The News Today

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | More than 30 people died when a fuel tanker crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha in Kenya late on Saturday night, officials said. “Over 30 people confirmed dead, many injured and over 11 vehicles burnt at a road …

Paris, France | AFP | Wild giraffe numbers have plummeted by 40 percent in the last three decades, and the species is now “vulnerable” to extinction, a top conservation body warned Thursday. The population of the world’s tallest land mammal dropped to below 100,000 in 2015, mainly due to shrinking …

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have launched a countrywide campaign by marching in Kampala streets against a proposed tax allowance exemption for Members of Parliament (MPs). The organisations say they are marching in support of President Yoweri Museveni’s original stand against an MPs tax allowance exemption. The street march which started from …

Ugandan comedian Joseph Opio has been nominated for a major American award. Opio, who is on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show support team, is nominated for the 2017 Writers Guild of America award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. “Dear Joe, Congratulations. On behalf of the union, it’s my pleasure to tell you that you …

Members of Parliament (MPs) have shown eagerness to adopt the Songhai Model in Uganda’s programmes aimed at fighting unemployment, enhancing labour productivity and food security. “It is very important Members of Parliament experience the Songhai Model. I am saying that because I am a fan of the Songhai model,” Uganda Parliament …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Britain faces an “unprecedented” terror threat that will not subside until the Syrian civil war ends, the head of foreign intelligence service MI6 said Thursday. In a rare speech for an intelligence chief, Alex Younger said British authorities had foiled 12 terrorist plots since …

Unreported cases of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) are on the rise in Uganda, a trend that Minister for General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister Mary Karooro-Okurut says the country needs to halt. Making reference to statistics from The 2011 Uganda Police Force Report she said, …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh has ruthlessly pursued opponents real and imaginary, and implied more than once that he would kill anyone who defied him. His magnanimous concession speech and promise of a swift handover to president-elect Adama Barrow after 22 years in power has therefore …

Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, at the opening of Trial in the case against Dominic Ongwen. Honourable Judges, This trial is about violence and misery that blighted the lives of millions of people living in Northern Uganda. Ordinary civilians, who simply wanted to be …

Experts tell Museveni, Mutebile, Muhakanizi President Yoweri Museveni’s unchecked spending and the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda efforts to clean have created a lope-sided economy that is hurting everyone. That is the view of several economists interviewed by The Independent. Dr. Lawrence Bategeka, formerly a researcher at the …