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🪄 Money Houdini
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Good morning 🌤️ France is getting rid of 80 million gallons of unsold wine, costing them $216 million. This is due to increasing production costs and decreasing demand, with French citizens drinking 40 liters of wine per year compared to 136 liters in 1926. 80 million gallons of wine could fill all the potholes in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area with enough liters to spare for many a girls’ night out (don’t fact-check this).
Finally, a mission Ugandans and sorority girls everywhere can collaborate on.
It’s a new month, so please fill this out, especially if you’re new.
—Gloria Mbabazi, Shem Opolot
Headlines
🪄 Money Houdini
While some of you have already been chosen for Employee of the Year, the same cannot be said for the permanent secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Ms. Geraldine Ssali. Parliament recommended Ms. Ssali be sacked after a report that investigated the alleged misuse of a supplementary budget found that the PS, who is the ministry’s chief accounting officer, failed to ensure the proper use of allocated funds. The report also uncovered a laundry list of offenses, including negligence of duty, abuse of office, and a flair for causing financial losses to the government. Ms. Ssali allegedly spent Shs. 570,939,000 (yes, 9 digits) on transport expenditures, which could only mean she might’ve been exploring space while in office.
Ms. Ssali remains confident in her integrity and reputation and criticized the report for ignoring her pedigree of fiscal frugality.
🏦 Bank and In sha Allah
In a banking industry where banks charge interest rates of up to 30%, as if they’re selling second-hand tickets to a Beyoncé concert with backstage passes to financial ruin, the Bank of Uganda will start granting licenses to financial institutions that wish to offer Islamic banking products. The move comes after the enactment of the Financial Institutions (Amendment) Act, 2023, which authorizes Islamic banking in Uganda. The law clears legal roadblocks that had previously delayed the implementation of Islamic banking, such as defining interest, insurance, and reassurance of loans. Islamic banking offers shared responsibility between the bank and the borrower, ensuring that risks and profits are shared (What is Islamic Banking?).
🇰🇪 Kenya
TikTok in Kenya will dance to compliance over controversy after it agreed to review and monitor its content to remove inappropriate material amid privacy and security concerns.
🇷🇼 Rwanda
The Rwanda PR machine teamed up with Bayern Munich, despite criticism that the partnership came at too high a cost. Meanwhile, naysayers sang songs about human rights and spewed skepticism about whether the revenue from gazing at gorillas would be enough to foot the bill for football.
🇹🇿 Tanzania
Tanzania’s constitutional review got pushed back another three years after the government cited the need for civic education first. This means that President Samia Suluhu will face re-election in 2025 under the current constitution, a move opposition groups criticize as a ploy for President Samia to get a longer re-election route.
Other headlines
Kiplangat wins the men's world marathon title.
Mao accused of getting dirty cash for polls.
Specialised training for kidney treatment starts in Uganda.
Mairungi farmers demand parliament records on the new narcotics bill.
Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana were denied bail for the third time.
Prepare for heavy rains in September.
Kasubi tombs to be removed from the endangered heritage sites list.
Prayers to be held at places where indecent viral videos were filmed.
NSSF gives six months amnesty to defaulting oil and gas sector players.
Government drafting bill to regulate sand mining.
Ugandan doctors recognized for excellence in cancer care.
Beyond Borders
🌍️ Africa
A protester on the streets of Gabon | Source: Reuters
🇬🇦 A coup with a side of karma. The last time we were here, Gabon was having elections, with a spirited fight put up by the opposition to remove a dictator. A week later, President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared president in a disputed victory and then summarily unseated in a coup by military officers who then declared they’d seized power and placed the president under house arrest. So, how was your week?
A week after shutting down the internet amid elections, Ali Bongo beseeched the same internet to “make noise” in a video that was nearly as bad as his regime. Gabon’s opposition, on the other hand, is irate, calling for a return to the devil they know because the newly installed military interim leader is a relative of the Bongo family.
🇨🇩 UN-involved in peace. After over 48 people died in protests against the MONUSCO (UN peacekeeping mission) and the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is blaming radical groups for the violent attacks on foreign peacekeeping missions in the country. With around 18,200 personnel and the mandate of supporting the Congolese government's effort to stabilize the region, MONUSCO has been deployed in eastern Congo since taking over from a previous U.N. operation in 2010. But several, sometimes violent, protests against insecurity have broken out in and around Goma over the past year, targeting MONUSCO. The DRC, on the other hand, has a testy relationship with the EACRF, which it accuses of not doing enough to vanquish the M23 rebels, and the DRC has, on occasion, threatened to expel the EACRF from Congo. President Tshisekedi recently dangled a longer stay for the regional forces contingent on the M23 rebels respecting ceasefires.
