Image copyrightReutersImage caption Pastor Evan Mawarire left court wearing the national flag
Leading Zimbabwean opposition activist Pastor Evan Mawarire has been acquitted on charges of trying to overthrow Robert Mugabe’s former government.
The organiser of last year’s #ThisFlag protests faced 20 years in prison had he been convicted.
A Harare high court judge ruled there was no evidence that he had “urged a violent removal of government”.
The case was seen as a test of judicial independence after the forced resignation of Mr Mugabe last week.
The former president, who stepped down after soldiers placed him under house arrest, was long accused of using the courts to hound his political opponents.
Tweeting a selfie taken in the courtroom, the smiling pastor called on his fellow citizens to join in “building a better Zimbabwe”.
Pastor Mawarire galvanised people outside and inside Zimbabwe, encouraging them to protest about perceived corruption and economic mismanagement under President Mugabe.
Some Zimbabweans will see his acquittal as a symbolic victory, coming just after Mr Mugabe’s resignation and the inauguration of his former deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, as president, the BBC’s Shingai Nyoka reports from Harare.
However, Amnesty International’s regional director for Southern Africa, Deprose Muchena, warned there was still work to do.
“Hopefully the ruling signals a new beginning for the country, where the political repression which characterised Mugabe’s rule will no longer be tolerated,” he said.
“The task for President Mnangagwa now is to ensure that a culture exists in Zimbabwe in which voices from outside his government are free to air their opinions on an equal platform, without fear of facing criminal charges.”
The acquittal had been expected because when the pastor was granted bail, a judge had hinted that the case against him was weak.
Image copyrightAFPImage caption ThisFlag activists protesting outside the Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa in July 2016
Political campaigning on social media is one of the reasons why Mr Mugabe’s government created the ministry of cyber security and kicked off the process of drafting laws to regulate social media, our correspondent adds.
The former government – in which Mr Mnangagwa served as vice-president before his dramatic fall-out with Mr Mugabe – said the laws would help curb the spread of “cyber terrorism” and “revenge porn”.
But media activists expressed fear that it would be used to crack down on free speech.
With Mr Mnangagwa having promised a “new era of democracy”, it is to be seen whether the proposed legislation addresses the concerns of activists and whether he will retain the cyber security ministry in what he says will be a “lean” cabinet, our correspondent says.
Note: This story is auto-generated from ‘BBC News’ syndicated feed and has not been edited by Africa Prime News staff.
And Kipchoge said: “It does take time to make that switch but I’m sure Mo will be successful.
“It’s great he will be racing the London Marathon because I’m sure that will make the atmosphere more special.”
Kipchoge added that the London Marathon had been important in his career, saying: “I came so close to breaking the world record in 2016 and it is natural for anyone in that situation to think of what might have been.
“But that race gave me the confidence to go on and win the Olympic title in Rio and run so well throughout 2017.”
Kipchoge went close to breaking the marathon world record in winning in Berlin in September, finishing in 2:03:32 – 36 seconds off the mark set by his countryman Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014.
Image copyrightReutersImage caption Theresa May and Donald Trump meeting at the UN General Assembly
Donald Trump has told Prime Minister Theresa May to focus on “terrorism” in the UK after she criticised his sharing of far-right videos.
“Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom,” Mr Trump tweeted.
The US president had earlier retweeted three inflammatory videos posted online by a British far-right group.
Mrs May’s spokesman said it was “wrong for the president to have done this”.
The US and the UK are close allies and often described as having a “special relationship”. Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit the Trump White House.
The speaker of the House of Commons has granted a request for an urgent question on the matter from Labour MP Stephen Doughty.
The videos shared by Mr Trump, who has more than 40 million followers, were initially posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a group founded by former members of the far-right British National Party (BNP).
Ms Fransen, 31, has been charged in the UK with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” over speeches she made at a rally in Belfast.
Several leading UK politicians have criticised the president for retweeting her posts, as has the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who said it was “deeply disturbing” that Mr Trump had “chosen to amplify the voice of far-right extremists”.
And it has led to renewed calls for Mr Trump’s planned state visit to the UK to be cancelled, although Downing Street said on Wednesday that the invitation still stood.
In hitting out at Mrs May, Mr Trump first tagged the wrong Twitter account, sending his statement to a different user with just six followers. He then deleted the tweet and posted it again, this time directing the message to the UK PM’s official account.
After already condemning Mr Trump’s actions on Wednesday, Brendan Cox – whose wife, MP Jo Cox, was murdered by a right-wing extremist who shouted “Britain first” before committing the act – tweeted: “You have a mass shooting every single day in your country, your murder rate is many times that of the UK, your healthcare system is a disgrace, you can’t pass anything through a congress that you control. I would focus on that.”
