Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, is promoting the reuse of residual palm oil from its iconic acarajé fritters — African-inspired, shrimp-filled dumplings made with peeled black-eyed peas and onions and served with sauce.

Children in Gaza are heading back to school as a new academic year begins, returning to classrooms that remain heavily damaged and lacking basic equipment after years of war.

Pope Leo at his Weekly General Audience in St Peter’s Square. PHOTO/VATICAN. By PATRICK MAYOYO Millions of Catholics gathered in churches across the world today to celebrate Sunday Mass, hearing a powerful message centred on God’s mercy, forgiveness, generosity and the value of every human life regardless of status, achievement or past mistakes. The readings proclaimed in parishes from Africa and Europe to Asia, the Americas and Oceania challenged believers to turn back to God, trust in His wisdom and embrace a spirit of gratitude rather than envy. The liturgy opened with a reading from the Book of Isaiah in which God invites people to seek Him while He is near and abandon sinful ways. The prophet delivers a message of hope, assuring worshippers that God is always ready to forgive those who sincerely repent. At the same time, the reading reminds humanity that God’s thinking is far beyond human understanding. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” the ...

President William Ruto currently on a tour of Nyanza region. PHOTO/UGC. By PATRICK MAYOYO By any serious measure, Senator Edwin Sifuna has become a problem President William Ruto can no longer laugh away. For months, the establishment treated the Nairobi senator as political noise: an ambitious young lawyer, an ODM firebrand, a man supposedly enjoying a moment of celebrity politics that would disappear as quickly as it arrived. But political noise does not normally provoke this much attention from State House. A politician who is irrelevant is ignored. A politician who is dangerous is attacked. And the increasingly personal rhetoric directed at Sifuna suggests that President Ruto’s political strategists have begun to understand what Sifuna’s growing popularity could mean for the 2027 presidential contest. Recent TIFA findings are particularly revealing. In its July 2026 survey, Sifuna emerged as the most preferred opposition presidential contender, with 15 per cent, ahead of Fred M...

Vigils, group runs and moments of silence: thousands of protesters gathered across South Africa this weekend to pay tribute to the nine women found murdered in eastern Johannesburg. In a country that records more than 60 homicides a day, the nine murders sent shockwaves through the population. Anger is mounting, and calls are growing for the government to take action. Story by Caroline Baum.

In the first quarter of 2026, China became the leading destination for Rwandan exports, accounting for 26% of the total, compared with less than 5% just one year earlier. A spectacular shift, driven by the removal of Chinese tariffs on almost all Rwandan products. But on the ground, access to this market of 1.4 billion consumers depends less on tariffs than on meeting sanitary standards. Report by Aurore Bayoud.

A HealthCap Africa roundtable explored how Nigerian pension funds could support healthcare. No capital was pledged, but the discussion highlighted what investable projects need.

Nedbank’s connected-geyser programme highlights the potential of preventive insurance. We examine the reported savings, leak interventions and a demand-management trial.

Australia’s Treasury will publish an intergenerational report Monday projecting that life expectancy at birth will climb to nearly 90 years for women and 86 for men by 2065-66, even as the country’s population growth slows and households shrink. An extract released Sunday put current life expectancy at about 86 for women and 82 for men, […]

A young child died and two other children and a woman were left in critical condition Sunday after a stabbing attack in a vehicle in the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, New South Wales Police said. Emergency services responded shortly before 1 p.m. to reports of three children and a woman found with stab […]