Zuma faces another no-confidence vote Feb 22
Oklahoma state Rep. Rick West poses for a photo in the House chamber at the Capitol in Oklahoma City. ITALIAN PREMIER Paolo Gentiloni has condemned the drive-by shooting spree targeting African immigrants in the central Italian city of Macerata, saying “Hatred and violence will not succeed in dividing us.”
Gentiloni said yesterday that “One thing is certain, that horrendous crimes and criminal behaviour will be prosecuted and punished. This is the law.”
According to Gentiloni, Italy would be “particularly severe against whoever thinks of nourishing this spiral of violence,” adding “we will stop it together”.
An Italian man who has been politically active with the antimigrant Northern League has been arrested in the drive-by shootings that wounded six people.
The suspected gunman, who reportedly shot six African foreigners in the Italian city of Macerata, has been identified as Luca Traini, a 28-year-old Italian with no previous record.
The news agency ANSA reported that Traini had run as a candidate for the anti-migrant Northern League in a local election last year in the city of Corridonia. He did not win.
A video posted by the newspaper il Resto di Carlino showed a man with an Italian flag draped over his shoulders being arrested by armed officers a short distance from where he apparently fled his car on foot.
Italian news reports said the man did a Fascist salute as he was arrested, but no salute was visible in the video. JOHANNESBURG (AP): SOUTH AFRICA’S parliament will vote on a motion of no confidence in embattled President Jacob Zuma on February 22, the parliamentary speaker said last Friday, in an escalation of pressure on the leader to resign after a series of scandals.
Parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete decided to hold the vote in response to a request from the Economic Freedom Fighters, an opposition party that has often disrupted proceedings in parliament because of corruption allegations against the president.
While Zuma has survived similar votes in parliament, many former allies in the ruling African National Congress party have since abandoned him and are pushing for his replacement by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, the new party leader, who in recent days, has delivered hard-hitting messages about the fight against corruption.
ANC leaders have been considering terms of an early exit for Zuma but previously have been uncomfortable with the idea of an oppositionsponsored vote of no confidence that would embarrass the ruling party.
On the other hand, Zuma has become a liability and many members want the president to leave soon so the ANC, in power since the end of apartheid in 1994, can rebuild ahead of 2019 elections.
Zuma has been embroiled in scandals, including multimillion-dollar upgrades to his private home with state money and his association with the Guptas, a business family accused of looting state enterprises and influencing Cabinet ministers for their own benefit.
Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing, though the president paid back some money for the home upgrades after the Constitutional Court ruled against him. Zuma has been embroiled in scandals.