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Media captionAnn Coulter defends the US president on Today after he hit out at Theresa May over far-right tweets
TV presenter and journalist Piers Morgan, who has supported Mr Trump in the past, said the president “owes our prime minister an apology, not a lecture” after he “publicly endorsed the most extreme bunch of Islamophobe fascists in Britain”.
But American conservative commentator Ann Coulter – who is one of the 45 people followed on Twitter by Mr Trump and retweeted the videos first – defended her president’s words to Mrs May, saying he had “only given as good as he gets”.
An unnecessary controversy
By Anthony Zurcher, North America reporter
It’s clear at this point that Donald Trump won’t let a perceived slight or criticism go unanswered – even if it’s from a supposed friend. Even if it’s from the leader of the president’s closest international ally.
So shock isn’t exactly the right word to describe the reaction to Mr Trump’s initially botched attempt to tell Theresa May to, in effect, mind her own business. This is just another example of the US president’s self-described “modern-day presidential” use of social media, where Twitter is a cudgel for score-settling no matter the diplomatic cost.
When Mr Trump assumed the presidency, one of the first foreign dignitaries he received was Mrs May, and it appeared they formed a quick bond – briefly holding hands as they walked past the White House Rose Garden. Those bonds will now be tested in a spat over a few morning retweets of inflammatory videos.
It’s a wholly unnecessary controversy, but the international consequences could be all too real.
What did Trump retweet?
The first video purportedly shows a “Muslim migrant” attacking a young Dutch man on crutches. However, the claim in this tweet appears to have little substance.
A spokesperson from the Dutch Public Prosecution Service told the BBC that the person arrested for the attack “was born and raised in the Netherlands” and was not a migrant.
The Dutch embassy in Washington DC confirmed this on Twitter.
The second video retweeted by Mr Trump shows a man smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
This video was uploaded to YouTube in 2013. The man in the clip says: “No-one but Allah will be worshipped in the land of the Levant,” which could place him in Syria.
The third video originates from the riots that took place in Egypt in 2013, and shows a man being pushed from the top of a building in Alexandria. In 2015, those involved in the the incident were prosecuted, and one man was executed.
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Media captionBrendan Cox, the husband of murdered UK MP Jo Cox, said Mr Trump was “legitimising hatred”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday that Mrs May and other world leaders knew that “these are real threats that we have to talk about”.
“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real,” she said.
What other reaction has there been?
Mr Trump’s actions on Wednesday were criticised by both Democrats and Republicans.
Republican Senator John McCain said he was “surprised” at the president’s tweets.
Meanwhile, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said that Mrs May was “one of the great world leaders”, adding that he had “incredible love and respect for her”.
Khizr Khan, the father of US soldier Humayun Khan who was killed in the Iraq war, told Today: “[Mr Trump] holds the hatred. He is an actor, he acts and fabricates these facts to exploit people, innocent people, that fall victim to his bigotry and he sees the benefit.
“We all need to unite ourselves, all decent people of the world, against the menace of terrorism.”
In the UK, many politicians voiced their concerns about the videos that were shared.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said the president had “endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation”.
So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing
And Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted that Britain First had “no place” in British society.
Opposition MPs were even stronger in the criticism, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn describing the retweets as “abhorrent” and “dangerous”.
Speaking in the Commons, Labour MP David Lammy accused Mr Trump of “promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group”.
Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke said Mr Trump was wrong to retweet something coming from Britain First, calling the group a “ghastly, obnoxious organisation”.
But whilst Education Secretary Justine Greening said she disagreed with his tweets, they should not be allowed to damage the special relationship between the two countries.
Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS
Media captionNew North Korean footage has emerged of the latest test
The US has urged all nations to cut diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea after the country’s latest ballistic missile test.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, US envoy Nikki Haley said President Trump had asked his Chinese counterpart to cut off oil supplies to Pyongyang.
She said the US did not seek conflict but that North Korea’s regime would be “utterly destroyed” if war broke out.
The warning came after Pyongyang tested its first missile in two months.
North Korea said the missile fired on Wednesday, which it said reached an altitude of about 4,475km (2,780 miles) – more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station – carried a warhead capable of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption The launch of the Hwasong-15 missile, said to be capable of reaching all parts of the US
The claim was not proven and experts have cast doubt on the country’s ability to master such technology.
However, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un called the launch “impeccable” and a “breakthrough”.
