Uganda sets aside sh1 billion to fight armyworm Kampala, Uganda | AFP | A plague of crop-destroying fall armyworm caterpillars has spread to East Africa where officials confirmed their presence for the first time in Uganda on Friday. An outbreak of the caterpillars in several southern African nations has already …

  President Yoweri Museveni is in the Kenyan Capital Nairobi for a two-day special summit on durable solutions for Somali refugees. President Museveni joins other Heads of State under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight country trade bloc that includes governments from the Horn, Nile Valley and the …

Austin, United States | AFP | Before he staged a professional comeback last week, the rapper Kayem had disappeared from public life for two years. A US citizen by birth who remembers his relatives’ suffering at the hands of Moamer Kadhafi’s regime in Libya, he was lying low on legal …

Paris, France | AFP | For the 11th year running, cities worldwide will turn their lights off Saturday to mark Earth Hour in a global call to action on climate change. But the moment of darkness should also serve as a reminder, activists say, of another problem that gets far …

 Canada | AFP | Lawmakers in Canada’s House of Commons, with strong encouragement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, passed a motion Thursday paving the way for future measures to combat Islamophobia. The motion, which passed easily, asks the government to “recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council voiced alarm Thursday about the deepening humanitarian crisis and famine in South Sudan, with the United States, Britain and France raising anew the idea of sanctions and a weapons embargo. Attacks on humanitarian and UN missions, serial rapes, recruitment of …

Ousted Egypt president Mubarak freed from detention: lawyer Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Egypt’s ousted president Hosni Mubarak left a military hospital on Friday where he had spent much of his six-year detention, his lawyer said. Mubarak had been cleared for release earlier this month after a top court finally …

Haggai Matsiko leads a team of five The Independent writers shortlisted for the Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017. The African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) on Thursday announced a shortlist of 80 journalists whose 95 stories/entries have been evaluated for final accolades by a panel of 16 judges. Investigative journalist Matsiko was nominated as a finalist for …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump warned Republicans that he is done negotiating and wants a vote Friday on replacing Obamacare, warning that if the effort fails, his predecessor’s health care reforms will stand, lawmakers in an emergency meeting said. In a high-stakes closed-door huddle with Republican lawmakers …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Somalia’s new president appealed to the international community Thursday for more aid to avert a famine threatening his country that could also undermine fledgling political hopes born in his peaceful election. “Almost half of our people are facing acute food shortages and about 15 …