Latest updates from the campaign trail as Rishi Sunak deploys his 'secret weapon' wife to a care home in Yorkshire while MPs from all parties head out across the country.

The ex-UKIP leader, who is now honorary president of Reform UK, suggested he and the Conservatives 'might have a conversation' ahead of polling day.

The US could ask nations in the Asia-Pacific Region to host intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, Sergey Lavrov has said Read Full Article at RT.com

Varanasi, a holy Hindu city in Uttar Pradesh, will vote on June 1, the last day of the Indian election Read Full Article at RT.com

The US will not make any “policy changes” after 45 Palestinians were killed in an inferno at a refugee camp, the White House has said Read Full Article at RT.com

Western nations are lagging behind on funding to buy artillery rounds for Ukraine, Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova has said Read Full Article at RT.com

Tycoon Alisher Usmanov has backed changes to the Russian tax code proposed by the finance ministry that place greater tax demand on the rich Read Full Article at RT.com

The Ukraine conflict and sanctions on Russia are threatening Europe’s energy security by keeping costs high, IMF analysts have warned Read Full Article at RT.com

Live updates from the 2024 campaign trail, with the latest news on presidential candidates, polls, primaries and more.

President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has urged university graduates to start paying back loans immediately they start earning an income, stressing that this will enable the government to sustain the provision of the support to needy students.   Chakwera made the remarks during the graduation of the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) […] The post Chakwera installed MUBAS Chancellor: Urges varsity graduates to pay back loans appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

[allAfrica] Three prominent X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts are acting as bridges between an online Russian community and South African communities engaged in regular discussions of political and social issues.

The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, has urged all stakeholders to support the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA) and recognise the critical role of innovative financing in securing a sustainable future for small island developing states (SIDS) at a side event of the 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States. The SIDS DOCK event in Antigua and Barbuda was to address the importance of sustainable ocean energy as a nature-based solution. SIDS DOCK is an initiative among member countries of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to help SIDS transform their energy sectors and address adaptation to climate change. In his keynote address, Ramkalawan said, «We face a monumental challenge. Our Islands are burdened with outdated, inefficient diesel generators. We urgently need to replace ten thousand megawatts of ageing baseload diesel fuel electricity generation systems that power our country's hospitals, schools, and critical infrastructure, part of the transition that we talk about so much these days.» He highlighted several key projects being developed in other SIDS that could also be implemented elsewhere. One such project is the first OTEC floating platform in Sao Tome to deliver 10 megawatts of baseload power. The project is in its design phase and needs an investment of $50 million to $60 million to become the first commercial-scale renewable energy power plant solely running on the ocean.    Ramkalawan said such innovative projects are important for SIDS and can be implemented in Seychelles. «We urgently call for support from the international financing community including development banks and climate funds to back these transformative projects. Without your support, our efforts to prevent an energy crisis and promote sustainable growth may falter leaving our younger generations at risk and prosperity simply out of reach,» he stressed. After the event, Ramkalawan told SNA that so far the conference is going well and added that even if all these discussions are happening it is important for the SIDS to present a unified front to the rest of the world and work together. «For example in COP28 where there wasn't a unified statement from SIDS. Now, we will be going into the next COP, I am expecting that through this conference, all the SIDS are unified. This will make it much easier to bring forward topics like the MVI and the Loss and Damage Fund,» he said. After the SIDS4 conference, the President of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, will attend the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit in Seoul, from June 2 to 6.

