Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s highest profile marathon, due on October 29, has been postponed to late November over fears of political unrest around the country’s re-run presidential election expected on October 26. The Nairobi Marathon, a road race which has often been a platform for young Kenyan athletes to …
Read More »Troubled UNESCO begins picking new leader
Paris, France | AFP | The board of the UN’s cultural body on Wednesday began vetting eight candidates vying to head an organisation accused of bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and foot-dragging on reforms. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization infuriated Israel and its staunch ally the United States by …
Read More »Opposition governor first to announce Nigeria presidency bid
Abuja, NIGERIA | AFP | A leading Nigerian opposition politician on Thursday said he intended to run for president in 2019, becoming the first candidate to stake his claim for the country’s top job. Peter Ayodele Fayose, the governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti, formally launched his bid to be …
Read More »Deep divisions over plan to change Kenya’s election law
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s opposition on Thursday called for demonstrations against the government after the ruling party moved to change the electoral law ahead of next month’s re-run presidential poll. After a case brought by opposition leader Raila Odinga, Kenya’s Supreme Court annulled last month’s presidential election, won by …
Read More »Kenya police fire tear gas to disperse election protesters
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan police on Tuesday used tear gas to disperse opposition protesters outside the headquarters of the election commission a month before a scheduled re-run of the annulled presidential poll. Opposition leader Raila Odinga is insisting on widespread reforms of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission …
Read More »Swiss vote against plan to save pensions
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Swiss voters rejected on Sunday a divisive pension reform plan that the government proposed to address the needs of an ageing population. The final results showed 52.7 percent of voters said no to changes to the current system which would have raised women’s retirement age by …
Read More »Dismay in Germany as hard-right marches into parliament
Berlin, Germany | AFP | The Alternative for Germany (AfD) Sunday became the first hard-right, openly anti-immigration party to enter parliament with so many seats since World War II, breaking a taboo despite calls to halt “the Nazis” in their tracks. Exit polls credited the AfD with around 13 percent of …
Read More »German campaign takeaways and challenges
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel sailed to victory in Germany’s general election on Sunday but her win was soured by the entry of an Islamophobic hard-right party to parliament and prospects of tough coalition talks. Here are the first takeaways from the election and the looming challenges ahead. …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Angela Merkel, Germany’s ‘eternal chancellor’
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Angela Merkel has been derided as Europe’s “austerity queen”, cheered as a saviour by refugees and hailed as the new “leader of the free world”. But as the pastor’s daughter raised behind the Iron Curtain just won a fourth term at the helm of Europe’s …
Read More »Kenya police ordered to investigate election officials
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s chief prosecutor has ordered the police and anti-corruption agency to investigate the country’s election commission for alleged “irregularities and illegalities” in the conduct of August’s annulled presidential poll. Director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said the wide-ranging investigations into the Independent Electoral and Boundaries …
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