NEWS ANALYSIS

COVER STORY | THE INDEPENDENT TEAM |  As the coronavirus pandemic ravages the globe, countries are scrambling to protect citizens financially, cushion businesses and companies, and ensure their economies do not fail from the fallout. This is because the coronavirus pandemic is not only straining the world’s health sector, businesses …

  Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russians, long used to financial and political crises, are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic by bulk-buying the essentials for life in isolation — including condoms. Here are five things they are stocking up on: – Buckwheat – Buckwheat — or grechka as it is …

New Delhi, India | AFP | More than one billion Indians went into lockdown Wednesday, leaving a third of the planet now under orders to stay at home, as the United States vowed to spend $2 trillion to counter the economic harm of the coronavirus. Europe remains at the heart …

Experts advise on best time to jog and best suburbs to live Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | It is not odd to find Kampala’s growing number of fitness buffs jogging around the city’s suburban streets in the late afternoon—between 4-7pm. Every day of the week, they run up and …

This unique community can now fend for itself with newly acquired survival skills Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | The Batwa, a community that originally lived in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, have a better shot at life with the Change A Life Bwindi project where Batwa are learning weaving and other …

How Museveni and his top security agencies executed the plan Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT TEAM | On March 11 President, Yoweri Museveni, called a security meeting at State House, Entebbe, consisting of all heads of intelligence, police and army including the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). He declared that …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Early one morning in Cairo, volunteers paddle their kayaks across the Nile, fishing out garbage from the mighty waterway that gave birth to Egyptian civilisation but now faces multiple threats. Egypt’s lifeline since Pharaonic days and the source of 97 percent of its water is …

Roan antelopes are Africa’s second largest antelope species. Their populations are stable and growing in some African countries, but in others – like Kenya –they’re threatened with extinction. To address this, the Kenya Wildlife Service is launching a recovery plan. Johnstone Kimanzi sheds light on why their numbers are declining …

Their ageing rulers are finding new ways to thwart them | THE INDEPENDENT | One day in January Comlan Hugues Sossoukpe woke before dawn in Lomé, the capital of Togo, and slipped across the frontier to a safe house in Benin. It was only the second time he had been …

The lender will also provide policy and technical advice to ensure countries access global expertise | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | As the world grapples with the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the World Bank Group is making available an initial package of up to US$12 billion in immediate support to assist countries …