April web

Dozen arrested over
coronavirus fake news
Moroccan police have arrested at least
a dozen people for spreading rumours
about the coronavirus, including a woman
who used her YouTube channel to say the
disease did not exist, authorities said.
Other people were arrested for opposing
strict measures against public gathering,
urging people to ignore them, or saying a
lockdown had been implemented when it
had not. On the same day, the government
approved a draft law governing the use of
social media, aiming to deter fake news
and cybercrimes undermining public
order and the economy. Rights groups
have criticised Morocco for what they see
as an increasing crackdown on free speech
over the past year, including prison terms
for people who have expressed dissent on
social media.
The North African kingdom has confirmed
61 cases of the coronavirus and two
deaths. Most of the sick caught the
virus abroad, but it has now also started
to transmit within Moroccan cities.The
government has closed all mosques,
schools, cafes and restaurants, as well as
sports and entertainment venues, and has
banned all international passenger flights.
The most recent was of a 48-year-old woman
who was taken into custody after denying
the existence of the coronavirus on her
YouTube channel and urging others to
ignore precautionary measures.
~ News Agencies
Coronavirus: ‘No evidence
of link to temperature’
The World Health Organization (WHO) has
said there is as yet no evidence that the
spread of coronavirus is reduced in Africa
because of the higher temperatures.
The virus has so far multiplied more slowly
in Africa than in Asia or Europe, but 34
African countries have now reported
a total of more than 600 cases. Health
experts have stressed the need to prepare
for a significant spike in infections.
The head of the Africa Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention, John
Nkengasong, warned that flight and other
travel restrictions would help delay the
virus but would ultimately fail to contain it.
Burundi opposition party picks Agathon Rwasa to run for president
Burundi’s main opposition party picked
Agathon Rwasa as its candidate for the
country’s May 20 presidential election.
Members of the National Congress for
Liberty, known by its French acronym CNL,
approved the 56-year-old’s nomination,
the party announced on Twitter.
A former rebel leader and longtime
political opponent of outgoing President
a third term plunged the country into its
worst crisis since the end of a bloody civil
war a decade earlier, with rights groups
saying hundreds of people were killed in
a crackdown by the security agencies on
protesters in the months that followed the
Pierre Nkurunziza, Rwasa was the president’s re-election.
leading opposition candidate in two At the time, the opposition had accused
previous elections in 2010 and 2015 -
Nkurunziza’s controversial decision to seek
Nkurunziza of violating the constitution by
Located along Luzira Road opposite Kitintale Post, Nakawa Division; P.O.Box 40062, Kampala
but boycotted both of them. In 2015,
Tel: +256 441 220 401/ 414 221 435; Email: progress40@hotmail.com
seeking another term. The president cited
a court ruling saying he could run again.
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