Features

Paris, France | AFP |  The shock election of Donald Trump to the White House, Britain crashing out of the European Union, attacks in Europe and the deaths of Mohammed Ali and David Bowie: 2016 has been a momentous news year. Here are some of the main events that marked …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Its lower cost has made it popular in commercial food production, but after being blamed for deforestation in Asia, palm oil plantations are now getting a similar rap in Africa. The sheer scale of land required is having an impact in Gabon, Cameroon and the …

Washington, United States | AFP |  An online Santa tracker run by a Canadian and American defense agency mapped the jolly old gift-giver’s path around the globe Saturday, in what has become a Yuletide tradition. Every Christmas Eve since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking …

Paris, France | AFP | Hijackings like the one on Friday of a Libyan plane have become relatively rare since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States led to increased security. The hijackers who diverted the plane on Friday to Malta released everyone onboard and surrendered. A …

Soroti, Uganda | AFP | When power goes out in the rural town of Soroti in eastern Uganda, store manager Hussein Samsudin can only hope it won’t go on so long it spoils his fresh goods. Another shop owner, Richard Otekat, 37, has to pay a neighbour hourly to use …

Paris, France | AFP | From legendary British singer David Bowie to Cuban leader Fidel Castro and American boxer Muhammad Ali, here are some of the notable figures who died in 2016. – January – – 5: PIERRE BOULEZ, 90, French conductor-composer. – 7: ANDRE COURREGES, 92 French fashion designer …

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP |  Monday nights feel like Saturdays in Rio’s Little Africa neighborhood when the sun sets and the samba starts to play. Surrounded by a mostly young crowd, seven musicians sit around a table with the small four-string guitar called a cavaquinho, the cuica drum …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP |  It had seemed impossible to find insults more scathing. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trading oil with Islamic State jihadists and making modern Turkey’s founder Ataturk “roll in his grave”. In a loud slanging match between two masters of …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | After 52 years, Mncedisi Tyopo finally stood beside his father’s grave, looking down at remains being exhumed as part of South Africa’s attempts to come to terms with its painful past. Tyopo’s father Bhonase Vulindlela was an anti-apartheid fighter who was hanged along with …

Stephanie Rivoal, the new French Ambassador to Uganda presented her credentials to President Yoweri Museveni on Oct. 21. She later spoke to the press at her residence in Nakasero on Nov. 18 about France’s ties with Uganda. This is Rivoal’s first posting as a diplomat and, she says, it is …