Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has fired all nurses who went on strike to demand higher salaries, in a hardline response by the country’s new leadership to growing labour arrest. Several thousand nurses were sacked in a terse statement issued on Tuesday evening by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who …

Bournemouth, United Kingdom | AFP | Paul Pogba was named in the Manchester United team for Wednesday’s clash with Bournemouth amid mounting speculation that the France midfielder is set to leave Old Trafford. United manager Jose Mourinho had vowed to drop several of his under-performing stars in the aftermath of …

What is a reasonable tip at a restaurant? Chicago, United States | AFP | For most Americans, the answer is likely — at most — 20 percent. But how about 260 percent? For one patron at a Chicago restaurant, a normal tip was not enough to show his appreciation after …

Washington, US | THE INDEPENDENT | The International Monetary Fund is seeking a leading role in rallying the world’s central banks to get ahead of digital money and crypto currencies in the global financial system. The IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, wants authorities to “distinguish between real threats and needless …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Government is planning to borrow USD 412 million (1.5 trillion Shillings) to construct secondary schools, upgrade health centres and run rural electrification projects. This will include USD 200 million (734 billion Shillings) to be borrowed from the World Bank for upgrading health centre IIs to …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa on Tuesday announced it has banned KPMG from auditing its government institutions following a series of scandals involving the international auditor in the country. The decision to terminate KPMG’s contracts is with “immediate effect”, auditor-general Kimi Makwetu’s office said in a statement. …

Rwanda has implemented one of the most comprehensive electrification programmes in the world Kampala, Uganda | JÖRG PETERS | More than 1.1 billion people in developing countries lack access to electricity. Some 590 million live in Africa, where the rural electrification rate is particularly low at only 14%. A lack of access to …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | A Japanese firm is poised to carry out what it hailed as the world’s first experiment to test for cancer using urine samples, which would greatly facilitate screening for the deadly disease. Engineering and IT conglomerate Hitachi developed the basic technology to detect breast or …

Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Tuesday announced $100 million of funding over the next five years for research into new treatments for malaria, a mosquito-borne disease with a devastating impact that killed 445,000 people in 2016. There were some 216 million cases of malaria worldwide in …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | State Minister for Primary Education Rosemary Sseninde has opposed the planned administration of Primary Leaving Examinations to teachers. Sseninde says the exercise is unacceptable, illegal and is likely to demoralize teachers. Recently Nakaseke district resolved to administer Primary Leaving Examinations to teachers as a …