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page 26 NIGER Nigeriens choose president in tense polls Niger closed its borders and ramped up security on Sunday for an election in which President Mahamadou Issoufou is running for a second term with a promise to crush Islamist militants and develop one of the poorest countries in the world. Security forces patrolled the main […]

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NIGER

Nigeriens choose president in tense polls

Niger closed its borders and ramped up security on Sunday for an election in which President Mahamadou Issoufou is running for a second term with a promise to crush Islamist militants and develop one of the poorest countries in the world.

Security forces patrolled the main cities and villages in a bid to foil possible unrest or a potential plot by militants. In another sign of heightened security, the interior minister said the country’s land borders would be closed. Some voters said they had never experienced such a tense election.

“Niger needs strong democratic institutions. I hope that the presidential and legislative elections will permit us to reinforce our institutions,” Issoufou said when he cast his ballot at city hall in the capital Niamey.

He faces 14 candidates including Seyni Oumaru, leader of an opposition coalition. Critics say Issoufou has used political repression in the run-up to the vote, arresting opposition supporters and jailing opposition leader Hama Amadou over charges related to a baby-trafficking ring.

UGANDA

I don’t need lectures, Museveni tells EU after poll criticism

President Yoweri Museveni on Sunday dismissed European Union and U.S. criticism of Uganda’s presidential election, telling foreign observers not to lecture him.

Museveni, in power since 1986, was declared the winner on Saturday but Kizza Besigye, his main challenger, who was under house arrest on Sunday, called the election a sham. Another candidate, Amama Mbabazi, said it was “fundamentally flawed”.

The EU observer mission said Thursday’s vote had been conducted in an “intimidating” atmosphere. Chief observer Eduard Kukan said it had been undermined by a “lack of transparency and independence” at the electoral commission.

But Museveni, 71, dismissed the idea that the commission had favored him and his National Resistance Movement (NRM).

“They are wrong, they are not serious,” Museveni told reporters in his country home in Kiruhura, southwestern Uganda. “I told those Europeans … I don’t need lectures from anybody.”

CAR

Ex-PM Touadera elected CAR president

Former Central African Republic prime minister Faustin-Archange Touadera has won a presidential run-off, the electoral commission said, in what was widely seen as a step toward reconciliation after years of violent turmoil.

“It’s the central African people who have won tonight,” said Max Farafei, a 32-year-old motorcycle taxi driver. “Now we all need to rally behind (Touadera) to rebuild the country.”

Touadera, 58, a former mathematics professor who campaigned against corruption, won 62.71 percent of votes cast in the Feb. 14 election, according to initial results announced by National Elections Authority (ANE) president Marie-Madeleine Nkouet.

Anicet-Georges Dologuele, also a former prime minister, won 37.29 percent, reversing the two rivals’ rankings from the first round. Dologuele said he would accept the results, despite what he called “massive fraud” in the second round.

SYRIA

Deadly bombing hits Syria’s Homs amid talk of truce

Dozens of civilians have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs despite announcements suggesting that a temporary ceasefire is closer than ever.

In Homs, at least 57 people, mainly civilians, were killed in a double car bombing, a monitoring group reported. At least four blasts were later heard in the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, causing at least 30 deaths.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the two car bombs through Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said a “provisional agreement” has been reached with Russia on a partial truce in the conflict.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he was ready for a ceasefire, on condition “terrorists” did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents halted support for them.

His comments were made as the Syrian opposition said it had agreed to the “possibility” of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus’s allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.

UNITED STATES

US 2016: Trump wins South Carolina, as Clinton takes Nevada

Donald Trump has won the South Carolina primary in the Republican race for president, cementing his status as the man to beat for his party’s nomination.

In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a tight race in Nevada.

Both results will be key ahead of the “Super Tuesday” round on 1 March, when a dozen more states make their choice.

The Trump victory claimed a major scalp when former Florida Governor Jeb Bush dropped out of the race.

He finished a distant fourth, days after his brother, former President George W Bush, made a rare political appearance to boost his flagging campaign.

Republican senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were locked in a battle for second place in the state.

Hillary Clinton is breathing a sigh of relief, while the Republican faithful wonder where their party is headed.

INDIA

Deadly rural protests create water crisis in New Delhi

Two days of violent protests in northeastern India have turned deadly and plunged the capital of New Delhi in a water-supply crisis.

Haryana state has been the scene of a week-old demonstration by members of the rural agricultural Jat caste, who are demanding federal and state benefits, including guaranteed government jobs and university placement.

The protests turned violent Friday, with demonstrators setting fire to homes and railway stations, and damaging equipment that transports water from a canal in Haryana to New Delhi.

Ten people were killed when police opened fire on the protesters. Another 150 people were wounded in various clashes.

New Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced Sunday that water would be rationed throughout the city, and closed schools on Monday to conserve supplies.

AUSTRALIA

Injured refugee infant, family to remain in Australia

A public campaign on behalf of the baby daughter of a family of asylum-seekers has prompted Australia’s immigration minister to allow the family to remain in the country instead of being sent back to a remote detention camp.

The 1-year-old child, known as Baby Asha, was brought to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for medical treatment last month from a camp on the South Pacific island of Nauru, where she suffered accidental burns.

News of Baby Asha’s plight led to a social media campaign to keep the family from being returned to Nauru.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced Sunday that Asha and her parents could remain in Brisbane under “community detention,” a policy that allows asylum-seekers to move about freely in the community.

LEBANON

Lebanon minister quits over Hezbollah ‘domination’

Lebanon’s justice minister says he is resigning over what he calls Hezbollah’s “domination” of the country’s government.

Ashraf Rifi’s announcement on Sunday came two days after Saudi Arabia announced it was suspending $3bn in aid to Lebanon’s army in protest against “hostile” positions it said were inspired by Hezbollah.

“There is an armed party that is dominating the government’s decision,” Rifi, a fierce opponent of Hezbollah, said in a statement, referring to the Shia group.

“Hezbollah has used this government to consolidate its project of a mini-state. It wanted to use it as a tool to extend its control over the state and its decisions,” Rifi said.

BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Hindu priest beheaded by Islamic State

The so-called Islamic State group has said it was behind the beheading of a senior Hindu priest and wounding two worshippers in northern Bangladesh.

In a statement IS said that “caliphate soldiers” carried out the assaults using “light weapons”.

Jogeswar Roy, 45, was attacked by two assailants armed with pistols and cleavers at his home in the temple on Sunday, police say.

While the Bangladeshi government insists that IS is not active in the country, the jihadists in November said they carried out an attack on a Shia mosque in the north-western town of Bogra in which at least one person was killed.

UK

Staying in EU ‘exposes UK to terror risk’, says Smith

Staying in the EU will make the UK more vulnerable to Paris-style terrorist attacks, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has said.

Mr Duncan Smith, who is campaigning for an EU exit, also questioned the effectiveness of curbs to migrants’ benefits on immigration to the UK.

The senior minister’s comments directly contradict David Cameron, who says the UK is “safer and stronger” in the EU. He also warned that leaving would give the UK an “illusion of sovereignty” but not full control.