Kanani and Sylvia, brother and sister aged nine and eight, were grazing the family cattle in rural Uganda when they were approached by a man they vaguely knew.

Sperito Bisekwa was angry. He accused the children of allowing their cows to eat his fodder and dragged them into a nearby forest. He attacked Kanani first. When the boy awoke he had a machete wound on his neck and his sister lay dead beside him.

"He grabbed me, strangled me and cut the back of my neck. When I came to, I realised my sister had been cut everywhere and she was dead," said Kanani.

Sylvia's young body had been gruesomely mutilated, her heart and clitoris cut out with a knife and taken for use in a witchdoctor's ritual, according to police.

Child sacrifice is a disturbing and widespread phenomenon in Uganda, serious enough that the government has established a special taskforce.

Activists say child sacrifice is not about tradition, but greed as people seek a quick route to wealth or power and with elections due in 2016 they worry killings are set to increase.

- Anti-Human Sacrifice Task Force -

Child sacrifice is "expected to rise", said Moses Binoga, head of Uganda's Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force.

"Now we are going into elections, you will find that there are so many Ugandans, even high profile people, going to witch doctors' shrines," said Binoga.

"Some of them will be so desperate that if they're told to win a seat as an MP 'You must sacrifice a child', they'll do it."

Binoga said there have been five reported cases of child sacrifice so far this year and nine last year, although those numbers are disputed with activists saying the actual figures are higher.

A sharp rise in reported cases of child sacrifice in 2009 spurred the setting up of Kyampisi Childcare Ministries (KCM), a charity that works with survivors and victims' families.

Child protection officer Shelin Kasozi said the charity receives a few cases every month, stressing that the ritual murders "cut across all Ugandan society".

"The rich believe, 'If I sacrifice then my business will prosper'," she said. "The poor believe if they sacrifice a child they'll get rich."

- Genitals hacked off -

Kasozi pointed to the case of "very, very rich" Kampala businessman Godfrey Kato Kajubi who received a life sentence in 2012 for the ritual murder of a 12-year old boy who was beheaded and his genitals cut off.

Cases of children disappearing as they walk between school and home, or while fetching water from communal wells, can be found across Uganda. Sometimes their dismembered body parts are later discovered in forests or building sites.

Published: 15 June 2015

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Since opening its doors to Syrians fleeing war, Sweden has welcomed record numbers of refugees and a small but growing group are taking fast-tracks to jobs, bucking unemployment trends.

Rami Sabbagh, an energetic 31-year-old financial analyst, fled the Syrian capital Damascus after the regime of President Bashar al-Assad put his name on a wanted list for helping refugees from the city's bombed-out suburbs.

Just over two years later -- clad in dark jeans and a leather jacket -- he leads the way to a plush meeting room in Spotify's sleek Stockholm headquarters.

The music streaming giant hired him in March after a four-month job placement.

"Four years ago I would never have imagined ending up in Sweden," he told AFP, recalling how his life was changed by the civil war that erupted in his country in 2011.

"My career was moving forward, I'd been promoted at my bank, I had my own apartment, my own car and my family there. I had a life," he added.

"But some things force you to move forward, just leave everything behind and try to start a new life."

When he arrived in the southern Sweden town of Malmo in December 2012, migration authorities placed him in a village 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) farther north where he waited for his residence permit, struggling with boredom and longing to get to the city.

Papers in hand eight months later, he used family contacts to find a room in Stockholm and spent a year studying Swedish, working in odd jobs and applying for positions at English-speaking companies before starting Korta Vagen (Short Cut), a fast-track state-funded programme for university graduates that led to Spotify.

- More qualified refugees -

In September 2013, Sweden threw its doors open to Syrians, granting them near automatic residency and boosting overall asylum applications -- the highest per capita in the EU according to Eurostat -- to record levels.

Since then, more than 40,000 Syrians have arrived -- including 30,000 out of last year's 80,000 refugees -- amid growing concerns over housing shortages and lengthening queues at employment offices.

