Politics

On Sunday, China's National People's Congress (NPC) voted to amend the Constitution of the People's Republic of China in several ways, including eliminating term limits for the offices of President and Vice President. The changes mean Xi Jinping may be President for life if he so chooses. The vote in the legislature was nearly unanimous. 2958 votes were cast in favor, two opposed, three abstained. Without this change, Xi would be required to leave office in 2023. In another change, Xi's own political theory was written into the constitution. "

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Mirror's exposé prompts call for inquiry into child abuse ring in Telford, England}} On Monday, Lucy Allan MP (Member of Parliament) called for a public inquiry into an alleged child sexual exploitation ring in Telford, Shropshire, England, which may have been operating for 40 years and had as many as a thousand girls as victims. This came in direct response to an investigative report by the Sunday Mirror the previous day. Allan wants an independent inquiry, similar that for the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, which

On Thursday, Dhaka high court sentenced former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to a five year prison term for corruption. Her son Tarique Rahman and four others involved in the case were each sentenced to ten years. Zia was prosecuted for embezzling ৳21 million (about US$250 thousand) from foreign donations to an orphanage while she was prime minister. 72-year-old Zia, who became the first female to head the Bangladeshi government in 1991, was sent to jail minutes after the ruling. Her son Tarique Rahman, who lives in England, was not p

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a new bill called the "Donbass reintegration law". It describes the regions — oblasts — of Donetsk and Luhansk as being "temporarily occupied" by Russia and declares Russia to be the "aggressor". The bill calls for a return of the regions to Ukrainian control by military force if necessary. There is no mention of the February 2015 Minsk agreement which was signed by the Ukrainian government and rebel groups, and brokered by France and Germany. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated on Twitter

Roy Bennett, a key Zimbabwean opposition leader, died on Wednesday evening in a helicopter crash that also killed four other people in the northeastern part of New Mexico, United States. Bennett was 60 years old. His death was confirmed Thursday by some of his friends and family members. The helicopter, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois, went down after darkness had fallen. The fatal accident happened in a remote and mountainous area about fifteen miles (about 24 km) east of the small town of Raton. The New Mexico State Police has confirmed, four others w

On Sunday, vice-president of World Chess Federation (FIDE) Israel Gelfer told Reuters that visas for seven Israeli chess players "will not be issued" for a chess tournament in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The 2017 King Salman Rapid and Blitz World Championships from December 26 to December 30 in Riyadh is to go ahead without any changes, the vice-president said. Spokesperson of the Saudi Arabian embassy in the US Fatimah Baeshen tweeted, "Related to the purported politicization of the International Chess Tournament hosted by Riyadh: the

On Tuesday, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe resigned, after ruling Zimbabwe for 37 years, in the wake of a military coup following his ouster of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and shortly after the start of an impeachment hearing against him. His letter of resignation was read in parliament and reports indicate the ruling ZANU–PF party is to appoint Mnangagwa in his place. Mugabe had been president since the Patriotic Front, predecessor of ZANU-PF, won elections against the white minority administration of the former Rhodesia in 1980; with

A train derailed on Sunday and fell into a ravine where it caught fire, according to Radio Okapi, in Buyofwe, Lualaba Province, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. By varying reports 33 or more people were killed. The train, with cargo including tanks of flammable fuel, was traveling from the country's second-largest city of Lubumbashi to the town of Luena. After the thirteen-carriage train derailed and fell into the ravine, Associated Press reported, eleven carriages caught fire. Early on, the Minister of Mines, Jean-Marie Tshizainga,

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake announced on Tuesday he will not seek reelection when his term in the Senate is up next year, citing issues within the United States Republican Party and with President Donald Trump, whose behavior he called "reckless, outrageous, and undignified." The Trump administration said Flake had poor support among his constituency. In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Flake said, "The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that

On Tuesday and Wednesday, United States District Judges in two states issued rulings barring enforcement of part or all of the latest version of President Donald Trump's executive order forbidding people from specific countries from entering the U.S. On Tuesday, in Hawaii, District Judge Derrick Watson issued a temporary block on enforcement. On Wednesday, in Maryland, District Judge Theodore D. Chuang blocked one of its stipulations on the grounds that it was an "inextricable re-animation of the twice-enjoined Muslim ban." The order was to h

The exit polls of yesterday's snap parliamentary elections in Austria showed the centre-right (ÖVP) led the election, receiving about 31% of the votes. The far-right (FPÖ), which received about 26% seats, is reported a likely choice to form a coalition with ÖVP, having finished narrowly third in the election. 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, leader of ÖVP, form a minority government, becoming the chancellor of the country and thereby the world's youngest national leader. The parliamentary elections, which were scheduled to be held next year, were

The Greek parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of a bill allowing people older than fifteen years to change their identified gender legally without undergoing any medical operations. 171 out of 285 votes favoured of the bill. Per the earlier laws, individual had to undergo an operation, which LGBT advocacy group ILGA-Europe called "outdated and oppressive practice that violates individuals' bodily integrity". The Greek Orthodox church opposed this bill. Before the voting, prime minster Alexis Tsipras told parliament, "No tradition, no religio