Blog one column

Panic, confusion and then a hasty White House climbdown – it was a weekend of whiplash for hundreds of thousands of Indians on H-1B visas. On Friday, US President Donald Trump stunned the tech world by announcing an up to 50-fold hike in the cost of skilled worker permits – to $100,000. Chaos followed: Silicon […]

Ethiopia is celebrating the start of its new year – 2018. The country has its own unique calendar, meaning it is seven years behind the Western calendar. Amensisa Ifa/BBC These yellow “adey ababa” blooms are associated with the celebration. They grow wild around the capital, Addis Ababa, at this time of year. Small bunches have […]

With tears in his eyes, a young Kenyan athlete now captive in Ukraine pleads not to be sent back to Russia. “I will die there,” Evans Kibet says, waving his hands in the air towards the unseen interviewer on the video released on Wednesday by a Ukrainian army brigade. The 36-year-old prisoner-of-war is wearing a […]

South African police say they have dismantled a crystal methamphetamine laboratory, with drugs worth $20m (£15m), discovered on a farm in the east of the country. Five people “from a North American country” have been arrested, while two others “believed to be from West African countries” fled the scene, a statement said. Police photographs show […]

Botswana has declared a public holiday to celebrate the country’s victory in the men’s 4×400 metres at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, the first African nation to win the event. President Duma Boko hailed the gold medal as a “historic African win”, in an online address praising the team for their performance. He announced […]

Malawians are waiting to find out who their next president will be after Tuesday’s election. The electoral commission says it will not announce any results until everything has been checked. Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Anabel Mtalimanja said the commission had received about 98% of results. Allies of both President Lazarus Chakwera and his main […]

A man running a sex ring operating out of Dubai’s most glamorous neighbourhoods, and exploiting vulnerable women, has been identified by a BBC investigation. Charles Mwesigwa, who says he is a former London bus driver, told our undercover reporter he could provide women for a sex party at a starting price of $1,000 (£740), adding […]

The head of Malawi’s electoral commission has warned political parties not to prematurely declare electoral victory, saying they should wait for the official results. Annabel Mtalimanja’s warning came after the parties of the two main presidential candidates, the incumbent Lazarus Chakwera and his predecessor Peter Mutharika, claimed they had won Tuesday’s poll. Speaking at a […]

Eleven people detained in Ghana after being deported from the US have sued the West African nation’s government, their lawyer has told the BBC. Oliver-Barker Vormawor said the deportees had not violated any Ghanaian law, and their detention in a military camp was therefore illegal. He wanted the government to produce the group in court, […]

ABC has pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk. “Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network said in a statement. Earlier this week, Kimmel said during his show that the “Maga gang” was trying to score […]