Spotlight on Rwanda’s school for underprivileged girls that shapes champions | THE INDEPENDENT | When a team of young debaters from Rwanda’s Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST) lifted the winner’s trophy at the inaugural Africa Debate Championships in Kampala on Sept.18, all attention shifted to how they …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called a snap election, seeking a fresh term at the helm of the world’s third-largest economy as tensions with nearby North Korea reach fever-pitch. Abe hopes to capitalise on a weak and fractured opposition to sweep back into power, …

Milan, Italy | AFP | Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht has a vision for a world in which people stop telling themselves little lies about their emotions — and she believes high-tech fashion is the key. Her creations, which combine digital technology with haute couture, play with social norms and aim to …

Brighton, United Kingdom | AFP | The BBC’s political editor is attending the main opposition Labour Party’s annual conference with a bodyguard after being accused of bias for the governing Conservatives, The Times newspaper reported Monday. Laura Kuenssberg was seen at the conference in Brighton accompanied by a shaven-headed man identified …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | The nationalist Alternative for Germany was hit by party infighting Monday, just hours after winning its first seats in parliament, with its co-chief Frauke Petry declaring that she won’t join its Bundestag group. Citing “dissent” with more hardline colleagues, Petry dropped her bombshell at a morning …

Beijing, China | AFP | The visiting US commerce secretary told China’s premier on Monday that the warm reception he received in Beijing “augurs very well” for Donald Trump’s upcoming visit, amid tensions over trade and North Korea. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with Premier Li Keqiang at the headquarters of …

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | AFP | An Egyptian believed to be the world’s heaviest woman died Monday morning of heart and kidney failure at an Abu Dhabi hospital. A team of more than 20 doctors had been caring for Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty since her arrival at Burjeel …

New Delhi, India | AFP | US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday it would be “shocking” irresponsibility for North Korea to carry out its threat to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific. The new comments, made while Mattis headed for India, followed a shrill war of words between the …

Arbil, Iraq | AFP | Iraqi Kurds voted in an independence referendum Monday, defying warnings from Baghdad and their neighbours in a historic step towards a national dream. The non-binding vote, initiated by veteran leader Massud Barzani, has angered not only Iraq’s federal government but also neighbouring Turkey and Iran, who …

Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | The Amudat District Chief Finance Officer John Bosco Luchugi, was last week arrested on the orders of the Local Government Accounts Committee of Parliament for allegedly mismanaging and illegally spending billions of monies meant for works in the district. Luchugi, who appeared before the Committee …