Sydney, Australia | AFP | Foreigners in Australia on working holidays face paying a 15 percent levy on every dollar they earn after the government Monday compromised on a controversial “backpacker tax”, dumping plans for a higher rate. Canberra had initially sought a revenue-raising 32.5 percent tax for seasonal workers …
Read More »Don’t sleep on it: going to bed mad makes it worse
Paris, France | AFP | A good night’s sleep may reinforce negative memories in the brain, researchers said on Tuesday, lending scientific credence to the time-worn caution against going to bed angry. Slipping into slumber while holding on to a freshly-formed bad memory engraves it in the brain, making it …
Read More »South Africa’s Zuma survives attempted ousting
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma survived an attempt to oust him from office only after a “robust” and “difficult” debate within the ruling ANC party, an official said Tuesday. Zuma has been weakened by corruption allegations, but his supporters were taken by surprise at …
Read More »Football mourns as plane crash kills Brazilian players
La Unión, Colombia | AFP | The football world was plunged into mourning Tuesday after a plane carrying a Brazilian team crashed in the mountains in Colombia, killing 75 people with six survivors, officials said. Football legends Pele and Maradona as well as current superstar Lionel Messi led tributes to …
Read More »Rwanda opens probe into French officials’ genocide role
KIGALI, Rwanda | AFP | Rwanda on Tuesday opened a formal probe into 20 French officials suspected of playing a role in the 1994 genocide, in a move likely to further sour diplomatic ties with France. Kigali has long accused France of complicity in the genocide of some 800,000 mostly …
Read More »Cloud hangs over ICC as Ongwen trial starts Dec 6
The trial in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a top commander of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, is scheduled to open at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, December 6 – 2016. The Prosecutor versus Ongwen case will be before Trial Chamber IX of the ICC, composed of presiding Judge …
Read More »Rwenzururu King Mumbere charged with March 2016 murder
The King of the Rwenzururu Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere has been charged today with a March 2016 murder in a Jinja court and remanded in prison until December 13. After his arrest in Kasese on Sunday, Mumbere appeared in public for the first time Tuesday and was charged with murder, …
Read More »FUFA seeks court protection
Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) President Moses Magogo on Tuesday petitioned the High Court in Kampala seeking an injunction against The Registered Trustees of Federation of Uganda Football Association. The group is led by Daniel Walusimbi. Magogo wants Walusimbi and the disgruntled ex-footballers to be blocked from interfering with …
Read More »Burundi president’s spokesman Willy Nyamwite escapes assassination
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A top advisor to Burundi’s president and the most public face of the government, Willy Nyamitwe, has escaped an assassination attempt in the capital Bujumbura which left one of his bodyguards dead, officials said Tuesday. “Thank God, Willy Nyamitwe narrowly escaped an attack…” tweeted Burundi’s …
Read More »Government re-tables NSSF Bill
The government has reintroduced the Retirements Benefits Sector Liberalisation Bill 2011 to Parliament amidst protests from Worker’s members of parliament and trade unionists. The Bill is aimed at ending the monopoly of the National Social Security Fund as the savings body for workers. The Fund is now worth Shs6 trillion. …
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