Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Liberia’s Supreme Court said it will summon the country’s election commission on Thursday over a legal complaint backed by three political parties regarding the October 10 presidential election, potentially delaying a runoff vote. In a document released late Tuesday, the Supreme Court called on the …
Read More »Nigeria’s Jonathan should be funded to attend graft trial: lawyer
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan should be given the equivalent of $2.7 million to testify at the corruption trial of his party’s former spokesman, his lawyer said on Tuesday. The money would cover costs to enable him to attend the case, Mike Ozekhome told reporters outside …
Read More »Russia indictments dull Trump’s cry of ‘fake news’
Washington, United States | AFP | A wave of indictments has undercut Donald Trump’s attempts to paint allegations of collusion with Russia in his election as a media invention, with the White House admitting the probe is rattling the president. Trump counterpunched in typical fashion Tuesday, a day after it was …
Read More »Kenya’s Odinga rejects ‘sham’ election, pledges to fight on
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday rejected outright the result of last week’s “sham” election, vowing to fight on after the protest-hit poll that handed President Uhuru Kenyatta a landslide win. “This election must not stand. If allowed to stand, it will make a …
Read More »Paul Manafort: insider politial strategist who led Trump campaign
Washington, United States | AFP | Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman who was indicted on Monday, had always worked behind the scenes in lucrative consultant deals before the 2016 US presidential race. The veteran strategist advised Gerald Ford in the 1970s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, …
Read More »Former army chief says ‘team’ ready to lead Singapore if asked
Singapore, Singapore | AFP | A fast-rising cabinet minister and former army chief seen as a frontrunner to succeed Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that he and other younger officials were ready to lead Singapore if asked. Political succession in the affluent city-state was thrust into the limelight …
Read More »Trump aide Manafort under house arrest as Russia probe accelerates
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman was placed under house arrest Monday, as an investigation into Russia’s manipulation of the 2016 election shifted to a new and more perilous stage for the White House. After a first wave of indictments were unsealed, Paul Manafort and …
Read More »Saudis to open sports stadiums to women in reform push
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia will allow women into sports stadiums for the first time from next year, authorities said Sunday, in a landmark move opening up three previously male-only venues to families. The ultra-conservative kingdom, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, has long …
Read More »N. Korea’s Kim tours cosmetics plant with wife, sister
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un took his stylish wife and powerful sister to a make-up plant for a “field guidance trip” amid the country’s nuclear standoff with the US. During a visit to the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory in the capital, Kim hailed its “world-level” products …
Read More »Crunch day for Catalonia as Madrid takes control
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Spain enters uncharted and potentially perilous territory on Monday as Madrid moves to take over the running of Catalonia in response to the rebellious region’s parliament unilaterally declaring independence. Catalan leaders, dramatically sacked late Friday by the central Spanish government, have urged “democratic opposition” to …
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