Reuters, Phnom Penh
Voting got under way in Cambodia on Sunday in a Senate election that the ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen was expected to sweep following a crackdown on opposition.
The vote, to elect 58 members of the 62-strong Senate, will see 123 members of parliament and thousands of commune councillors vote across Cambodia. The country’s king and National Assembly each appoint a further two Senate members.
1 killed as storms lashes US Midwest
Reuters, Kentucky
A band of thunderstorms reaching across the lower Mississippi Valley into Ohio on Saturday killed a Kentucky woman in her home and threatened more flooding in an area that has already seen evacuations because of high water. The storm system packing hail, high winds and possible tornados was forecast to drop from 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of rain by early Sunday from Arkansas into the Ohio Valley.
Sierra Leone goes to poll on Mar 7
AFP, Freetown
Sierra Leone goese to the polls on March 7 for a general election that will select a new president, parliament and local councils.
With President Ernest Bai Koroma stepping down after a decade in power marred by corruption, an Ebola outbreak and deadly mudslides, what are the main issues facing the West African country’s 3.1 million voters?
DR Congo bans anti-Kabila protest march
AFP, Kinshasa
The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have banned a protest march planned Sunday against President Joseph Kabila, after two similar rallies were brutally put down last month.
Kinshasa governor Andre Kimbuta told the Catholic organisers in a letter on Saturday that without an agreed route, the city authorities “cannot guarantee proper supervision” of the demonstration.
Private birthday party for Mugabe
AFP, Harare
Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe celebrated his 94th birthday on Saturday with a private black-tie party hosted by his family, three months after he was ousted from power. Mugabe’s birthday was previously a major public event in Zimbabwe, marked by an outpouring of fawning congratulations and tributes in official media from regime loyalists, government ministries and agencies.
Colombia extradites drug suspect to US
AP, Bogota
A suspected drug chief known as the “Pablo Escobar of Ecuador” was extradited to the United States on Saturday, Colombia’s chief prosecutor’s office announced. Washington Edison Prado had tried unsuccessfully to prevent extradition by claiming membership in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – a status that would have made him eligible for a type of amnesty under a peace deal.
