Foreign
Rwanda’s Ruling Party Picks Kagame As Presidential Flagbearer
Rwanda’s ruling party on Saturday picked President Paul Kagame as its candidate for the July election, teeing up a contest widely expected to return the longtime leader to office for a fourth seven-year term.
The 66-year-old has ruled over the landlocked African nation for decades, winning the presidency in elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017 — with more than 90 percent of the vote.
Kagame’s candidacy was unopposed during the Rwandan Patriotic Front congress, which ended Saturday, the party said.
Kagame said he had accepted the nomination but urged the ruling party to prepare for transition beyond him.
“The burden of responsibility to lead our country can be equated to a shock absorber against the challenges we face daily. It requires the right mindset,” he said.
“I accept this burden of responsibility, but with a call to get someone to relieve me of this responsibility.”
Kagame’s only known challenger in the July polls is opposition Green Party leader Frank Habineza.
The 47-year-old member of parliament secured only 0.45 percent of the ballot in the 2017 election, coming third in polls that rights groups criticised for irregularities and voter intimidation.
The other potential challenger to Kagame, Victoire Ingabire, leader of the unregistered Dalfa Umurunzi (Development And Liberty For All) movement, has been blocked from the presidential race due to a past conviction.
A court decision on whether she will be allowed to contest the presidency is set for March 13.
Rwanda will hold presidential and parliamentary polls on July 15 after the government decided last year to synchronise the dates for the votes.
Twenty-four women MPs, two youth representatives and a representative for disabled Rwandans will be chosen by electoral colleges and committees on July 16.
Candidates will be allowed to campaign from June 22 until July 12, according to the election calendar.
While Rwanda lays claim to being one of the most stable countries in Africa, rights groups accuse Kagame of ruling in a climate of fear that stifles dissent and free speech.
A former rebel chief, Kagame became president in April 2000 but has been the country’s de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide.
He presided over controversial constitutional amendments in 2015 that allowed him to run for more terms and stay in power until 2034.
AFP
Foreign
There will be no same sex marriage again -Trump vows to end ‘transgender madness ‘
President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” on day one of his presidency, as Republicans — set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House — continue their push against LGBTQ rights.
“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.
He also vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports,” adding that “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against “migrant crime,” vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring US control of the Panama Canal.
Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.
Last week, when the US Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.
In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term — and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election.
“On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness,” Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.
– ‘Golden age’ –
“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III.”
He added: “The golden age of America is upon us.”
Foreign
Fresh Israeli Airstrikes In Gaza Kill 25 Palestinians Including Children
Fresh Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 25 Palestinians, according to medics.
The casualties on Friday included at least eight people in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and 10 others in the town of Jabalia, among them seven children.
Efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have yet to succeed.
Sources involved in the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday that Qatar and Egypt had resolved some points of contention but key issues remain unresolved.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza following Hamas-led attacks on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1200 people and the abduction of over 250 hostages, according to Israeli reports.
Israel states that approximately 100 hostages are still being held, though it is unclear how many remain alive.
Gaza authorities report that Israel’s ongoing campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the 2.3 million residents.
Much of the territory has reportedly been devastated by the conflict.
Foreign
Biden signs bipartisan funding bill to keep government open
President Biden signed the stopgap funding bill that will keep the government open until March, punting the thornier issues surrounding the nation’s finances to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
A bloated 1,500-page funding measure was exploded by Trump and his top ally Elon Musk earlier this week as they demanded a pared-down version.
The parties were able to cobble a stopgap bill together Friday evening, which passed the Senate early Saturday morning.
The package funds the government at current levels until March 14, 2025, and includes $100 billion in hurricane relief funds and $10 billion in aid to farmers.
With the stopgap funding only running until March, an almost certain clash is looming between Trump and GOP spending hardliners when Congress reconvenes in January.
“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open and delivers the urgently needed disaster relief that I requested for recovering communities as well as the funds needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge,” Biden said in a statement after inking the deal.
The post Biden signs bipartisan funding bill to keep government open appeared first on New York Post.
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