Paris, France | AFP | Neymar called the decision that led to Paris Saint-Germain being dumped out of the Champions League a “disgrace”, while elsewhere on Wednesday Roma were left raging — both clubs are out of Europe and both feel cheated by controversial VAR calls. “It’s a disgrace. They …
Read More »Trump asks for Republican loyalty ahead of border wall vote
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump urged Republican party rebels on Wednesday not to support Democrats voting to scrap his invocation of emergency powers for funding US-Mexico border wall construction. “STAY UNITED!” Trump tweeted ahead of a Senate vote in which four Republicans are expected to break ranks …
Read More »Ebola response in DR Congo ‘failing’ to contain outbreak: MSF
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Efforts to curb the Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst Ebola outbreak are stumbling, medical charity MSF warned Thursday, blaming the role of the security forces in the response and their “toxic” relations with local communities. Seven months into the outbreak, “the Ebola response is failing to …
Read More »UBL joins Women’s Day celebrations with new initiative
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | In commemoration of Women’s Day for this year, Uganda Breweries Limited has unveiled a new programme targeting fresh graduates or completing undergraduates whose background is in science technology, engineering and math (STEM). Dubbed ‘women’s day recruitment program’, it has an objective of offering a hands-on experience …
Read More »Foreign aid fuels African media’s pay problem
Development agencies fork out vast sums to sway African journalists to ensure coverage will be positive COMMENT | Prue Clarke | At a recent press conference, a small group of Liberian journalists made a courageous admission: they confessed they were all “on the take.” To supplement salaries as low …
Read More »Tyres of the future
They will be smart and communicate A recent article in Autocar noted how tyre manufacturers sometimes come up with wacky-sounding concepts. But, it said, one idea consistently touted has been the value of smart tyres that can communicate their condition and wear status. It described a Smart Tire; with treads …
Read More »DR Congo’s Tshisekedi, ex-president agree to form coalition
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo’s recently elected president, Felix Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila on Wednesday said they had decided to form a coalition government following talks. Despite Tshisekedi’s election — the first peaceful transition of power since the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 — the …
Read More »Understanding Uganda’s economic stagnation
A comparative look at Museveni’s economic performance against other long-serving leaders in the region COMMENT | Alan M. Collins | The word “stagnation” often follows the word “economic”, followed by period, decline, and unemployment according the British National Corpus, which collects samples of spoken and written English. In the same …
Read More »HIV hiding in cells
It can now be measured. But are we closer to a cure? The road to a cure for HIV is long, winding, and with no definite end in sight. That said, a new study published in January in the journal Nature is shedding light on a way to measure what …
Read More »Zuckerberg sees Facebook future in private, small-scale messaging
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook is moving away from being a “digital town square” to meet growing demands for secure, private messaging on a smaller scale, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday as he outlined a broad vision for transforming the world’s biggest social network. Zuckerberg’s announcement signals a strategic shift for …
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