An investigation is underway into a fire at a wedding party in Congo's capital Kinshasa left at least 22 people dead, the regional mayor said Saturday.

The United Nations’ climate agency warned this week that El Niño is expected to strengthen further in the coming months, bringing risks of extreme weather into 2027. In Kenya, weather experts said the phenomenon could cause above-normal rains between October and December.

INFOGRAPHIC/EYEWITNESS MEDIA. By PATRICK MAYOYO Wealth in 2026 is no longer simply a measure of money in the bank. It is a reflection of technological power, global business empires, political influence, royal heritage, sporting fame and ownership of some of the world’s most valuable assets. From Silicon Valley to royal palaces, luxury estates and private islands, extraordinary fortunes continue to shape the way people live, invest and influence the world around them. The ranks of the ultra-rich have also reached unprecedented levels. Forbes’ 2026 annual billionaires list counted 3,428 billionaires with a combined fortune of $20.1 trillion, with technology entrepreneurs dominating the upper reaches of the rankings. At the top are familiar names such as Elon Musk, whose interests span electric vehicles, space exploration and artificial intelligence, alongside technology giants including Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang. Their fortunes can fluctua...

A session at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. PHOTO/UNCCD. By PATRICK MAYOYO The African Development Bank has committed to work with partners to mobilise funds for the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) during the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP-17) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Ulaanbaatar. The commitment came on 24 August as African ministers, development partners and international organisations participating in an event titled Scaling the Great Green Wall through Continental Integration and the AU GGWI Strategy (2024-2034) and co-organised by the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank and the UN, voiced calls to scale up GGWI. Participants also welcomed the AU’s adoption in 2024 of the Great Green Wall Strategy and Ten-Year Implementation Framework (2024–2034), which provides a roadmap to expand the initiative into a continental platform for land restoration and ...

In tonight's programme, a UN report says foreign fighters and support networks are fuelling Sudan’s war and worsening violence against civilians. Also, Uber is pulling out of Nigeria and Uganda, leaving thousands of drivers scrambling for new sources of income. And finally, we discuss the festival with co-director Diarah N’Daw-Spech and Laurence Cole, co-producer of the Nigerian film "Shadow of Greed".

François Picard is pleased to welcome Aida Alami, New York Times World contributor. Drawing on her own field reporting at the Moroccan border, Alami challenges attempts to explain the mass crossing to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta primarily through a theory of deliberate state orchestration. While acknowledging both Morocco's history of leveraging migration in its relations with Spain and the possibility that security forces made tactical decisions on the day, Alami insists on distinguishing evidence from inference.

Fortuna Mining’s Diamba Sud Gold Project in Senegal has secured a 14MW captive power plant from Wärtsilä, marking another significant infrastructure commitment as the Canadian […]

Cybersecurity risks are intensifying for smaller businesses across the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa, with Kaspersky reporting rising phishing, credential theft and malware threats.

By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze Abuja: At Least 45 Shi’a Protesters Shot Dead Amnesty wrote to the Chief of Army Staff in April 2016 and the Army answered eight days later. A state commission reported, and a White Paper accepted its recommendation. Thirty-four months on, forty-five more died in Abuja.   Members of the Islamic Movement […]

By Prof. MarkAnthony Nze Biafra: At Least 150 Protesters Killed Amnesty International attributed the deaths to security forces as a class. A deployment order is one direct route to identifying who sent soldiers against an assembly section 40 protects, and this review located no such order for any incident in the period. Security forces killed […]