NEWS ANALYSIS

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 …

Berkeley Heights, United States | AFP |  President Donald Trump is on summer vacation. Just don’t call it that. “It’s never a vacation,” he said before leaving the White House last Friday for the 10-day non-vacation at his luxury golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The former real estate dealer …

The Lambahraun lava field, Iceland | AFP |  To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun …

Paris, France | AFP | A deadly explosion at a Russian testing site has focused attention on President Vladimir Putin’s bid to build a nuclear-powered missile that the Kremlin hopes would give Moscow the edge in a new arms race. Western experts have linked the blast at the Nyonoksa test site …

Monaca, United States | AFP |  President Donald Trump has seen the future and it is oil. And plastic. Where most environmental scientists and most US allies fear that overuse of fossil fuels is driving the planet into crisis, the US president spies only opportunity. In a speech on Tuesday to …

Cincinnati, United States | AFP | World number one Novak Djokovic got his US Open build up off to a smooth start with a straight-sets win in Cincinnati on Tuesday as back trouble forced Serena Williams to withdraw. Defending champion Djokovic double faulted three times as he dropped serve in the …