Jérusalem, Undefined | AFP | Preservation experts have opened for the first time in at least two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus’s tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Some of the historic work was witnessed by AFP photographer Gali Tibbon who captured images of the …
Read More »US’ Patient Zero and the origins of the AIDS epidemic
Paris, France | AFP | A labelling error and reckless media hype in the 1980s led to unjustly branding a gay airline employee as “Patient Zero” in the US AIDS epidemic, scientific and historical sleuthing detailed Wednesday. The deadly virus, which has claimed more than 650,000 lives in the United …
Read More »Austria to tear down Hitler birth house
Vienna, Austria | AFP | The house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, authorities said Monday after years of bitter legal wrangling. “The Hitler house will be torn down. The foundations can remain but a new …
Read More »What Uganda’s history since independence reveals about 2016
Since 1962, we have seen history repeating itself This October 9, Uganda celebrated 54 years of Independence. It is a good point to look back and ponder what 2016 has in store for Ugandans. Looking at our nation’s history since Independence from the British colonialists in 1962 shows that years with …
Read More »‘Philippines’ Duterte not Hitler, but wants to kill millions’
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte does not want to be branded another Hitler but he is willing to kill three million people in his crime war, his spokesman said Saturday. Duterte has faced international condemnation after on Friday likening his anti-drugs crackdown, which has left more …
Read More »Researchers restore first ever computer music recording
Wellington, New Zealand | AFP | New Zealand researchers said Monday they have restored the first recording of computer-generated music, created in 1951 on a gigantic contraption built by British genius Alan Turing. The aural artefact, which paved the way for everything from synthesizers to modern electronica, opens with a …
Read More »Obama opens new African American Museum amid national racial strife
Washington, United States | AFP | President Barack Obama heralded Saturday the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, a long-awaited institution dedicated to the many threads of black suffering and triumph in the United States. The first black president of the United States cut the …
Read More »World’s oldest man turns 113, readies for Bar Mitzvah
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | The world’s oldest man turned 113 on Thursday and the Holocaust survivor living in Israel readied for the Bar Mitzvah he was denied a century ago, his family said. Yisrael Kristal, an observant Jew from Zarnow in what is now Poland and currently living in …
Read More »Africa’s crisis in Michela Wrong’s words
Historical causes, individual choices For six years, Michela Wrong covered Africa as a journalist and wrote three books on DR Congo, Kenya and Eritrea. Ivan Rugambwa spoke to her on the sidelines of the recent Writivism Festival in Kampala. Firstly, what are your impressions of the continent over the decade …
Read More »Fidel Castro the hero, warrior, dictator… turns 90 in new Cuba
Historic leader Fidel Castro turns 90 in new Cuba Havana, Cuba | AFP | Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro turned 90 on Saturday in an island transformed from the one he led for half a century. Both loved as a hero and hated as a dictator, Castro is one of …
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