Sierra Leone’s government will move to abolish the death penalty in the West African state, deputy justice minister Umaru Napoleon Koroma said on Wednesday. No execution has taken place in the country since 1998, and death penalties are often commuted. Sierra Leone, which is still recovering after decades of civil war, has frequently come under fire from rights groups for keeping capital punishment on the books. “Once the legislation goes to parliament and gets approved, that ends the story of the death penalty,” Koroma told AFP. He added that the cabinet of President Julius Maada Bio had decided to push to abolish capital punishment in order to “uphold the fundamental…

The modern world’s first elected female head of government was Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who in 1960 became prime minister of Sri Lanka, the island nation in South Asia then known as Ceylon. Bandaranaike came to power a year after the assassination of her husband, who was prime minister at the time, and served in office from 1960 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1977. The couple’s daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, also joined the family political dynasty and was Sri Lanka’s first woman president, from 1994 to 2005. Bandaranaike served a third term as prime minister (a role which by then was primarily ceremonial, as a result of a constitutional change) from 1994…

Hand over ceremony, on behalf of UK Government,a fast boat (a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat) to the NDLEAand specifically new chairman HE Buba Marwa to support their efforts to fight crime, smuggling and interdict drugs.The British Deputy High Commission in Lagos, in partnership with the UK Border Force, Ministry of Defence (MoD), and the National Crime Agency (NCA), have donated a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The RHIB would improve the NDLEA’s already effective capability to patrol and intercept vessels of interest and detect criminality that operates in and around the waterways surrounding Lagos. The deployment of the NDLEA patrol RHIB will deter…

Libyans wave national flags from a yellow cab in the capital Tripoli on February 25, 2021, during celebrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. – Libya’s prime minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dheibah is set to name a transitional government tasked with unifying the war-torn nation and leading it to elections in December. The Libyan parliament will discuss holding a vote of confidence on a new unified government for the divided country on March 8, its powerful speaker Aguila Saleh said. Oil-rich Libya has been mired in chaos since dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted and killed in a popular uprising backed by a NATO…

French Prime Minister Jean Castex (R) and French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin (L) attend a meeting on the theme of security on February 1, 2021 at the Interior ministry in Paris. (Photo by THOMAS COEX / POOL / AFP) The French government begins a public consultation exercise on Monday aimed at devising ways to increase public confidence in the police that has been eroded by repeated scandals over racism and brutality. The initiative was proposed by President Emmanuel Macron in December in order to diffuse criticism of French security forces which are regularly accused of discrimination and using excessive force. In November, video of Paris police beating and abusing a…

Buhari stresses the need for deployment of more digital platforms and seamless connections between agencies. President Muhammadu Buhari directs strict compliance with payment of taxes by foreign and local companies. (Independent) President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and related government agencies to plug all revenue leakages by ensuring strict compliance of tax payments by foreign companies operating in Nigeria. The president ordered all government agencies to automate operations and ensure more synergy in advancing the interest of the nation in revenue generation. “It is not enough that our citizens and local businesses pay their fair share of taxes. ”Equally, foreign businesses must also not be…