Tag Archives: politics

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean activist pastor Evan Mawarire pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government, a day after he was detained over an offending post on social media. Mawarire responded “not guilty” when the two charges of subverting a constitutional government …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angola’s incoming president Joao Lourenco faces a slew of challenges that include dwindling oil prices, rampant poverty, soaring unemployment and the long shadow cast by his predecessor and his family. These are the key tasks that will confront him on his first day in the job …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Critics of outgoing Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos accuse him of stripping his country of much of its vast oil wealth to enrich himself and his family. Dos Santos, who will step down on Tuesday after 38 years of iron-fisted rule, has appointed several …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angola’s new president, Joao Lourenco who will be sworn in Tuesday, is a former general who spent several years in the political wilderness after angling for the top job in the 1990s. Since then, Lourenco, 63, convinced key regime players he was the right man …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called a snap election, seeking a fresh term at the helm of the world’s third-largest economy as tensions with nearby North Korea reach fever-pitch. Abe hopes to capitalise on a weak and fractured opposition to sweep back into power, …

Beijing, China | AFP |  Chinese authorities appear to have severely disrupted the WhatsApp messaging app in the latest step to tighten censorship as they prepare for a major Communist Party congress next month. Users in China have reported widespread disruptions in recent days to the Facebook-owned service, which previously …

Brighton, United Kingdom | AFP | The BBC’s political editor is attending the main opposition Labour Party’s annual conference with a bodyguard after being accused of bias for the governing Conservatives, The Times newspaper reported Monday. Laura Kuenssberg was seen at the conference in Brighton accompanied by a shaven-headed man identified …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | The nationalist Alternative for Germany was hit by party infighting Monday, just hours after winning its first seats in parliament, with its co-chief Frauke Petry declaring that she won’t join its Bundestag group. Citing “dissent” with more hardline colleagues, Petry dropped her bombshell at a morning …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A court in Sudan on Sunday sentenced a university student to death after convicting him of killing a policeman during protests in the capital last year, a defence lawyer said. Asim Omer, who was studying at Khartoum University, was arrested in December 2016 and charged with …

Washington, United States | AFP | Two Republican senators signalled strong opposition Sunday to their party’s latest bid to overhaul Obamacare, dealing a potentially fatal blow to one President Donald Trump’s top legislative goals. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she cannot “envision a scenario” in which she would back the …