NEWS ANALYSIS

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Efforts to curb the Democratic Republic of Congo’s worst Ebola outbreak are stumbling, medical charity MSF warned Thursday, blaming the role of the security forces in the response and their “toxic” relations with local communities. Seven months into the outbreak, “the Ebola response is failing to …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo’s recently elected president, Felix Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila on Wednesday said they had decided to form a coalition government following talks. Despite Tshisekedi’s election — the first peaceful transition of power since the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960 — the …

Paris, France | AFP | Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his side “can go all the way” in the Champions League after Marcus Rashford’s dramatic stoppage-time penalty gave them a stunning 3-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday as they improbably reached the quarter-finals on away goals. A seriously depleted United looked …

Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Sanctions have worsened Venezuela’s crippling economic and political crisis, the UN human rights chief said Wednesday, as Washington warned it may expand measures targeting President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government. UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said sanctions had exacerbated the crisis but also slammed Maduro’s “violations of civil and political rights” …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Police deployed Wednesday in the Algerian capital with water cannons, a day after thousands of students demonstrated against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s re-election bid. Although the city remained calm, security forces were bracing for further protests on Friday as demonstrators have vowed to take to the streets until the 82-year-old …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A state of emergency imposed across Sudan is restricting public freedoms, a minister said Wednesday, as lawmakers discussed the measure imposed by President Omar al-Bashir to quell anti-government protests. Bashir declared a year-long state of emergency on February 22 after an initial crackdown failed to suppress deadly demonstrations against his iron-fisted …

Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump branded Democratic opponents “crazy” and guilty of overreach Tuesday in a fevered response to a huge new Democratic-led probe of his alleged crimes. In a searing burst of early morning tweets, the president said the House Judiciary Committee investigation launched Monday was “the greatest overreach in …

New York, United States | AFP | A documentary on pedophilia accusations against Michael Jackson has left some fans grappling with the late superstar’s tarnished legacy — but among his outraged superfans, protecting it is all that matters. Celebrity fandom has morphed into a vicious online tool, with superfan gangs — Beyonce’s Beyhive, Justin Bieber’s …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | The leader of an Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram may have been replaced, sources say, against a backdrop of speculation as to his fate — and the group’s future direction. Three sources with deep knowledge of the group said they had been told in recent days that the Islamic …

Paris, France | AFP | For just the second time ever a HIV patient is in sustained remission from the virus in what was hailed by experts Tuesday as proof that the AIDS-causing condition could one day be curable. Ten years almost to the day since the first confirmed case of an HIV-infected person being …