First Lady and Karamoja Affairs Minister Janet Kataha Museveni, and Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) boss Allen Catherine Kagina have been awarded Masters Degrees.

The two prominent ladies in the country were awarded Masters of Arts in Organisational Leadership and Management in the third batch at the 16th graduation ceremony that took place at Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono today.

Also awarded a Masters of Arts in Organisational Leadership and Management was Ms. Susan Muhwezi Kabonero, wife to the Minister of Information Maj Gen Jim Muhwezi.

Over 1600 students graduated today with Diplomas, Bachelors and Masters Degrees at a ceremony presided over by Dr. David S. Dockery,President of Trinity International College in Chicago.

Stories Continues after ad

China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports.

Couples will now be allowed to have two children, it said, citing a statement from the Communist Party.

The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to slow the population growth rate.

It is estimated to have prevented about 400 million births. However concerns at China’s ageing population led to pressure for change.

Couples who violated the one-child policy faced a variety of punishments, from fines and the loss of employment to forced abortions.

Over time, the policy has been relaxed in some provinces, as demographers and

Introduced in 1979, the policy meant that many Chinese citizens – around a third, China claimed in 2007 – could not have a second child without incurring a fine

In rural areas, families were allowed to have two children if the first was a girl

Other exceptions included ethnic minorities and – since 2013 – couples where at least one was a single child

Campaigners say the policy led to forced abortions, female infanticide, and the under-reporting of female births

It was also implicated as a cause of China’s gender imbalance

What was China’s one-child policy?

The decision to allow families to have two children was designed “to improve the balanced development of population” and to deal with an aging population, according to the statement from the Community Party’s Central Committee carried by the official Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese) on Thursday.

Xuefei Zheng in the UK emails

Great news! I am a Chinese national married to an English man. I am an only child myself. My parents loved kids but they could only have me because of the threat of losing their jobs if they had more.

I felt lonely growing up by myself. My parents tried their best by having my cousins over and sending me to my cousins for a day but I always wished I had sisters and brothers.

Now my parents are over 50 and my grandparents are living with them. I want to be able to help my parents too but it will be hard to make them move all the way to the UK and give up their life and friends in China.

My husband is very understanding of the Chinese culture and we are working hard now to save money to begin our own family. If we are blessed, I will definitely have more than one child.

Read more experiences and reaction

Critics say that even a two-child policy will not boost the birth rate enough, the BBC’s John Sudworth reports.

And for those women who want more than two children, nor will it end the state’s insistence on the right to control their fertility, he adds.

“As long as the quotas and system of surveillance remains, women still do not enjoy reproductive rights,” Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch told AFP.

The announcement comes on the final day of a summit of the Chinese Communist Party’s policy-making Central Committee, known as the fifth plenum.

The party is also set to announce growth targets and its next five year plan.

Stories Continues after ad

President Yoweri Museveni has urged Indian entrepreneurs and business executives to come and invest in Uganda, saying it is more profitable than in India or many other countries.

Addressing the India-Africa Business Forum at the Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi, the President said prosperity could be done through trade and investment as a strategic goal for India to promote partnerships with Africa.

Museveni is in India on a four-day working visit during which he will also address the 3^rd India – Africa Forum Summit currently underway at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.

President Museveni identified trade, infrastructural development, tourism and collaboration in scientific cooperation and research as areas that can be exploited to create prosperity sustainably through production.

He said the first stimulus for prosperity is trade because the producer, and the buyer mutually support each other.

He however pointed out that whereas Uganda has been supporting the prosperity of India by buying Indian products, India has, over the years not reciprocated in equal measure, thus the trade imbalance between the two countries. He explained that India’s exports to Uganda are worth US $1.6 billion, but only imports Uganda’s unprocessed coffee worth US $16million only; thus creating unbalanced prosperity through trade.

He invited them to come and invest in the agricultural processing sector to add value to agricultural products for export.

He also identified other areas as mineral processing, fresh water products, oil, gas and energy.

President Museveni called for ‘the elimination of trade barriers so that Uganda’s products such as textiles, tea and dairy products can gain access to the Indian market’ but only blocked by consumer action. “It was trade not aid that leads to sustainable prosperity,” he said.

The President had earlier met a number of investors who included those from the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Hinduja Group, and the Tata Group Chairman Cyrus P Mistry, who called on him at his hotel residence.

