Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | In life, Winnie Mandela was known as a brave anti-apartheid activist whose reputation was badly tainted by criminal convictions and thuggish gang violence. But in death, her chequered record has largely been forgiven in South Africa, with the president declaring 12 days of mourning and …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit out at Iran on Wednesday after President Hassan Rouhani accused Israel of supporting “terrorists” in Syria. “Absurdity has no limits: Iran’s terrorist regime that sends tentacles of terror across the region accuses Israel of terrorism,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. “If …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The UN’s high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Wednesday launched a key visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ahead of efforts to drum up nearly $1.7 billion (1.38 billion euros) in aid for the troubled country. Grandi will meet with senior officials, …

Why policy measures that curtail the volume of bank lending to the business community must be avoided COMMENT | LOUIS KASEKENDE | I would like to begin by explaining why I think that a socio-economic impact assessment is a very useful initiative for the bank to have taken. Banks all around …

Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | A man who attacked the Bishop of Namirembe Diocese Rt. Rev Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira during the Easter celebration Service, has been charged before Mwanga 11 Magistrate Court and remanded to Luzira prison. He faced three counts, two of threatening violence against Bishop Luwalira and Rev. …

Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook said Wednesday personal data on as many as 87 million users was improperly shared with British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The new figure eclipses a previous estimate of 50 million in a further embarrassment to the social network roiled by a privacy scandal. The …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Sierra Leone’s opposition challenger Julius Maada Bio secured his first term in office as a civilian Wednesday when he was declared the winner of a controversial presidential run-off. Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago, won …

Serenityscapes as metaphor for self-freedom Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Whenever regular art gallery goers around Kampala are confronted with a striking painting of a beautiful waterscape, associations immediately connect it to Edison Mugalu. This impressionist artist’s name has become so synonymous with the subject that many cannot imagine him …

Cognitive skills developed from music lessons appear to transfer to unrelated subjects, leading to improved academic performance Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | The first large-scale, longitudinal study adapted into the regular school curriculum finds that structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities — including language-based reasoning, short-term memory, planning and …

New York, United States | AFP | Spotify soared Tuesday to a value of more than $26 billion in its long-awaited stock debut as the market delivered a ringing endorsement of the future of music streaming. In one of the largest public offerings ever in the tech sector, Spotify on …