Free Republic

News has a way of following U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson — even when he travels overseas. The bombastic lawmaker from Orlando was in the Niger capital this week when military officials overthrew President Mamadou Tandja in a show of force. Tandja has dissolved key government institutions in a bid to stay in power indefinitely. “He was very close to the action; he heard the gunfire” said Todd Jurkowski, a Grayson spokesman. He said the freshman Democrat already was on his way back to the United States and should land sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Jurkowski said Grayson’s stay in...

Niger's President Mamadou Tandja was detained by mutinous troops on Thursday after a coup in the west African uranium exporter that left at least three soldiers dead, military sources said. Three Nigerian military sources said the coup was led by a soldier named Major Adamou Harouna. "The coup leader has succeeded. It is being led by Major Adamou Harouna," one source said. The president and the ministers are being detained not far from the presidential palace, the sources added. Earlier in the day plumes of smoke were seen rising from the palace after soldiers attacked the building where Tandja was...