London, United Kingdom | AFP | Â An activist with a London-based rights group was convicted of a terrorism offence on Monday for refusing to divulge the passwords for his phone and laptop computer to the police. Muhammad Rabbani, international director at the Cage advocacy group, was stopped for questioning at …
Read More »Maritime court backs Ghana in offshore dispute with Ivory Coast
Hamburg, Germany | AFP |Â An international maritime tribunal Saturday backed Ghana in a dispute with Ivory Coast over a contested boundary that cuts through lucrative offshore oil fields. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea found that “Ghana did not violate the sovereign rights” of Ivory Coast by …
Read More »Pastor pleads not guilty to violence charges
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |Â Zimbabwean activist pastor Evan Mawarire pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of misconduct and inciting a crowd to cause violence. Mawarire — an outspoken opponent of ruling President Robert Mugabe — became popular with his #ThisFlag movement that challenged Mugabe’s government over the economic crisis. …
Read More »Anger boils five years after S.African massacre of miners
Marikana, South Africa | AFP |Â At the site of the 2012 Marikana massacre where police shot dead 34 strikers, thousands of South African miners sang remembrance songs Wednesday as campaigners demanded prosecutions and compensation. The 34 miners were gunned down after police were deployed to break up a wildcat strike …
Read More »US grand jury impaneled for Russia probe: report
Washington, United States | AFP | Special counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury to investigate Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential election, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday — a step toward possible criminal indictments. The newspaper, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reported that the …
Read More »Almost 500 go on trial in Turkey’s biggest coup case
Sincan, Turkey | AFP |Â Nearly 500 people appeared in court Tuesday in the biggest trial yet of suspects from Turkey’s failed coup, facing charges of conspiring to oust the government from an air base seen as the plotters’ hub. Forty-one of those held were marched into the court outside Ankara …
Read More »Trump attacks US attorney general as weak on Clinton emails
 Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions again on Tuesday, calling him “VERY weak” in pursuing intelligence leaks and failure to go after former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over her emails. Trump’s latest Twitter salvo followed a report in the Washington …
Read More »S.Africa confronts apartheid-era custody deaths
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The brutal death of anti-apartheid campaigner Ahmed Timol was allowed to go quietly unsolved in the interests of South Africa’s democratic reconciliation. But now more than 45 years after he fell from a 10th-floor window at a notorious regime security building and died, Timol’s …
Read More »Gabon probes threats to leader before ICC visit
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Â Gabon authorities said Saturday that they were investigating threats by a critic of President Ali Bongo, including an ultimatum to step down before the arrival of an International Criminal Court team next week. The threats included a warning that government buildings had been set with …
Read More »Spanish prosecutors accuse Ronaldo of evading millions in taxes
Madrid, Spain | AFP | Â Spanish prosecutors on Tuesday accused Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo of evading 14.7 million euros in tax through offshore companies, the latest footballer to fall foul of fiscal authorities. The 32-year-old — the world’s highest paid athlete according to Forbes magazine — follows in the …
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