NEWS ANALYSIS

Gahara, Rwanda | AFP | Inside a metal shed in southeastern Rwanda, Nicholas Hitimana brandished a plastic container holding a green liquid: geranium essential oil, freshly distilled and ready for export at more than $200 (175 euros) a kilo. The pioneer of essential oils in Rwanda, Hitimana said he understood …

Paris, France | AFP | France has leapfrogged the United States and Britain as the world’s top so-called soft power, helped by the election of President Emmanuel Macron, a study of countries’ non-military global influence showed Tuesday. While France has risen, Donald Trump’s ascent to the White House has seen the …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | A group of community elders in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram has waged a bloody eight-year insurgency are urging the Islamists to enter peace talks, a move some see as motivated by ethnic self-interest. The Borno Elders Forum of retired military and civilian officials, all ethnic …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The young woman laboured up the steps, past brightly decorated walls akin to a child’s nursery, her daughter in her arms. Opening a hatch in the wall, she put her inside, turned around and walked away. She ran her hands over her head but did …

Munich, Germany | AFP | At least 547 boys at a German Catholic choir school suffered sexual or physical abuse in what victims have likened to “prison, hell or a concentration camp”, said an investigator releasing a final report Tuesday on one of the country’s worst such scandals. The Regensburger …

Washington, United States | AFP |  Donald Trump’s first six months in the White House have been a riot of scandal, chaos and outrage that — absent a major course correction — could spell doom for his entire administration. All US presidents face crises that seem to sweep the White …

Washington, United States | AFP |  An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle his predecessor’s landmark health care law, insisting it was finally time to “let Obamacare fail.” With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Turkey on Monday blasted Israel’s two-day closure of a Jerusalem holy site, following a deadly attack, as a “crime against humanity.” The Haram al-Sharif compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque. It is venerated …

Washington, United States | AFP | Mike Pence is the loyal wingman, the ever-discreet figure who rises above the Washington fray. But as the Russia scandal encroaches ever further on Donald Trump’s White House, the vice president is also walking a political tightrope. The 58-year-old former governor of Indiana is currently …

What has land inquiry achieved after 60 days? Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE & RONALD MUSOKE | On May 9, a renowned advocate became the first witness to testify before the seven-member Land Inquiry 2017 Commission headed by Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemereire. On July 6, Bamugemereire informed the media that …