NEWS ANALYSIS

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s army ruler said Wednesday he was open to negotiations even as gunfire crackled across the capital after a crackdown that doctors close to protesters said left at least 60 people dead. Despite mounting international concern at what demonstrators called a “bloody massacre”, a bid at …

  Paris, France | AFP | Humans eat and breathe in tens of thousands of microplastic particles every year, according to a new analysis Wednesday that raised fresh questions over how plastic waste could directly impact our health. Microplastics — tiny plastic shards broken down from man-made products such as synthetic …

Lisbon, Portugal | AFP |  In a neighbourhood bar on a cobbled square in Lisbon’s historic working-class Alfama district, an eclectic mix of punters pull up little wooden stools around a dozen intimately lit tables. On the walls hang guitars and an old piano stands ready to accompany that evening’s music, …

Kathmandu, Nepal (| AFP |   Under pressure after a deadly season on traffic-clogged Mount Everest, Nepal is considering tightening access to the world’s highest peak, but mountaineering experts fear the proposed changes could amount to little more than lip service. Eleven people died during the climbing season that ended this …

Paris, France | AFP |  Western countries must increasingly deal with hard to dispose of plastics because China and many southeastern Asian countries no longer want them. Incinerators or landfills are two quick fixes since Beijing shut the door in January 2018 to some foreign refuse, but specialists say longer …

Awamiya, Saudi Arabia | AFP |   Strip malls and palm-dotted boulevards stand in the once bullet-scarred old quarter of Awamiya, a Shiite-majority town on Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich eastern coast where the long-planned facelift fuelled deadly clashes. Until a year ago, Musawara neighbourhood resembled a war zone following skirmishes between militants …

Quality of Living research place it ahead of Nairobi Kampala, Uganda | The Independent | Uganda’s capital Kampala has once again been ranked the best East African city to live in. It is the third time Kampala wins this accolade in as many years. The ranking is done based on …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudan’s protest movement called Tuesday for fresh rallies and rejected the military rulers’ election plan after nearly 40 people were killed in what demonstrators called a “bloody massacre” by security forces. Protest leaders called on their supporters to take part in “total civil disobedience” to topple …

  Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Sudan is at risk of getting bloodier with more violence and chaos gripping the country, analysts said on Tuesday, after more than 35 people were killed in a protest crackdown. The Alliance for Freedom and Change that spearheaded protests which ousted Omar al-Bashir on April …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, interim leader of Sudan where protesters allege security forces broke up a weeks-long sit-in through a deadly operation Monday, was largely unknown until mid April. A doctors’ committee said at least 13 people were killed as gunfire echoed from the protest site …