The test – one of several this year – has been condemned by the international community and the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting.
Ms Haley warned that “continued acts of aggression” were only serving to further destabilise the region.
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Media captionMembers of the public watched on as the launch was announced in Pyongyang
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said sanctions were exhausted.
“The Americans should explain to all of us what they are trying to do – if they want to find a pretext for destroying North Korea they should come clean about it, and the American leadership should confirm it,” he told reporters.
Earlier Russia’s UN ambassador said North Korea should stop its missile and nuclear tests but also called on Washington to cancel military exercises with South Korea planned for December as it would “inflame an already explosive situation”.
China also suggested the North should stop the tests in return for a halt to US military exercises – a proposal Washington has rejected in the past.
Cutting the oil lifeline
“We need China to do more,” Ms Haley said on Wednesday. “President Trump called President Xi this morning and told him that we’ve come to the point where China must cut off the oil for North Korea.
“We know the main driver of its nuclear production is oil,” she said. “The major supplier of that oil is China.”
China is a historic ally and North Korea’s most important trading partner and Pyongyang is thought to be dependent on China for much of its oil supplies.
Earlier on Wednesday, the White House said that Mr Trump spoke to Xi Jinping by telephone, urging him to “use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearisation”.
Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!
Speaking in Missouri, the US leader derided Mr Kim, describing him as a “sick puppy” and “little rocket man”.
Mr Xi responded by telling Mr Trump it was Beijing’s “unswerving goal to maintain peace and stability in north-east Asia and denuclearise the Korean peninsula”, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Experts say the height reached by the inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) indicates Washington could be within range, although North Korea is yet to prove it has reached its aim of miniaturising a nuclear warhead.
The Hwasong-15 missile, described as North Korea’s “most powerful”, was launched in darkness early on Wednesday.
It landed in Japanese waters but flew higher than any other missile the North had previously tested.
‘An opportunity wasted’ – Chinese media
Chinese state media are blaming the US relisting of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism for its latest missile test.
An editorial in the Global Times said US policy on North Korea had “been nothing but an abysmal failure” in wrongly assuming that it could force Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programme by applying more pressure on the country.
The newspaper warned that China would “not support a new round of Trump administration pressure tactics” but also reminded North Korea that the international community would never accept it as a nuclear-armed state.
“Washington has placed China in a precarious situation by asking for more than what was originally expected by the UN Security Council regarding the previous round of North Korea sanctions. China has always carried out UN security measures,” the editorial said.
The English-language China Daily said: “A golden opportunity to build concerted momentum to encourage Pyongyang to engage in talks has been so casually wasted by the Trump administration’s recent action of renaming Pyongyang a sponsor of state terrorism, which may have prompted Pyongyang’s latest missile launch.”
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.
Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS
Image copyrightEPAImage caption Mr Kushner has denied colluding with Russia
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators about former top White House aide Michael Flynn, US media reports say.
The investigators reportedly wanted to know if Mr Kushner had information that would prove Mr Flynn had not worked with Russia, a source said.
Mr Mueller is looking into any links between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Both deny there was any collusion.
Mr Flynn was forced to resign in February after misleading the White House about meeting the Russian ambassador before Mr Trump took office.
The meeting between Mr Kushner and Mr Mueller’s team lasted less than 90 minutes, reports said.
In a statement, Mr Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said: “Mr Kushner has voluntarily cooperated with all relevant inquiries and will continue to do so.”
Image copyrightReutersImage caption Mr Flynn quit the White House in February
The controversy surrounding alleged Russian interference in last year’s election has hung over the Trump administration since earlier this year, when US intelligence agencies said the Russian government sought to help Donald Trump win.
Congressional committees were set up to investigate the matter and in March the FBI said it was conducting its own inquiry.
President Trump later sacked FBI director James Comey, citing his reason as “this Russia thing”, in a move that shocked Washington and fuelled claims of a cover-up.
However, it did not halt the investigation. In May the department of justice appointed Mr Mueller as special counsel to look into the matter.
Earlier this year it emerged that Mr Flynn failed to register as a lobbyist for the Turkish government while he was seeking White House security clearance.
Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS
Kaduna (Nigeria)–A three-month vocational empowerment training for vulnerable disabled adults organized by Community Empowerment and Development Initiative in partnership with American Embassy has begun in Kaduna ,North west of the country.
A total of 52 are being trained on computer, sewing, shoe making and knitting.
Community Empowerment and Development Initiative, CEDI, chairperson, Safiya Ahmadu, said she has the passion to help others particularly the disabled and make life more meaningful to them by empowering them to be self reliance.
