NEWS ANALYSIS

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israel is bracing for an unprecedented third election in under a year, with voters eyeing an end to the deadlock but polls indicating another tight race despite criminal charges against the prime minister. Two previous votes in April and September last year failed to produce …

Paris, France | AFP | Researchers want to know everything about the latest coronavirus, from its mortality rate to its origins, incubation period and much more, and they still have blanks to fill in. – Mortality rate? – COVID-19, as the disease is known, is more lethal than the average …

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | The World Health Organization warned Saturday that African health systems were ill-equipped to respond to the deadly coronavirus outbreak should cases start to proliferate on the continent. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on African Union member states “to come together to be …

Secretary General Patricia Scotland under pressure over awarding a £250,000 commission to a firm owned by her friend | THE INDEPENDENT | The Commonwealth is facing uncertainty over its leadership after its heads of government rejected calls for the secretary-general, Baroness Scotland, to be given an automatic second term, the …

Next chair of complicated six-member bloc has to deal with Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan issues   Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | The next East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit is scheduled for Feb. 28 and it is expected that Rwandan President Paul Kagame who has had a …

Why FIFA’s reform proposals are neo-colonial | CHUKA ONWEMECHILI | FIFA has ended its 6-month management takeover of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). But the future of the game on the continent is still clouded with uncertainty. In June last year the world football governing body effectively took over …

DP leaders explain frustration with Mao as leader Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Norbert Mao, the current leader of Uganda’s oldest political organisation; the Democratic Party (DP) is at his best when gabbing – and some of his fellow leaders do not like that. They wish he could lead …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | In quashing the idea of married priests in the Amazon, Pope Francis has appeased traditionalists while disappointing progressives who had hoped for a historic turning point in the Catholic church. In his “apostolic exhortation” on the Amazon basin published Wednesday, Francis slammed the …

Nyon, Switzerland | AFP | Manchester City have been banned from European competitions for the next two seasons for “serious financial fair-play breaches”, UEFA announced on Friday, with the verdict immediately contested by Pep Guardiola’s English champions. City, who were also fined 30 million euros ($32.5 million), announced they were …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | When Cyril Ramaphosa took office as South African president two years ago, the media coined the term “Ramaphoria” to describe the giddy expectations he had stoked. Those heady days now seem firmly in the past. Ramaphosa, 67, has been praised for turning the page …