Doctors in Sudan’s West Darfur say 200 people were killed in past one week, hospitals evacuated and closed down
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) has confirmed that the violence in El Geneina and Kereinik in West Darfur over the past week claimed at least 200 lives, including nine women, 24 children and 23 seniors. Medical facilities to deal with dozens wounded in the strife are severely overstretched,...
Gunners arm manager Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal ambitious rebuild with contract extension to summer of 2025
Mikel Arteta wants to take Arsenal “to the next level” after agreeing to terms on a new long-term contract with the Gunners. The Spaniard has been in charge at The Emirates since replacing Unai Emery at the back end of 2019. In his first season in charge, he won the...
Muzzling the messenger: Why suppression of freedom of expression persists in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mancho Bibixy was pulled from his hideout in Bamenda, Cameroon, in the dead of night on January 17, 2017. In the years since the elite commandos of the Cameroon army dragged the Abakwa FM anchor away, his fiancée and son have said they lost all hope of seeing him regain...
South African president walks thin political ground as his party and opposition deride him as ineffective
Shouted down by angry mineworkers, defied within his party over his anti-corruption drive, derided as ineffective by the opposition – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces daunting political challenges. Ramaphosa, 69, has responded with a calm demeanour and a serious, dogged determination that may see him prevail, say some analysts....
Researchers in advanced stages of developing nose spray vaccines they hope can quash Covid variants
The relentless evolution of the Covid-causing coronavirus has taken a bit of the shine off the vaccines developed during the first year of the pandemic. Versions of the virus that now dominate circulation – Omicron and its subvariants – are more transmissible and adept at evading the body’s immune defences...
Russia’s technologically advanced warship Moskva was barely a year old when Ukrainian army destroyed it
Russia faced yet another military setback this week following reports that one of the country’s most advanced tanks in service, the T-90M, was destroyed just days after it was deployed to Ukraine. Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko first posted a picture of the charred vehicle on Wednesday from the Kharkiv region,...
Experts warn US to expect Moscow retaliation after emerged it gave Ukraine intelligence used to sink Russia’s largest warship
Intelligence shared by the US helped Ukraine sink the Russian cruiser Moskva, US officials told NBC News, confirming an American role in perhaps the most embarrassing blow to Vladimir Putin’s troubled invasion of Ukraine. A guided missile cruiser carrying a crew of 510, the Moskva was the flagship of Russia’s...
How Kenya’s murky politics has spawned a new industry of influencers who parrot criticism, promote viral conspiracies
In a nondescript office north of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, social media influencer Ian James Mwai constantly glances at his two mobile phones, wary of missing an opportunity to promote the political party he works for. The 23-year-old is in the vanguard of the growing ranks of influencers feverishly punching keyboards...
After decades in the grip of dictatorship, The Gambia is now at the deep end of insecurity and violent crime
After two decades of dictatorship, The Gambia embraced democracy with President Adama Barrow’s 2016 election victory. But as is often the case in transitions from autocracy to democracy, stability remains elusive and economic growth insufficient to alleviate structural problems like high unemployment. Barrow was re-elected in December 2021, and a...
Richard Branson Musings: How can parents help dyslexic children thrive, and schools better support dyslexic students?
It has been nothing short of amazing to see the response from our campaign with Made By Dyslexia and LinkedIn to add ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ as a recognised skill on the platform. For my newsletter this month, I invited people to ask me any questions they have about dyslexia, and to...
