News in Brief
KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigeria’s president on Tuesday ordered a crackdown on abuse at Islamic schools, after a second police raid in less than a month revealed men and boys subjected to beatings, abuse and squalid conditions.
Nearly 300 had been held captive at a school in the Daura area of Katsina, the home town of President Muhammadu Buhari, where police said they discovered "inhuman and degrading treatment” following a raid on Monday to free the remaining students.
Late last month, police freed hundreds from similarly degrading conditions in neighboring Kaduna state.
"Mr. President has directed the police to disband all such centers and all the inmates be handed over to their parents,” said a presidential spokesman.
"The government cannot allow centers where people, male and female, are maltreated in the name of religion,” he said.
Prior to this week’s raid, hundreds of captives had escaped the center, police said on Tuesday.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The White House's former national security advisor John Bolton was so alarmed by efforts to pressure Ukraine that he called it a "drug deal," his former aide told lawmakers, according to U.S. media.
Bolton warned that President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is reportedly under federal investigation over his dealings with Ukraine on the president's behalf, is "a hand grenade who's going to blow everyone up," Fiona Hill testified, according to The New York Times.
"I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up," Hill reported Bolton as saying, according to the Times, which cited two sources familiar with her closed-door deposition.
Mick Mulvaney is the acting White House chief of staff.
Democrats are seeking information related to Trump pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to uncover dirt on 2020 U.S. presidential contender Joe Biden, while allegedly conditioning almost $400 million in U.S. military aid on that favor.
They have demanded documents tied to Trump's withholding of that aid, which was desperately needed by Kiev in its ongoing conflict with Moscow.
***
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -- Romania’s centrist President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday he had appointed opposition Liberal Party leader Ludovic Orban as prime minister-designate to form a transitional government until a parliamentary election next year.
The Social Democrat government of Viorica Dancila collapsed earlier this month after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Lawmakers will likely endorse Orban’s cabinet, which he needs to assemble, along with a governing program, within ten days. But the 56-year-old former transport minister will struggle to negotiate majorities for any legal initiative because of a fragmented opposition.
Analysts said he could gain enough backing to partially reverse a judicial overhaul that has been described by European Union and U.S. officials as a threat to the rule of law.
But they added he may find support wanes quickly, especially if the economy stalls and forces it to cut spending.
***
QUITO (AFP) -- Ecuador began counting the cost of 12 days of indigenous protests against fuel hikes that left eight demonstrators dead and severely dented President Lenin Moreno's austerity program.
Moreno and indigenous leaders reached an agreement Sunday after the president pledged to withdraw subsidy cuts, known as Decree 883, that had more than doubled fuel prices.
The cuts were part of an austerity package to obtain a $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to shore up the oil exporter's brittle economy.
Moreno wrote on Twitter that the original plan would be replaced by new measures that "contain mechanisms to focus resources on those who need them most."
Thousands of indigenous people began leaving Quito on Monday in convoys of trucks, returning to communities in the Andes and the Amazon rainforest that they left more than a week ago to vent their outrage at the increases.
***
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -- The corruption trial of South Africa's embattled former president Jacob Zuma has been delayed again after his lawyer announced Tuesday he would appeal.
The last-minute move pushes back a long-awaited trial over bribery allegations dating back to a 1990s arms deal. Zuma dismissed the charges as a conspiracy.
If it goes ahead, the trial would be the first time Zuma faces a court on graft charges, despite a string of accusations over his long political career.
The High Court in the southeastern city of Pietermaritzburg last week rejected his request to have 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering dismissed, clearing the way for the trial to start on Tuesday.
But Zuma's lawyer Thabani Masuku told the court at the start of the trial that the ex-president would appeal, dragging on a case that has seen numerous legal twists over 15 years.
After the hearing, Zuma told a small group of supporters gathered outside court that "there have been many conspirators against me". "There is no justice that will be served by continuing with this case," he told the crowd in Zulu.
Nearly 300 had been held captive at a school in the Daura area of Katsina, the home town of President Muhammadu Buhari, where police said they discovered "inhuman and degrading treatment” following a raid on Monday to free the remaining students.
Late last month, police freed hundreds from similarly degrading conditions in neighboring Kaduna state.
"Mr. President has directed the police to disband all such centers and all the inmates be handed over to their parents,” said a presidential spokesman.
"The government cannot allow centers where people, male and female, are maltreated in the name of religion,” he said.
Prior to this week’s raid, hundreds of captives had escaped the center, police said on Tuesday.
***
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The White House's former national security advisor John Bolton was so alarmed by efforts to pressure Ukraine that he called it a "drug deal," his former aide told lawmakers, according to U.S. media.
Bolton warned that President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is reportedly under federal investigation over his dealings with Ukraine on the president's behalf, is "a hand grenade who's going to blow everyone up," Fiona Hill testified, according to The New York Times.
"I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up," Hill reported Bolton as saying, according to the Times, which cited two sources familiar with her closed-door deposition.
Mick Mulvaney is the acting White House chief of staff.
Democrats are seeking information related to Trump pressing his Ukrainian counterpart to uncover dirt on 2020 U.S. presidential contender Joe Biden, while allegedly conditioning almost $400 million in U.S. military aid on that favor.
They have demanded documents tied to Trump's withholding of that aid, which was desperately needed by Kiev in its ongoing conflict with Moscow.
***
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -- Romania’s centrist President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday he had appointed opposition Liberal Party leader Ludovic Orban as prime minister-designate to form a transitional government until a parliamentary election next year.
The Social Democrat government of Viorica Dancila collapsed earlier this month after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Lawmakers will likely endorse Orban’s cabinet, which he needs to assemble, along with a governing program, within ten days. But the 56-year-old former transport minister will struggle to negotiate majorities for any legal initiative because of a fragmented opposition.
Analysts said he could gain enough backing to partially reverse a judicial overhaul that has been described by European Union and U.S. officials as a threat to the rule of law.
But they added he may find support wanes quickly, especially if the economy stalls and forces it to cut spending.
***
QUITO (AFP) -- Ecuador began counting the cost of 12 days of indigenous protests against fuel hikes that left eight demonstrators dead and severely dented President Lenin Moreno's austerity program.
Moreno and indigenous leaders reached an agreement Sunday after the president pledged to withdraw subsidy cuts, known as Decree 883, that had more than doubled fuel prices.
The cuts were part of an austerity package to obtain a $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to shore up the oil exporter's brittle economy.
Moreno wrote on Twitter that the original plan would be replaced by new measures that "contain mechanisms to focus resources on those who need them most."
Thousands of indigenous people began leaving Quito on Monday in convoys of trucks, returning to communities in the Andes and the Amazon rainforest that they left more than a week ago to vent their outrage at the increases.
***
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -- The corruption trial of South Africa's embattled former president Jacob Zuma has been delayed again after his lawyer announced Tuesday he would appeal.
The last-minute move pushes back a long-awaited trial over bribery allegations dating back to a 1990s arms deal. Zuma dismissed the charges as a conspiracy.
If it goes ahead, the trial would be the first time Zuma faces a court on graft charges, despite a string of accusations over his long political career.
The High Court in the southeastern city of Pietermaritzburg last week rejected his request to have 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering dismissed, clearing the way for the trial to start on Tuesday.
But Zuma's lawyer Thabani Masuku told the court at the start of the trial that the ex-president would appeal, dragging on a case that has seen numerous legal twists over 15 years.
After the hearing, Zuma told a small group of supporters gathered outside court that "there have been many conspirators against me". "There is no justice that will be served by continuing with this case," he told the crowd in Zulu.