Security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have fired live rounds and teargas to disperse demonstrators who burned tires and allegedly attacked Ebola centres in a protest against a decision to exclude them from the presidential election.

The electoral commission (CENI) announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling voting in the election on Sunday in the eastern cities of Beni and Butembo, and their surrounding areas, because of a continuing Ebola outbreak and militia violence.

The areas are strongholds of opposition to the outgoing president, Joseph Kabila, and local politicians denounced the move as an effort to swing the vote in favour of his preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary. Giscard Yere, a Beni resident, said: “There was a group of demonstrators who wanted to enter the CENI office … to demand the withdrawal of the decision. But the police officers and soldiers who were there fired to disperse the demonstrators.” Protesters ransacked an Ebola isolation centre in Beni and it is possible patients fled, said Aruna Abedi, the deputy director of the Ebola response.(theguardian)…[+]

HAVANA – Cuban lawmakers yesterday unanimously approved a revised draft of a new constitution that retains the island’s one-party socialist system but reflects its socio-economic opening since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The draft new constitution, which has 229 articles and will replace a Cold War era one, will maintain the Communist Party as the country’s guiding force and the state’s dominance of the economy, according to state-run media. A copy has not yet been distributed to the public. The document, however, also legitimises private business that has blossomed over the last decade, acknowledges the importance of foreign investment and opens the door to gay marriage, according to state-run media.

It imposes age and term limits on the presidency, after late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his younger brother Raul Castro ruled the country for nearly six decades, and introduces the role of a prime minister. The current draft incorporates into an original one published in July hundreds of mainly small changes proposed by citizens during a three-month public consultation at community meetings nationwide. It will go to a referendum next Feb. 24.(Reuters)…[+]

The Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture said there will be stiffer penal­ties for il­le­gal hunt­ing next year now that Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes has as­sent­ed to the Fi­nance Act 2018, which in­creas­es fines for in­frac­tions un­der the Con­ser­va­tion of Wildlife Act. From Jan­u­ary 1, poach­ers will face fines as much as 50 times high­er than cur­rent­ly ex­ists. The min­is­ter al­so has the pow­er to in­crease the lim­it of pre­scribed fines.

In a state­ment, the min­istry said while there are tougher fines for en­vi­ron­men­tal­ly sen­si­tive species (ESS), in­clud­ing the scar­let ibis, there is a need for an in­crease in fines for il­le­gal cap­ture of wildlife which have not been de­clared an ESS. This, it said, is to demon­strate the sever­i­ty of an of­fence, the po­ten­tial im­pact it has on con­ser­va­tion ef­forts and the in­ten­tion of the gov­ern­ment to de­ter il­le­gal hunt­ing. The min­istry al­so ex­pressed con­cern about re­cent re­ports of il­le­gal hunt­ing and con­sump­tion of pro­tect­ed species, in­clud­ing the red howler mon­key and the less­er anteater, as well as an up­surge of smug­gled wildlife from neigh­bour­ing Venezuela and Guyana.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]