Tag Archives: politics

Mbabane, eSwatini | AFP | King Mswati III of eSwatini on Saturday named a political novice as prime minister of the former Swaziland, to replace Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini who died last month. The new PM is Mandvulo Ambrose Dlamimi, national head of Africa’s leading mobile operator MTN. Mswati, one of …

Bratislava, Slovakia | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday brushed off pressure to halt lucrative arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying such calls were “pure demagoguery”. Sales of weapons to Riyadh — France’s second biggest customer after India — have “nothing …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump claimed Friday that the explosive devices mailed to his rivals were slowing Republican “momentum” ahead of November’s midterm elections, with polls showing Democrats boosting their advantage. “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this …

  PLANTATION, United States | AFP | Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the Florida man accused of sending pipe bombs to critics of Donald Trump, had plastered his social media accounts and the van where he was living with signs of his devotion to the Republican president and his hatred for Democrats. …

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Former Olympic US athlete and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner has penned an op-ed voicing regret for backing President Donald Trump, and saying “I was wrong” about Trump’s commitment to LGBTQ rights. “Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to claim to support this …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia on Thursday appointed a woman to the largely ceremonial position of president for the first time, further increasing female representation in the government of Africa’s second most populous nation. In a unanimous vote, Ethiopian lawmakers picked career diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde, 68, to replace …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo’s opposition parties agreed on Thursday to name a single unity candidate by mid-November to run against President Joseph Kabila’s choice in December elections. Tensions are running high before the long-delayed December 23 vote to chose a successor to Kabila, …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | It is a conflict at once cultural, generational and political: rap music in DR Congo is staging a frontal assault on rumba, accusing its ageing stars of only singing of love and other banalities. DRC’s growing army of rappers say their urban lyrics reflect …

Paris, France | AFP | A French appeals court ruled Thursday that former president Nicolas Sarkozy should answer charges of illicit financing of his failed 2012 election campaign, the latest in a string of legal proceedings likely to see him face trial. Sarkozy, 63, will appeal the decision before France’s …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump on Wednesday called on the media to stop their “endless hostility” and “false attacks” in comments addressing a number of pipe bombs sent earlier in the day to Barack Obama, top Democrats and CNN. Speaking to supporters at a campaign rally in …