Spanish La Liga leading giants Real Madrid have reportedly placed Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger under consideration for next season. Sources say if current coach Zinedine Zidane fails to win either the League title that they last won in 2012 or defend the Champions League Trophy, then a change may happen at the Santiago Bernabue Stadium.
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez has previously suggested Wenger for the position of Manager at Real Madrid.
At least ten people have been killed and 30 wounded after two explosions happened at Saint Petersburg metro station.
According to media reports several casualties have been reported at the Institute of Technology station and the Sennaya station of the Saint Petersburg metro. Security and medical personnel have been first responders to the scene of incidence.
All central Saint Petersburg metro stations have been closed and security is tight in other Russian cities including the capital, Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences and said the state security services were looking into all motives including terror motives.
Many people are following the ongoing ‘verbal artillery’ being unleashed by Makerere University researcher, Stella Nyanzi against the Minister of Education, Janet Kataha Museveni.
However, according to singer Bobi Wine, many may not be enjoying the posts like the Ghetto President.
Bobi Wine, who is known for his love for ‘weed’, he says once you read Dr. Nyanzi’s posts after smoking ganja, you’ll see everything she talks about live!
Apparently all you need is to put on 3D glasses and you’ll see everything live as it is narrated in the post.
“Did you know that when you put on 3D glasses after smoking weed then read Stella Nyanzi’s posts everything will be seen live?” he asked his fans on social media today.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Asan Kasingye has received death threats, reportedly issued by a one John Kagimu.
“I have received death threats from telephone number 0782744915. When I checked it out, it’s registered in the names Kagimu John. I tried to call back and he refused to pick up,” AIGP Kasingye told the media.
The threats to AIGP Kasingye come in the wake of intensified investigations in the death of his predecessor, AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi, who was gunned down on March 17 near his home in Kulambiro, on the outskirts of the city.
The investigations into AIGP Kaweesi’s killing are being conducted jointly by the Police, Internal security Organisation (ISO) and the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
Bukedde TV has suspended three presenters including Fiona Nabitengero aka Fifi Da Queen who presents Kanayokyani programme, Priscilla Namayanja of the Akasengejja programme and Richard Kalibbala.
The four were suspended last week over gross misconduct.
According to a source, Fifi Da Queen, who was once Ziza Bafana’s girlfriend was suspended after insulting her boss during a meeting.
The source says her bosses had wanted her fired from the Industrial Area station but she was saved by the overall boss, Robert Kabushenga.
They were all suspended for three weeks.
Qalaa Holdings, an African leader in energy and infrastructure, and a leading supporter of educational and cultural initiatives on the African continent, is sponsoring the ‘Best Short Film Award’ and the ‘Egyptian Filmmakers Forum’ at the sixth annual Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF).
During the course of the 7-day event attended by leading Egyptian and African dignitaries from government, the diplomatic corps and the film community representing over 30 African countries, Qalaa helped showcase and promote both talent and opportunities for hundreds of African filmmakers, and support the de-centralization of cultural and artistic events in Egypt that tend to be organized in Cairo and Alexandria.
“Knowledge and creativity will light our way towards a better future as a continent. We must nurture youthful African dreams and ambitions, support creative interactions and foster determination and hope. Qalaa Holdings embraces creativity, entrepreneurship, gender equity and believes in the potential of African youth,” said Ghada Hammouda, Chief Marketing Officer at Qalaa Holdings.
“In a world where Africa is divided politically into North and Sub Saharan, Arab and black African, the Luxor African Film Festival is an essential event that creates and promotes the joining of Arab and African culture on an international level,” said Caroline Kamya, Ugandan Filmmaker and Executive Producer, and the 2012 winner of the LAFF feature film prize.
“The films screened here are African narratives that portray our unique point of view from a very special location, the heart of all civilization, the heart of Africa. We need this festival, so it’s great to see African companies like Qalaa Holdings supporting it and we hope they continue to do so in the years to come,” she added.
Qalaa Holdings follows a responsible investing approach that is governed by “The Triple Bottom Line,” meaning the company prioritizes positive social impact and human capital development alongside financial performance.