She enjoined them to be serious throughout the duration of the training so that they could live meaningful lives in future, adding, “l urge you not to waste tax payers money but it should be a source of your turn around to also train others by way of building bridges of being self reliance.
“We should learn to help one another irrespective of tribe, religion or political affiliation for a better understanding, unity and progress of our society.”
She assured that at the end of the training programme, participants would be given the necessary tools to be able to start doing something for themselves.
While commending the participants for the rare privilege to be part of those to be trained in various skills acquisition, the director of the programme, Mrs Gladis John, enjoined them to make every opportunity to better off their lives and that of others. “You should see this training as a rare opportunity which many out there are looking for without any breakthrough. I urge you to make every opportunity throughout the duration of the training to have something that will change your life and that of others,” she pleaded.
One of CEDI officers, Andrew Gani, told the participants that after the training, they should learn how to set up a business no matter how small it might be to put in practice what they have learnt
Most of the participants who spoke expressed their joy for the privilege given to them to learn something new in their lives assuring that at the end of the training programme, they would be better informed of the skills impacted to them and impact same to others.
Kaduna (Nigeria)–Kaduna State House of Assembly, northwest of the country has said that the suspension of the two PDP members in the House has nothing to do with their alleged stance on the sacking of local Government staff and primary school teachers by the executive arm.
The Speaker Aminu Abdullahi Shagali gave the clarification during an interview with newsmen at the Assembly
“The rule of every Assembly says that if any member tries to bring disunity among the members of the Assembly, the speaker has every right to suspend that member and that is what i did. They were found trying to bring disunity among us, to this we suspended them.This is just the reason and nothing else”.
According to him, is the work of the executive to Sack a government worker not necessarily consulting the legislative arm, noting that it is not as exactly as the rumour spreading round, that they were trying to fight for the right of the local government workers and primary school teachers who are going to be sacked. ‘This is not true’. “
He further explain that the refusal of the suspended members, Bityong Yakubu Nkom (kaura) and Danladi Angulu Kwasu (Zangon Kataf), to leave the chamber when the Speaker, Aminu Abdullahi Shagali ordered that both of them should leave the chamber created disturbance in the chamber thereby interrupting the day’s sitting which led to the adjournment of the sitting
“This constitute an act of willful disobedience of a resolution of the House and an order made by the speaker. “In view of the above and further to the order of suspension of the two members, House do resolve as follows: ” that no salary or allowances payable to any member of the House for his service shall be paid to them within the period in which they are suspended from the activities of the House” the speaker stressed.
He added that all government property in their possession should be returned to the office of the clerk immediately And that they should vacate government quarters which they are occupying immediately pending the outcome of the Committee on Ethics and privileges of the House and the Clerk should communicate to them.
US author and radio host Garrison Keillor has been fired from his radio station amid a claim of misconduct.
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) said a colleague on Keillor’s former show, A Prairie Home Companion, had accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
Mr Keillor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the claim stems from an occasion when he put his hand on a woman’s bare back to console her.
The station said it did not know of any allegations involving any other staff.
“I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches [15 cm]”, he told the newspaper in an email.
“She recoiled. I apologised. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it,” he added.
“We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
He did not say when the alleged incident occurred.
MPR said it would:
end its contracts with Mr Keillor and his companies
stop broadcasting his syndicated show The Writer’s Almanac
stop rebroadcasting highlights from A Prairie Home Companion
change that programme’s name
separate from an online catalogue and website associated with him
MPR President Jon McTaggart said: “Garrison Keillor has been an important part of the growth and success of MPR, and all of us in the MPR community are saddened by these circumstances.
“While we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn the trust of our audiences, employees and supporters of our public service.”
Mr Keillor hosted A Prairie Home Companion – a variety show with a focus on the fictional town of Lake Wobegon – for 42 years.
He went on to become a prolific author, writing a series of books set in Lake Wobegon, as well as other fiction and poetry.
He also wrote opinion columns in the Washington Post. On Wednesday he wrote a column saying there was no reason for Senator Al Franken, who is accused of sexual misconduct and was photographed groping a sleeping broadcaster, to resign.
After the announcement of his firing, Mr Keillor told the Star Tribune he was “was the least physically affectionate person” at his office.
“If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I’d have at least a hundred dollars,” the radio presenter said.
“So this is poetic irony of a high order. But I’m just fine. I had a good long run and am grateful for it and for everything else.”
Note: This story is auto-generated from BBC syndicated feed and has not been edited by AFRICA PRIME NEWS
Image copyright Reuters 
