Politics and society

Uganda’s military has denied accusations of abducting and torturing an opposition activist, a day after pictures emerged showing the victim with visible marks of torture on his chest, local media reported. In a Twitter thread, opposition leader Bobi Wine had said his supporter was burnt with hot metals on the …

More than seven million children are affected by the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria, Unicef said on Tuesday, fearing that several thousand of them may have lost their lives. “In Turkey, the total number of children living in the ten provinces affected by the two earthquakes amounted to …

Ethiopia has limited access to social media and messaging platforms amid mounting tensions between the authorities and the Orthodox church, local media reported. Netblocks, an organisation that monitors freedom of access to the internet, said the restrictions impacted Facebook, Messenger, Telegram and TikTok. This comes after the church’s highest body, …

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of disaster to try to deal with an energy crisis. The president’s announcement on Thursday gives the government additional powers to tackle crippling electricity shortages that have worsened in recent months. He insisted South Africa would emerge with a more efficient …

Uganda’s environmental management agency says it will start imposing fines from April on motorists driving private cars without rubbish bins. Offenders will face a maximum fine of up to 6,000,000 Ugandan shillings ($1,630; £1,350), according to a penalty scheme announced on Wednesday. Motorists who refuse to pay the fines will …

More than 50 countries warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday that they demanded that members of the UN organization who committed sexual abuse be prosecuted. People who have experienced sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment must also receive appropriate support, countries said at the UN health agency’s Executive Board …

Kenya’s Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu has banned early morning and late evening studies in schools, saying “we don’t want to subject the kids to strain – kids should sleep for nine hours”. Mr Machogu directed that classes in both private and public primary schools be held between 08:00 and 15:45 …

US President Joe Biden announced to Congress on Monday that he would end the state of health emergency linked to Covid-19 in the United States, the Associated Press reported The virus, which has killed more than a million people in America, will therefore settle into normality from May 11. Read …

US President Joe Biden, who plans to run for a second term, will meet wealthy Democratic Party supporters at two fundraising events next week. The octogenarian leader will be in New York next Tuesday, then in Philadelphia on Friday, meeting wealthy supporters to fill his party’s coffers. Joe Biden has …

Kenya’s deputy president has ordered government administrators in the country’s central region to enforce a one-pub-per-town directive that was issued last week. Rigathi Gachagua also wants entertainment joints in the region to only operate between 17:00 to 23:00 in new measures meant to deal with alcoholism. There are fears the …