Headlines

Egypt is ceding control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia   

Cairo, June 15.─ Egypt's parliament on Wednesday backed plans to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia under an agreement that has attracted widespread public criticism.

House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdelaal said the required majority of lawmakers had voted for the agreement, which the government signed last year, despite a court striking it down in March.

US secretary of state testified that Barack Obama’s reforms effectively removed pressure from Raúl Castro’s regime to alter its behaviour

Rex Tillerson: ‘If we’re going to sustain the sunny side of this relationship, Cuba must –absolutely must– begin to address its human rights challenges.'

Washington DC, June 13.─ Cuba must end human rights violations if it wants the US to continue normalising relations, secretary of state Rex Tillerson has warned.

Donald Trump is expected to travel to Miami on Friday to announce reversals to elements of Barack Obama’s Cuba policy, which saw embassies reopen, direct flights resume and companies do business after half a century of cold war hostility.

Cairo, June 4.— Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister arrived in Cairo to meet with his Egyptian counterpart on Sunday amid efforts to resolve differences on the Syrian and Yemeni conflicts and other regional flashpoints.

The Saudis are leading supporters of the Syrian opposition, while Egypt, fearful of Islamic militants among the rebels’ ranks, has pushed for a political solution that might keep Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Saudi Arabia had also expected Egypt to send ground troops to help the coalition it is leading against Shiite rebels in Yemen, but Cairo has balked.

Johannesburg, June 4.─ A power vacuum at the top of the ANC would plunge the party into chaos, and with it the country, if President Jacob Zuma was removed, warned two political analysts and a member of the ANC’s national executive committee.  

As the country reels from the impact of the Gupta email leaks this week, and with yet another vote of no confidence pending for Parliament, constitutional law expert Shadrack Gutto said unseating the president before the ANC’s December conference would unleash forces that no one may be able to contain.