Breaking - ArchivesPosts of 06/2017
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s embattled president, faces renewed pressure to step down this weekend after a series of media reports detailed links between elected officials and a family of tycoons accused of holding undue sway over his administration.
More than 100,000 documents and emails leaked to reporters in recent weeks appear to detail improper dealings in lucrative government contracts made with the Gupta family - secretive and immensely wealthy businessmen of Indian origin. Read more HERE.
German MPs have voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, prompting joyous and unusual scenes in parliament as Green party politicians tossed glittered confetti across the chamber and gay couples sitting in the public gallery kissed and embraced.
The vote by 393 to 226, with four abstentions, followed 40 minutes of often heated and highly emotional debate, reflecting a wider, decades-long argument over marriage equality. Read more HERE.
Donald Trump will attend France’s Bastille Day celebrations in Paris on 14 July, after accepting an invitation from the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
Macron’s office said on Wednesday that the US president would attend the traditional Paris military parade as part of the commemoration marking the 100th anniversary of the entry of the United States into the first world war. US troops will join French soldiers in the annual display of military might on the Champs Elysées. Read more HERE
Google will stop scanning the content of emails sent by Gmail users in an attempt to reassure business customers of the confidentiality of their communications.
The company did read the emails in personal Gmail accounts in order to target users with personalised adverts but said in a blogpost it would stop doing so in order to “more closely align” its business and consumer products. Its business offering, part of G Suite, has never involved scanning emails. Read more HERE.
At least six people have died and 15 people are missing after a tourist boat carrying about 150 people sank in a reservoir in north-west Colombia, near the city of Medellín.
In the absence of a passenger list, authorities have been relying on family members and survivors to report their whereabouts. Overnight they reduced to 15 the tally of people missing, down from an earlier count of twice that number. Of the 134 people who survived the crash on the Guatapé-El Peñol reservoir. Read more HERE.