News

Kenya’s President William Ruto has cancelled two major deals involving Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, after the tycoon was indicted for fraud by US prosecutors. In his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, Ruto said the deals had been cancelled based on “new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations”. The day before, Mr Adani, India’s […]

This year’s winner of France’s biggest book prize is being sued in Algeria over claims he stole the story from a patient of his psychiatrist wife. Kamel Daoud was awarded the Goncourt prize earlier this month for his novel Houris, a searing account of Algeria’s 1990s civil war in which up to 200,000 people were […]

Regulators in South Africa have recalled a batch of the popular Yaz Plus contraceptive pill, after a packaging mix-up which means the contraception could be potentially ineffective. Manufacturer Bayer Ltd said women using pills from the affected batch should stop immediately and seek medical advice. A packaging mix-up led to a number of blister packs […]

William Ruto, who became Kenya’s president two years ago riding on the crest of the Christian vote, has been visibly shaken to find that over the last few months church leaders of all creeds are losing faith in him – seeing him less as a saviour and more as the greedy biblical tax collector. In […]

A fugitive Zambian lawmaker with a bounty on his head has been arrested in Zimbabwe, Zambian authorities have said. Emmanuel “Jay Jay” Banda, who was facing robbery charges, is accused of having escaped from custody in August as he awaited to appear in court. He is said to have escaped through a window at Chipata […]

A group of Afghan women who have said sewing was a “lifeline” under the Taliban are helping premature babies by making “heart-warming” incubator covers. The refugees are being supported under the government’s resettlement programme for people who worked alongside the British Army during operations in Afghanistan. About a dozen women who meet weekly in Weeton, […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gifted North Korea’s main zoo more than 70 animals, including a lion and two brown bears, in yet another display of burgeoning relations between Moscow and Pyongyang. Putin’s environment minister, Alexander Kozlov, brought the animals to the North Korean capital on board a cargo plane, Kozlov’s office said on its […]

Along with about 600 other men, Ndumiso lives and works in a small gang-controlled “town” – complete with markets and a red light district – that has grown up deep underground at a disused gold mine in South Africa. Ndumiso told the BBC that after being laid off by a big mining firm, he decided […]

John Dramani Mahama has been Ghana’s president once before – and now he is back for another punt at the top job. The 65-year-old led Ghana from 2012 to 2017 and is one of the West African country’s most experienced politicians. He has served at all levels of office, as an MP, deputy minister, minister, […]

The wife of Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye says he has been kidnapped and is now being held in a military jail. In a post on X, Winnie Byanyima wrote that her husband had been seized in Kenya’s capital Nairobi last Saturday during a book launch event. “I am now reliably informed that he is […]