South Africa's ruling ANC was fighting Wednesday to defy expectations that it could lose its three-decade-long exclusive grip on power as voters turned out for a watershed general election. More than 27 million voters are registered for the most uncertain poll since the African National Congress (ANC) led the nation out of apartheid rule -- and with President Cyril Ramaphosa seeking re-election. With opposition challenges from both the left and right, unemployment and crime at near record levels and a new generation growing up with no memory of the struggle against white-minority rule, the ruling party may need to share power. After voting, Ramaphosa said: «I have no doubt whatsoever in my heart of hearts that the people will once again invest confidence in ANC to continue leading this country. »The people of SA will give the ANC a firm majority.« But the leader of the biggest opposition party, John Steenhuisen of the Democratic Alliance, predicted no single party would win an outright majority, creating an opening for his alliance of smaller parties. After voting in his home city of Durban, Steenhuisen said »for the first time in 30 years there's an opportunity for change in South Africa«. In Soweto, the president's hometown and the unofficial capital of the liberation battle, elderly ANC loyalists turned out early but as the queues lengthened there were signs of disillusionment. Kqomotso Mtumba, a 44-year-old bank official, sporting burgundy and black beaded braids, said she had voted ANC in the past but had now chosen an »upcoming party« whose manifesto had impressed her. »The last party I voted for, their promises didn't work out so I'll be trying this one,« she said. In the working-class Johannesburg district of Alexandria, even public sector workers like a young woman who gave her name only as »Keletso« were frustrated. »I really need to see change,« the 34-year-old said, wearing a pink house robe with a bunny-ears hoodie and slippers. »We need new people, fresh blood. Unemployment is bad. To put bread on the table some people do crime, others become prostitutes.« In Nkandla, in the volatile eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, some voters were confused by the new voting system -- for the first time, three ballots, two for the National Assembly and one for the provincial assembly. »There was a moment I was confused. I had to ask for help and explanation,« admitted 70-year-old Cynthia Ntshangase. Voters will choose the 400 members of the National Assembly who in the coming weeks will then choose a president from among their number. For the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994, the ANC could be forced to negotiate a coalition in order to remain in government. »South Africa's general election is a watershed moment in the political history of the country,« said Aleix Montana, an analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. Under the leadership of the late Nelson Mandela, the ANC won freedom for black South Africans after decades of apartheid, then lifted millions out of poverty by creating a broad social welfare system. - Strong foundation - But many in the country of 62 million are fed up with high unemployment, currently at 32.9 percent, rampant crime, corruption scandals, and regular power cuts and water shortages. The economy grew a meagre 0.6 percent in 2023, and polls suggest the ANC could win as little as 40 percent of the vote, down from 57 percent in 2019. If the ANC wins fewer than 201 seats, Ramaphosa would have to negotiate with opposition parties and independent MPs to secure a majority. It could face stark choices. On the right, it is challenged by the Democratic Alliance (DA), which has vowed to »Rescue South Africa« through clean governance, privatisation and deregulation but has struggled to shake off its image as a party for the white minority. Polls put DA support below 25 percent. On the left, it is bleeding support to former president Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) and Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which are pushing for land redistribution and nationalisations. Polls estimate these two parties are tied at around 10 percent. Once an ANC stalwart, Zuma fell out with his old party after being forced out of office under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018. He has been barred from standing as an MP because of a conviction for contempt of court, but remains extremely popular in KwaZulu-Natal, his home province. - Easier deal? - In Zuma's hometown Nkandla, call centre worker and teaching student Nokuthobeka Ngcobo, 26, declared she was »so happy« to have voted MK. »I'm voting for them because I want change... and I have hope that Zuma and the MK will bring change," she said. Were the ANC to come close to 50 percent it could strike an easier deal with some of the dozens of smaller groups in the running. Full results are not expected before the weekend. © Agence France-Presse  

Algeria has presented a draft resolution to UN Security Council members calling for an end to Israel's offensive in Rafah and an «immediate ceasefire,» according to a draft text seen by AFP. Defying pressure from the United States and other western countries, Israel has been conducting military operations in Rafah, which is packed with people who have fled fighting elsewhere in Gaza. The draft resolution, which draws on last week's ruling by the International Court of Justice, «decides that Israel, the occupying Power, shall immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in Rafah.» It also «demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.» During its October 7 cross-border attack on Israel, which triggered the war, Hamas militants took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. Algeria called an urgent UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday after an Israeli strike killed 45 people at a tent camp in Rafah for displaced people on Sunday, drawing international condemnation. A civil defense official in Gaza said another Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday killed at least 21 more people. Algeria's UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama has not specified when he hopes to put the draft resolution to a vote. «We hope that it could be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance,» said Chinese ambassador Fu Cong, expressing hope for a vote this week. «It's high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency,» the French ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said before the council meeting. The council has struggled to find a unified voice since the war broke out with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, followed by Israel's retaliatory campaign. After passing two resolutions centered on the need for humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, in March the council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire -- an appeal that had been blocked several times before by the United States, Israel's main ally. Washington, increasingly frustrated with how Israel is waging the war and its mounting civilian death toll, finally allowed that resolution to pass by abstaining from voting. But the White House said Tuesday that Israel's offensive in Rafah had not amounted to the type of full-scale operation that would breach President Joe Biden's «red lines,» and said it had no plans to change its policy toward Israel. Asked about the new Algerian draft resolution, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, «we're waiting to see it and then we'll react to it.» © Agence France-Presse  

