Politics

The Ukrainian First Lady is due to meet her French counterpart Brigitte Macron at the Élysée on Monday, local media reported. This is Olena Zelenska’s first visit to France since the start of the war in Ukraine. The two first ladies met in September on the sidelines of the UN …

South Africa’s passenger rail agency (Prasa) has banned preaching, gambling and informal trading in its new trains, local media outlets report. The move is among measures meant to ensure that “one particular behavioural system of any other group cannot be imposed on other commuters on board”, the agency’s spokesperson Lilian …

Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, deposed and remanded in custody, has made an official request for asylum in Mexico, which is consulting the Peruvian government, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced Thursday. Prosecuted for “rebellion” and “conspiracy”, Pedro Castillo transmitted his request to the Mexican embassy in Lima on the …

The world’s longest-serving president, Equatoguinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has just begun his controversial new sixth term. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is 80, took the presidential oath before inspecting a military parade. He declared he was – and always would be – the leader of all Equatorial Guineans. On …

Nigerian lawmakers have summoned the country’s central bank governor over the implementation of a recently introduced policy that restricts cash withdrawals. The policy seeks to promote cashless transactions in Africa’s biggest economy after it launched new banknotes. Last week the bank limited weekly over-the-counter cash withdrawals at 100,000 naira ($225) …

The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a law protecting same-sex marriage across the United States, over fears of a backtracking by the Supreme Court on the matter. The text, which was approved by the Senate last week, must now be signed into law by President Biden. He pledged …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky succeeds billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, boss of SpaceX and Tesla, as Time magazine’s 2022 personality of the year. He succeeds Greta Thunberg, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or even Elon Musk. By crowning the Ukrainian president, the US magazine also paid tribute to the “spirit of …

China announced on Wednesday a general relaxation of health rules against Covid, authorizing certain positive cases to quarantine at home and reducing its use of generalized PCR tests. The change comes days after historic angry protests across the country. According to the new instructions unveiled by the National Health Commission …

Humanity has become a “weapon of mass extinction” of nature that “we treat like a toilet”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday at a ceremony in Montreal on the eve of of COP15 on biodiversity. “With our boundless appetite for uncontrolled and unequal economic growth, humanity has become …

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped Benue State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development Ekpe Ogbu and two fellow passengers, police say. They had been travelling back from church when it happened, Benue state official Terver Akase tells BBC News Pidgin. According to local reports the kidnapping took place at the Adankari …