Published: 15 June 2015

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A drug nicknamed the "female Viagra" because it could help increase women's sex drive, will be discussed for a third time at a meeting of an advisory committee to US regulators Thursday.

If the US Food and Drug Administration gives flibanserin the go-ahead, it would be the first drug on the market to boost female libido.

But two attempts at bringing the drug to market have already failed in 2010 and 2013, given what experts described as inconclusive advantages when compared to a placebo.

Flibanserin, which is aimed at pre-menopausal women, also can have significant side effects including nausea, dizziness and sleepiness.

On Thursday, a committee of advisors to the FDA will hear more evidence from clinical studies and from experts both for and against the drug.

It will vote at the end of the day on whether or not the FDA should approve the drug, a decision that is non-binding but is usually followed by the regulatory agency.

After it was initially rejected by the FDA, flibanserin was sold by its developer, the German laboratory Boehringer Ingelheim, to a US firm called Sprout Pharmaceuticals.

For this latest attempt at approval, Sprout Pharmaceuticals is presenting research that shows the medication does not affect women's ability to drive.

According to documents on the FDA website that describe a previous study of the drug, women taking flibanserin reported on average 4.4 sexually satisfying encounters per month, compared to 3.7 in a placebo group and 2.7 before beginning the study.

The difference between flibanserin and a sugar pill was deemed statistically insignificant in 2010 after a debate among the committee members which included seven women and four men.

Published: 04 June 2015

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A replica of the Hermione, the French ship that transported General Lafayette to America in 1780 to rally US rebels battling for independence, arrives Friday in the Virginia town where British forces eventually surrendered.

The three-masted tall ship is expected to dock at roughly 8:00 am (1200 GMT) in Yorktown for its first official stop in the United States.

The Chesapeake Bay port town is where American forces led by George Washington and French soldiers accompanied by Lafayette scored a decisive victory over the British in 1781, prompting their capitulation.

The ship left France in mid-April, embarking on an Atlantic crossing to retrace the voyage made by French general Gilbert du Motier -- the Marquis de Lafayette -- 235 years ago before he arrived on US soil to help America's rebels.

"Lafayette is remembered as 'the French hero of the American Revolution'," said historian Laura Auricchio, author of "The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered."

"He has come to embody the long and honorable legacy of French-American friendship."

- 'Lafayette is everywhere in the US' -

The general, who was born in 1757 to a noble family in south-central France, joined the American Revolution at age 19, inspired by the cause.

"Lafayette is everywhere in the United States. Scores of cities, towns, counties, villages, parks, schools and streets carry his name or variants on it," Auricchio said.

A symbol of more than two centuries of Franco-American alliance, the Hermione will be feted as it makes 11 stops on the US East Coast over the next month or so, including in Philadelphia and Boston. It will also make a stop in Canada.

The high point of the celebrations will take place in New York, where the Hermione will be escorted by hundreds of sail and motor boats past the Statue of Liberty during a July 4 parade to mark US Independence Day.

On Tuesday, the frigate was given a welcome by the US Navy's USS Mitscher off Norfolk in Virginia.

Tribute was also paid to sailors who died in the Battle of the Capes -- fought between the British and French near the mouth of the Chesapeake -- several weeks before the decisive Battle of Yorktown began.

- Cognac on board -

According to the Hermione's website, the boat has since been in Norfolk following its 3,700-mile (6,000-kilometer) journey across the Atlantic, where it will go through customs before departing for Yorktown.

On Friday, the Hermione will be welcomed with a 21-gun salute followed by a ceremony attend by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal.

A wreath will be placed in honor of those who died in the Battle of Yorktown.

Francophiles, history buffs and tall ship fans are expected for three days of festivities that will include tours of the Hermione, actors dressed as Washington or Lafayette, and fife and drum music.

Published: 04 June 2015

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The little Belgian town of Waterloo is feverishly preparing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of history's greatest battles, hoping it can reclaim its name from a London railway station and an ABBA song.

