Washington, United States | AFP | President-elect Donald Trump tapped arch-conservative US Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general and hawkish congressman Mike Pompeo, a strident opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, as his CIA director, Trump’s transition team announced Friday. The incoming commander in chief also appointed retired lieutenant …
Read More »Japan PM confident in Trump’s diplomacy debut
New York, United States | AFP | Japan’s prime minister voiced confidence Thursday about Donald Trump as he became the first foreign leader to meet the US president-elect, who was narrowing in on cabinet choices. Trump, who has been receiving a flurry of Republican operatives at his Manhattan skyscraper since …
Read More »CEO of US cybersecurity firm resigns after Trump threat
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | The CEO of a cybersecurity firm in San Diego has resigned after posting on his now-deleted Facebook page threatening comments about President-elect Donald Trump. Matt Harrigan, who founded PacketSled, stepped down on Tuesday after his online postings prompted a backlash and calls for …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Obama to pass torch to Merkel on farewell visit
Berlin, Germany | AFP | US President Barack Obama pays a farewell visit Thursday to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, widely seen as the new standard bearer of liberal democracy since the election of Donald Trump. On the last leg of his final European tour as president, Obama will underline shared …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Defeated Democrats grapple with loss of working class whites
Washington, United States | AFP | Shut out of power, US Democrats are in the throes of self-examination, trying to figure out how to reconnect with a neglected constituency: white Americans disenchanted with globalization. “We just got a shellacking, we got an unexpected defeat. And we’ve got to recalibrate, and …
Read More »Russia withdraws signature from ICC founding statute
Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION | AFP | Russia said Wednesday it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court, saying the tribunal has failed to live up to the hopes of the international community. Russia in 2000 signed the Rome Statute setting up the ICC, …
Read More »Parliament defies President Museveni on income tax
Parliament on Tuesday defied President Yoweri Museveni’s directive to have the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016 amended to allow MPs’ allowances to be taxed. “The Committee recommends that the Tax Bill be passed in its current form, and be sent back to the president for assent,” Henry Musasizi, the chairperson …
Read More »Justice Kavuma assures the public on election petitions
Uganda’s Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma has assured that public that the Court of Appeal is committed to hear and conclude all the over 140 election appeals within the stipulated time frame of six months. Kavuma, who is the head of the Court of Appeal, says the court has sufficient funds and ten justices, …
Read More »Obama warns against ‘crude’ nationalism
Athens, Greece | AFP | US President Barack Obama issued a warning against “crude” nationalism as he kicked off his last foreign tour Tuesday with allied nations on edge after Donald Trump’s shock election win. Speaking in Greece, Obama called the NATO alliance “absolutely vital” to US interests and stressed …
Read More »Russian economy minister sacked, held over ‘$2mn-bribe’ charges
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was sacked Tuesday and put under house arrest on suspicion of pocketing a two-million-dollar bribe in a deal involving state-controlled oil giant Rosneft. Ulyukayev is the highest ranking official detained over suspected corruption since President Vladimir Putin took power in …
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