NEWS ANALYSIS

Moon Jae-In: I will take the helm empty-handed and will retire empty-handed. Seoul, South Korea | AFP |  South Korea’s new president was sworn in on Wednesday, just a day after a landslide election victory, and immediately declared his willingness to visit Pyongyang amid high tensions with the nuclear-armed North. …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired FBI director James Comey, ousting the man heading a wide-ranging investigation into whether his aides colluded with Russia to sway last year’s US election. In a shock move that drew comparisons to the Watergate scandal that brought down …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired his FBI director James Comey, the man who leads the agency charged with investigating his campaign’s ties with Russia — a move that sent shockwaves through Washington. The surprise dismissal of Comey, who played a controversial role …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | A schoolgirl who was among more than 200 kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 refused to be part of a release deal because she is now married to a militant fighter, Nigeria’s government said Tuesday. The disclosure underlines the complex psychological effects of a lengthy …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Military pressure, in-fighting within Boko Haram and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s health combined to secure the release of 82 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, sources said Monday. The latest batch of the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April 2014 were freed Saturday in a prisoner swap …

World notes worsening situation in Uganda, cites Stella Nyanzi saga The constant attacks on journalists by security operatives have seen Uganda drop 10 places in the just released 2017 World Press Freedom Index. Uganda stands at 112, down from the 102nd position it occupied last year with a global score …

Look to heavy investment into technology to reverse slow 2016 growth Centenary Bank and Barclays Bank of Uganda Ltd registered slower growth in profits for the year ending December 2016 but the managers say that is no problem and instead remain positive about the future. Centenary’s profits grew by 8.2% …

Paris, France | AFP |  It is an image that will long live in French political memory. As incoming president Emmanuel Macron stood in front of his cheering supporters at the Louvre on Sunday night to savour his election victory, his wife Brigitte took his hand and kissed it, tears …

Paris, France | AFP | Despite Marine Le Pen’s drubbing in the French presidential election, her far-right National Front party expanded its footprint in the political landscape — and confirmed its move into the mainstream. Her anti-immigrant, anti-Europe stance won a record 34 percent of ballots cast on Sunday, which …

Police insiders going rogue? They call themselves the Bakijambiya (Machete gang) and they pounce in the wee hours of the night. They come with pangas, iron bars, nails on wood clubs, and big knives. They chop and clobber their victims, steal their money and portable property, and rape the women …