Two centuries after it became famous as the place where "Napoleon did surrender," the former farming village has become a sleepy suburb 25 kilometres (17 miles) south of the capital Brussels, with a population of 30,000.

But now its shop windows are full of pictures of the French emperor's famous two-horned hats and little Napoleons perched on white stallions, ahead of several days of huge celebrations later this month.

After years of relative obscurity there is a feeling that Waterloo is finally facing its fate as a historic tourism draw.

"I've lived in Waterloo for 50 years and I've always known the story of Napoleon," retiree Antoine Delsemme told AFP in the small town centre. "But all this will attract people, it will make the town better known and that will profit the inhabitants, especially shop-owners. That's very good."

While the battle is commonly known as Waterloo, the town itself was only the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington, who led the allied British and Prussian forces.

Most of the actual fighting in fact took place in neighbouring villages.

And it is there, several miles south of Waterloo on the plain of Mont-Saint-Jean, that the busiest preparations are underway for the commemorative events which are expected to draw around 200,000 people, a quarter of them foreigners.

- Five thousand to re-enact battle -

A huge light-and-sound show called "Inferno" on June 18, and two days of battle re-enactments that follow on June 19 and 20 will take place in a huge bowl-shaped field full of tall grass.

For weeks workers have been setting up stands that will seat around 50,000 spectators per day -- more than the capacity of Belgium's national football stadium -- with still more standing.

From the peak from where Wellington led the British troops, it is only a few hundred metres to the Hougoumont and de la Haie-Sainte farms where the allied troops made their most heroic and bloody stands against French forces. Also nearby is the Belle Alliance inn that Napoleon used as his headquarters.

The two colossal re-enactments -- which will evoke the heat of a history-changing battle lasting a dozen hours, during which 45,000 people were killed or wounded -- will involve 5,500 enthusiasts in period uniforms from 52 countries.

Alongside them will be 100 cannon and 360 horses to lend authenticity.

Published: 03 June 2015

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Australian scientists said Wednesday they have uncovered a "very rare" 2,000-year-old natural sea pearl -- the first found on the vast island continent -- while excavating a remote coastal Aboriginal site.

Archaeologists were working the site on the north Kimberley coast of Western Australia when they came across the unique gem below the surface, said Kat Szabo, an associate professor at the University of Wollongong.

"Natural pearls are very rare in nature and we certainly -- despite many, many (oyster) shell middens being found in Australia -- we've never found a natural pearl before," Szabo, who specialises in studying shells at archaeological sites, told AFP.

A midden is a prehistoric refuse pit.

"The location makes it particularly significant because the Kimberley coast of Australia is synonymous with pearling, and has been for the better part of the last century."

The pink-and-gold-coloured pearl is almost spherical, with a five-millimetre diameter. Due to its near-perfect round shape, the researchers used a micro CT scan to test its age and prove that it was naturally occurring rather than a farmed modern cultured pearl.

The oysters that produce pearls have been used in rainmaking ceremonies in indigenous cultures, and their shells have been found in the central desert more than 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) away.

Published: 03 June 2015

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From stylish, manicured creations to small vegetable plots, gardens are taking to the rooftops of the South Korean capital Seoul -- bringing dashes of spontaneity and colour to the skyline of one of the world's most densely populated cities.

With help from the municipal government, otherwise largely drab buildings are being crowned with flower beds, allotments and trees, where the scent of fresh blossoms in the springtime can briefly mask the fumes from the traffic below.

The project has produced one of the largest rooftop gardens in Asia, Garden 5, which is spread across the top of four 10-storey buildings and linked by skywalks, with a total surface area equal to three football fields.

Inter-M Corp., a broadcasting and audio equipment maker housed in a grey, nondescript, seven-storey office building in northern Seoul, decided to convert their roof several years ago.

