Chicago, United States | AFP | A twitter post in late October from Kansas policeman Ben Gardner featured a large cow curled up on top of a BMW sedan’s hood. The message from the spokesman for the Midwestern US state’s highway patrol department was that animals seek warm cars during …
Read More »France’s Macron nods to the left with cabinet mini-shuffle
Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron named a Socialist lawmaker to a top budget post as part of a cabinet shuffle unveiled Friday, following grumblings from leftists who accuse his centrist government of favouring the rich. The moves were prompted by the nomination of Macron’s ultra-loyal government spokesman, …
Read More »EU chief says Brexit deal ‘possible but huge challenge’
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU President Donald Tusk said Friday that a Brexit deal in December was possible but a “huge challenge” and gave Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May 10 days to act. Tusk issued the ultimatum after crunch talks with May on the sidelines of a Brussels summit, …
Read More »S. African court doubles Pistorius sentence to more than 13 years
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African appeals court increased Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius’ sentence for murdering his girlfriend to 13 years and five months on Friday, marking a victory for prosecutors in a case that shocked the world. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein more than …
Read More »EU working without ‘letup’ to help migrants in Libya
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU said Thursday it is working without “letup” for a durable solution to the plight of migrants in Libya, adding it shared French President Emmanuel Macron’s anger over slave markets there. The US network CNN triggered a wave of condemnation when it aired footage last …
Read More »500 trafficking victims rescued in west Africa: Interpol
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Forty people are facing prosecution after police raids in west and central Africa rescued nearly 500 victims of human trafficking, Interpol said on Thursday. Raids were carried out in Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal as part of a German foreign ministry funded initiative targeting …
Read More »Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to start Rohingya return in two months
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Bangladesh and Myanmar will start repatriating refugees in two months, Dhaka said Thursday, as global pressure mounts over a crisis that has forced more than half a million Rohingya to flee across the border. The United Nations says 620,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since …
Read More »Liverpool star Salah backs Egypt women’s rights campaign
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has thrown his support behind a UN-sponsored campaign to end violence against women in his homeland Egypt where sexual harassment is rampant. Hundreds of thousands of people viewed an animated video teaching men to respect women and their rights after national team …
Read More »Netanyahu slams deputy minister’s digs at US Jewry
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rapped his deputy foreign minister for “offensive” remarks in which she said US Jews were too “comfortable” to understand threats to Israel. Tzipi Hotovely of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party apologised later on Israeli public television. “I apologise from the depth …
Read More »Pope prays for peace in South Sudan and DR Congo
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis led a special prayer for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, saying the mass murder of women and children is where “war shows its most horrid face”. “This evening, in prayer, we want to sow …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price