Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Voting in Equatorial Guinea ended Sunday, with the opposition alleging fraud and irregularities in elections that the ruling party was expected to sweep and maintain its firm grip over the tiny oil-rich country. Internet access was completely cut in a country where opposition websites …
Read More »South Sudan troops withdraw from ex-army chief Malong’s house
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudanese troops have withdrawn from around the residence of powerful former army chief Paul Malong, a week after a tense standoff over his bodyguards sparked fears of clashes in the capital. In a press statement on Sunday entitled “Misunderstanding Resolved”, army spokesman Lul …
Read More »Togo president blames opposition for violence
Lome, Togo | AFP | Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe has accused the opposition of orchestrating violence that has killed at least 16 people in massive anti-government protests across the country. Since the first protests began in late August more than 200 others have been injured as the opposition agitates for …
Read More »Sacked Catalan parliament speaker is freed on bail
Madrid, Spain | AFP | The sacked speaker of Catalonia’s parliament left a prison near Madrid on Friday hours after supporters posted her bail of 150 000 euros ($175,000), ending her brief detention over the region’s controversial independence drive. A judge at the Supreme Court in Madrid on Thursday had …
Read More »Britain’s Africa minister says DR Congo vote target ‘achievable’
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Britain’s minister of state for Africa Rory Stewart met DR Congo authorities on Friday and said plans to hold long-deferred elections late next year were “achievable.” The DRC had weathered months of unrest and violence over the vote, which was delayed by President Joseph …
Read More »Grace Mugabe hecklers released on bail in Zimbabwe
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwe court on Friday released on bail four people facing charges of undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe after his powerful wife was jeered at a rally. Three men and a woman were arrested after attending a ruling ZANU-PF party rally in the …
Read More »Lebanon’s Hezbollah accuses Saudi of detaining Hariri
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday accused Saudi Arabia of detaining prime minister Saad Hariri and of asking the Shiite movement’s arch-foe Israel to launch strikes. Hariri’s sudden resignation on November 4 in a statement made from Riyadh took the Lebanese political class …
Read More »Netanyahu grilled ‘for several hours’ in graft probe: police
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned by police on Thursday evening in connection with two separate investigations into alleged corruption, a police statement said. “We confirm that the prime minister was questioned today for several hours at his Jerusalem residence,” the Hebrew language statement said …
Read More »US Senate candidate accused of sexual contact with minor in 1979: report
Washington, United States | AFP | The Republican candidate for a vacant US Senate seat initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was practicing law, the victim, now a grown woman, said in an explosive report Thursday. Candidate Roy Moore of Alabama was facing calls to step …
Read More »Nigerian court seizes sacked spy chief’s ‘cash flat’
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A Nigerian judge on Thursday ordered the seizure of a flat linked to the former head of the country’s National Intelligence Agency, after more than $43 million in cash was found during an anti-corruption raid. Judge Saliu Seidu, sitting at the Federal High Court in Lagos, …
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