Stuttgart, Germany | AFP | USA gymnastics queen Simone Biles is set to be the undisputed star of the world championships, enhancing her status as the sport’s greatest athlete — even if she does not feel it. “I never really feel like I’m a big name,” she told reporters in …
Read More »Platini free to return to football but Qatar investigation goes on
Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | Former UEFA president Michel Platini is finally free to return to football next week when his four-year ban for ethics violations ends, although he remains linked to a corruption investigation in his home country relating to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The former France …
Read More »Blow as PayPal abandons Facebook-backed Libra cryptocurrency group
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Pioneering digital payments firm PayPal on Friday said it is abandoning an alliance intended to oversee the Facebook-backed Libra cryptocurrency, which has come under attack by regulators. “PayPal has made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra Association at this time,” …
Read More »Mutebile speaks out on ‘Ugandan oil curse’
Borrowing against future oil revenue pushes Uganda to Resource Curse – Mutebile Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Bank of Uganda (BoU) Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile has said the expectation of oil revenues has pushed Uganda to go for more expensive loans to finance infrastructure projects, a precursor for a resource …
Read More »Salah ‘must rest’, says Egyptian coach
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Liverpool star Mohamed Salah “must rest” and will miss Egypt’s friendly against Botswana on October 14, national team coach Hossam El Badry said Thursday. The announcement came days after Salah raised eyebrows by changing his Twitter bio to say he only played for Liverpool, removing …
Read More »Nigeria’s Buhari says anti-migrant attacks ’embarrassment’ for Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday denounced recent xenophobic violence in South Africa as an “embarrassment” for the continent, as he wrapped up a state visit. Buhari’s trip was overshadowed by a spate of recent attacks against foreign workers in South Africa, where …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Hoima and 2021 election battles
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY Hoima and 2021 election battles: Different ways opposition plans to force Museveni out of power THE WEEK Journalism excellence: Ugandan investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja wins BBC Dumor Award ANALYSIS Torture chambers or safe houses?: …
Read More »Uganda’s Kimuli Fashionability joint winners of Greenpreneurs 2019
Seoul, Republic of Korea | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan innovators Kimuli Fashionability are one of the three winners of the 2019 Greenpreneurs Business Pitch Competition. The winners are Kimuli Fashionability that aims to transform waste into up-cycled fashion while providing employment opportunities to people with disabilities; Rento-Rewa (India), an online platform to facilitate the …
Read More »Almost 600 Burundian refugees return home from Tanzania
Gisuru, Burundi | AFP | Nearly 600 Burundians who fled political violence in their home country to Tanzania were on Thursday repatriated voluntarily, the UN refugee agency and witnesses said. The move came after the Tanzanian government vowed that from October 1 it would start repatriating all Burundians, willing or …
Read More »Uganda supports China on Hong Kong protests
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government has said it was concerned with what is happening in Hong Kong. In a statement issued on Friday evening by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uganda says it “firmly supports the One country, two systems policy of the people’s The …
Read More »