Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled a limited cabinet reshuffle Thursday ahead of elections in May when the ruling ANC party will seek to turn around its decline in popularity. In the most significant of three appointments, Siyabonga Cwele, 60, was moved from the …

  Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced a five-percent cut to senior government officials’ salaries on Thursday in a bid to mend the shattered economy. Ncube’s budget also set out plans for the biometric registration of civil servants to weed out “ghost” workers who …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  Ugandan rebels on Thursday fired on a UN helicopter in an attack in the volatile east of DR Congo, though there were no victims, UN sources said. “One of our helicopters was fired on in Semuliki valley by rebels — we reacted in legitimate …

Behind ADF attacks: UPDF deploys at Uganda-DR Congo border Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY Behind ADF attacks: UPDF deploys at Uganda-DR Congo border THE LAST WORD Role of trust in prosperity: Why many Ugandans are stuck in poverty and …

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Agriculture can provide jobs to Uganda’s unemployed youth if well harnessed, according to the twelfth Uganda Economic Update published this week by the World Bank. According to a World Bank statement, the report, “Developing Uganda’s Agri-Food System for Inclusive Economic Growth,” notes that the …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | The head of the Russian military intelligence agency linked to a series of notorious operations abroad has died after a long illness, the defence ministry said on Thursday. Igor Korobov, 62, had headed the military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2016 and was the target …

Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP |  A Kenyan priest was killed in francophone Cameroon’s volatile English-speaking Southwest region where violence has surged after separatists declared an independent state, church sources told AFP on Thursday. “A Kenyan priest was shot dead in Kembong yesterday,” one source said. “There was no fighting, he …

Mulhouse, France | AFP |  Four relatives of a nine-year-old boy who was apparently beaten to death in eastern France were arrested Wednesday over suspicions he was killed for refusing do his homework, prosecutors said. The boy’s mother, 20-year-old sister, 19-year-old brother, and the brother’s girlfriend were taken into custody …

Former Angolan president rejects he left state coffers ’empty’ Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Wednesday refuted allegations by his successor Joao Lourenco that he left the country’s finances “empty”. The row comes just over a year after Dos Santos stepped down in …

Maggots, grasshoppers, licorice and cobra hearts at Sweden’s ‘Disgusting Food Museum’ Malmö, Sweden | AFP | Cheese teeming with squirming maggots, grasshopers and sheep’s eye juice and mouse wine: the “Disgusting Food Museum” explores why a dish seems delicious to some, but for others is stomach-churning. On show for three …