International

Boakai Wins Liberia Presidential Election

Published

3 years ago

November 21, 2023

465 Views

Political veteran Joseph Boakai was on Monday declared winner of Liberia’s presidential election, beating incumbent George Weah, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said after completing the ballot count.

Boakai won with 50.64 percent of the vote, against 49.36 percent of the vote for former international football star Weah, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, president of the commission, told reporters.

Boakai won with only a 20,567-vote margin.

Weah had already conceded defeat on Friday evening, based on the results of more than 99.98 percent of the polling stations.

The outgoing president and former football star won praise from abroad on Monday for conceding and promoting a non-violent transition in a region marred by coups.

Liberians have once again demonstrated that democracy is alive in the ECOWAS region and that change is possible through peaceful means,” the Economic Community of West African States said in a statement.

Since 2020, ECOWAS states have seen abrupt regime changes with military forces seizing power by force in four of the fifteen member countries: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The election six years ago of Weah — the first African footballer to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or — had sparked high hopes of change in Liberia, which is still reeling from back-to-back civil wars and the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

But critics have accused his government of corruption and him of failing to keep a promise to improve the lives of the poorest.

While his party lost, “Liberia has won,” Weah had said on radio.

Weah said he had spoken to the man he called the “president-elect” to congratulate him and urged his own supporters to accept the election result.

“This is a time for graciousness in defeat,” he said, adding “our time will come again”.

The African Union sent its congratulations to the president-elect on Monday.

AU chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat also called on “all parties to continue to display maturity and embrace dialogue to consolidate democracy”.

– ‘Defied the stereotype’ –
The West African bloc also said that the post-election phase was “crucial”, and called on “the people of Liberia to maintain and safeguard peace and security”.

However, the electoral commission head said that on Friday it had received two appeals from Weah’s party concerning the conduct of the election in Nimba County.

The commission has 30 days to investigate and reach a decision, she said.

Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who led a mediation mission for the election, said he was “deeply pleased with the successful outcome of the democratic process”, in comments posted on X, formerly Twitter.

He went on to congratulate Boakai, urging him “to be magnanimous in victory and seek to continue the efforts to unite” Liberia.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is a heavyweight in the West African bloc, commended Weah’s concession saying it had averted any form of socio-political crisis.

“He has defied the stereotype that peaceful transitions of power are untenable in West Africa,” Tinubu said.

Several presidential elections in the region are upcoming in 2024, including polls in Senegal, Ghana and Mauritania, as well as military-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso.

AFP

International

“Mother of all bombs,” Trump Plans To Hit Iran

The 21,600-pound airburst weapon is designed to affect surface targets over a wide area and has so far not been deployed by the U.S. in previous strikes on targets inside Iran. It was used in Afghanistan in 2017 during the previous Trump administration.

Published

2 days ago

October 15, 2026

OCHEFA

29 Views

The U.S. military is considering use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb if it resumes strikes inside Iran, CNN reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials.

Trump said Oct. 8 that he would not resume U.S. strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, while attacks on shipping near the Strait of Hormuz and deadly Houthi strikes in Saudi Arabia have raised regional tensions.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tehran will combine military capabilities and negotiations to press its demands.

International

Child marriage in southern Germany: Over 350 cases recorded, some brides as young as 11

The most recent entries in the overview relate to 2026. They include, among other things, marriages of 16- and 17-year-old girls to adult men.

Published

4 days ago

October 13, 2026

OCHEFA

62 Views

• Child marriage / UNICEF

In the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, a total of 358 so-called child marriages have been officially recorded since 2012.

Euro News reported that only eight of these forced marriages have so far been legally annulled.

According to authorities, the other 350 cases were brought to an end in other ways.

This alarming finding comes from a response by the Baden-Württemberg state government to a minor inquiry submitted by AfD state parliament members Nikolaos Boutakoglou and Emely Knorr.

The Tübingen regional authority is responsible for recording the data, the answer came from the Ministry of the Interior.

The eight final annulments took place between 2018 and 2024. Among the documented cases was the marriage of an 11-year-old girl from Iraq to a 17-year-old Iraqi, which was annulled in 2020.

As early as 2018, the marriage of a 14-year-old Afghan girl to a 30-year-old man had been ended.

In 2024 two further annulments were added: they concerned a 16-year-old German girl and a 25-year-old Pakistani man and a 16-year-old Syrian girl and a 27-year-old man from the same country.State parliament member Nikolaos Boutakoglou wrote on Facebook that the issue was “really awful” but was being treated as a taboo.

According to its own account, the ministry deals exclusively with such marriages entered into abroad.

Since summer 2017, the Act to Combat Child Marriages has been in force in Germany.

In 2024, the Bundestag adopted new rules to protect minors in marriages concluded abroad.

Hundreds of cases without state intervention

The significantly higher number of cases concluded in other ways raises questions about how these marriages continued.

For the period from 2015 to 2026, the regional authority lists a total of 350 proceedings under the heading “other disposals.”But what became of the other child marriages?

The state government cites, among other things, the death of a spouse, reaching adulthood, a decision not to seek annulment or a new marriage concluded abroad.

In these cases, there was therefore no legally binding annulment.

For 2023, the records include the case of a 12-year-old Afghan girl who was married to a 21-year-old Afghan man. Girls aged 13 and 14 also appear several times in the statistics.

The most recent entries in the overview relate to 2026. They include, among other things, marriages of 16- and 17-year-old girls to adult men.

The statistics record the age of the spouses at the time of marriage and their respective nationalities.

International

JUST IN: Pope Leo XIV to Undergo Surgery for Early-Stage Lung Nodule

Published

5 days ago

October 12, 2026

Charles Flames

55 Views

Pope Leo XIV has announced that he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a small, localized nodule found on his lung during a recent routine medical checkup.

The 71-year-old pontiff made the disclosure himself during his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square. “Doctors found a localized nodule in my lung,” he said. “It was detected at a very early stage and is well-contained.

The doctors believe it is advisable to intervene, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to remove it.”

The Vatican confirmed the operation is scheduled for the first days of this week at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, which has a dedicated papal suite. Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Pope is expected to need about a week to recover. On Monday, the Vatican added that Leo will be admitted Tuesday morning.

The nodule’s nature—whether benign or malignant—has not been specified. Medical experts note that most lung nodules are non-cancerous, and early detection generally carries a favorable outlook.

This marks the first significant health issue of Leo’s papacy since his election in May 2025. The American-born pope, known for remaining physically active, has continued his full schedule of audiences and is still expected to proceed with a planned trip to Latin America next month.