United Nations, United States | AFP | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday bemoaned the failure to heed his call for a ceasefire in conflicts around the world to aid the fight against COVID-19. “A global ceasefire would create conditions for a stronger response to the pandemic and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the …

Paris, France | AFP | As more governments turn to tracing apps in the fight against the coronavirus, a deep-rooted tension between the need for public health information and privacy rights has been thrust into the spotlight. Track-and-trace technology is being touted as a silver bullet that will allow economies to …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed a 750-billion-euro post-virus recovery fund for Europe and urged sceptical member states to back it. The global coronavirus outbreak has already thrust the EU into its deepest ever recession, and Von der Leyen’s proposal would help …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Imagine the body’s instruction manual, the genome: here words are genes, letters are DNA, and the equivalent of typos can have disastrous consequences. In recent years, scientists have grown increasingly fluent in the language of genome, but much remains mysterious, including the function of many of …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | The president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, hit back on Wednesday at accusations of corruption and vowed to continue working. In a press statement, Adesina slammed “unprecedented attempts by some to tarnish my reputation” and declared “I will… continue to work with …

Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to shutter social media platforms after Twitter for the first time acted against his false tweets, prompting the enraged Republican to double down on unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories. Twitter tagged just two of Trump’s tweets in which he’d …

Washington, United States | AFP | The US Congress was set Wednesday to authorize sanctions against Chinese officials over the mass incarceration of Uighur Muslims, ramping up pressure in another front in the Pacific powers’ troubled relationship. The US House of Representatives will vote later Wednesday on a final version of …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Singer Edirisa Musuuza also known as Eddie Kenzo has petitioned Parliament seeking government’s intervention to have him evacuated from Ivory Coast. Kenzo has been held up for the last two months due to the closure of borders occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kenzo left …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients suffered significant organ damage after treatment, a  study by researchers from Makerere University has indicated. The study conducted in April involved 56 patients who were being treated at Mulago and Entebbe hospitals. The scientists found 12.8 percent of the patients to …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The quality of coffee from a lot of farmers will likely be compromised as many who failed to get buyers to take their produce decided to heap it in their homes. This is according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) managing director Emmanuel …