“Africa will have the world’s largest and fastest-growing working age population by 2040—in order for these attractive demographics to materialize into prosperity for the continent we need a new generation of leaders in business, the arts and all fields. The first step towards bringing down trade barriers and growing intraregional trade on the continent is to remove cultural barriers and support young Africans so that we can reap the benefits of the demographic dividend. The private sector must do its part in helping bring the nations of Africa closer together by supporting educational and cultural initiatives such as LAFF,” said Hammouda.
The company runs Egypt’s largest private sector scholarship program through the Qalaa Holdings Scholarship Foundation (QHSF), which has thus far awarded over 151 students with scholarships to pursue graduate studies in some of the world’s most prestigious universities on the condition that they return to Egypt after graduation. Scholarship recipients have studied a wide variety of disciplines including filmmaking, anthropology, art and human rights.
Two of Qalaa’s subsidiaries TAQA Arabia and ERC have also launched complementary scholarship programs for both study abroad opportunities and studies at the American University in Cairo (AUC), along with a teacher’s training program for public school teachers through an initiative called “Mostakbaly.”
The firm recently co-hosted the annual meeting of the Choiseul 100 Africa laureates, which consisted of a delegation of 100 top African business leaders as well various European dignitaries, for two days of meetings with senior government officials and leading Egyptian investors.
The annual ranking carried out by the independent French think tank, Institut Choiseul identifies young African business leaders under the age of 40, who are active contributors to the economic development of Africa.
“LAFF is an optimal venue to build connections, celebrate commonalities and break down barriers so that we may engage in a more meaningful dialogue about our shared concerns and aspirations. Our support for the Luxor African Film Festival, the Choiseul 100 and the various scholarships that we offer, underscores our fundamental belief that by fostering a positive African identity, enabling cultural bridges, listening to the voices of and celebrating young Africans in their quest for cultural, social and economic excellence, we can pave the way for a brighter future,” said Hammouda.
Qalaa Holdings is an African leader in energy and infrastructure, with business units operating in the energy, cement, agrifoods, transportation & logistics and mining sectors.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has told world legislators that the international community has fallen short of its commitments to ensure dignity and equal rights of men and women.
Kadaga also said the gap between the rich and the poor has continued to widen, with primitive accumulation of global wealth by few individuals being a permanent feature of most economies.
“We have shortchanged the poor, the old and youth and must avail clear opportunities for them,” Kadaga told the over 650 MPs from 132 countries meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday on April 2, 2017.
The 136th Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly is meeting from April 1-4 under the theme “Readdressing inequalities: delivering on dignity and well-being for all.”
“The most obnoxious drivers of inequality are corruption, impunity and failure to reign in the corrupt,” she said.
During the high level segment of the general debate, Kadaga urged world parliaments to deal with the international drivers of inequality, such as corporations that have degraded the environment and evaded taxes, those financing militias and companies engaged in natural resource exploitation and have pushed indigenous communities from their lands.
She said leaders and parliaments should plan and budget for uniform infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, roads and electricity in different parts of the country so as to reduce their concentration in a few areas.
According to Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament and President of the 136th IPU Assembly, every political and development agenda should be attentive to the needs of those who might be left out. She said the new development agenda would need a multi-pronged approach that defines a set of principles that would ensure proper distribution of wealth.
“The Millennium Development Goals were largely unsuccessful because they lacked equitable development. Taxation systems, minimum wages and investment in basic amenities, healthcare and education are a critical factor that needed to be addressed.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and children’s rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi, in his keynote address to the Assembly said that if women were empowered and treated equally, the world would not be facing the problems it has. He urged the legislators to use their positions and power to change the world for the better.
On the issue of violations of the human rights of parliamentarians, the Secretary General of the IPU, Martin Chungong, said that MPs should not be victimized on the account of performance of their duties. He said in some parts of the world, MPs face intimidation, torture and arbitrary arrest and detention, citing Turkey where MPs have been jailed on terrorism charges.
