Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that elections will be held within “four to five months”, the first since the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule last year.          

Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that elections will be held within “four to five months”, the first since the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule last year. Mnangagwa, who was sworn in after Mugabe was forced to resign following a military takeover in November, also reaffirmed a pledge that the elections would be “free, credible, fair and indisputable”.“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace,” the new president, who served as Mugabe’s right hand man for decades before taking power, said during a visit to neighbouring Mozambique.

Successive polls have been marred by violence and intimidation, leading to sanctions and the diplomatic isolation of the former British colony. The vote is being seen as a key test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and it is crucial to unlocking badly needed financial assistance from international financial institutions as well as repairing relations with western powers.(theguardian)…[+]

The Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to Britain after Emmanuel Macron agreed to let it leave France for the first time in 950 years. The president is expected to announce at an Anglo-French summit on Thursday that the artefact depicting the the Norman buildup to, and success in, the Battle of Hastings in 1066 will be loaned to the UK, probably in 2022..

Theresa May will use the decision, which has involved lengthy talks between each country’s respective culture departments, to highlight the strength in UK-French relations after Brexit. An Elysée official said the loan was agreed in principle but would not happen for several years because work needed to be done on the tapestry to ensure it was safe to move it. “It’s very symbolic for France and maybe even more for the UK,” he said. The date of the loan would probably be 2022 when, it is understood, the Bayeux Museum closes for refurbishment.One leading contender to show the tapestry would be the British Museum. Its director, Hartwig Fischer, said it would be “honoured and delighted” to display the tapestry.(theguardian)…[+]

The home in California where two parents allegedly tortured their 13 children had doubled as a private school for the siblings – but the premises received no government oversight and was never inspected by education officials. David Turpin had been home-schooling his children at the house in Perris, east of Los Angeles, which he called the Sandcastle Day School. In the 2016-17 school year, it had an enrollment of six, with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.

There was no indication anyone other than his children were enrolled, authorities said. Authorities said they uncovered the abuse when a 17-year-old girl jumped out of a window, called 911 and led police to 12 of her brothers and sisters aged from two to 29 years old, all malnourished and some chained to furniture. Turpin and his wife, Louise Anna Turpin, were being held on $9m bail and could face torture and child endangerment charges.(theguardian)…[+]

Concerns are growing among United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups over an agreement between the Bangladesh and Myanmar governments to repatriate several hundred thousand Rohingya refugees within two years. Bangladesh state media reported on Wednesday that the first batch of Rohingya would be sent back to Myanmar next week. Rights groups said it remained unclear whether refugees would be forced to return against their will. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the repatriation deal finalised in the Myanmar capital, Naypyidaw, on Tuesday also needed to clarify whether Rohingya would be permitted to return to their homes or live in specially built camps.

“The worst would be to move these people from camps in Bangladesh to camps in Myanmar,” Guterres said at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York. The deal included no role for the UN refugee agency, he added, making it difficult to “guarantee that the operation abides by international standards”. About 750,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after army crackdowns in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state starting in October 2016 and August last year. The Muslim minority have faced decades of systemic oppression in Myanmar; the US government has described the most recent violence as ethnic cleansing.(theguardian)…[+]