Republicans jittery about Trump’s felonies, as California court orders porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawyers his $122,000
The judge overseeing former President Trump’s criminal case in New York City has set the next in-person hearing for December 4, roughly two months before the official start of the 2024 Republican presidential primary calendar. Trump was arraigned in Manhattan in front of Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday, where he...
Ex-US President Trump scoffs at 34 felony counts of tax evasion, skirt lifting and hush-money payments
Former President Donald Trump was charged on Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a historic case over allegations he orchestrated hush-money payments to two women before the 2016 US election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him. Prosecutors in Manhattan accused Trump, the first...
Risking democracy: Power-sharing may soon become Kenya’s default mode after every election
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga and his coalition party, Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya called for mass protests across the country on March 20, marking the beginning of violent expression of disconcert with the government failure or inability to rein in high cost and galloping inflation. Odinga and his team have...
Trump indictment is a reminder of unparalleled criminality and conspiracy that surrounded the US presidential 2016 poll
The literally unprecedented indictment against Donald Trump marks an outright dangerous – and politically fraught – moment for the United States and serves as a reminder of the unparalleled level of criminality and conspiracy that surrounded the 2016 election. It’s easy to look back at the 2016 election as though...
Vatican repudiates colonial-era ‘doctrine of discovery’ of mountains, lakes, continents by Europeans
The Vatican on Thursday formally repudiated the colonial-era “doctrine of discovery” used centuries ago to justify European conquests of Africa and the Americas, saying “it is not part of Catholic Church teaching”. The Vatican acknowledged in a statement from its culture and human development departments that papal documents from the...
South Sudan’s President Kiir’s appointment of defence minister risks peace deal with rivals
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has appointed a member of his own party as defence minister, according to a decree read on state media, breaching a peace deal in which the role should be selected by the party of opposition leader Riek Machar. Kiir fired defence minister Angelina Teny, who...
Al Shabaab’s resilience is helped by a regime fraught with clannism that makes it susceptible to infiltration and sabotage – report
In areas where al Shabaab has not been able to penetrate the locality to establish a threat of violence, its extortion practices are less successful. Businessmen operating solely within Baidoa and Kismayo, for example, have reported rebuffing al Shabaab demands for payment without fear of retribution. This has coincided with...
Report: Dismantling Al Shabaab’s revenue generating infrastructure is key to weakening the militant group
Cutting off al Shabaab’s estimated $100 million in extortion-generated annual revenue will require restoring the integrity of Somalia’s compromised financial, judicial and intelligence agencies. Despite setbacks, al Shabaab remains a resilient and destabilising threat in Somalia. In the past year, it was linked to 2,553 violent events and 6,225 fatalities....
Counterterrorism and regional stability are new tricks Africa’s omnipresent dictators use to win Western support
While regimes hoisted on cult of personality may appear durable – frequently deploying “anti-imperialist” and “anti-colonialist” rhetoric to appeal to African sympathies while also positioning themselves as key Western partners on counterterrorism and regional stability – they are inherently fragile. Security services in such contexts are often used to suppress...
How Africa’s ordinary souls ascend to power, then embrace ‘semi-divine’ tag to stifle political competition
When long-serving, neo-patrimonial leaders in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Zimbabwe and Sudan were forced to step down because of popular and youthful protests in recent years, the era of “presidents for life” in Africa seemed to be ending. Yet, for every such leader who has been forced from power, new ones...
