NEWS ANALYSIS

Behind Nakalema, Akullo investigation Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | At 10am on June 12 Col. Edith Nakalema, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Grace Akullo and their team arrived at Bank of Uganda (BoU). Nakalema who is the head of the Anti-corruption Unit-State House and Akullo who is the …

Belo Horizonte, Brazil | AFP |  For the last dozen years, Argentina has been waiting for global superstar Lionel Messi to lead their football team to a major international trophy. But when the the country needed the five-time Ballon d’Or winner most, Messi failed to emulate the feats of Diego Maradona …

Hong Kong, China | AFP |  Once dubbed “Asia’s Finest”, Hong Kong’s police are fighting allegations of using excessive violence against protesters, their headquarters besieged twice in the last week as calls for an independent inquiry into their tactics swell. Pro-democracy lawmaker Wu Chi-wai was aghast as thick clouds of …

London, United Kingdom | AFP |  Ashleigh Barty goes into Wimbledon buoyed, unlike her predecessor Naomi Osaka, by being world number one and with several of her major rivals struggling. The engaging 23-year-old Australian — who emulated compatriot Evonne Goolagong Cawley by becoming number one last weekend — has yet …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Aaron Wan-Bissaka has become the most expensive defender in Manchester United’s history after completing a deal worth up to £50 million from Crystal Palace on Saturday. Despite the huge fee, the 21-year-old made just 46 senior appearances for the Eagles and has yet to be …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | London’s iconic Tower Bridge celebrates its 125th anniversary on Sunday by showing off the weird and wacky alternative designs that were nearly built instead. The globally-recognised landmark which opens and closes for large boats plying the River Thames, has become one of the symbols of …

Carpentras, France | AFP |  Temperatures in France surpassed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) Friday for the first time on record as Europe sweltered in an early summer heatwave that has caused several deaths. With France, Spain, Italy and parts of central Europe hard hit by the record-breaking temperatures, officials …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Driven from power after months of nationwide protests, Sudan’s former strongman Omar al-Bashir has been held in the capital’s grim Kober prison on a series of charges filed by prosecutors. Those charges range from corruption to killing protesters, and on June 16 Bashir appeared before a …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP |  The US-organised economic workshop in Bahrain failed to deliver tangible results over the long-awaited Middle East peace plan but it opened the door for closer Israeli-Gulf ties, analysts say. Despite this, the normalisation of ties between the Gulf oil monarchies and the Jewish state …

Paris, France | AFP |  Megan Rapinoe stole the headlines again as her brace took the United States through to the semi-finals of the women’s World Cup on Friday, the holders beating France 2-1 in Paris to puncture the hopes of the host nation. Rapinoe’s free-kick five minutes into this quarter-final …