Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s influential Catholic bishops said Thursday that they were opposed to fundamental constitutional changes to be voted on in a referendum this month. If passed, the proposed changes could see President Pierre Nkurunziza remain in charge for another 16 years. A statement, signed by 10 …
Read More »With 24-hour outrages, Kanye West masters media moment
New York, United States | AFP | Since re-emerging last month from a yearlong absence, Kanye West has sparked outrage by throwing his lot with Donald Trump and calling slavery a choice. Yet the rapper has succeeded spectacularly in one key goal — staying at the center of attention. If …
Read More »Sexual violence and rebel armies
Study shows why rebels in Burundi and Uganda trained their fighters to scorn sexual coercion Kampala, Uganda | ANGELA MUVUMBA SELLSTROM | War zones and conflict sites are incredibly dangerous for anyone living in them, but women are often particularly vulnerable in these spaces. Consider how, in recent years, Boko Haram …
Read More »After Obama, a Nobel prize for Trump — or not so fast?
Washington, United States | AFP | A decade after Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, could his White House successor Donald Trump follow suit for navigating the thorny North Korean nuclear standoff? The very idea, put forward by a handful of Republican lawmakers in a Wednesday letter nominating the …
Read More »Libya in chaos since overthrow of Kadhafi
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya, where rival authorities and numerous militias are vying for power, fell into chaos after the ouster of strongman Moamer Kadhafi in October 2011. – Kadhafi killed – Kadhafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, is killed on October 20, 2011, as he tries to …
Read More »Rent law: Good intentions, bad incentives for property market
The proposed law will make rent expensive Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | John Kityo has been experiencing some tough times in renting a room for his small business in downtown Kampala. The 30-year old has rented seven different places as a result of sudden rent increments. So when Dr. …
Read More »Tears over dead lions
But pressure over resources remains between people and beasts in national park Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | The war between man and animal has erupted again, as it often does, in Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. The recent pile of 11 lion carcasses discovered by park rangers in …
Read More »Marx at 200: Germany torn over revolutionary’s legacy
Trier, Germany | AFP | As Germany prepares to mark Karl Marx’s 200th birth anniversary, the revolutionary philosopher’s legacy remains divisive more than a quarter century after the fall of the Berlin Wall. With scars from the Cold War still fresh, people from capitalist former West Germany and the once …
Read More »Outrage after bloody day for Afghan journalists
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Condemnation poured in from across the world Tuesday after 10 journalists were among dozens killed in attacks in Afghanistan, in what the UN described as the “deliberate targeting” of the media. A double suicide blast in Kabul left 25 people dead including AFP photographer Shah …
Read More »Lake Victoria biodiversity being ‘decimated’
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Three quarters of freshwater species endemic to East Africa’s Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction, conservationists said Monday, warning the biodiversity there was being “decimated”. A fresh report backed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed the extinction risk of …
Read More »