Ex-Credit Suisse CEO Thiam Fights Ivory Coast Vote Ban in Court
Ivory Coast's main opposition party appealed a court ruling that disqualified former Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam from running in this year's presidential election.
An Abidjan court last week removed Thiam from the voters' roll before elections in October because of his dual French-Ivorian nationality. The decision came days after Thiam, 62, was chosen as the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast's candidate.
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4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Marc Garneau died after 'short but very difficult battle' with cancer, former staffer says
Marc Garneau died this week after being diagnosed with two types of cancer earlier this year, his former staffer says. The first Canadian to travel to space and former cabinet minister died on Wednesday. He was 76. Marc Roy, Garneau's former chief of staff, told CBC's Power & Politicsthat the former minister had been diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia earlier this year. "He fought a short but very difficult battle with two very rare types of cancer," Roy told host David Cochrane. "Although his diagnosis was only a couple of months ago, he was well until four or five weeks ago. So it went very, very quickly … it's a very, very tough loss." Roy said Garneau only shared his diagnosis with a small circle that agreed to respect his wish for privacy. "[It was] something he wanted to keep with his family so he could concentrate on his time with his family and not distract his family by the attention it could have gotten," Roy said. WATCH | It's a tragic loss,' says former chief of staff: Beyond his legacy as an astronaut, Garneau held a number of federal cabinet positions since 2015, including in transport and foreign affairs. Roy said Garneau was "tremendous" to work for as he reflected on his time in politics. "It's a huge loss to government. I think that his years in Ottawa are filled with many contributions to improving safety and expanding policy. I think he will be remembered for that for decades to come," Roy said. The House of Commons held another moment of silence for Garneau on Thursday and MPs took time to pay tribute to their former colleague. "He reminded us that Canadians can dream big, that we could aim for the stars quite literally," Government House leader Steve MacKinnon said. "He became a powerful symbol of the achievement and the accomplishment of this great country of ours." Like MacKinnon, other MPs reflected on how Garneau inspired Canadians. "Mr. Garneau, the future will always be inspired by your life, which was so inspiring for all Canadians," Conservative MP Gérard Deltell said in French. WATCH | Garneau's 'extraordinary ride': Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin said Garneau paved the way for other Canadians to journey to space, including Chris Hadfield and Julie Payette. "He showed us the way to the stars," Fortin said in French. Fighting back tears, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said it was hard to say goodbye to "someone who was unfailingly kind [and] unfailingly respectful." "We've lost a very great human being, and to his entire family: my deepest condolences and sympathy — and know that in that space where he looks down at planet Earth now, I think it's a place called heaven."
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Syria's Sharaa: from jihadist to statesman
From wanted jihadist to statesman embraced by world leaders, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has undergone a stunning transformation in just six months since ousting longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad. Born in 1982, Sharaa abandoned his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, trimmed his thick beard and swapped fatigues for a suit and tie since his Islamist coalition of forces seized Damascus on December 8. He was proclaimed interim president the following month, and later tasked with leading his country through a five-year transitional period under a temporary constitution that experts and rights groups said concentrates power in his hands. Appearing calm and soft-spoken, Sharaa has sought to shed many of the attributes that once defined him. Gone is the shadowy persona associated with a single mugshot released at the height of the US-led war in Iraq following his capture there by American forces. Videos posted online in recent weeks have shown him, a tall man, playing basketball in a shirt and tie alongside his foreign minister. Others show him driving his car in Damascus, or eating in a working-class restaurant to cheers from passers-by. "I think he has succeeded in his transformation," said Jerome Drevon, a specialist in Islamist militancy at the International Crisis Group. In a matter of months, Sharaa has visited Europe and been "accepted on the whole in the (Middle East) region -- even by countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia that are not at all supporters of Islamists, much less jihadists", he added. The reception Sharaa has received demonstrates "a real recognition of the new authorities", he told AFP. - 'No alternative' - On Sharaa's first trip to the West last month, he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Just a week later during a trip to Riyadh, he shook hands with US President Donald Trump who announced Washington would lift sanctions