London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Major oil producers except Mexico agreed to cut output in May and June by 10 million barrels per day, OPEC said Friday, after marathon talks to counter a collapse in prices. The agreement, which reduces production to eight million bpd from July to December, depends …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Church doors will be shut and the Vatican sealed off when Pope Francis leads 1.3 billion Catholics in Easter Sunday celebrations held under a worldwide coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose toll has unrelentingly climbed towards 100,000 are …

Bujumbura, Burundi | AFP |  In Burundi, the delayed arrival of coronavirus was attributed to “God’s protection”. Now that the country has three cases, authorities again see divine intervention at work and little reason to interrupt everyday life. The ruling party has sought to reassure Burundians they need not worry about …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the Security Council on Thursday to display unity as it met to discuss what he called the “fight of a generation” — the global coronavirus pandemic. “A signal of unity and resolve from the Council would count for …

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Ugandans are embracing virtual collaboration to foster continuity of programmes amid a lockdown that affected the day to day lifestyles and routines in the world of work.    This follows a ban on public gatherings declared by the government as one of the measures to …

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Buganda Road Magistrates Court has today remanded Francis Nayebare, a former member of National Crime Preventers Forum to prison on charges of illegal possession of government stores. It is alleged that between April 5-6th, 2020 Nayebare was found in possession of a pair of handcuffs …

Busia, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  Several patients were turned away from Buhehe Health Center III in Buhehe Sub-county in Busia district on Tuesday due to lack of national identity cards. Dr. Florence Mugala, the Buhehe Health Center III in Charge, explains that they turned away patients without National identity …

Athens, Greece | AFP |  As coronavirus forces billions of people around the world into lockdown, another sizeable population has also been hard hit — stray animals. While pet owners in many countries are still allowed to walk their dogs, thousands of other animals — the exact numbers are unknown — …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  A year after one of Africa’s longest serving leaders, Omar al-Bashir, was ousted from power in the face of mass street protests, Sudan is still reeling from daunting crises including deep economic woes. Bashir was overthrown on April 11, 2019 by the military, which was responding …

Madrid, Spain | AFP |  In the week leading to Easter Sunday, hundreds of colourful processions featuring penitents in cone-shaped hoods and centuries-old religious floats traditionally flood the streets of villages and cities across Spain. But with a nationwide lockdown in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, Spaniards are finding …