Tihany, Hungary | AFP | When Hungary’s former leader Miklos Nemeth first started poking a hole through the Iron Curtain in 1989, he had no idea how quickly his actions would contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in central and eastern Europe. In an …
Read More »UK opposition seeks to oust PM to avoid no-deal Brexit
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Jeremy Corbyn urged anti-Boris Johnson MPs to make him Britain’s caretaker prime minister to avoid a no-deal Brexit — but his proposal met with a mixed response on Thursday. The Labour main opposition leader said once in power, he would seek to delay Britain’s October …
Read More »Disgraced Cardinal Pell appeal verdict due next week
Sydney, Australia | AFP | Judges will rule next week on Australian Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his conviction on multiple child sex abuse charges, court officials announced Thursday. Pell, 78, the former Vatican number three, was sentenced in March to six years in prison for sexually assaulting two choirboys in …
Read More »As troops pull out, Ukraine frontline village fears for future
Stanytsya Luganska, Ukraine | AFP | While Ukrainian troops were stationed in her village, Anna felt safe despite living on the frontline of a war that has claimed thousands of lives over the last five years. But since they started to withdraw two months ago from Stanytsya Luganska, eastern Ukraine, she …
Read More »Russians hail ‘hero’ pilot after Moscow emergency landing
Moscow, Russia | AFP | A Russian pilot was being hailed as a hero on Thursday for landing an Airbus carrying more than 230 people in a Moscow corn field after a bird strike. The Ural Airlines A321 flying to Crimea hit a flock of seagulls shortly after take-off from Moscow’s …
Read More »Trump on summer vacation but not in summery mood
Berkeley Heights, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump is on summer vacation. Just don’t call it that. “It’s never a vacation,” he said before leaving the White House last Friday for the 10-day non-vacation at his luxury golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The former real estate dealer …
Read More »NASA descends on Icelandic lava field to prepare for Mars
The Lambahraun lava field, Iceland | AFP | To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun …
Read More »Secret Russia weapon project: gamechanger or PR stunt?
Paris, France | AFP | A deadly explosion at a Russian testing site has focused attention on President Vladimir Putin’s bid to build a nuclear-powered missile that the Kremlin hopes would give Moscow the edge in a new arms race. Western experts have linked the blast at the Nyonoksa test site …
Read More »Fossil fuels? Plastic? Trump says more is better
Monaca, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump has seen the future and it is oil. And plastic. Where most environmental scientists and most US allies fear that overuse of fossil fuels is driving the planet into crisis, the US president spies only opportunity. In a speech on Tuesday to …
Read More »Global measles cases triple year-on-year
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Measles cases nearly tripled globally during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2018, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, amid growing concern over public resistance to the vaccine. So far this year, 364,808 measles cases were reported around …
Read More »
The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price