Headline

Liberians Vote In Presidential Run-off Pitting Football Legend Against Ex-VP

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2023

Liberians began voting on Tuesday to decide whether to hand former football star George Weah a second term as president despite a controversial record or to elect political veteran Joseph Boakai despite his age.

The run-off is expected to be close between the rivals, who also faced off in 2017 when Weah won in the second round with more than 61 percent.

In the first round of voting on October 10, Weah, 57, and Boakai, 78, came roughly neck and neck on more than 43 percent, with the incumbent taking a 7,126-vote lead.

Taiyee Success Iledare, a 22-year-old student waiting to cast her ballot in Duazon, a suburb of the capital Monrovia, said she would vote for Weah.

“I think he is the best person to vote for. When you look around you see a lot of development. So when he wins I want him to make sure he deals with the issue of drugs that is destroying our young people,” she told AFP in a suburb.

Irene Palwor, a 41-year-old petty trader said she was backing Boakai, popularly known as JNB.

“I feel that he will make a change… JNB will create job opportunities for the women and for the youths.”

This year’s election is the first since the United Nations in 2018 ended its peacekeeping mission in Liberia, created after more than 250,000 people died in two civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

More than 2.4 million people are registered to vote, with polls open between 8:00 am (0800 GMT) and 6:00 pm (1800 GMT).

The incumbent is popular among young people but must defend a controversial record in office, while Boakai is an old hand who has held a multitude of positions in the public and private sectors.

The electoral commission has 15 days to publish the results but could do so sooner, one of its officials, Samuel Cole, said.

– Turnout –

Since the first-round results, the two political camps have focused on securing the votes of supporters of the 18 candidates who did not make it through.

Edward Appleton, who came third, has backed Boakai, as have two of the other top six candidates.

Turnout could also be an important factor, said Lawrence Yealue, who runs the civil society group Accountability Lab Liberia.

He expects a lower turnout than the record 78.86 percent on October 10, when the presidential vote was coupled with parliamentary elections.

Weah — who grew up in the Monrovia slums to become the only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or — is widely seen as approachable and peaceful.

He says he has supported education, built roads and hospitals, and brought electricity into homes.

He was president when the Covid-19 pandemic hit at a time when Liberia was still recovering economically from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

His detractors say he is disconnected from the realities of skyrocketing prices and shortages.

More than a fifth of Liberians live on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.

– Corruption –

Boakai blames Weah for corruption, which is endemic in Liberia and has worsened on the incumbent’s watch, according to Transparency International.

The former vice president has forged alliances with local barons, including former warlord and senator Prince Johnson, who supported Weah six years ago.

Clashes during the campaign left several dead and raised fears of post-election violence.

Boakai on Sunday said a convoy carrying Prince Johnson and vice presidential candidate Jeremiah Kpan Koung was attacked with firearms.

Seven people were reportedly injured.

Boakai’s camp also denounced irregularities during the first round.

Headline

Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists

Published

7 hours ago

September 2, 2025

Editor

French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.

Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime.

British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.

Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed.

Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.

“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s parents.

The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged city to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.

“The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).

Colvin was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Private War”.

AFP

Headline

Ghana’s President Sacks Chief Justice Over Corruption Allegations

Published

1 day ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed the Chief Justice of Ghana following the outcome of a high-level investigation into allegations of falsifying judicial records and misusing public funds.

A five-member commission, chaired by a Supreme Court judge and set up by Mahama, concluded that the allegations against the country’s top judicial officer were substantiated and recommended her removal.

“After considering the petition and the evidence, the Committee found that the grounds of stated misbehaviour under Article 146(1) had been established and recommended her removal from office,” said the spokesperson to the President, Felix Ofosu, in a statement on Monday.

“President John Dramani Mahama has accordingly removed the Chief Justice from office with immediate effect.”

The dismissal marks the first time a sitting Chief Justice in Ghana has been investigated and dismissed from office.

While Mahama, who took office in January, has repeatedly pledged to intensify the fight against corruption, it remains unclear whether the embattled Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkonoo, will face criminal prosecution.

Headline

Danish Court Sentences Ex-minister To Prison For Child Abuse Material

Published

1 day ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

A former Danish government minister was jailed for four months on Monday for possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Henrik Sass Larsen, once a senior Social Democrat who served as industry minister, admitted to having more than 6,000 photographs and 2,000 videos on his computer depicting sexual abuse of children.

He had denied the charges, saying he had the material because he was trying to find out who had abused him as a child.

Prosecutor Maria Cingari said she was “satisfied” with the verdict but added that it was sad that someone “who managed to make the most out of their life despite a bad start finds himself in such a situation.”

“You should never be in possession of child pornography, no matter the reason,” Cingari added.

During his trial, the 59-year-old told the court he had received a link in 2018 to a 50-year-old video showing him being sexually abused when he was three years old.

He testified that he received another video clip in 2020, in which a three-year-old girl was raped in his presence when he was around the same age.

The two videos disappeared after he viewed them, he said.

He told the court he regretted not having contacted the police when he received the videos.

Sass Larsen was also accused of being in possession of a child sex doll, but the court did not find him guilty on that charge.

His lawyer, Berit Ernst, told reporters that “we’ll see if it is a definitive end or if we will appeal.”

The scandal came to light last March and led to his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party.

At the time, Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed her shock over the case.

AFP