The meetings were attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s High Commissioner to India Elizabeth Paula Napeyok and Uganda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and African Union Mull Katende.

Stories Continues after ad

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced $600m (£393m) in assistance for development projects in Africa at a major summit in Delhi.

More than 50 African leaders are attending the India-Africa Forum Summit, unprecedented in scale, in the Indian capital.

Although India’s trade with Africa has more than doubled to $72bn since 2007, it is still comparatively small.

The meeting is being seen as an attempt by India to improve ties with Africa.

A record number of African leaders, including South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, President Sisi of Egypt and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir are attending the summit – part of India’s big push to increase its presence in Africa.

‘Bright spots’

Reports say the summit represents the highest number of foreign dignitaries to descend on India since 1983 and is thought to be the biggest ever overseas gathering of African leaders.

Welcoming them, Mr Modi described India and Africa as the “two bright spots of hope in the global economy”.

“The hearts of 1.25 billion Indians and 1.25 billion Africans are in rhythm. We are united by youth – two thirds of India and Africa are below 35. And, if the future belongs to the youth, then this century is ours to shape and build,” Mr Modi said.

The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says India is using its historic ties with the continent, where a large number of Indians migrated during colonial times, to strengthen its economic links.

India is interested in Africa’s natural resource while African countries want to benefit from Indian expertise in high-tech sectors such as IT and mobile phones.

Much of central Delhi has been shut down as the African leaders are being ferried across town in limousines and on Wednesday night, they turned out wearing colourful Indian turbans and jackets at an official dinner.

The first ladies, in the meantime, are being taken sightseeing and given Indian cooking lessons as India pulls out the stops to make the summit a grand success, our correspondent says.

Stories Continues after ad

Elections in Zanzibar have been annulled for not being free and fair, the electoral chief on the Tanzanian archipelago has announced.

Rows between rival electoral commissioners had led to physical fights, Jecha Salum Jecha said.

The opposition says the vote on the islands was cancelled because it won.

The main challenger in the national presidential election, Edward Lowassa, said the problems in Zanzibar could be mirrored across the country.

Earlier, he called for the national electoral commission to stop releasing results, alleging the whole process nationwide had been marred by fraud.

Africa Live: BBC news updates

Lack of trust holds up African elections

The elections in Tanzania are the most competitive in the country’s history, with four opposition parties forming the Ukawa coalition to challenge the ruling CCM’s 54-year grip on power.

Previous elections have turned violent on semi-autonomous Zanzibar, whose two main islands are Unguja, often referred to as Zanzibar, and Pemba.

Mr Lowassa urged his supporters to remain calm and not to engage in street protests.

‘Agents ejected from polling stations’

In his statement, Mr Jecha accused Zanzibari electoral commissioners of being partisan.

More votes had been cast in some areas than the registered number of voters, especially in Pemba, where some party agents had been ejected from polling stations, Mr Jecha said.

The ballot papers for the national presidential election have been taken to Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam, where they will continue to be counted.

It is unclear if and when new elections for Zanzibar’s president and parliament will be held.

________________________________________

Analysis: Sammy Awami, BBC News, Zanzibar:

Never before has an election in Zanzibar – a popular tourist destination – been scrapped. So we are entering uncharted waters.

And yet, this election – unlike previous ones – has not been marred by riots and violence.

There was, however, some tension, which led to the closure of roads and businesses.

On Monday, the main opposition candidate for the post of Zanzibar president, Maalim Seif Sharrif Hamad, declared himself the winner.

His announcement attracted sharp rebuke from the governing CCM party, which called it illegal and a threat to the archipelago’s stability.

But life was returning to normal when the archipelago’s electoral commission chairman made the shock announcement that he was scrapping the poll because it was full of gross irregularities.

At that point results from only 18 of the 54 constituencies have been released.

More on Zanzibar

________________________________________

Tanzania’s tightly contested election:

CCM was formed in 1977 from a merger of two post-colonial parties and has effectively been in power since independence in 1961.

It has fielded Works Minister John Magufuli, 55, as its presidential candidate.

He is being challenged by Edward Lowassa, 62, who quit CCM after he failed to win its presidential nomination.

He is contesting the poll under the banner of the Ukawa coalition.

Could CCM lose?

Stories Continues after ad