Washington / AP A generation gap among black voters could be critical for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday when Democrats vote in 11 states. Older black voters, a reliable primary voting bloc, are coalescing around Clinton. Millennial black voters — young adults energized by groups like Black Lives Matter — appear torn between the former secretary of ...
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Clock ticking as Spanish politicians try to form govt
Bloomberg Ten weeks after a general election produced an unprecedented deadlock in parliament, efforts to form a government in Spain are entering a critical phase. Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez will start the countdown to a fresh ballot when he asks lawmakers to let him lead the next government in a vote on Wednesday. The legislature will then have another two ...
Read More »North must ‘pay price’ for N-test: S Korean president
Seoul / AFP North Korea must pay the price for its latest nuclear test and rocket launch, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said on Tuesday, vowing to pressure Pyongyang into accepting denuclearisation as its only viable option for survival. In a televised speech to mark the anniversary of a key date in Korea’s struggle against Japanese colonial rule, Park said ...
Read More »Clinton allies gather ammo to blunt Trump nomination
Columbia / AP Hillary Clinton, fresh off her South Carolina primary landslide, is shifting her focus to Republican front-runner Donald Trump as her party seeks consensus on the best ways to challenge the billionaire’s unpredictable nature in a general election campaign. As Clinton nears the 11 state contests to be decided on Super Tuesday this week, allies of the former ...
Read More »Trump in hot water over ‘white supremacist call’
Leesburg / AP Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is drawing criticism for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from a white supremacist leader, with his main rivals, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, using the matter to hammer the billionaire businessman just two days before multiple state primaries could put him on an irreversible path to the party’s nomination. Trump ...
Read More »Ireland’s divided lawmakers mull awkward pacts, 2nd vote
Dublin / AFP Ireland’s election has produced a parliament full of feuding factions and no obvious road to a majority government, spurring lawmakers to warn that the country could face a protracted political deadlock followed by a second election. For the first time in Irish electoral history, the combined popular vote on Friday for Ireland’s two political heavyweights — the ...
Read More »Desperate migrants protest at Greece-Macedonia border
Idomeni / AFP Stranded migrants lay with their children on rail tracks at Greece’s northern border, demanding to be allowed to continue their journey, as Germany warned that Europe cannot let the country “plunge into chaosâ€. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was speaking as Athens said that the number of migrants trapped in Greece could triple after Balkan countries announced a ...
Read More »UN eyes Syria aid deliveries as ceasefire enters day three
Damascus / AFP The United Nations prepared to deliver aid to thousands of besieged civilians in Syria on Monday as a fragile ceasefire entered its third day largely intact despite accusations of violations. UN humanitarian coordinator Yacoub El Hillo said the world body hoped to take advantage of the first major truce in five years of conflict to distribute supplies ...
Read More »30 Killed in Somalia restaurant bombings
Mogadishu / AFP At least 30 people have been killed in twin bomb attacks claimed by Shebab extremists at a busy restaurant in the Somali city of Baidoa, the regional governor said on Monday. “The official number of the dead has reached 30 people—all of them civilians—and 61 others have been wounded, 15 of them seriously,” Abdurashid Abdulahi, governor of ...
Read More »UN to send human rights investigators to Burundi
Narobi / AFP The UN said on Monday it will send a team of human rights investigators to Burundi to look into allegations of widespread violations committed during the country’s 10-month long crisis. The three investigators are due to visit Burundi for a week from March 1, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a ...
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