Tag Archives: politics

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s High Court on Wednesday gave parliament 60 days to enact legislation that would make it obligatory to have more female lawmakers, or face dissolution. The 2010 constitution requires that no more than two thirds of lawmakers should be men, a principle hailed at the …

New York, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump pledged Tuesday to revive America’s coal industry by rolling back regulation, but energy experts expressed doubt his moves would significantly boost prospects for the controversial energy source. Trump, flanked by coal miners and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, a …

Madrid, Spain | AFP | A Spanish court on Wednesday sentenced a young woman to jail for posting jokes on Twitter about the 1973 assassination of a senior figure in the Franco dictatorship. The National Audience, Spain’s top criminal court, found Cassandra Vera, 21, guilty of glorifying terrorism and humiliating victims …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Britain formally launched the process to leave the EU on Wednesday, handing a letter to EU president Donald Tusk formally notifying the bloc, an AFP journalist said. Tim Barrow, Britain’s ambassador to the European Union, personally delivered the letter signed by British Prime Minister Theresa May …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | President Jacob Zuma will not attend the funeral on Wednesday of celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who in recent years had become fiercely critical of the government. While most of the country’s leadership will be present, Kathrada’s family asked Zuma to skip the …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  An Ivory Coast jury on Tuesday acquitted former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity during the 2010-11 post-election crisis in a stunning verdict after the prosecution had sought to jail her for life. “A majority of the jury declared Simone Gbagbo not …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia opened public consultations this week on the government’s plan to leave the International Criminal Court, as several other African countries re-assess their membership. South Africa recently revoked its planned departure from the ICC, based in The Hague, and The Gambia’s new president, Adama Barrow, reversed …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule and a fellow Robben Island prisoner, died Tuesday aged 87. Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the 1964 Rivonia trial, which …

Washington, United States | AFP | Secret meetings, phone taps, Russian oil money and mysterious intelligence dossiers: the swirling scandal over Donald Trump’s ties to Moscow has all the makings of a classic spy novel — whose ending has yet to be written. But the maelstrom engulfing Washington over Russia’s …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Two foreign UN experts who were kidnapped in DR Congo have been found dead, one of them decapitated, the government said Tuesday, as spiralling violence in the vast country sparked international condemnation. The bodies of American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zahida Catalan were …