🇿🇦 Johannesburg fire. Over 74 people died and dozens were left homeless when a fire raged through a five-story rundown apartment block in Johannesburg. Here's what we know so far:
Preliminary evidence suggests that the fire started on the ground floor.
The building was a firetrap, with many residents trapped behind locked gates.
The fire highlighted the housing crisis in South Africa and the housing operations run by gangs that illegally occupy buildings, a phenomenon called ‘hijacking’.
Other headlines
South Sudan claimed its first win at the Basketball World Cup.
Libya suspends foreign minister over meeting with Israeli counterpart.
EAC blows hot and cold in war against trade in used clothing.
DRC nationals to visit Kenya visa-free.
Seven coups in three years for Africa.
MSF warns of major health emergency in Sudanese refugee camps in Chad.
Five Egyptians freed by Zambia after being arrested on plane with guns and fake gold.
French ambassador to be expelled from Niger on the junta’s orders.
Nigerian president recalls ambassadors worldwide.
Sudan military ruler arrives in Egypt on first trip abroad since war began.
🗺️ The rest of the world
Locate Anguilla on the map | Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
🤖 Domain dominance. While Uganda is taxing baby diapers to ostensibly fight homosexuality, Anguilla, a little-known Caribbean nation roughly 0.04% the size of Uganda, has seen a surge in revenue from its country-specific website domain name “.ai” due to the popularity of AI development this year. Domain registrars are paying Anguilla $140 for every two-year “.ai” domain registration, which is projected to bring in $25-$30 million this year, making up 25% of the country's total annual revenue. The South Pacific island of Tuvalu also earns an estimated $10 million annually after the streaming boom popularized its ".tv" domain.
🇺🇦 Ukraine breakthrough. Ahem. We recommend you read the towns in this story like a Bond villain. Ukrainian forces reportedly broke through Russian defensive lines in southeastern Ukraine, including the Surovikin line near Verbove and the line in Novoprokopivka. This could be a major breakthrough in Ukraine's counteroffensive and the first time its forces have penetrated the Russian lines, which are riddled with minefields, trenches, and artillery. The villages of Verbove, Novoprokopivka, and Robotyne are all near each other, and Ukraine recently retook Robotyne.
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Cognitive dissonance on China. In an increasingly global world where borders mean as much as the lines on a two-year-old’s coloring book, the U.S. and the U.K. can’t decide how they feel about working with China. U.S. and U.K. officials have recently visited China to reduce tensions while still maintaining hardline views on China. For example, the U.S. Commerce Chief recently called China 'uninvestable', and U.K. officials continue to refer to Taiwan, a rogue province in China’s eyes, as a sovereign nation. But China also has some cards to play, with China's leader inviting Vladimir Putin to visit in October.
Nn’ebigenderako
Politics and Government
Chile searches for hundreds of missing citizens.
Business and Finance
OpenAI for business.
Science and Technology
A faster way to detect food contamination?
Google made an invisible watermark for AI images.
Neurosurgeon plucks worm from woman’s brain.
Sports
All the results from the World Athletic Championships.
FIFA suspends Spain soccer president amid scandal.
US Open highlights. | FIBA World Cup updates.
The world record for attendance for women’s sports.
Lifestyle and Entertainment
Taylor Swift hits 100 million Spotify monthly listeners.
Procrastination corner
Games and Puzzles
From Braingle.
When you behead a word, you remove the first letter and still have a valid word. You will be given clues for the two words, the longer word first.
Example: Begin -> Sour, acidic
Answer: The words are Start and Tart.
1. Type of nut -> Starchy vegetable
2. Animal product -> Consume
3. Milk product -> Communicate orally
4. Grain product -> Understand writing
5. A type of grain -> Warmth
6. Warm clothing -> A type of grain
7. Cost -> A type of grain
8. Type of fruit and oil -> Exists
Answer at the bottom.
Our picks
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🎵 Music to listen to while you study or work.
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🏙 The best cities for creatives.
*This is sponsored advertising content.
Games answer
Answer:
1. Acorn -> Corn
2. Meat -> Eat
3. Butter -> Utter
4. Bread -> Read
5. Wheat -> Heat
6. Coat -> Oat
7. Price -> Rice
8. Olives -> Lives
Have a good week!
— Too Long; Didn’t Read (TLDR)
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