Africans quiet as the EU builds an invisible but vicious wall of torture, slavery and blood in the deserts of North Africa | Hussein Lumumba Amin | Many African refugees, including women and toddlers, drowned recently after their boat capsized in the vast Mediterranean Sea. They were attempting to migrate …
Read More »Sweden rejects Chinese embezzlement extradition request
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Sweden’s top court on Tuesday rejected a Beijing extradition request for a Chinese man accused of economic crimes because of risks of persecution and the death penalty in China. Qiao Jianjun, a former official of the Chinese state grain administration, is wanted by Beijing under a …
Read More »A waste of good wine? Non! Spitting is essential to tasting
Paris, France | AFP | Spitting is frowned upon in polite society — unless of course the spitter is engaged in tasting wines. “It’s by spitting out the wine that you will be even more distinguished in society,” pleads Pierre-Jules Peyrat, a Paris sommelier. Holding forth before a rapt crowd at …
Read More »Calls for unity in Ethiopia’s Tigray as anti-Abiy sentiment swells
Mekele, Ethiopia | AFP | In his cramped studio, Ethiopian reggae singer Solomon Yikunoamlak plucks his guitar and reads over his latest ballad, a strident call for unity in his native Tigray during a time of national upheaval. It is unusual material for an artist who rose to fame singing love …
Read More »Nigeria’s ‘Computer Village’
And lessons on what it takes to help small firms thrive | Oluseye Jegede | Nigeria’s Otigba Computer Village is arguably the biggest information, communications technology (ICT) market in Africa. It started off as a one-man business on a street called “Otigba” in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. Within …
Read More »National health insurance scheme
Is it targeting the wrong people? Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Falling ill and having to visit a healthcare facility is a frightening experience for most people. Feeling anxious, uncertain and maybe even helpless is common even among people living in countries with highly developed care. In Uganda, a …
Read More »How conspiracy theories followed man to the Moon
Paris, France | AFP | It was the biggest piece of supposed fake news before the term “fake news” was even invented. Millions of people across the world still believe that no one has ever walked on the Moon, and that the images that NASA broadcast in July 1969 were shot …
Read More »Fury over Murchison Falls
Govt proposal to build a sixth power dam on the Nile kicks up storm Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Murchison Falls, one of River Nile’s remaining spectacular waterfalls tops the “bucket list” of iconic sceneries in Uganda that hundreds of thousands of tourists covet when they visit the country. …
Read More »Fight over UTL
The powerful people behind Bemanya Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL) looks like a typical company in shambles. In April 2017 it run to court to block a petition seeking to wound it up partly owing to Shs709 billion debts it had accumulated over the years. …
Read More »Heatwave adds to the woes of migrants stranded Bosnia
Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina | AFP | Stranded in Bosnia, thousands of migrants face yet one more hurdle on their journey towards the European Union: the scorching summer heat in the Balkans. Under a leaden sky, Saleh Alhasan and his friends hurry to reach the shade of the woods after failing …
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