US releases ‘Merchant of Death’ Viktor Bout in exchange for basketballer Griner jailed in Russia
Brittney Griner, the American basketball star imprisoned in Russia, was released on Thursday after 10 months of captivity after President Biden agreed to a swap for Viktor Bout, an imprisoned Russian arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death,” the president said. On Thursday morning, Biden tweeted a picture of...
US gun violence: Former President Obama revisits ‘single darkest day of my presidency’
At an event marking the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, former President Barack Obama reflected on what he still considers the worst day he spent in office. “I consider December 14, 2012, the single darkest day of my presidency,” Obama said Tuesday...
President Kiir endorsed by South Sudan ruling SPLM party to vie for the top seat in 2024 polls
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, who has been in office for over a decade, will run for president in elections due to be held in about two years, his party said on Tuesday. Oil-rich South Sudan secured independence from its northern neighbour Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war...
President Obama is still the go-to strategist for Democrats against GOP since Harry Truman’s era
If there was any doubt that Barack Obama remains the Democratic Party’s ablest campaigner, it was removed last week when the former president swept into Georgia for the final push of US Senator Raphael Warnock’s re-election bid. As he did during the last stages of the fall midterm election campaign,...
American artist Kanye West has been diagnosed with bipolar, which explains his anti-Semitism
Appearing on Alex Jones’s Infowars show on Thursday, musician Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, did something remarkable: He made Alex Jones seem comparatively reasonable. Jones, you will recall, is the unhinged conspiracy theorist infamous for insisting that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax fabricated...
Lone gunman kills three Kenyan peacekeepers in Somalia, injures five others at a military camp
A lone gunman entered a military base in Somalia and killed at least three Kenyan peacekeepers on Monday, the latest attack by extremist fighters who oppose the presence of foreigners in the Horn of Africa nation, according to Kenya’s military. The gunman fired his rifle indiscriminately, wounding five other soldiers...
Since military solution has failed in Somalia, sharing political power with al Shabaab is an option
In October 2022, Somalia’s capital Mogadishu suffered yet another massive suicidal attack. More than 100 people were killed. Hundreds more were wounded and thousands will have been traumatised by an attack claimed by the Somali insurgent group Al-Shabaab. The attack was carried out on the fifth anniversary of the most...
Exiting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pays tribute to Bush, Obama and Biden, snubs Trump
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t name former President Donald Trump during her speech on Thursday when she announced that she would be stepping down from Democratic leadership. Speaking on the House floor, Pelosi took a victory lap over legislative achievements she’d had under former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama...
Fresh trouble for Trump after no-show at House committee probing his criminal role in January 6 Capitol raid
The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol says it is considering “next steps” after former President Donald Trump failed to appear for his Monday deposition following a subpoena last month. In a joint statement from Chairman Bennie Thompson (Democratic-Mississipi) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Republican-Wyoming),...
DRC peace talks due to start in Nairobi next week as fighting intensifies in mineral-rich country
Talks aimed at bringing peace to eastern DR Congo, home to dozens of armed militias including the M23, are due to begin in Nairobi on November 21, the East African Community (EAC) has announced. The announcement came as troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo clashed anew with M23 rebels...
