Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Mourned internationally as a peacemaker, Israeli ex-president Shimon Peres’s death has met with official silence in most Arab countries, where public opinion vilified the Nobel laureate as a “war criminal”. Of the 21 Arab states, only two — Egypt and Jordan — have full diplomatic …
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The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday she was opening an initial probe into deadly unrest in Gabon sparked by disputed elections. The government of Gabon had asked the court to open an investigation “without delay” accusing supporters of opposition leader …
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Luanda, Angola | AFP | Will he go, will he stay? Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos last week began his 38th year of largely unchallenged rule after promising to step down in 2018. “I have decided to leave political life in 2018,” the 74-year-old leader told party officials of …
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Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | When Shimon Peres is laid to rest on Friday, his funeral is likely to bring back memories of those of the other two men he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. But his burial is unlikely to be similar in …
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Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s President Ali Borno, newly sworn back into power, on Wednesday appointed a prime minister to form what he called an “inclusive government” following disputed elections. His wafer-thin victory in the August 27 vote sparked deadly unrest and opposition accusations of voter fraud in the …
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Washington, United States | AFP | The US Treasury placed two top allies of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila on its sanctions blacklist Wednesday, tying both to rising political violence and human rights violations. The Treasury said both were involved in violently putting down opposition to Kabila and …
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Monday cut cabinet ministers’ salaries by 20 percent and reduced other state officials’ benefits in a continuing austerity drive to cope with lower oil revenues. The 160 members of the Shura Council, who include 30 women, will see a …
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Beijing, China | AFP | China has sent fighter planes for the first time over a strait near Japan, the two governments said Monday, after Tokyo announced it may patrol alongside the US in the disputed South China Sea. More than 40 Chinese military aircraft on Sunday traversed the …
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New Delhi, India | AFP | The less-than-supersonic sale of French Rafale fighter jets to India has highlighted the obstacles facing foreign arms firms seeking to do business with the world’s biggest weapons importer. India has signed a series of key defence deals under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as …
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Paris, France | AFP | Gabon’s disputed election, which culminated Saturday with the constitutional court’s confirmation of President Ali Bongo’s victory, is the latest in a long list of violence-tinged ballots in Africa: Ivory Coast After a five-month-standoff, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo was detained on April 11, 2011 by forces …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price