Town Hall News

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Uganda has enacted one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQ laws in a continent where only 22 of 54 nations allow homosexuality. Here are facts about LGBTQ rights in Africa: * The maximum penalty is death in Mauritania, Somalia, and Nigeria in states where sharia law is applied. * Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty for same-sex relations in Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Jail terms of up […]

By Jessie Pang and Justin Fung HONG KONG (Reuters) – A closely watched trial involving 13 people who stormed Hong Kong’s legislature during pro-democracy protests in 2019 began on Monday with seven people pleading guilty to a rioting charge. On July 1 that year, hundreds of protesters stormed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council building after a protest march against a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed authorities to send individuals […]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Monday that a “vacuum” was emerging in the area of arms control as a result of poor relations between a number of states and said Russia was not to blame for the situation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to formally “denounce” an arms control treaty dating back to the end of the Cold […]

By Dhara Ranasinghe LONDON (Reuters) -The dollar nudged lower on Monday, pulling back from six-month peaks against the yen as a U.S. debt ceiling deal lifted risk appetite across world markets and dented the greenback’s safe-haven appeal. U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday finalised a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025, and said the deal was ready to […]

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s son will resign as his secretary, the premier said on Monday, citing “inappropriate” behaviour after photos of the son and other relatives apparently taken in jest sparked an uproar. Kishida told reporters that Shotaro Kishida would step down as his secretary from Thursday, saying the change was due to “inappropriate” behaviour at the official residence. A magazine last week published photos of the […]

By Felix Onuah and MacDonald Dzirutwe ABUJA (Reuters) – Bola Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday following a disputed election and facing pressure to quickly improve economic and security conditions, which many complain worsened under his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu was sworn in at a ceremony at Eagles Square, in the capital Abuja, attended by local and foreign dignitaries. Two of Tinubu’s main opponents in the February […]

By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Kami Rita Sherpa had stood at the top of world just days earlier, exultant at having summited Mount Everest for a record 28th time. The Nepali climber was given a hero’s welcome on his return to Kathmandu, but all that joy appeared to have deserted him as he surveyed life’s highs and lows from an armchair in the small, neat living room of his […]

By Daren Butler and Ezgi Erkoyun ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan and supporters on Monday revelled in an election victory lengthening his rule into a third decade while Turkey’s opposition, which once counted on winning, braced for “difficult days” against an increasingly autocratic government. His rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu said it was “the most unfair election in years” but did not dispute the outcome, which gave Erdogan a mandate to […]

By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, in defiance of Western condemnations and potential sanctions from aid donors. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as they are in more than 30 African countries, but the new law further targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. It imposes capital punishment […]