Paris, France | AFP | Emmanuel Macron swept away France’s traditional parties in 2017 with a grassroots campaign that promised more participative democracy. He is hoping the same tactics will now defuse the biggest crisis of his presidency. The centrist leader is gearing up what he has termed the “great …

Melbourne, Australia | AFP | World number ones Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep were named top seeds on Thursday for next week’s Australian Open, with 23-time major winner Serena Williams lurking at 16 on the women’s side. Djokovic heads long-time rival Rafael Nadal and defending champion Roger Federer, with young-gun …

Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Former president Marc Ravalomanana has accepted defeat in Madagascar’s presidential election, a day after the country’s Constitutional Court confirmed Andry Rajoelina as the new leader of the Indian Ocean island nation. Ravalomanana had lodged a complaint alleging widespread fraud in the December 19 run-off vote …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northeast Nigeria after an increase in violence in the Boko Haram conflict, the United Nations said on Wednesday. “More than 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have arrived in Maiduguri, mainly from Baga, in recent weeks,” …

New York, United States | AFP | Ford and Volkswagen are preparing to announce a strategic partnership, including in areas such as self-driving and electric autos, a person with knowledge of the matter told AFP on Wednesday. The announcement could come Tuesday during this year’s Detroit auto show, the person …

Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan authorities closed 2,000 illegal mine shafts last year in Jerada, an impoverished former coal town that has been the site of a string of deadly mining accidents. The closure of the “abandoned and illicitly exploited shafts” was announced Wednesday by the energy and mines …

Manchester, United Kingdom | AFP | Holders Manchester City can look forward to defending the League Cup in next month’s final at Wembley as Gabriel Jesus struck four goals in a 9-0 thrashing of Burton Albion in their semi-final, first leg on Wednesday. Kevin de Bruyne, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Phil Foden, …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Law Development Centre Magistrate’s Court has dismissed a case against Moses Bigirwa, a Uganda Young Democrats -UYD activist. It is alleged that Bigirwa on December, 29th, 2018 while on Top Radio said that the government had hatched a plan to assassinate Kyaddondo East …

Popular anger in many countries’ politics in recent years is rooted in the failure of neoliberalism GLOBAL COMMENT | WINNIE BYANYIMA | Imagine a world in which women and girls have their rights respected, climate change receives the attention it so urgently requires, and poverty has been eliminated. Never before …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s Chief of the Defence Forces (CDF) Gen. David Muhoozi has said Uganda is facing eminent security threats from foreigners entering the country. General Muhoozi said the foreigners are coming into Uganda with small and light arms being used in urban crimes in the major …