Ghana on Monday shelved plans to spend $200 million on a new parliament building following a public outcry over the cost. An online campaign by cultural figures and civil society under the banner #DropThatChamber drew widespread support that the West African nation had more pressing needs. Parliament said it had halted the project due to … Read more
Donald Trump lashed out at Theresa May on Monday, visibly angry at her continuing support for the British ambassador to Washington despite the leak of diplomatic cables highly critical of his presidency. London has been scrambling to stem the damage caused by the release of confidential telegrams from envoy Kim Darroch, which described Trump as … Read more
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called an announcement by his country’s arch-foe Iran that it would breach the uranium enrichment cap set by an endangered nuclear deal a “very dangerous step”. “This measure is a very dangerous step, and I call on my friends, leaders of France, Britain, Germany: You signed the deal … Read more
Iran said Sunday it was set to breach the uranium enrichment cap set by an endangered nuclear deal within hours as it seeks to press signatories into keeping their side of the bargain. The move involving purifying beyond the 3.67 percent allowed by the 2015 agreement — comes despite opposition from the European Union and … Read more
Thousands of residents in German city Frankfurt were free to return to their homes Sunday afternoon after authorities reported that an unexploded World War II bomb found close to the European Central Bank headquarters had been defused. “We did it! The World War II bomb in the Ostend neighbourhood has been defused by the ordnance … Read more
Stevie Wonder will be taking a break from music. The legendary singer-songwriter announced during a concert in London on Saturday that he will be undergoing kidney surgery. “So what’s gonna happen is this, I’m going to have surgery, I’m going to have a kidney transplant in September of this year. I’m all good, I’m all … Read more
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sacked the governor of Turkey’s central bank and replaced him with his deputy, a presidential decree said Saturday, after months of tension with the government over high interest rates. Murat Cetinkaya, who was appointed to the role in April 2016, has been replaced by Murat Uysal, according to the decree … Read more
Southern California was hit by its largest earthquake in two decades on Friday, a 7.1-magnitude tremor that rattled residents who were already reeling from another strong quake a day earlier. Emergency workers and security forces were being dispatched early Saturday to the epicenter of the shallow earthquake in a remote and sparsely populated area around … Read more
The United States has said it welcomes a power-sharing deal designed to end months of political unrest in Sudan. The agreement was reached Friday between protest leaders and the country’s ruling generals after two days of talks. It calls for establishing a so-called sovereign council with a rotating military and civilian president for three years. … Read more
A powerful explosion from a suspected gas leak ripped through a shopping mall in Florida on Saturday, injuring up to 20 people, the fire department said. Two of those were in serious condition after the blast in the town of Plantation in south Florida. Photos on US news outlets showed a large field of debris … Read more
President Donald Trump said on Friday he was weighing an executive order to overcome a Supreme Court ruling blocking his administration from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 US census, which opponents say is politically motivated. A week after the high court blocked the question and the administration announced it would accept the … Read more
American celebrity social commentator, Candace Owens, has stirred controversy on her Twitter handle with her favourable comment on Nigerians in the United States of America. Owens, known for her support for Donald Trump and stinging criticism of Black Lives Matter movement and Democratic Party in the United States, stated that Nigerian-Americans are the most successful … Read more
Polish lawmakers have approved a measure that would exonerate most workers under the age of 26 from income taxes as the country seeks to stem the flow of its young people to other EU nations in search of better paying jobs. The lower house of parliament approved the measure introduced by the ruling conservatives in … Read more
Crowds of jubilant Sudanese took to the streets of Khartoum on Friday, chanting “civilian rule” after protest leaders struck a deal with the ruling generals on a new governing body. Chants of “the martyrs’ blood has not been shed in vain” reverberated around the same streets where more than six months of protests culminated in … Read more
The International Monetary Fund on Friday reached an agreement with Argentina that it will allow release of the next $5.4 billion disbursement under the loan program intended to help stabilize the South American nation’s economy. The IMF board must approve the fourth review of the country’s performance under the loan deal signed last year before … Read more
President Donald Trump sang the praises of the US military and American heroes of the past two and a half centuries Thursday, skirting politics in a rousing Independence Day speech in Washington. “What a great country,” Trump exclaimed in an address saturated with patriotism and exceptionalism after critics accused him of hijacking the annual celebration. … Read more
Seven people have been reported dead in a helicopter crash off the Bahamas, including US billionaire coal magnate Chris Cline. The chopper went down near a small outcrop in the country’s north early on Thursday morning, the Nassau Guardian newspaper reported the minister of tourism and aviation as saying. “We’ve located the craft. It seems … Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a lightning visit to Rome on Thursday, including talks with the pope, hailing efforts by Italy’s populist government to ease sanctions despite Moscow’s ongoing crisis with the West. Rome’s historic centre was on security lockdown for the visit, with 50 streets blocked to traffic. Putin landed around an hour late … Read more
Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has named a new government under mediation in a bid to end months of political turmoil. In a presidential decree published Wednesday, Vaz gave the lion’s share of posts in the 31-member government to members of his African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which has … Read more
Talks between Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders, held after weeks of standoff following a deadly crackdown on protesters, enter a second day Thursday with the key issue of forming a new governing body still unresolved. Sudan has been rocked by a political crisis since the army ousted longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in April on … Read more