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Could Ghana’s tough anti-LGBTQ+ bill be blocked over economic fears?

Could Ghana’s tough anti-LGBTQ+ bill be blocked over economic fears?

PARLIAMENT'S approval of a bill cracking down on LGBTQ+ people in Ghana has raised fears in the government that the country could lose international aid vital to help its economy recover from a deep crisis. If President Nana Akufo-Addo ignores Finance Ministry advice and signs the bill into law, penalties for gay sex would be toughened and new offences introduced. Akufo-Addo has said he will wait for the outcome of a Supreme Court challenge over the constitutionality of the bill,  which the Finance Ministry has warned could jeopardise nearly $4 billion in World Bank financing. Here's what you need to know.…
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Ghana’s president says anti-LGBTQ bill has not reached his desk

Ghana’s president says anti-LGBTQ bill has not reached his desk

AN anti-LGBTQ bill passed by Ghana's parliament last week, which could derail international aid for the West African country if it becomes law according to an internal government memo, has not yet reached the desk of President Nana Akufo-Addo, he said on Monday. In his first comments on the bill's passage, he said Ghana would not backslide on its human rights record and added that the bill had been challenged in the Supreme Court. "I have learnt that today, a challenge has been mounted at the Supreme Court," Akufo-Addo said in a statement. "In the circumstances, it would be as well…
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Indian state’s polygamy ban divides some Muslim women

Indian state’s polygamy ban divides some Muslim women

SHAYARA Bano heaved a sigh of relief at the enactment of a law banning polygamy in her small Indian state, the culmination of a years-long effort including her own case before the nation's Supreme Court. "I can now say that my battle against age-old Islamic rules on marriage and divorce has been won," said Bano, a Muslim woman whose husband chose to have two wives and divorced her by uttering "talaq" three times. "Islam's allowance for men to have two or more wives at the same time had to end," she told Reuters. But Sadaf Jafar did not cheer the new law,…
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Senegal court deals blow to Sonko’s presidential hopes

Senegal court deals blow to Sonko’s presidential hopes

SENEGAL'S Supreme Court ruled against opposition politician Ousmane Sonko in his appeal of a libel conviction, dealing another blow to his hopes of competing in next month's presidential election, lawyers said. Sonko, 49, has been battling various court cases since 2021. These have hampered his plans to vie for the presidency in the February 25 vote and fuelled unrest that has damaged Senegal's reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies. After deliberations that extended from Thursday into the early hours of Friday, the court rejected Sonko's appeal against a May conviction that led to him receiving a six-month suspended sentence…
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Nigeria’s top court says Shell’s appeal should be heard after oil spill claim

Nigeria’s top court says Shell’s appeal should be heard after oil spill claim

NIGERIA'S Supreme Court ruled that Shell should be granted a hearing over an alleged oil spill in the Niger Delta after the Court of Appeal halted an asset sale and ordered a judgement claim to be paid prior to hearing its case. The case, one of several against Shell Plc locally and abroad, started with a High Court ruling in November 2020 that ordered Shell to pay 800 billion naira ($878 million) to communities of Egbalor Ebubu in Rivers state, who accused the firm of an oil spill that damaged waterways and farms. Shell denies causing the spill. Shell had appealed…
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Nigeria Supreme Court blocks release of separatist leader Kanu

Nigeria Supreme Court blocks release of separatist leader Kanu

NIGERIA'S Supreme Court overturned a judgment by a lower court that dropped terrorism charges against separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, ruling that trial on the charges should continue. Kanu, a British citizen who leads the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), disappeared from Nigeria after skipping bail in 2017. He was arrested in Kenya in 2021 and charged with terrorism. Friday's ruling by Judge Lawal Garba reinstating Kanu's seven-count terrorism trial at a lower federal court has effectively extended his detention, which began two years ago after his arrest. "Even though illegalities were committed with the deployment of brutal force to…
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India’s top court upholds end of special status for Kashmir, orders polls

India’s top court upholds end of special status for Kashmir, orders polls

INDIA'S Supreme Court upheld a 2019 decision by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revoke special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and set a deadline of September 30 next year for local polls to be held. India's only Muslim-majority region, Jammu and Kashmir has been at the heart of more than 75 years of animosity with neighbouring Pakistan since the birth of the two nations in 1947 at independence from colonial rule by Britain. The unanimous order by a panel of five judges followed more than a dozen petitions challenging the revocation and a subsequent decision…
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UK PM Sunak says he discussed migration plan with Rwanda’s Kagame

UK PM Sunak says he discussed migration plan with Rwanda’s Kagame

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he discussed plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda with President Paul Kagame as he finalises his response to a block on the policy in the Supreme Court in London. Sunak's government has said it is working on a new treaty with Rwanda, as well as new domestic legislation after the UK's top judges ruled the policy unlawful last month. Asked by reporters what he discussed with Kagame on the sidelines of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, Sunak said he was "confident" about his government's proposals but the two leaders wanted to get the details…
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Jailed Senegal opposition leader suffers court setbacks

Jailed Senegal opposition leader suffers court setbacks

THE presidential ambitions of jailed Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko suffered two setbacks after the Supreme Court annulled a lower court's decision ordering his reinstatement in the voter roll. Separately, a West African regional court backed the government of Senegal in a legal battle with Sonko, who had filed a case claiming the state violated his human rights. Sonko, 49, has faced a flurry of court cases over the past two years for charges including libel and rape, which he denies. He was arrested in July for insurrection, the government dissolved his party, and he has been struck off the…
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UK’s Rwanda migrant resettlement plan ruled unlawful: Reactions

UK’s Rwanda migrant resettlement plan ruled unlawful: Reactions

THE Supreme Court ruled that the British government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful as it could not be considered a safe third country, a major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop people arriving in small boats. Below are some officials' reactions: PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK "This was not the outcome we wanted, but we have spent the last few months planning for all eventualities and we remain completely committed to stopping the boats." The court "has confirmed that the principle of sending illegal migrants to a safe third country for processing is lawful. This confirms…
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