Philippines: Authorities rearrests Pres Duterte critic journalist Maria Ressa

MANILA, March 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was arrested Friday, her second detention in what press freedom advocates have said is retaliation for her news site’s criticism of President RodrigoDuterte. Ressa and her website Rappler have been hit with a string of criminalcharges that have sent shockwaves through…

UK parliament speaker allows Brexit divorce deal vote on Friday

LONDON, March 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – British parliament speaker John Bercow gave his go-ahead for a vote by MPs on Friday on the Brexit divorce deal, which parliament has already rejected twice. “The motion is new, substantially different,” House of Commons speaker Bercow told parliament. Bercow had blocked a previous vote…

Venezuela: Pres Maduro announces ban on rival holding public office

12 CARACAS, March 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, bolstered by a Russian military deployment infuriating the US, on Thursday announced a ban on Washington-backed self-declared interim leader Juan Guaido holding public office. But National Assembly legislature speaker Guaido immediately shot back that the 15-year prohibition announced on…

Russia ‘not threatening anyone’ in Venezuela: foreign ministry

MOSCOW, March 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia’s military presence inVenezuela does not present a threat to anyone, Moscow said after USPresident Donald Trump demanded that Russia remove its troops from thecrisis-stricken country. “Russia is not threatening anyone unlike citizens in Washington,” foreignministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists after referring tostatements by…

Bangladesh 1971 war of independence: Five fugitive Netrokona Razakars sentenced to death

DHAKA, March 29 (NNN-BSS) – The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)-1sentenced five fugitive Razakars from Purbodhola, Netrokona, to deathfor their crimes against humanity committed in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The five convicts are Sheikh Md. Abdul Majid alias Majid Mawlana, 66, MdAbdul Khalek Talukder, 67, Md Kabir Khan, 70,…

Bangladesh: Skyscraper inferno kills 19 in Banani

At least 19 people have been killed and dozens injured in a fire at a high-rise office bloc in Dhaka’s Banani 36 days after dozens of lives were lost in a blaze in Chawkbazar across the city. Photo courtesy bdnews 24 DHAKA, March 29 (NNN-BSS) – A fire that tore…

351,000 displaced in Anglophone Cameroon – UN wants $219m in aid

GENEVA, March 28 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, is appealing for urgent funding to cater for displaced Cameroonians largely concentrated in the twin Anglophone regions. According to UN estimates more than 437,000 people are currently displaced in Cameroon, 246,000 of them in the Southwest Region, 105,000 in the…

Liberia: Switzerland will try former rebel leader Alieu Kosiah for war crimes

BERN (Switzerland), March 28 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — In a ground-breaking case, Swiss prosecutors have announced that Alieu Kosiah, a former commander of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) who was arrested in Switzerland nearly five years ago, will be put on trial in the country for war crimes…

Congo-Kinshasa: President Tshisekedi to Make First State Visit to U.S.

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi KINSHASA, March 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will meet U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the African leader’s first official state visit on April 3-5, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said. Tshisekedi will also meet other high-level U.S. officials to…

Africa: Diseases Cost Africa U.S.$2.4 Trillion a Year – WHO

PRAIA, March 29 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — The World Health Organisation has launched a new report titled “A Heavy Burden – An Indirect Course of Illness in Africa” at the second Africa Health Forum in Praia, Cape Verde. “This report will help to establish a link between ill health and gross domestic products building…