Rwanda said on Friday it has commuted the 25-year jail sentence against ailing "Hotel Rwanda" hero Paul Rusesabagina, a fiercely outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame who has been held behind bars for more than 900 days.. Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the Oscar-nominated 2004 movie "Hotel Rwanda" starring US actor Don Cheadle, became a vocal critic of Kagame, founding his own party.
It was meant to be Charles III's first major foray on the international stage as king, a prestigious celebration of historic cross-Channel relations before he is officially crowned in May.. "State visits are a time for celebration and this was not the moment," he wrote on Twitter.
Pinar Selek, a Turkish-French dissident sociologist living in France, will not go to Turkey to face trial, the latest twist in 25-year legal battle with the authorities, she told AFP. Turkey has accused Selek over a 1998 explosion that killed seven people and, even after four acquittals, wants her in the dock again after issuing an international arrest warrant in January.. An international arrest warrant was issued, and a new court date set for March 31.
Hundreds of protesters rallied Friday outside Downing Street in central London to heckle the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak.. Further protests by pro-Palestinian groups are expected in central London later Friday, with some Palestinians attending the morning rally.
Top opposition figure Rahul Gandhi was expelled from India's parliament on Friday, a day after his defamation conviction for a remark seen as an insult against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.. But legal action has been widely deployed against opposition party figures and institutions seen as critical of the Modi government in recent years.
A Russian strike on a humanitarian support centre in an eastern Ukraine town killed three people, the emergencies service said on Friday, revising their previous toll of five dead.. Authorities in the southern region of Kherson, partly controlled by Russian forces, said one civilian had been killed in Russian strikes in the past 24 hours. bur/ach
US Vice President Kamala Harris will start a three-country tour of Africa this weekend, promoting the White House's positive vision of the continent as the "future of the world.". Harris "believes African innovation and ideas will shape the future of the world," said the official.
China insisted Friday it does not ask companies to hand over data gathered overseas, as the Chinese-owned TikTok faces mounting calls for a ban in the United States.. Beijing on Friday denied it would ask Chinese firms to hand over data gathered overseas and claimed it "attaches great importance to protecting data privacy".
Chinese authorities have detained five local employees of US due diligence firm Mintz Group and shut down the company's Beijing office, the group said Friday.. "Chinese authorities have detained the five staff in Mintz Group's Beijing office, all of them Chinese nationals, and have closed our operations there," the company said in a statement emailed to AFP. The firm has "retained legal counsel to engage with the authorities and support our people and their families", it added.
Brazil's leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week, where he hopes to reinforce trade, discuss international mediation in Ukraine, and reclaim his country's role in global geopolitics.. Ukraine will be a main topic of discussion during the visit, which officially begins Tuesday, with Lula hoping to promote his proposal for mediated talks to end Russia's invasion of the country.
