NEWS ANALYSIS

It could be online ID | LUCIAN TIPI | In an interview, PayPal’s chief executive, Dan Schulman, recently discussed the prospects for blockchain – the encrypted, decentralised online ledger system that underpins Bitcoin and myriad other cutting-edge projects. While talking about blockchain’s potential for improving how people make payments around …

  Paris, France | AFP | A British man managed to pass on the coronavirus to at least 11 other people without ever setting foot in the epicentre of the outbreak in China, in an infectious journey that shows how the deadly virus can spread rapidly around a globalised world. …

Heart disease patient narrates experience at new surgery Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Johannes De Heer can manage to smile and chuckle a bit although he has just undergone a heart surgery. The 61-year old got a heart attack on Jan. 11 and was rushed to Naguru Hospital in …

President Museveni describes him as a strong leader who came to power at an opportune time for Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | When Daniel arap Moi became president of Kenya in 1978, he had been vice president for 11 years from 1967 after Kenya’s first president, Jommo Kenyatta, in 1964 …

Welcome to the era of `deep fakes’ Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | On Jan.21 Kayunga District Woman MP, Aida Nantaba, told Parliament that the killers of former Butaleja District Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda have attempted to kill her. She said Nebanda’s mother had warned her of the killers. “I …

Manchester, United States | AFP | After suffering a drubbing in Iowa and bizarrely conceding he will likely lose New Hampshire’s Democratic primary next Tuesday, Joe Biden is under immense pressure to turn his floundering US presidential campaign around. The popular former US vice president has been the national frontrunner …

Beijing, China | AFP | The death of a whistleblowing doctor whose early warnings about China’s new coronavirus outbreak were suppressed by the police has unleashed a wave of anger at the government’s handling of the crisis — and bold demands for more freedom. Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was among a …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Seven years ago, amid extravagant celebrations marking the African Union’s 50th anniversary, the continent’s heads of state declared they would “end all wars in Africa by 2020.” But as leaders travel to Addis Ababa this weekend for the latest summit of the 55-member bloc — …

Des Moines, United States | AFP |  Iowa is proud of its time-honored role as the first US state to vote when America starts picking presidential candidates. This time it even instituted new rules it said would make things more transparent. But Monday night’s voting could not have gone worse …

  Lilongwe, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, 79, is a former Washington law professor whose second successive election victory was declared invalid on Monday over widespread polling irregularities. (read full judgment bottom) He won his first term in a closely contested poll in 2014, two years after …