‘I want the kids to see Australia’: Meet Stella Moris, Julian Assange’s fiancee

“Keeping Julian in prison will kill him eventually,” Moris, speaking at the Frontline Club, an independent journalist’s hub in west London where Assange held press conferences and hid out, tells The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. “The Australian government should be saying [to the US] ‘he’s our citizen, this has gone on for too long. It’s harming our credibility, politically. We’re getting a lot of flak over this issue. It would be helpful if you drop this’.” Sara Gonzalez Devant, as Moris w

An innovative game is helping Ugandan women to combat online violence

Rocking a sharp fuchsia pink blazer with high cut trousers and a flower behind one ear, Goitse, a Botswanan college student living in Rwanda, is described as an “ardent feminist” who loves a “soft life.” When she hears about a South Africa rape case trending on twitter, she ‘likes’ and retweets the post to show solidarity with the sisterhood, quoting a news story and expressing that as a woman she is always scared of losing her life to domestic violence. A fellow user DMs her an insult and Goi

The activist facing jail for Macquarie statue protest

It’s a freezing, mid-winter’s day in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. Stephen Langford walks to the edge of a lake in his boxer shorts and plunges in the frigid water. In a few weeks, the veteran refugee activist will be in court again, facing jail for defacing a statue. For now, though, he seems indifferent towards the charges. “Sydney was a penal colony, so it would be just like cuddling a koala if I was imprisoned,” the 62-year-old says. “This case just shows that we do not have rights. Pe

Losing my religion: facing the trauma of leaving a faith

“People with religious trauma sometimes present with anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so they might get diagnosed with one of those.” She added that religious trauma presents differently depending on the person, their background and experiences. The formation of the Sydney-based Recovering from Religion (RfR) group nearly 18 months ago, operating under the auspices of the US-based non-profit established in 2009, was borne out of D’Souza’s own struggle to find help af

Uganda motorbike deaths: concerns grow over silent killers

They have been dubbed Uganda's silent killers. Boda-bodas, the country's ubiquitous motorbike taxis, snake through gridlocked traffic, navigate potholed roads and provide much-needed employment for young people. They are also maiming and killing thousands every year, monopolising hospital budgets and wiping out livelihoods.

Africa's Hit Science Show For Kids Is Coming To The U.S.

Lorraine Ololia is 10. She lives in Kampala, Uganda. And she recently came up with a new career goal. A TV show about science, produced by teachers from her junior high school, has inspired her. She's watched an episode on computer programming, another where two young explorers visit her country's Lake Victoria to talk about wetlands and learned how to make a model of a digestive tract at home using bowls, crackers, water, food coloring, bananas and oranges.

Uganda's truant teachers targeted by text messaging scheme

In Luwero district, about 37 miles (60km) from Kampala, has 614 students and 12 teachers this school year, which began in February. The headteacher, Moses Kyambadde, hopes 2014 will be productive now that the school has taken on one of its biggest challenges, teacher absenteeism.

Uganda's truant teachers targeted by pupil text-messaging scheme

According to figures in Transparency International's global corruption report on education, published last year, teachers in Uganda were absent from their classes 27% of the time, the second-highest rate among 21 countries. The study describes the problem as one of the most serious forms of corruption in education.

Giving birth in the world’s largest refugee camp (featured in The Lily section of the Washington Post)

Amy Fallon is a freelance journalist who has reported from Australia, the U.K., Africa and Asia for the Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, AFP and many others. Follow her on Twitter @amyfallon. Under a tarpaulin tent pitched in the world’s largest refugee settlement, a pair of newborn twins is cause for celebration. “They will grow fat,” midwife Christine Ajidiru says, gushing over the mother, Maria Gire, who is breastfeeding one of her new baby girls. The tent houses the maternal and child

The Perfect Wave in Bangladesh (words and pics)

How 3D printing can revolutionise the medical profession (Cambodia - featured on Guardian homepage. Words and pics)

Before the vehicle that she was travelling in flipped over and trapped her right leg, Leakhena Laing was a happy teenager who enjoyed climbing trees...

Ugandan singer faces 10 years in jail for risqué pop video (picked up by Guardian for AFP and many other outlets)

Conservative politicians in Uganda say that a music video by singer Jemimah Kansiime has broken the country’s tough new anti-pornography laws. The 21-year-old has already spent five weeks in jail for appearing in a foam-covered bikini in the video, promoting her single, Ensolo Yange. Under the new law, which took effect in February, Kansiime faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of “wilfully and unlawfully producing, trafficking, importing, selling and abetting pornography”. But critic

Ugandan Lawyer Revolutionises Access to Justice with Just an iPhone and Facebook

This story includes downloadable print-quality images -- Copyright IPS, to be used exclusively with this story.

Pope Francis Loves Uganda but Didn’t Speak Out to Save LGBT Lives (coverage of Papal visit - words and pics)

KAMPALA, Uganda—As the voice of Uganda’s gay community, Frank Mugisha has met scores of dignitaries from all around the world while fighting for equality. There’s...

Australians take lead in fight for survivors of witch doctors (originally story - p2 of Sydney Morning Herald with pics)

ALL Allan Ssembatya wanted for Christmas was a new soccer ball. Like most Ugandan boys, the 10-year-old is football mad and loves to play his...

Tortured by a witch doctor, saved by Australians (exclusive story, p1 of Sat Sydney Morning Herald)