France Decides Between Le Pen and Macron

French voters are choosing their next president after an unpredictable campaign that has divided the country. The second round contest pits centrist Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, against the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, 48. Citizens in some overseas territories and many French expats abroad have begun voting. The polls opened in metropolitan … Read more

Voters Decide Between Le Pen and Macron

French voters are to choose their next president after an unpredictable campaign that has divided the country. The second round contest pits centrist Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former investment banker, against the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen, 48. Citizens in some overseas territories and many French expats abroad have begun voting. The polls open in … Read more

Near All-Male Panel In South Korea’s Presidential Race

When Park Geun-Hye was elected South Korea’s first female president five years ago she secured the largest-ever vote share of the country’s democratic era. But after her term ended in impeachment and disgrace only one of the 13 candidates to succeed her is a woman. Analysts say the near all-male panel — epitomised by rows … Read more

Hollande Vows ‘response’ To Macron Hack Attack

Strict election rules are now in place ahead of Sunday’s vote French President François Hollande has promised to “respond” after a hacking attack targeted presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron. He gave no further details but said he knew of the risks of such attacks because they had “happened elsewhere”. The French media and public have been … Read more

Waxing Moon Set For South Korea Presidency

The near-certain winner of South Korea’s presidential election next week is a former special forces soldier, pro-democracy activist and human rights lawyer. Left-leaning Moon Jae-In of the Democratic Party has held what appears to be an unassailable lead in opinion polls for months. Victory will cap a political career that began with student activism in … Read more

Lawyers For Ousted S.Korean Leader Park Deny Charges

Lawyers for ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye denied all the charges against her at a hearing Tuesday before she goes on trial. Park, 65, was sacked by the country’s top court in March over a wide-ranging corruption scandal and has been held in custody for more than a month. She faces 18 criminal counts … Read more

Italy’s Renzi Regains Party Leadership With Big Primary Win

Italy’s former prime minister has made a dramatic return to frontline politics five months after stepping down. Matteo Renzi, nicknamed ‘The Scrapper’ because of his confrontational style, easily regained the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday with an overwhelming victory in a primary election among party supporters yesterday. The 42-year-old quit in … Read more

Japan Disaster Minister To Resign Over Quake Gaffe

Japan’s disaster reconstruction minister is expected to resign on Wednesday following his controversial remarks over the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, in a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, local media reported. Masahiro Imamura plans to submit his resignation to Abe Wednesday morning, national broadcaster NHK said late Tuesday, adding that Abe had already decided to … Read more

Bawumia Claims 103 Achievements; Minority Damns Claims

Despite a non-existent constitutional dictate of measuring performance or otherwise in the first hundred days of any regime, there have evolved a convention for 100 days’ assessment. The objective of this first 100day assessment is to ‘Look how far we’ve come.’ That is the aim of the 100-day retrospective, to assess our new leaders after … Read more

Russian Hacker Roman Seleznev Sentenced To 27 Years

A federal judge has handed down the longest sentence ever imposed in the US for a cybercrime case to the son of a member of the Russian Parliament convicted of hacking into more than 500 US businesses and stealing millions of credit card numbers, which he then sold on special websites. Roman Seleznev was sentenced … Read more

US Indicts Russian Suspect In Huge Botnet Takedown

A Russian under arrest in Spain has been slapped with an indictment in the United States, accused of controlling one of the world’s top generators of spam and online exortion, officials said Friday. Peter Levashov, from Saint Petersburg, a 36-year-old who goes by a string of names, was arrested at Barcelona airport on April 7 … Read more

S.Korea President Hopeful Denies Date Rape Conspiracy

South Korean presidential candidate Hong Joon-Pyo Friday denied his own autobiographical confession of complicity in an attempted date rape, as voter outrage mounted. The firebrand prosecutor-turned-politician and candidate of ousted president Park Geun-Hye’s conservative party has been compared to Donald Trump for his outspoken rhetoric and sexist remarks. While a first-year student at the prestigious … Read more

Arrest of WikiLeaks’s Assange A ‘priority’

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a US “priority,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, as media reports indicated his office was preparing charges against the fugitive anti-hero. “We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks,” Sessions, America’s top cop, said at a news … Read more

Next S. Korea Leader To Rein In Trump Over North

When South Korea fills a presidential vacuum next month, analysts say the first order of business for its new leader will be to tame Donald Trump’s aggressive approach towards the nuclear-armed North. The impeachment of former president Park Geun-Hye — who took a hard line on North Korea — forced her out of Seoul’s Blue … Read more

We Are ‘masters of Our Own Destiny’ – Mugabe

Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, has said citizens are now masters of their own destiny thirty-seven years after attaining independence from the British. The 93-year-old was speaking at the Harare National Stadium where the country was celebrating its 37th independence anniversary. “Fellow Zimbabweans, now we enjoy the fruits of our independence and we can now call … Read more

New York Raises Criminal Age of Responsibility To 18

New York has signed into law raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18, leaving just one state — North Carolina — where 16 and 17-year-olds are automatically referred to adult criminal courts. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the reform into law on Monday, the latest in a raft of initiatives seeking to cement … Read more

Police Kill Civilians In Kashmir By-Election Clashes

At least eight civilians were killed on Sunday when security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir opened fire on protesters during a by-election, according to officials. Local rebel leaders had called for a boycott of the vote, which was held to fill a vacant seat after a member of parliament resigned to protest the killing of civilians … Read more

CIA Knew In Summer of Russian Effort To Back Trump

The CIA had evidence that Russia was interfering in the 2016 US election to boost Donald Trump earlier than previously thought, the New York Times reported Thursday. Russia’s interference was not made public until months after Trump’s November 8 election victory, with US intelligence chiefs openly accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of masterminding a hacking … Read more