Lake Charles, United States | AFP |  As impeachment pressure mounted on Donald Trump, the president left Washington for the second day in a row Friday to rally hardcore supporters in a bid to turn the scandal into fuel for his 2020 reelection. Framing himself as the victim of a plot …

KAHUZI-BIEGA NATIONAL PARK, DR Congo | AFP | Aged almost 17 years, Bonane is an eastern lowland gorilla, a survivor in a critically endangered species reduced to about 250 members in DR Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park. For an hour each day, the gorilla and his dozen-strong family host a handful of …

Hoima, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Police in Kikuube are investigating circumstances under which an employee of Hoima Sugar Limited was hacked to death. Gideon Odaga 37 a casual labourer at Hoima sugar Limited and a resident of Ajinjera village in Zombo district was hacked to death on Friday night by …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) have unveiled a fundraising drive to construct an eight-storied facility worth 30 billion shillings. This is in an effort to strengthen its scientific research, teaching and learning for the growing student population, currently at more than 800, with …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Seydou Seck’s Vespa is 41 years old, but he sits upright and proud on the ancient grey scooter when he heads down Bamako’s Independence Avenue. In a city flooded with cheap, Indonesian-made two-wheelers, the classic Italian-made Vespa has a passionate following. Enthusiasts like Seck reckon several …

Paris, France | AFP |  Belgium became the first team to qualify for the 2020 European Championship finals as Romelu Lukaku scored twice in a 9-0 thrashing of San Marino in Brussels on Thursday, while the Netherlands needed a late comeback to beat Northern Ireland. Lukaku took his record Belgium international …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP |  Britain and Europe’s top Brexit negotiators sit down together Friday to test what British and Irish leaders say might be a “pathway” to a deal. Technical talks on an agreement to govern Britain’s EU divorce are stalled, just days before what had been billed as a …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | “When I started, there was poop in bags everywhere,” said Ricky Ojwang, skillfully navigating a rubbish-strewn canal in Mukuru, a Nairobi slum where he’s worked to improve sanitation since 2012. “People would use bags because there were no toilets, and they would throw them out the …

Oslo, Norway | AFP | Bookies have Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg as the name to beat ahead of Friday’s Nobel Peace Prize announcement, although experts say Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed or a representative of the free press are more likely. Speculation in Norwegian media on the eve of the announcement …

Kasangati, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  A row has erupted between residents of Lusanja and their lawyers over the intended move to appeal against a judgement on the ownership of the appeal from which they are being evicted.   The High Court Land Division in Kampala last Friday ruled in favour of …