NEWS ANALYSIS

President Sall faces double challenge as Senegal elects MPs Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Senegal holds a legislative election on Sunday following a campaign gripped by tension between the rival coalitions of President Macky Sall, his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade and Dakar’s detained mayor. The election is seen as a crucial test …

Adama Barrow: how do you solve a problem like The Gambia? Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  Six months ago, businessman and political novice Adama Barrow took power in Africa’s smallest mainland country after delivering a stunning defeat against ex-leader Yahya Jammeh, who had ruled brutally for 22 years. When Barrow …

Washington, United States | AFP |  If Donald Trump fires the special prosecutor investigating his team’s ties to alleged Russian meddling in the US election, it could mark “the beginning of the end” of the billionaire’s presidency, a senior Republican lawmaker warned Thursday. Senator Lindsey Graham, who briefly ran against …

Paris, France | AFP | British disease experts on Thursday suggested doing away with the “incorrect” advice to always finish a course of antibiotics, saying the approach was fuelling the spread of drug resistance. Rather than stopping antibiotics too early, the cause of resistance was “unnecessary” drug use, a team wrote …

Kampala, Uganda | INDEPENDENT REPORTER |  The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has come out to explain the land acquisition challenges that have necessitated The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The proposed amendment of Article 26 of the 1995 Constitution aims to make it possible for government to take possession of or acquire property upon payment of the …

Washington, United States | AFP | Two chants emerged as hallmarks of Donald Trump’s campaign rallies as he made his improbable run for the White House. One was “Build the wall!” and the other was “Lock her up!” The plan for a wall on the border with Mexico has been …

  Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  Police brutality, “fake news” propaganda and official cover-ups at the height of apartheid have been laid bare in a South African court probing the death of a communist activist 46 years ago. Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old anti-apartheid volunteer, was arrested in Johannesburg in …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Premier League spending looks certain to shatter all previous records before the current transfer window closes as England’s superpowers reload in an increasingly frenzied arms race. Fuelled by lucrative television contracts, currently worth around £8.3 billion ($10.8bn, 9.3bn euros) and unprecedented revenue streams at …

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania| AFRICAN ARGUMENTS |  Ever since his election in 2015, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has been a subject of public fascination. At first, his war on graft promised to cleanse the state of corruption, while his patriotic thrift inspired the hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo? But as this campaign of tumbua majipu (“lance the boils”) was …

Pretoria, South Africa | Zachary Donnenfeld | ISS TODAY | The government of Ethiopia is currently constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Once complete, the GERD will be the largest hydropower facility in Africa (about 6 000 MW) – nearly triple the country’s current electricity generation capacity – and represent a potential …