Completed in late 2013 at a cost of 110 million won ($100,000) -- half provided by City Hall -- the 450 square meter (4,840 square feet) garden boasts azalea, lilies, maple trees, herbs and two small pavilions.

Company spokesman Bae Seung-San said staff used it to unwind, while potential customers were taken to the roof as part of a sales pitch.

"When we have foreign buyers, we throw barbecue parties here, with music playing on our equipment," Bae said.

The municipal financial support comes with a rider -- any garden must be properly maintained and opened for public use within five years of its completion.

- The green fund -

Since the project began in 2002, the city government has spent more than 60 billion won ($57 million) helping to bankroll rooftop gardens, allotments or small ecological parks on more than 650 buildings around the city.

"We need more green, but don't really have the budget to buy the land for urban parks," said Bang Seong-Weon, a municipal official in charge of the Green Roof Construction programme.

"If you green the rooftops, land prices cease to be an issue," Bang said.

Home to 20 percent of South Korea's 50 million people, Seoul is a modern, thriving city with a population density nearly twice that of New York and eight times greater than Rome.

Largely destroyed in the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul was rebuilt at a time of rapid industrialisation and laissez-faire urban planning that resulted in an uninspiring landscape of cookie-cutter apartment blocks and utilitarian office buildings.

In the last 10 to 15 years, efforts have been made to revitalise the city architecturally and environmentally with varying degrees of success.

Bang is keen to highlight the economic as well as environmental benefits of the roof gardens which both absorb heat and act as insulators for buildings, reducing energy needed to provide heating and cooling in Seoul's freezing winters and hot, humid summers.

"And they improve the landscape, giving people a sense of the changing seasons," he added.

- A roof for all seasons -

While other high-density Asian cities have also seen a turn to rooftop gardens, the scale of Seoul's programme sets it apart.

Published: 27 May 2015

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Gnarled and gnomish, the vines that produced the best white in one of the world's top wine competitions crouch low and untrellised amid more traditional vineyards in South Africa's scenic Cape winelands.

The Chenin Blanc made from these 40-year-old "bush vines" beat global competition across the full range of white wines to take the top spot in this year's Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, which tested a total of 8,000 wines.

Winemaker Reginald (RJ) Botha says the Kleine Zalze estate outside Stellenbosch set out to build a wine that tasted of "elegance".

Given that more than 320 experts from some 50 countries chose the 2013 Kleine Zalze Family Reserve as best white at the 22nd edition of the Concours Mondiale in Italy this month, they must have succeeded.

But elegance is not a word that springs to mind when looking at the denuded bush vines amid the autumnal beauty of the surrounding landscape.

Unlike trellised vines, they are three-dimensional, with at least five arms rather than two, and stand about knee-high.

Bush vines are less productive than trellised vines because they provide a greater canopy of leaf coverage to the fruit, and are also labour-intensive as they cannot be harvested by machine.

But their advocates say the lower yield and greater effort is worth it because the berries have much thicker skins and therefore produce more concentrated flavours.

"The winning Family Reserve comes from three different sites, that's three different soils," says Botha.

"All the vines are more than 40-years-old and are all bush vines. And they're unirrigated.

"We get smaller berries, thicker skins -- so there is lot more concentration of flavours in your grapes and a lot of different microclimates in one vine.

- Complex flavours -

Published: 25 May 2015

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A rare pure white sparrow has been spotted in Australia, leaving ornithologists all aflutter.

The albino was photographed at Sanctuary Lakes near Melbourne, but it is not expected to survive long with its snowy white plumage making it stand out to birds of prey.

Bob Winters, a birdwatching expert and environmental educator, photographed the animal after being alerted to its presence by a friend. But it wasn't an easy task.

"It's a very nervous animal, understandably, so I had to try for quite a few days to get some photos," he told AFP, adding that pure white sparrows had been seen globally only "once in a blue moon".

Australian media said there had been a handful of confirmed sightings of the bird across the world, including one reported in Britain in 2010.

Published: 25 May 2015

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