Mon, 30 Jun 2025 04:00:11 GMT
Tšolo Thakeli had long campaigned on youth joblessness, but a post questioning Sam Maketane’s promises on work creation landed him in prison
It took a single video complaining about Lesotho’s unemployment rate to turn Tšolo Thakeli into the prime minister’s enemy. Within a day of posting there were armed police at his door.
It was Father’s Day, and the 31-year-old father of two was in his pyjamas when they arrived. He had no idea his post would land him in trouble; after all, he had campaigned for a long time, under different governments, for action on jobs for young people.
Continue reading...Sun, 29 Jun 2025 04:00:43 GMT
Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire vow to hold authorities accountable as repression intensifies before October elections
Two east African activists say they plan to sue Tanzania’s government for illegal detention and torture during a visit in support of an opposition politician in May.
Boniface Mwangi, from Kenya, and Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan, sent shock waves around the region earlier this month when they gave an emotional press conference in which they alleged they had been sexually assaulted and, in Atuhaire’s case, smeared in excrement after their detention in Dar es Salaam. “[The authorities] take you through sexual torture,” Mwangi said at the time.
Continue reading...Fri, 27 Jun 2025 19:37:44 GMT
Agreement aims to end decades-old conflict rooted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide but critics have described it as vague and opaque
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have signed a peace deal in Washington to end fighting in eastern DRC, although questions remain over what the agreement means and who stands to benefit – with Donald Trump using the occasion to boast that the US had secured lucrative mineral rights.
At a ceremony with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington, the two African countries’ foreign ministers signed the agreement pledging to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days.
Continue reading...Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:44:34 GMT
In first assessment since pandemic in 2020, World Bank urges other countries to step up support
Extreme poverty is accelerating in 39 countries affected by war and conflict, leaving more than a billion people to go hungry, according to the World Bank.
Civil wars and confrontations between nations, mostly in Africa, have set back economic growth and reduced the incomes of more than a billion people, “driving up extreme poverty faster than anywhere else”, the Washington-based body said.
Continue reading...Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:14:55 GMT
Police clashed with people marching in Nairobi and other areas to honour those killed in protests last year
At least 16 people have been killed and 400 injured in Kenya as a nationwide demonstration to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests turned chaotic, with police clashing with protesters in different parts of the country.
Amnesty International Kenya’s executive director, Irũngũ Houghton, told Reuters the death toll had been verified by the government-funded Kenya national commission on human rights. “Most were killed by police,” he said.
Continue reading...Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:31:25 GMT
Homeland security secretary attempting to end legal status for approximately 521,000 Haitian immigrants
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s bid to end temporary deportation protections and work permits for approximately 521,000 Haitian immigrants before the program’s scheduled expiration date.
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded Joe Biden’s extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians through 3 February. It called for the program to end on 3 August, and last week pushed back that date to 2 September.
Continue reading...Mon, 30 Jun 2025 22:08:32 GMT
Advocates say the move could turn the tide for other British overseas territories battling for LGBTQ+ rights
A court in London has upheld a Cayman Islands law legalising same-sex civil partnerships, in a move that campaigners say could turn the tide for other British overseas territories battling for LGBTQ+ rights.
On Monday, the privy council, the final court of appeal for the British overseas territory, rejected an appeal that had argued the Caribbean island’s governor had no right to enact the bill, after lawmakers had rejected similar legislation.
Continue reading...Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:50:42 GMT
Trump officials hail U-turn as Mark Carney says decision to rescind digital services tax means revival of trade talks
The United States has said that Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, “caved” to demands from the White House after his government abruptly scrapped their digital services tax on US technology companies, which was set to go into effect on Monday.
“It’s very simple. Prime Minister Carney and Canada caved to President [Donald] Trump and the United States of America,” the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a daily briefing.
Continue reading...Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:19:15 GMT
Grisly finding comes at end of worst month in war between Sinaloa factions as government tries to stop killings
Mexican authorities have found 20 bodies in the state of Sinaloa, a region gripped by a war between factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel that is reaching new heights of violence.
The state prosecutor’s office said on Monday that four of the victims had been decapitated and their bodies had been found hanging from a bridge on a main road near Culiacán, the state capital.
Continue reading...Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:29:30 GMT
Former labor minister, 61, won primary for leftwing parties with over 60% of vote ahead of November election
The Chilean communist Jeannette Jara, the country’s former labor minister, has won the primary election for leftwing parties with surprising ease, beating out a more moderate rival to clinch over 60% of the vote.
The decisive upset makes Jara, 51, the candidate representing Chile’s beleaguered incumbent government in November elections, set to face off against center-right and far-right contenders who have surged in the polls.
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