on Syria, a triumph for the new authorities. Trump described Sharaa as a "young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter." Sharaa remains under United Nations sanctions and a travel ban, and must request an exemption for all foreign trips. Drevon said that Arab and Western countries had made a pragmatic choice by supporting the young leader. "There are still security problems, there are tensions inside the country, but I think that most foreign countries recognise that right now, there is no alternative," he said. Sharaa has set up in what was once Assad's presidential palace overlooking Damascus, receiving a steady stream of senior foreign officials. During a Muslim holiday around two months ago, he and his wife Latifa al-Droubi, who now appears with him in public on occasion, welcomed Syrian orphans there. While seeking to distance himself from his guerrilla past, he has sought to extract political capital from his rebel roots. Last week, he presided over a cabinet meeting, saying: "We came to power through revolution -- we aren't used to luxurious palaces." "Until two years ago, I didn't even have an office. We used to meet in the car, on the street, under an olive tree," he added, referring to his time in the former rebel bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria. - 'Pragmatic radical' - In January, authorities announced the dissolution of all armed groups, including Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the lightning offensive that toppled Assad. HTS was known as the Al-Nusra Front before it broke ties with the Al-Qaeda jihadist network in 2016. Sharaa is "a pragmatic radical", said Thomas Pierret, a specialist in political Islam. Born in Saudi Arabia, Sharaa is from a well-to-do Syrian family and was raised in Damascus's upscale Mazzeh district. He started studying medicine but then became associated with underground Islamist circles. Following the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq in 2003, he and other Syrians crossed the border to join what they saw as a resistance to foreign occupation. He joined Al-Qaeda there, and was subsequently detained for five years. In March 2011, when the revolt against Assad's rule erupted in Syria, Sharaa returned home and founded the Al-Nusra Front. A realist in his partisans' eyes, an opportunist to his adversaries, Sharaa said in May 2015 that he had no intention of launching attacks against the West -- unlike his adversaries in the Islamic State jihadist group. In 2017, Sharaa imposed a merger with HTS on rival Islamist groups in northwestern Syria, claiming control of swathes of Idlib province. HTS went on to develop a civil administration in the area, amid accusations of brutal abuses against those who dared dissent. sk-lar-at/lg/ser
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Arkansas governor announces overseas trade mission
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders emerges from the cabin of a Falcon 8X jet on Dec. 12, 2023, that was used as backdrop for an announcement by Dassault Falcon Jet CEO Thierry Betbeze that the French company would invest 'tens of millions' in its Little Rock facility and add 800 jobs (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate) Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will travel to Europe this month for an overseas trade mission that will include stops in France and Switzerland, according to a Thursday press release from her office. Sanders' trip, which is scheduled for June 14-19, will include appearances at a Paris Air Show panel hosted by the Aerospace Industries Association and a fireside chat organized by the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce. The governor's first stop is Normandy to honor fallen soldiers, including U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews whose remains were recently identified and will be laid to rest in Arkansas on June 9. She'll continue on to the Paris Air Show to meet with aerospace and defense companies, and then to Switzerland to discuss 'investing in Arkansas with several large corporations,' according to the release. 'International trade missions are a great way to pitch Arkansas to companies that might not otherwise have our state on their radar and have a proven track record of bringing in jobs and investment,' Sanders said in a statement. The governor's visit to the Farnborough International Airshow in England last summer helped secure Taber Extrusions' $60 million, 70 job expansion in Russellville, according to the release. During her trip to the Paris Air Show in 2023, Sanders' discussions helped facilitate Dassault Falcon Jet's $100 million, 800 job expansion in Little Rock and RTX's new $33 million manufacturing facility in East Camden, which was later expanded to a $63 million investment. The governor's 2023 Paris trip also led to what became known as Lecterngate. A series of public information requests submitted that summer by a blogger investigating Sanders' travel expenses revealed a state-issued credit card was used to purchase a $19,000 lectern and carrying case from a Virginia-based company with political ties to Sanders. The discovery prompted lawmakers to request an audit, which found several instances of 'potential noncompliance' with state law. The report was sent to the Arkansas attorney general and Pulaski County's prosecuting attorney, the latter of whom declined to pursue charges. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
