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The European Union has been urged to shed more light on how it is spending emergency money intended to curb mass migration from Africa to Europe.
In a report to be published next month, Oxfam will call on the European commission to boost transparency of the EU-Africa emergency trust fund, which was created by EU leaders in 2015 to stem the flow of people making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Italy. The fund has made €1.9bn (£1.67bn) available for 117 projects in 26 African countries...Read more HERE.
A former campaign aide to Donald Trump who sought to secure a meeting between the future US president and Vladimir Putin has pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and a business associate, Rick Gates, were charged with money laundering, tax evasion, fraud and failing to register as agents of foreign interests. Read more HERE
Xi Jinping has kicked off his second term as leader of the world’s second largest economy, vowing to spearhead the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and signalling his intent to tower over Chinese politics for decades to come.
At just before noon on Wednesday, Xi unveiled the new line-up of China’s top ruling council – the Communist party’s politburo standing committee – leading six besuited comrades out into a blaze of camera flashes in the Great Hall of the People. Read more HERE.
Kenya’s presidential election rerun is set to go ahead on Thursday after the country’s supreme court failed to consider a petition to postpone the highly contentious vote.
Amid high tension and fears of violence, only two supreme court judges attended a hearing on Wednesday morning – three short of the five judges needed for a quorum. “This matter cannot be heard this morning,” David Maraga, the chief justice, told reporters in Nairobi, the capital. Read more HERE.
Austria’s conservative leader has invited the far-right Freedom Party for talks to form the country’s next coalition government, opening the door for the controversial party to return to power after more than a decade in opposition.
Sebastian Kurz, whose Austrian People’s party (ÖVP) came top in elections on 15 October, said both his party and the rightwing populists (FPÖ) were in favour of lowering taxes and shared “similar approaches” on the subject of immigration. Read more HERE