Politics

Bougainville Voters Back Independence By Landslide

December 11, 2019 4:25 pm

Voters backing Bougainville’s independence from Papua New Guinea have won a landslide referendum victory, according to results released Wednesday — a major step toward the troubled isles becoming the world’s newest nation.

Chairman of the Bougainville Referendum Commission Bertie Ahern declared 176,928 people — around 98 percent of voters — had backed independence with just 3,043 supporting the option of remaining part of Papua New Guinea with more autonomy.

The announcement prompted loud cheers, applause and tears as dignitaries soon burst into song, with strains of the islands’ anthem “My Bougainville” ringing out.

“Happy is an understatement” nursing graduate Alexia …

Trump Pays $2mn In Damages To Charities After Court Ruling

December 11, 2019 4:25 pm

Donald Trump on Tuesday paid $2 million in damages as part of a settlement over use of his former charity to further his political and business interests — the latest item on the US president’s list of legal woes.

Trump had been accused of using foundation funds to settle lawsuits, promote his Trump-branded hotels, and for personal spending, including the purchase of a portrait of himself to display at one of his golf clubs.

The $2 million was paid equally to eight different charities, including the Children’s Aid Society, the United Negro College Fund and the US Holocaust Memorial …

Boeing

US Aviation Chief Says Boeing 737 MAX Won’t Be Re-Certified

December 11, 2019 4:10 pm

The top US air transport regulator on Wednesday doused Boeing’s hopes that its 737 MAX will return to the skies this year while lawmakers probed why the agency did not ground the plane after the first of two crashes.

In an interview just ahead of a congressional hearing on the crashes, Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson told CNBC the aircraft will not be cleared to fly before 2020.

The process for approving the MAX’s return to the skies still has 10 or 11 milestones left to complete, including a certification flight and a public comment period on pilot training …

Britain Heads Into Charged Brexit Election

December 11, 2019 3:51 pm

Britain’s feuding party leaders criss-crossed the country on Wednesday in a frantic push for votes on the eve of a highly-charged general election aimed at finally settling the Brexit crisis.

Polls open on Thursday for the third time in four years in what is widely seen as a re-run of the 2016 referendum in which a narrow majority opted to pull Britain out of the European Union.

 

AFP / Oli SCARFFCorbyn is a veteran leftist campaigner who confounded pollsters by coming within a whisker of winning the last election in 2017

Parliament’s splintered parties — some seeking broader

…

Kosovo Declares Nobel Laureate Handke ‘Persona Non Grata’

December 11, 2019 3:50 pm

Kosovo declared Peter Handke a ‘persona non grata’ on Wednesday in the latest protest against his induction as a Nobel literature laureate, barring the Austrian writer from a place he has visited numerous times.

The Swedish Academy’s pick for the 2019 prize has reopened old wounds in the Balkans, where many see Handke as an apologist for Serb atrocities during Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse.

One Nobel committee member resigned over the choice, while Tuesday’s award ceremony was boycotted by representatives of the embassies of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Turkey.

“Today I have decided to declare Peter Handke as …

Polanski Blames Weinstein, Says Media Making Me A Monster

December 11, 2019 3:50 pm

Film director Roman Polanski has spoken out for the first time since another woman accused him of rape, declaring that the media are “trying to make me into a monster”.

And in an extraordinary twist he blamed Harvey Weinstein for his woes, in an interview with Paris Match magazine published Wednesday.

He claimed the disgraced Hollywood mogul tried to brand him a “child rapist” to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for “The Pianist”.

Polanski — a fugitive from US justice since 1978 after he admitted the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl — also dismissed the latest rape …

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Rejects Genocide Claims At Top UN Court

December 11, 2019 3:50 pm

Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide against Myanmar in the UN’s top court Wednesday, despite admitting the army may have used excessive force against Rohingya Muslims.

Suu Kyi denied “misleading and incomplete” claims by The Gambia that a 2017 military operation had attempted to exterminate the Rohingya, in a rare address by a state leader to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Once hailed worldwide as a rights icon for her defiance of the same generals she is now defending, Suu Kyi also warned the Hague-based court that its involvement in the case risked “feeding …

Punch Playing Partisan Politics Not Journalism –Presidency

December 11, 2019 11:35 am

The Presidency has accused the Punch newspapers of playing partisan opposition politics and not journalism in its decision to address President Muhammadu Buhari as Major General, to protest his “disregard” for the rule of law.

In a second statement from the presidency on the matter, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, described Punch newspapers’ decision as absurd particularly when it never changed former Olusegun Obasanjo’s title to General, even when he disobeyed Supreme Court order  withholding local government funds of Lagos State.

It said: “It is unprecedented and absurd in our recent political history. The Punch …

Edo APC Factions Bicker Over Defecting PDP Members

December 11, 2019 8:22 am

Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised the alarm over alleged plans by the government to recruit thugs from Kogi and Ekiti states to disrupt a rally planned for defecting People’s Democratic Party (PDP) members on Friday.

Over 20,000 PDP leaders across the 18 local government areas of the state, led by Osagie Ize-Iyamu, will be received into the APC by the party National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and other leaders.

A statement by the party Secretary, Lawrence Okah, alleged that the state government has recruited the services of the governor’s Special Adviser on Security, Haruna Yusuf

…

CBN: Electronic Payments Hit ₦424tn In Nine Months

December 11, 2019 4:35 am

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s cashless policy has received a boost as the total value of transactions through various electronic payment (e-payment) channels stood at a total of ₦424.371 trillion in the first nine months of 2019.

This represented 83.5 per cent increase compared with the total of N231.247 trillion recorded at the end of June 2019.
The figures were contained in the latest industry e-payment data as at the end of September obtained from the CBN.

The data also showed that while the combined value of Automated Clearing House System/NAPS/PMS stood at N17.966 trillion as at September, …

Reps To Separate Attorney General From Minister Of Justice

December 11, 2019 4:35 am

The House of Representatives is seeking to separate the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from that of the Minister of Justice, saying the separation will remove political interference in the operations of the Attorney General.

A bill to alter the 1999 constitution to separate the two offices sponsored by the Chief Whip of the House, Mohammed Tahir Monguno scaled through second reading at Tuesday’s plenary of the house.

Hon. Monguno said he was sponsoring the bill based on his experience as a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Borno state, adding that at the …

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𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤, is a nonpartisan online news portal founded on the truth to provide you with weekly, insightful articles written with precision and current updates on current events from Africa in particular and the rest of the world in general. All of our reports undergo extensive fact-checking to ensure their veracity, and we adhere strictly to the facts, no matter whose ox is gored.

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