Kampala, Uganda | NIC CHEESEMAN | Africa is often imagined to be a place in which presidents can do whatever they want, unencumbered by constitutional or democratic constraints. A large body of literature has developed around the idea that the law can be flouted at will, leading to a situation …
Read More »Children and violent films
Watching violence on screens makes children more emotionally distressed Kampala, Uganda | CAROLINE FITZPATRICK | Researcher at Concordia’s PERFORM center and Assistant Professor of Psychology, Université Sainte-Anne Children today can access media through both traditional devices, like televisions, and portable devices like laptops and tablets. With more access, children are …
Read More »Zimbabwe: months of protests against high prices
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Several months of protests in Zimbabwe over shortages of basic goods, inflation and the depreciation of the local currency have escalated into riots after the government doubled the price of fuel. In power since the fall of Robert Mugabe in November 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa …
Read More »Negotiating infrastructure deals with China
Four things African governments need to get right Kampala, Uganda | FOLASHADE SOULE | You don’t negotiate with China!” I was quickly told when I started interviewing African public servants about their infrastructure deals with Beijing. There is a widespread view in Africa that you accept whatever terms are offered, for fear that …
Read More »Abloh’s catwalk thriller in Michael Jackson-themed Vuitton show
Paris, France | AFP | Virgil Abloh paid tribute to Michael Jackson — a fellow African American from the Midwest whose “prodigious talent catapulted him to unparalleled fame” — in his Louis Vuitton show Thursday at Paris men’s fashion week. The designer — the first African American ever to lead …
Read More »Ex Trump lawyer Cohen says paid man to rig online polls
New York, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen admitted Thursday that he paid a man in 2015 to rig online opinion polls to favor Trump as he began running for the presidency. Cohen confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that in early 2015 he …
Read More »African growth strong but unemployment high: AfDB
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Africa’s strong growth will accelerate in 2019 but fail to roll back high unemployment and poverty, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said Thursday. The continent’s gross domestic product expanded by 3.5 percent in 2018 after 3.6 percent in 2017 and should reach 4.0 percent …
Read More »Sudan at UN hears calls to respect demonstrators’ rights
United Nations, United States | AFP | Sudan faced calls from Western powers at the UN Security Council on Thursday to respect the rights of anti-government demonstrators and investigate violence that has left at least 24 dead. The council was meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region …
Read More »10 years after Obama, race still agitating US politics
Washington, United States | AFP | Barack Obama’s trailblazing presidency, a first for an African-American, began 10 years ago Sunday, a historic moment that some believed ushered in a post-racial America. But given the racial politics amplified in the era of successor Donald Trump, the hope and change of 2009 …
Read More »Zimbabwe activist in court for ‘subversion’ after protests
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean activist Evan Mawarire appeared in court in Harare on Thursday to face subversion charges as authorities cracked down on anti-government protests in which doctors say 68 people suffered gunshot wounds. Nationwide demonstrations erupted on Monday after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that fuel prices were …
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