Headlines

Tokyo, Aug.2.– Japan has lodged a protest with China over what it described as suspicious activity in a maritime area rich in gas deposits in the East China Sea, officials said Tuesday.

The two countries have a longstanding dispute over the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China uses the name Daioyu.

Tallinn, July 31 (LETA--BNS).– Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, the following meeting between the heads of state of Baltic countries and the U.S. vice president focused on the region's security and transatlantic cooperation.

At a roundtable on cyber issues and innovation in Kadriorg on Monday, Kaljulaid said that European and U.S. citizens and businesses have been in the digital sphere for a while and that countries should not be the last to get there, the president's office reported. 

A closer look at Africa’s elected governments suggests that they are not different from autocratic regimes   

July 23.– The elected ruling elites in Africa rely on an intricate web of personal, family, clientelism and ethnic ties, and on the military and intelligence services to control state resources and oppress society. What is also emerging in Africa’s democracies is the incapacity of citizens to organise and to hold leaders to account, even when they violate the constitution, take actions that undermine stability and human rights, and are involved in corruption.

Africa is suffering from multiple interlinked governance challenges. These challenges arise from the failure of electoral democracy to translate into real democracy. It is now evident that elections in Africa do not necessarily change the way power and privileges are organised in society. In most African countries, elections are a solution to the problem of political legitimacy, but they do not provide answers to problems of state malfunction. The mere establishment of electoral democratic process has not been sufficient to ensure that an elected government is democratic or will remain democratic over time.

Washington DC, July 23.─ Cuba essentially has an "occupation army" in Venezuela with 15,000 Cubans who currently inhabit the South American country, Secretary General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro said in a Senate hearing this week.

"There are currently about 15,000 Cubans in Venezuela," Almagro said during his testimony before U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday, Panapost reported Thursday. "It's like an occupation army from Cuba in Venezuela."