Miami, United States | AFP | On Valentine’s Day of last year, a 19-year-old armed with a military-style assault rifle walked into his old high school in Parkland, Florida and slaughtered 17 people. That spasm in America’s epidemic of gun violence gave new impetus to the debate on controlling firearms, …
Read More »From saviour to mafia-fighter: girl power comes to Berlin filmfest
Berlin, Germany | AFP | With strong female lead roles from a saviour of street kids to a fiery mafia-fighter and an inspiring figure with Down Syndrome, directors have given girl power a firm place at this year’s Berlin film festival. Films at the event, which is also welcoming an …
Read More »Airbus pulls plug on costly A380 superjumbo
Paris, France | AFP | European aerospace giant Airbus said Thursday it would end production of the A380 superjumbo, the double-decker jet which earned plaudits from passengers but failed to win over enough airlines to justify its massive costs. The firm said it would stop deliveries in 2021 of the A380, …
Read More »Global unemployment down, but too many working poor
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The global unemployment rate inched down last year, the UN said Wednesday, warning though that jobs often failed to guarantee decent living, with some 700 million workers wallowing in poverty. Unemployment around the world fell last year to 5.0 percent — from 5.1 percent in …
Read More »El Chapo’ leaves a void in his Mexican hometown
Badiraguato, Mexico | AFP | The downfall of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has done little to diminish his drug cartel’s power, but locals say it has had a devastating effect in one place: his remote and lawless hometown, Badiraguato. “El Chapo” was born 61 years ago in this small, dusty …
Read More »FEBRUARY 6: Ocheng motion sails through, gun takes over
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | For at least 33 years, February 6 is celebrated annually to mark the day Yoweri Museveni waged a five-year civil war that brought him to power in January 1986. But Tarehe Sita, as the day is popularly known, is linked to another historical event, 53 …
Read More »No-deal Brexit ‘could cost 600,000 jobs worldwide’: study
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | A British departure from the European Union without a deal could put 600,000 jobs around the world at risk, with Germany the hardest hit, a study published Monday found. Researchers at the IWH institute in Halle, eastern Germany, examined what would happen if UK …
Read More »Wanted: Genuine oil investors
How pressure on oil refinery, pipeline pushed Uganda to agree to end secret deals Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | For ten years, civil society has been trying and failing to push the government to join the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global mechanism that requires governments and companies …
Read More »New French study explores risks of ultra-processed food
Washington, United States | AFP | A major French study published Monday has found for the first time a link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and a higher risk of death, but researchers warned more work was needed to determine which mechanisms were at play. The study, which involved …
Read More »AI system spots childhood disease like a doctor
Paris, France | AFP | An artificial intelligence (AI) programme developed in China that combs through test results, health records and even handwritten notes diagnosed childhood diseases as accurately as doctors, researchers said Monday. From the flu and asthma to life-threatening pneumonia and meningitis, the system consistently matched or out-performed primary …
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