KIGALI (AFP) – Rwandan President Paul Kagame kicks off the genocide-scarred country’s presidential campaign Tuesday in a tense atmosphere following a string of attacks, assassinations and arrests.

Kagame, who has ruled the small central African nation since his movement ended the 1994 massacre by Hutu extremists, is widely expected to be re-elected, with the three main opposition groups effectively out of the running.

Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) holds a large rally at Kigali’s national stadium on Tuesday night to launch a campaign expected to cost two million dollars.

Campaign coordinator Christophe Bazivamo said the funding was supplied by “voluntary contributions”.

The more modest Social Democratic Party of Deputy Speaker Jean-Damascene Ntawukuriryayo is planning to take out a bank loan.

Read the whole hot breaking news

MELBOURNE (AFP) – The Australian Sex Party on Tuesday promised to spice up campaigning for next month’s elections with a manifesto “unlike Australia had ever seen before”.

Party chief Fiona Patten launched a risque national campaign at a Melbourne bar, saying her policies “would make (opposition Leader) Tony Abbott’s hair stand on end and would turn (Prime Minister) Julia Gillard’s hair grey”. prospective

“We’ve always been forward and we actually enjoy real action,” Patten said, mocking Gillard and Abbott’s “Moving Australia Forward” and “Stand Up For Real Action” slogans.

The party’s policies include legalising euthanasia, decriminalising all drugs for personal use, and watering down strict anti-pornography laws.

Although sure to attract criticism from church groups and other conservative elements in society, Patten said it was time an Australian political party pushed the boundaries.

Read the whole hot breaking news

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria has forbidden the country’s students and teachers from wearing the niqab — the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman’s eyes — taking aim at a garment many see as political.

The ban shows a rare point of agreement between Syria’s secular, authoritarian government and the democracies of Europe: Both view the niqab as a potentially destabilizing threat.

“We have given directives to all universities to ban niqab-wearing women from registering,” a government official in Damascus told The Associated Press on Monday.

The order affects both public and private universities and aims to protect Syria’s secular identity, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. Hundreds of primary school teachers who were wearing the niqab at government-run schools were transferred last month to administrative jobs, he added.

The ban, issued Sunday by the Education Ministry, does not affect the hijab, or headscarf, which is far more common in Syria than the niqab’s billowing black robes.

Read the whole hot breaking news

SINGAPORE (AFP) – A British author arrested in Singapore while promoting his book on executions in the city-state was released on bail Tuesday pending further investigations by police.

Alan Shadrake, a 75-year-old freelance journalist, told AFP at a police complex that he was freed after a local activist posted bail of 10,000 Singapore dollars (47,000 pounds) for him.

“I’m feeling pretty shaken at the moment,” he said.

Shadrake, who divides his time between neighbouring Malaysia and Britain, is facing charges of criminal defamation and contempt of court, which are punishable by jail and fines.

The case is to be heard in court on July 30, his lawyer M. Ravi said.

Read the whole hot breaking news

ATHENS, Greece – A Greek journalist was gunned down in a pre-dawn attack outside his home Monday by suspected members of a Greek terrorist group that had vowed to target the media, police said.

At least two attackers fired 16 shots at 37-year-old Sokratis Giolias, killing him instantly after luring him from his home Athens’ eastern neighborhood of Ilioupoli, reportedly by telling him his car was being stolen.

Giolias headed the private Athens radio station Thema FM and wrote on a popular online news blog, Troktiko, which often deals with political, business and social scandals.

The blog said two or three gunmen were believed to have shot Giolias, who was married with a young child. Police said they believe more than one gunman was involved. A car reported stolen was found burned out near the scene of the shooting, said police, who are investigating whether it was linked to the attack.

Sixteen bullet casings recovered from the scene matched two 9-millimeter weapons used by the Greek terrorist group Sect of Revolutionaries, police said in a statement.

Read the whole hot breaking news