Chungong informed legislators that the membership to the global body has risen to 173 national Parliaments following the admission of the Parliament of the Central African Republic and the Parliament of Tuvalu. The next IPU will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Uganda’s delegation to the 136th IPU includes, Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, also leader of the delegation, Hon. Latif Ssebaggala (Kawempe North), Hon. Raphael Magyezi (Igara County West), Hon. Osoru Mourine (Arua), Hon. Mukoda Zabwe Julie (Mayuge), and Hon. Francis Mwijukye (Buhweju County).
Arua Member of Parliament Morine Osoru has been elected President of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Osoru was elected yesterday, after beating competition from Russia and Zambia.
The legislator is part of the Ugandan delegation that is attending the 136th IPU Meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh from April 1-5, 2017.
Osoru says her ascension to the presidency of the youth body is an opportunity to amplify youth issues worldwide.
“I am going to use my position as President to tackle youth challenges such as unemployment and poverty which sometimes predispose young people to being radicalized into terrorism as we have seen in some parts of the world,” Osoru said.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga received the news of the election of Osuro with delight.
“I am very excited for Hon. Osoru because it was only yesterday at the African Geopolitical Group meeting that I presented her name to contest for that position,” Kadaga said, adding: “I congratulate her and the youth of Uganda, the people of Arua and the NRM government for making it possible for her to be here.”
As the President of the youth forum, Osuro is tasked with ensuring that youth voices are heard in the global political and decision making fora and that they actively participate in matters that affect them.
In her capacity as President, Osoru will steer a board composed of 12 persons from each of the six geo-political groups. The President of the youth forum is elected every two years.
The United Nations Security Council which will be chaired this month by the United States for the first time since the election of President Donald Trump will discuss the deployment of the regional force in South Sudan.
The 15-member Council will discuss a report on the deployment of the long-time awaited Regional Protection Force (RPF), and expected to endorse a decision on its imminent arrival in the troubled country.
The American Administration under the new President Donald Trump has not yet appointed a new special envoy for the Sudan, but the State Department continues to implement the same policy defined by the former envoy Donald Booth.
As the new US Ambassador Nikki Haley will chair the Security Council in April, the new administration will have the occasion to indicate any change in its policy towards the two Sudans.
During a visit to Juba last March, the former head of the UN peacekeeping department Hervé Ladsous explained the reasons behind the delay in the deployment of the RPF and announced it would be deployed within weeks.
“I think I can say that in the next few weeks you will see the first vanguard of the Regional Protection Force being deployed here in Juba,” he said.
The former US Ambassador Samantha Power failed in December 2016 to convince the UNSC members to endorse a draft resolution imposing targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on South Sudan.
It is not clear if the new American Ambassador Haley would reintroduce this draft resolution. Last March the US mission in the United Nations said that an arms embargo and targeted sanctions as tools available to the Council.
However, Egypt and Russia remain strongly opposed to such a move against South Sudan.
The United Nations Security Council has renewed the mandate of the peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo but decided to cut its numbers by 3600 troops.
The 15-member council o unanimously renewed the $1.2bn mission for another year amid warnings that violence was spreading across the country before elections this year.
The French-drafted resolution reduced the authorised size of the military component of the MONUSCO mission from 19,815 to 16,215 troops, but the force is already under-strength and, in practice, fewer than 500 will go home.
The document is the first adopted since the United States began a review of the 16 UN peacekeeping missions as part of its plan to cut foreign aid and reform the world body’s operations.
It also calls for a dialogue between the UN and the Congolese government, led by President Joseph Kabila, on an ‘exit strategy’.The resolution authorises the replacement of some troops with better-trained specialised units and gives the force a green light to intervene anywhere in the country if needed and not just in the volatile east.
Support of the resolution by all 15 council members reflects widespread backing for the US goal of streamlining the UN’s operations that deploy over 107,000 troops and civilians at an annual cost of more than $7.8bn.
MONUSCO is the biggest and costliest UN mission with about 22,400 people, including nearly 17,000 soldiers and over 1,350 police.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, told the council she was ‘very proud’ that all members had voted to cut the troop ceiling and make the mission stronger and more effective.
The UN force is going ‘to make sure the elections are safe, to make sure that we’re keeping people safe, and that we’re actually looking at the political problems on the ground’, she said.
