NEWS ANALYSIS

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Enemies during both world wars, France and Germany have since forged a close friendship, acting together as the powerhouse driving the European Union. Below are highlights of their relations since the end of World War II: – Beginnings of EU – – May 9, 1950: French …

Paris, France | AFP | Eye-watering, throat-scratching air pollution is a major driver of big city blues in China, according to a study published Monday that matched social network chatter with fine-particle pollution levels. “The take-away is simple,” lead author Siqi Zheng, an associate professor at MIT and director of the …

Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Monday’s brief mutiny by Venezuelan soldiers was not the first time President Nicolas Maduro has faced a military challenge to his leadership. Since coming to power in 2013 following the death of socialist revolutionary icon Hugo Chaves, the former bus driver Maduro has faced a number …

Madrid, Spain | AFP | Cristiano Ronaldo avoided jail on Tuesday but was ordered by a Spanish court to pay 3.57 million euros ($4.1 million) for committing tax fraud when he was at Real Madrid. The court sentenced him to a two-year jail sentence that it immediately reduced to a fine of 365,000 euros, which …

ANIANSUE, Ivory Coast | AFP | A dozen women, their bodies coated with clay, sway to beating drums as if in a trance, ankle bells jingling as they stamp their feet, in the eastern Ivorian town of Aniansue. They are training to become certified “komians”, or priestesses, steeped in traditional …

Melbourne, Australia | AFP | Serena Williams is emotionally and physically ready to win another Grand Slam, unlike during her famous meltdown in the final of the US Open last year, according to coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The 37-year-old American stormed past top seed Simona Halep to reach the quarter-finals at the …

Beijing, China | AFP | The second woman carrying a gene-edited foetus in China is now 12 to 14 weeks into her pregnancy, according to a US physician in close contact with the researcher who claimed to have created the world’s first genetically-modified babies last year. Chinese scientist He Jiankui …

What Chinese, French domination of Uganda’s oil and gas supplier database means for Ugandan entrepreneurs Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | As pressure to develop key upstream infrastructure picks up with billions of dollars expected to pour into the Ugandan economy starting this year, focus is now turning onto who …

    ?: Do you still want to love me, for better or for worse? ?: I DO. An 85-yr-old man in Xi'an, China's Shaanxi Province, was captured on camera giving his wife a leg massage. pic.twitter.com/MCJVBGKrVG — People's Daily, China (@PDChina) January 10, 2019 Beijing, China | AFP | …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Marcus Rashford was in danger of seeing his dream of becoming Manchester United’s star striker turn to dust but the England forward is flourishing again after escaping Jose Mourinho’s shackles. Three years after exploding onto the Premier League scene, Rashford marked his 150th United appearance on Saturday with a …