NEWS ANALYSIS

Madrid, Spain | AFP |  Barcelona made a nightmare start to the defence of their La Liga title on Friday by losing Luis Suarez to injury and then losing 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao, after a sensational late volley from substitute Aritz Aduriz. Suarez hobbled off in the 37th minute with what …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  Moscow was set for fresh protests Saturday, the latest in a wave of demonstrations that has seen tens of thousands take to the streets after opposition figures were banned from local elections a month ago. The rallies, which have taken place every Saturday since the ruling, …

Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | A woman has died of Ebola and her infant son was diagnosed with the virus in the first confirmed cases in DR Congo’s South Kivu province, reviving fears Friday the highly contagious disease could spread through the region. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola epidemic …

Paris, France | AFP |  The Iron Curtain was at first an ideological and then a physical separation of communist Eastern Europe from the West from the 1940s after World War II. – The name –    The term “iron curtain” was popularised after it was used by former British prime …

Loisaba , Kenya | AFP |  For most of his life as a Samburu warrior, Lesaiton Lengoloni thought nothing of hunting giraffes, the graceful giants so common a feature of the Kenyan plains where he roamed. “There was no particular pride in killing a giraffe, not like a lion… (But) a …

Paris, France | AFP | The saga of Neymar’s seemingly inevitable departure from Paris Saint-Germain is proving a long, drawn out affair bringing the curtain down on what will ultimately feel like a fleeting and failed experiment. Having arrived in France in 2017 hoping a world-record transfer to PSG would help …

Tihany, Hungary | AFP |  When Hungary’s former leader Miklos Nemeth first started poking a hole through the Iron Curtain in 1989, he had no idea how quickly his actions would contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in central and eastern Europe. In an …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s military rulers and protest leaders on Saturday are scheduled to sign a landmark deal reached after a bloody uprising which is meant to pave the way for civilian rule. The ceremony will officialise a constitutional declaration inked on August 4 between the country’s Transitional Military …

Stanytsya Luganska, Ukraine | AFP |  While Ukrainian troops were stationed in her village, Anna felt safe despite living on the frontline of a war that has claimed thousands of lives over the last five years. But since they started to withdraw two months ago from Stanytsya Luganska, eastern Ukraine, she …

Ibadan, Nigeria | AFP |  When six-year-old Naziru Abdulwahab was abducted from northern Nigeria, his kidnapper transported him across the country and tried to sell him — but the potential buyer backed out. What saved the boy from the child-smuggling rings, police said, was the traditional facial scarrings on his cheeks …