Madagascar’s military ruler decrees that ministers must pass lie detector tests
Madagascar’s military president has said new ministers will have to pass lie detector tests to root out corrupt candidates, after he dismissed the prime minister and cabinet without explanation earlier this month. Michael Randrianirina came to power in a coup in October after weeks of youth-led protests under the banner “Gen Z Madagascar”. However, young
Sir John Curtice: Labour’s Brexit Focus Shifts to Remainers
Sir John Curtice Professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde BBC "Brexit did deep damage." With those words at her Mais lecture on Tuesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves made it clear that there has been an important shift within the Labour Party - one that government ministers have been signalling for some time. "Let me
Tanzania court quashes death sentence after decade
A woman with severe intellectual disabilities in Tanzania has had her conviction and death sentence quashed after spending more than a decade in prison awaiting execution. Lemi Limbu, now in her early 30s, was convicted of the murder of her daughter in 2015. On 4 March, a court in Shinyanga, northern Tanzania, declared she can
How the Iran war has left Europe facing yet another energy crisis
Katya Adler Europe Editor BBC The knock-on effects of the conflict now whipping through the Middle East are awakening ghosts of crises past that shook the European Union. Seven months into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, the President of the European Commission stood at her podium in the European Parliament and
Belgian court orders 93-year-old ex-diplomat to face Lumumba trial
A former Belgian diplomat, 93, should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a Brussels court has ruled. Étienne Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing
Total repression and air strikes bring daily unrelenting dread for Iranians
Fergal Keane Special correspondent Watch: Iranians show daily life under air strikes and regime crackdown A woman stands on a rooftop listening to the sounds of the city below. There is only the dull hum of traffic tonight. But she knows how easily that can change. It is usually the dogs who notice the sound
Africa vulnerable as Iran conflict disrupts supply chains
Countries in Africa, where farmers depend heavily on imported fertiliser and a large share of household income goes on food, are particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East, experts have said. The conflict has drastically disrupted trade through the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane not just
Why Starmer thinks he’s called it right on war despite Trump barbs
Chris Mason Political editor PA Media On nearly every occasion President Trump has found himself in front of a camera in the last few days, he has had a pop at the prime minister and at the UK. We have long known the current occupier of the White House is rarely a man of subtlety
Descendants of Zimbabwe resistance heroes urge UK to locate looted skulls
Descendants of freedom fighters executed and beheaded in southern Africa by colonial British forces have called on the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Cambridge to help them find their ancestors’ looted skulls. Zimbabwean descendants of the first chimurenga heroes, who led an uprising against British colonisers in the 1890s, have long
Trump accuses Starmer of seeking to ‘join wars after we’ve already won’
Ana Faguy and Jack Fenwick, Political correspondent Getty Images US President Donald Trump has told the UK he does not need its aircraft carriers and accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of seeking to "join wars after we've already won", as the US and Israel continue to launch strikes on Iran. In a social media