Des Moines, United States | AFP |  Iowa is proud of its time-honored role as the first US state to vote when America starts picking presidential candidates. This time it even instituted new rules it said would make things more transparent. But Monday night’s voting could not have gone worse …

  Lilongwe, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, 79, is a former Washington law professor whose second successive election victory was declared invalid on Monday over widespread polling irregularities. (read full judgment bottom) He won his first term in a closely contested poll in 2014, two years after …

Judges driven to court in a military armoured vehicle Lilongwe, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s constitutional court on Monday ordered new elections after annulling the results of a vote that re-elected President Peter Mutharika in May, citing widespread irregularities. (read full judgment bottom) “We hold that the first respondent (Mutharika) …

Entebbe, Uganda | AFP | Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday held talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and called for the opening of missions in each others’ countries, during a visit aimed at boosting ties. Netanyahu last visited Uganda in July 2016 to mark the 40th anniversary of a hostage …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament want the new Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) curriculum halted over concerns that vital subjects have been made optional, and that wide consultations have not been done. The Ministry of Education through the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), has revised the …

Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Efforts to eliminate the Foot and Mouth Disease-FMD in Sembabule district could fail due to failure to fully enforce a cattle quarantine. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries imposed a quarantine on the district last year following reported cases of FMD. However, …

Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Benjamin Netanyahu is in Uganda, his second visit as Prime Minister of Israel in four years. He was received at Entebbe Airport by Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda and state minster for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryema on Monday morning. He is in Uganda …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of Local Government Rapheal Magyezi has called for the end of the creation of new administrative structures, saying they have broadened the funding gaps at levels of government. According to the minister, local leaders and parliamentarians should instead be focusing on creation …

Rubaga, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Kampala Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga has issued a decree to guide in the proper celebration of Eucharist, as well as introducing work contracts for Priests, in new sweeping changes. The Director Social Communications Department of Kampala Archdiocese Fr Joseph Mukasa Nkeera, has since …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda agreed a deal on Sunday to swap prisoners to help ease tensions following mutual accusations of spying and political meddling. In the deal signed on Sunday by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni in the Angolan capital Luanda, the …