Tag Archives: politics

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced early Monday that he would be stepping down after losing a referendum on constitutional reform. “My experience of government finishes here,” Renzi told a press conference after the No campaign won what he described as an “extraordinarily clear” victory …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP |  When South Korea’s Park Geun-Hye looks back on the scandal-fuelled implosion of her presidency, she may reflect ruefully on what lit the first fuse — a parent pulling strings over a child’s education. Park’s downfall was the result of her friendship with Choi Soon-Sil …

Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION | AFP | President Vladimir Putin in an interview aired Sunday called US President-elect Donald Trump intelligent and predicted he would quickly grasp his new level of responsibility and act accordingly. “Since he managed to achieve success in business, that shows he is a clever person,” the …

Santiago de Cuba, Cuba | AFP | Fidel Castro’s ashes were entombed in a massive stone next to national heroes on Sunday, as Cuba opens a new era without the communist leader who ruled for decades. The cedar urn was placed inside the tall round stone near the mausoleums of …

Killing Castro: Poisoned cigars, explosive seashells Havana, Cuba | AFP | Mobsters, poisoned cigars, exploding seashells, a contaminated diving suit: The CIA’s imagination ran wild in its plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. As the late Cuban leader’s ashes are laid to rest in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba …

Washington, United States | AFP |  President-elect Donald Trump sent a dismissive tweet in response to a comedy sketch that mocked his penchant for sending tweets. Trump again lambasted the show “Saturday Night Live,” on which he is played by actor Alec Baldwin. But whereas on other occasions Trump has …

Santiago de Cuba, Cuba | AFP | The convoy carrying the ashes of Cuba’s late communist leader Fidel Castro capped an island-wide journey on Saturday, reaching the cradle of his revolution for a final rally before burial. Tens of thousands of people cheered as the olive-green jeep that has pulled …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow held talks with his team Saturday to plot his transition to power, with the release of political prisoners emerging as a top priority for the new administration. Barrow’s shock election victory ended the iron-fisted 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh on …

New York, United States | AFP | US President-elect Donald Trump broke with decades of foreign policy to speak with the president of Taiwan, prompting Beijing Saturday to accuse Taipei of a ploy but saying the move would not affect US-China ties. It was not immediately clear whether Trump’s telephone …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled for 37 years, will stand down before next year’s general election, state radio said Friday citing sources in the ruling MPLA party. The autocratic Dos Santos, 74, became president in 1979, making him Africa’s second-longest serving …