read More »Ivanka Trump, Chelsea Clinton, defend Obama daughter over video
Washington, United States | AFP | Both sides of the US political divide are defending Malia Obama’s right to privacy after a video went viral showing the eldest daughter of former president Barack Obama apparently smoking. Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump were among the numerous defenders of Malia, 19, on …
Read More »Putin signs ‘foreign agent’ media law
Moscow, Russia | AFP | President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law new rules on international media organisations present in Russia being termed “foreign agents”, following US pressure on the Kremlin-backed RT television channel. Already approved by both houses of parliament, the legislation was published on the Russian authorities’ …
Read More »Zimbabwe war veterans at heart of Mugabe’s downfall
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Once Robert Mugabe’s fiercest supporters, independence war veterans played a key role in ousting him, proving they still wield influence in Zimbabwe which only threw off colonial rule in 1980. Mugabe’s reign was built on support from three pillars — ZANU-PF party, the military and …
Read More »Zimbabwe court rules military takeover legal
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwe High Court has ruled that the military takeover that led to Robert Mugabe’s ousting was legal, raising immediate concerns about judicial independence under the country’s new administration. Army chiefs put military vehicles on the streets of Harare and placed veteran leader Mugabe, 93, under …
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