Bobrovka, Russia | AFP | Anatoly Rubtsov looked despondently at the beehives lining his property. “The farm used to be loud, it sang,” he said.  Today just a faint buzz is audible but an overpowering rotting stench hung in the air after his bees were likely poisoned by a pesticide. Rubtsov, …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will celebrate forty years in power on Saturday, highlighting his status as Africa’s longest-serving head of state. Since he seized control in a 1979 military coup, rights groups have described Obiang Nguema, 77, as one of the continent’s most brutal …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  The 2019/2020 South African Premiership season kicks off Saturday with Mamelodi Sundowns favourites to complete a hat-trick despite uncertainty over the future of multiple title-winning coach Pitso Mosimane. He is reportedly upset that the 2016 CAF Champions League trophy-holders want to hire an unnamed Spanish …

Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II has asked the government to re-engage communities in the quest to restore cooperatives. He said that the cooperative movement was the engine for Uganda’s development in the past and that it needed to be revived to help …

Nakasongola, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Nakasongola District Internal Security Officer Samuel Alasamu Akankwasa is in trouble over alleged vandalism of district vehicles. Nakasongola Central Police Station is investigating the DISO and others for vandalizing cars belonging to Nakasongola district before stealing its parts. On Saturday, Akankwasa narrowly survived being shot …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The government has said it is not worried about the scuffles between the Special Purpose Vehicle Finasi/ROKO as long as the construction of the International Specialized Hospital of Uganda is ongoing. Parliament early this year approved a loan guarantee of 1.4 trillion shillings to Finasi/ROKO, …

Ntoroko, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Residents of Kanara Town Council in Ntoroko district are counting losses after floods ravaged the area. The floods which started on Saturday following a rainstorm, destroyed homes, schools and killed several animals.  Hannifah Kabahweza, one of the affected residents, says that the floods killed 20 …

GAGLIANO DEL CAPO, Italy | AFP | Working in an arid Italian field of crumbly soil, agronomists are battling a rampant bacterium that has already infected millions of olive trees and could threaten the entire Mediterranean basin. Xylella fastidiosa, which has no known cure, has devastated ancient olive trees in Italy’s …

Jamestown, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied any racist “strategy” behind a string of verbal attacks on African-Americans, but found himself being accused of “hate” by a heckler at a high-profile speech. “I have no strategy. I have zero strategy,” Trump told reporters at the White …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  A section of legislators are concerned that the government is funding the Federation of Uganda Football Associations-FUFA to the disadvantage of other sports associations. The MPs raised concern after the State Sports Minister; Charles Bakkabulindi presented a statement on government funding to the football and netball …