Job seekers and young people interested in joining the Seychelles tourism sector were given a broader view of what careers are available in the Tourism Careers Fair held on Wednesday at the National Museum grounds. The director for Human Resources Development in the Tourism Department, Diana Quatre, told SNA, «We felt there was a need to do more sensitisation work on what opportunities exist in the sector. More often when we hear someone talking about a career in the tourism industry, many think of service jobs such as waiting staff, barmen, or cooks.» The aim of the day-long activity was to show that there were many possibilities and opportunities available in the tourism sector. Among those showing the career opportunities available to them were tourism establishments such as Four Seasons, the Hilton properties in the country as well as the national carrier, Air Seychelles. Also present were those smaller establishments such as dive centres. The director general for Food and Beverage at Four Seasons, Ali Al Hakim, explained that the establishment was taking part as it is «looking for students as well as passionate young individuals who will grow» with them. Most of the visitors at the fair were secondary school students currently choosing a career as well as those already following courses at the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA). «I have been applying for a job in the tourism industry since I dropped out of the Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education,» Maria Joubert told SNA. She expressed her hope of clinching a job as she was filling out forms from as many of the establishments present as she could find. «I am hoping to get something after attending this fair because so far I have been unsuccessful in most of my applications and I have not been given the reason for my applications being unsuccessful,» she added. Meanwhile, Quatre told SNA that as this fair has a more «interactive feel, we are hoping to make it an annual event.» Tourism is the top pillar of the Seychelles economy, accounting for around 30 percent of employment and bringing in an estimated $960 million in revenue up to December 31, 2023, according to the Tourism Department.

Le Ministre de la Culture, de le Jeunesse, des Sports et des Arts séjourne au Maroc depuis le 26 mai 2024. Sur invitation de son homologue marocain Chakib Ben Moussa, le Dr André Jacques Augand y est dans le cadre d'une visite travail et de partage d'expériences. Au cours de cette rencontre, les Fédérations Gabonaises de Volley-ball et de Handball ont procédé, avec leurs homologues du Maroc, à la signature de conventions de partenariat. Ces accords ouvrent des perspectives de coopération (...) - COOPERATION / SUJET_ECRIT_MAISON

A viral video showed a giant crocodile trying to re-enter a river near a canal in Bulandshahr. Locals panic as the 10ft reptile fails to climb a railing. Forest officials rescue and release the crocodile back into the Ganga canal in Narora.

Latest updates from the campaign trail as Labour leader Keir Starmer faces questions over the future of veteran MP Diane Abbott.

Labour's deputy leader tweeted out a newspaper front page reporting that Greater Manchester Police had decided to take no further action against her - and tagged Tory James Daly.

The Ukraine conflict and sanctions on Russia are threatening Europe’s energy security by keeping costs high, IMF analysts have warned Read Full Article at RT.com

On Monday, a medical checkup was conducted on the Slovak Prime Minister, the team of doctors concluded that his condition is slowly getting better

The cooperation has been ceased due to the expiration of the contract

Since the new wheat harvest is coming, the government will probably make the decision by late in June to be in time for the harvest in Russia, sources said

Previously, convicts who fell seriously ill after committing a crime and were diagnosed with a serious illness that prevented them from serving their sentence could be released under a court order

«We are against turning outer space into an arena for an arms race, moreover, into a combat zone,» Sergey Ryabkov stressed

Russia’s Finance Ministry has submitted proposals to update the tax system, including the introduction of a new progressive tax scale Read Full Article at RT.com

South African MP Zolani Mkiva has called for Israel to be sanctioned and isolated as the conflict continues in Gaza Read Full Article at RT.com

The Deputy Defense Minister of Poland Cezary Tomczyk declares Ukraine has a right to use Western arms to hit longer-range targets in Russia Read Full Article at RT.com

Alexander Trufanov, who is being held captive by Islamic Jihad group, has both Israeli and Russian citizenship Read Full Article at RT.com

When he first took office, the Russian president was trying to integrate with the West, now the whole ball game has changed Read Full Article at RT.com

The Austrian armed forces have shared a warning that the US may be using Ukraine to undermine Russian nuclear deterrence Read Full Article at RT.com