Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Julius Businge  | The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has donated 5, 000 coronavirus testing kits, reagents and accessories worth Shs381million to the Ministry of Health, it said on April 21. Officials said that part of this money (Shs60million) has been contributed voluntarily by individual …

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP |  Fears that cash-rich corporate raiders could use the coronavirus crisis to swoop on weakened European firms were perhaps best exemplified by Donald Trump’s alleged bid for a German biotech firm working on a vaccine. The outrage that followed has spurred fresh action by European …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Ten years after an oil spill that BP’s new boss Bernard Looney admits tested the company “to the core”, the firm is facing two existential challenges: the collapse of prices and climate change. It was a decade ago this week that an explosion on the …

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  A Ugandan who passed away in Dubai and whose body was repatriated into the country was an accident and not COVID-19 victim , Ministry of Health has clarified. The Director-General of Health Services Dr Henry Mwebesa says that the person whose body was repatriated from …

Soroti, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Local leaders in Teso have welcomed President Yoweri Museveni’s decision to suspend aerial spraying of desert locusts in preference for the ground spray. Museveni, in his address to the nation on Sunday, alluded that ground spraying by soldiers using hand sprayers and motorized pumps was …

Jinja, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Several divers from the Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF marine unit have been deployed to assess the extent of silting in Lake Victoria and River Nile; days after a floating island affected the operations of Nalubaale, Kiira and Bujjagali power dams.  The divers, who started their …

Washington, United States | AFP |  President Donald Trump partially blocked immigration to the United States “to protect American workers” from the economic shock of the coronavirus, as the United Nations warned the world was facing “a humanitarian catastrophe”. The UN alarm bell came as nations scrambled to not only fight …

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  A move by parliament to receive submissions from a section of legislators via video conferencing was on Tuesday afternoon interrupted by technical glitches prompting a halt of their submissions on the Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Parliament has since last week reduced the number of …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Italy’s Prime Minister said on Tuesday that by the weekend he would reveal the steps the country will take to loosen restrictions, reopen the economy and emerge from the coronavirus crisis. Italy, which has reported more coronavirus deaths than any other European country, has been under …

Kalungu, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Education authorities in Kalungu district have resolved to use megaphones also known as Bizindalo to reach out to learners because of the COVID19 lock down. David Bbaale, the Kalungu District Education Officer, says whereas the mainstream broadcasting platforms including television and radio stations are doing their best …