Why they tell us more about the community the students live in than what they know ANALYSIS | CHRISTOPHER TIENKEN | Every year, policymakers around the world make life-changing decisions based on the results of standardised tests in schools. These high-stakes decisions include, but are not limited to, student promotion …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir came under mounting pressure Tuesday as three Western nations pushed for a political transition plan following weeks of unprecedented protests against his rule. Bashir, who has ruled Sudan with an iron-fist since sweeping to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, has …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The select committee on South Sudan compensation is probing Uganda’s possible role in the infamous dura saga in which companies that received payments for cereals from the South Sudan government never delivered them. The South Sudan government reportedly paid up to USD 1 million (3.7 …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Algerian lawmakers appointed a regime stalwart as interim president Tuesday, dismaying protesters seeking sweeping change after the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika who ruled the country for two decades. The selection of upper house speaker Abdelkader Bensalah as Algeria’s first new president in 20 years followed constitutional …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Committee on Commissions Statutory Authority and State Enterprise-COSASE has grilled Uganda Revenue Authority-URA officials led by the Commissioner General, Doris Akol to explain the disappearance of 9000 litters of petrol under their custody. The URA officials appeared before COSASE chaired by the Kawempe South …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The defence has closed its submissions in the case of 10 members of Boda Boda 2010 Association. The members are charged with unlawful possession of military equipment. They were arrested last year from Vine Hotel Wakaliga. It is alleged that 55 rounds of ammunition, a …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | European leaders were grudgingly preparing to postpone Brexit on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Theresa May made last-ditch visits to Paris and Berlin to beg for more time. May asked to be given until June 30 to arrange Britain’s orderly departure, but EU leaders fear that won’t …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | British Prime Minister Theresa May held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday in a last-gasp bid to keep her country from crashing out of the European Union at the end of the week. May will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, seeking support …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Rally driver Ponsiano Lwakataka has been granted bail. Lwakataka and eight others were arrested in January for malicious damage to property and criminal trespass. He is accused of breaking George Kawooya’s fence and demolishing his house on a 2-acre piece of land in Kiwanga …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Thousands of defiant Sudanese protesters remained camped outside army headquarters for a fourth day Tuesday, after security forces abandoned two separate attempts to disperse them when soldiers fired in the air, witnesses said. Chanting “freedom, freedom,” crowds of men and women, who had spent the night …