Global

Libyan death toll rises as battle for Tripoli intensifies

Photo Reuters Eastern Libyan forces sought to reach the center of Tripoli on Monday after their easy advance through desert hit a trickier urban phase, with deaths and displacements mounting and the West aghast at the threat to its peace plan. Renewed civil war in Libya, splintered into areas of factional control since the 2011

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Wounds of Garissa Attack, Four Years On

Kenya Should Review Counter-Terror Tactics to Address Abuse Four years ago this month, gunmen attacked Kenya’s Garissa University, killing at least 147 people, most of them students. It was one of the most horrific attacks ever to occur on Kenyan soil. Somalia-based militant Islamist group, Al-Shabab, which continues to carry out attacks inside Kenya, claimed

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Thousands of Sudanese press on with rally outside army HQ

Protesters run for cover from teargas outside the military headquarters in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on April 7, 2019 AFP Sudanese police fired tear gas Sunday at thousands of protesters who rallied outside the army headquarters for a second day urging the military to back them in demanding President Omar al-Bashir resign. Chanting “Sudan is rising,

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Netanyahu pledges to ‘extend sovereignty’ to West Bank settlements after vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Saturday to “extend sovereignty” to settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins the upcoming general election. Asked in an interview on Israeli TV why he had not extended Israeli sovereignty to large settlements in the West Bank, he replied, “I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don’t

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Pakistan says India preparing another attack this month

Photo Reuters Pakistan has “reliable intelligence” that India will attack again this month, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Sunday, as tension over a February standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbors had appeared to ease. The attack could take place between April 16 and 20, he said. A suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants

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Djibouti needed help, China had money, and now the U.S. and France are worried

By Nizar Manek The African nation is tiny, poor, strategically located—and deeply in debt to Beijing. Inside the carriages on the 10-hour rail journey through land-locked Ethiopia into the tiny Red Sea state of Djibouti, the chirping of mobile phones mingles with a mashup of regional languages and the murmur of the devout at prayer.

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Trump trying to make case for Jewish voters to back 2020 bid

LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to make the case for Jewish voters to back his re-election as he takes a victory lap with Republican donors in Las Vegas. Trump was scheduled to speak Saturday at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which supported his 2016 campaign and is preparing

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South Africa permanently withdraws its ambassador from Israel

International Relations Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says withdrawing SA ambassador is just ‘stage one’ in downgrading relations with Tel Aviv. The South African government has implemented what International Relations Minister Sisulu calls “stage one” of its programme of downgrading relations with Israel, by withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv permanently. Minister of International Relations and Co-operation

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Thousands rally in Mali to protest ethnic violence

Photo Reuters Thousands rallied in the Malian capital Bamako on Friday to protest at the failure of the government and international peacekeepers to stem rising ethnic and jihadist violence, notably the massacre of around 160 villagers last month. The protest was one of the largest in Mali in recent years. It followed the March 23

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Bouteflika asks Algerians for forgiveness as protests continue

Outgoing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has asked his country for “forgiveness” in a letter published by the Algerian Press Service. In a letter released by the 82-year-old president on Wednesday, he expressed “gratitude” for “the signs of affection and respect” from his “dear sisters and brothers”. To err being human, I ask forgiveness for any

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