Kenya opposition leader urges vote boycott, civil disobedience

CAIRO – 26 October 2017: Egypt Today briefs Reuters on Thursday for top, international political issues.

Kenya opposition leader urges vote boycott, civil disobedience
Kenya opposition leader Raila Odinga urged supporters to boycott Thursday's repeat presidential election and persuade their friends to do the same, saying he would lead a campaign of civil disobedience against the government.

Odinga, however, backed away from previous promises to hold large-scale protests on election day. Election officials said the repeat presidential poll would go ahead regardless of Odinga's decision.

The repeat election was ordered by the Supreme Court after judges nullified the results of an August 8 presidential contest over procedural grounds.

Judge rejects bid by 18 U.S. states to revive Obamacare subsidies
A U.S. judge in California on Wednesday refused to block President Donald Trump's decision to end subsidy payments to health insurers under Obamacare, rejecting a request by Democratic attorneys general from 18 U.S. states.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco sided with the Trump administration, saying the government does not have to make the payments while litigation over the subsidies unfolds.

German president tells Putin: We need to work on our ties
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he was unhappy about the state of relations between Moscow and Berlin and that both sides needed to work to improve it.

The first visit to Russia by a German president since 2010 occurred with relations still strained over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and a pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, as well as German accusations of Russian meddling in its politics, something Moscow denies.

Italian government wins first confidence vote on electoral law
The Italian government won an initial confidence vote in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday on a new electoral law that looks unlikely to produce a clear-cut result at national elections due by next May.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has called five confidence motions in the upper house Senate on the reform and hopes to get the package approved by Thursday, despite furious opposition from the anti-system 5-Star Movement and small leftist groups.

The initial motion was approved by 150 votes to 61. Around 100 senators did not take part in the vote.