NEWS ANALYSIS

Sydney, Australia | AFP | Cardinal George Pell’s trial and conviction of child sex abuse in Australia was one of the biggest scandals to hit the Catholic Church, but the public was not allowed to know about it for months. A blanket gag order stopped reporters from even mentioning the trial’s …

  Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Is your dog getting enough exercise? Who will change your cat’s litter box while you are away on holiday? Relax. Mobile entrepreneurs are jumping into the pet industry with smartphone-enabled gadgets that can help care for your four-legged friends, from activity trackers to a litter …

Paris, France | AFP | Brexit will inflict “significant harm” on Britain’s National Health Service, experts warned on Tuesday, with a no-deal departure from the EU likely to provoke acute shortages of staff and medicines. With little over a month remaining until Britain is due to leave the European Union, there …

Sinuiju, North Korea | AFP | The manager of North Korea’s Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory clenches her fists when asked about a rival plant in Pyongyang, then bumps them together. “We compete,” Kim Hye Yong says firmly. Throughout the plant, masked workers in white overalls, gloves and hairnets operate machines producing shampoos, …

Doha, Qatar | AFP | Abdulla Sager al-Khori has little doubt about the significance of a luxury watch when it comes to fashion — and making a statement — even in the thick of Qatar’s diplomatic crisis. “Because we have the traditional dress the only thing we can use as an …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | The weed killer Roundup was a “substantial factor” in the cancer of a US man who developed a lump in his throat after decades of spraying his garden, his lawyer said Monday at the start of the first ever federal trial targeting its manufacturer …

Barcelona, Spain | AFP | From a tiny robot which strikes a pose when you point a camera at it to earbuds that translate languages, here are five eye-catching devices on display at the Mobile World Congress trade fair which opened Monday in Barcelona: Smartphone-controlled light bulb Want to dim the …

 Can UWA’s electric fence at Queen Elizabeth Park stop them? Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Elephants are one of the most iconic and popular animals that attract visitors by their thousands to Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. Even the locals of Kafuru, a small village near the …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari scored early gains on Monday in his bid for re-election after dozens died in weekend violence and monitors voiced concern about polling-day problems. The 76-year-old candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party won 57 percent of the vote in the southwestern state of Ekiti, …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Kepa Arrizabalaga’s extraordinary refusal to be substituted by Maurizio Sarri in Sunday’s League Cup final heaps the pressure on the beleaguered Chelsea boss as he desperately seeks consistency. The Spaniard twice required treatment late in extra-time against Manchester City at Wembley, with the match heading for penalties, so the …