World

China’s Shenzhou-20 capsule is returning to Earth without crew after a window was damaged by tiny space debris, highlighting rising orbital congestion, safety risks and gaps in global space governance.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu confirms troops were sent to Benin at the government’s request after a failed coup, as ECOWAS deploys a regional force to help preserve constitutional order.

The decision marks a shift from earlier guidelines that only restricted certain types of filming.

A study finds more than 60,000 African penguins died in South Africa between 2004 and 2012 after sardines crashed, highlighting climate and overfishing threats to this now critically endangered species.

A Nigerian court’s terrorism conviction and life sentence for Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu ends a decade-long case but leaves core Igbo grievances and rising south-east insecurity unresolved.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed in New York that he will keep pushing for a Palestine two-state solution, criticising a paralysed Security Council and warning of rising global conflicts and climate risks.

Benin’s government says it foiled an attempted coup in Cotonou after soldiers briefly claimed to oust President Patrice Talon, highlighting growing instability across Africa’s expanding ‘coup belt’.

The African Union has condemned a failed coup attempt in Benin, led by Lt-Col Pascal Tigri, backing President Patrice Talon and urging an immediate return to constitutional order and military barracks.

Hospitals in Gaza report 54 per cent of essential medicines and 40 per cent of surgery drugs are unavailable, as Israel allows only five medical supply trucks weekly, leaving patients without vital treatment.

Authorities have urged citizens to remain calm as operations continue to stabilise the capital following the failed coup attempt.

His life in music represented a struggle against narrow, oppressive definitions of race, instrumental appropriateness and musical genre.

Africa is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite its limited contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Opposition coalitions such as the Union for Democratic Change (UAD) and the Union for Democratic Movements (UMD) face significant constraints.

Identifying themselves as the Military Committee for Refoundation, the soldiers declared on Sunday that they had removed the president and disbanded all state institutions.

In Tubas, wide-ranging raids, curfews and bulldozer activity caused extensive damage to homes, roads and water networks, displacing families and cutting water supplies to nearly 17,000 people.

A new study finds more than 60,000 African penguins vanished as sardines declined off South Africa, driving a 95% collapse on two islands and leaving the species critically endangered.

Lamola issued an open letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the latter criticised South Africa's domestic policies and its G20 stewardship in a Substack post on Wednesday.

The impact has been devastating: premature births have risen sharply, along with miscarriages and stillbirths linked to severe malnutrition, exhaustion and constant fear.

Reports indicate that Yasser Abu Shabab, commander of the Popular Forces, died on Thursday during what Israeli officials described as internal fighting inside Gaza.

The WHO’s latest annual update shows impressive progress since 2000: intervention has saved an estimated 14 million lives worldwide over the last quarter of a century, and 47 countries are certified malaria-free.

A 2025 court ruling found South African liberation leader Albert Luthuli was murdered, overturning a 1967 inquest and reframing his legacy and his overlooked autobiography, Let My People Go.

Facing war, sanctions and drought at home, Iran is deepening ties with African states for security cooperation, uranium and markets, from Burkina Faso and Niger to South Africa and Uganda.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia are investing in new terrestrial cable systems to relieve the strain on underwater cables in the Red Sea. This is part of a fundamental modernization strategy.

The core contestation is between commodifying land through individual rights and markets, versus protecting it as a social good through communal rights to prevent landlessness and inequality.

Gaza’s crisis stems not just from the recent war but decades of blockade, external control, and repeated destruction, highlighting its dependence on decisions made outside the territory.

UNCTAD forecasts global growth will slow to 2.6 per cent in 2025, citing rising financial volatility and geopolitical risks, with developing economies facing higher borrowing costs and climate-related pressures.

Drylands, covering 60 per cent of Africa, are hot, low-rainfall areas that sustain the livelihoods and food security of half a billion people through pastoralism and crop farming.

Zambia’s education ministry plans legal changes to guarantee free schooling from early childhood to secondary level, aiming to make the 2022 policy permanent while maintaining quality standards.

Although the horrors of Gaza have dominated the news, she warned that settlement expansion, demolitions and increased settler violence in the West Bank continue to undermine the prospects for a sovereign, independent, contiguous and viable Palestinian State.

Local actors, state and non-state, are no longer passive recipients of external interference. They are active participants in shaping their own security environments.

With elections coming, he’s now trying every possible manoeuvre to improve his position – and the pardon is just one of them.

Presidential Proclamation 10949 restricts entry for nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, while partially limiting entry from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima said the ministry has proposed amendments to the existing education law to secure free education from early childhood to secondary level.

If Belgium addresses these truths with humility instead of nostalgia, it could still be a respectful and constructive partner in a region that has moved beyond its shadow.

The information has spread quickly through Somali neighbourhoods in both cities, where many residents say they now fear unannounced raids and mistaken arrests.

Malaysia said deep-sea search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH379 flight will restart on 30 December.

Nigeria has placed Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa under protection at its Bissau embassy after threats to his life, and asked ECOWAS troops to reinforce security amid the coup crisis.

African and Caribbean delegates in Algiers adopted the Algeria Declaration, defining colonialism as a multidimensional crime and tasking Algeria to lead a new diplomatic push for reparations and accountability.

Plant-based foods like beans, grains, nuts and seeds are examples of low-emission, nutritious foods that could be farmed. New lab-grown meat or fermented meat should also be supported to meet the growing demand for protein.

The conference brought together policymakers, agri-tech players, researchers and development partners to chart a policy path for digital agriculture, with discussions centred on creating an enabling environment for innovation.

The events in Guinea-Bissau reflect a so-called polycrisis for countries in and around the Sahel belt, sandwiched between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. This region has, since 2020, become the global epicenter of both terrorism and coups.

The group said the official has demonstrated outstanding leadership in some of the world's most complex peace and security environments.

The conflict in northern Mozambique began in October 2017, when armed groups launched attacks in parts of Cabo Delgado province.

At AERC’s 2025 Nairobi summit, African economists and Kenyan officials urged community-led, locally grounded research and data systems to better inform policies and measure real development impact.

Mohammed Badaru Abubakar's resignation comes as Nigeria scrambles to respond to a wave of mass kidnappings.

Haitian authorities seized a record 1,045kg of cocaine near Île de la Tortue, highlighting Haiti’s growing role in regional drug routes and prompting expanded UN support to strengthen border and maritime security.

The report warns that the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty faces its most serious challenge in decades, with several States Parties taking steps that “concretely threaten the continued health of the convention”, said Ban Policy Editor Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

ECOWAS has suspended Guinea-Bissau after a military coup, demanding President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s release and swift publication of election results, as regional leaders move to defend democratic order.

Cameroon opposition leader Anicet Ekane died in custody in Yaoundé after his October arrest. Government, his party and the EU differ on his treatment and demand investigations into his death.

Global arms sales by the top 100 producers rose 5.9% to a record Sh87.8 trillion in 2024, driven by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, higher defence budgets and rising demand across key regions.

Palestinian sources say two brothers were killed in Gaza by Israeli drone fire. In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, attacks by Israeli settlers injured 10 Palestinians.