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SA vs WHO: a diplomatic firestorm over alleged xenophobic violence

SA vs WHO: a diplomatic firestorm over alleged xenophobic violence

THE exchange began with the kind of language rarely directed at a member state by a United Nations agency head - raw, personal, and historically charged. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, broke from the measured diplomatic register of multilateral institutions to deliver a searing public indictment of South Africa on his official social media platform, as anti-immigration protests convulsed the country and hundreds marched on Parliament. "It is profoundly heartbreaking to witness another surge of xenophobic violence in South Africa this week," Tedros wrote. "Hundreds have marched on Parliament, thousands of families have been displaced,…
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The Artan affair: how a Miami sidelining ignited a global reckoning

The Artan affair: how a Miami sidelining ignited a global reckoning

THE whistle that Omar Abdulkadir Artan was never allowed to blow in the United States has paradoxically become the loudest sound of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In a dramatic reversal of fortune that has blurred the lines between sports tragedy and national triumph, the 34-year-old Somali referee - denied entry to the U.S. just 48 hours before the tournament’s start - has returned home not as a victim of bureaucracy, but as a global icon of resilience. On June 6, 2026, Artan arrived at Miami International Airport, carrying the hopes of a nation and a valid U.S. visa. He…
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Ghana raises diplomatic storm over Partey’s World Cup visa block, threatens court action

Ghana raises diplomatic storm over Partey’s World Cup visa block, threatens court action

THE Government of Ghana has moved swiftly and forcefully against Canada following the host nation's decision to deny midfielder Thomas Partey a visa to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, escalating what began as a sporting setback into a fully-fledged diplomatic confrontation - and threatening legal action in the Canadian courts. Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formally lodged a protest with Canada, demanding that Ottawa reverse its refusal of a temporary residence application for Partey, a key member of Ghana's senior national team. The language deployed by Accra is unambiguous: measured in register, but pointed in legal and…
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How ‘Blessing CEO’ allegedly milked Nigeria’s generosity with a cancer lie

How ‘Blessing CEO’ allegedly milked Nigeria’s generosity with a cancer lie

SHE styled herself the apostle of romantic truth - a flamboyant social media relationship coach whose millions of followers hung on her every word about love, self-worth, and the audacity to want better. She was, by her own account, Blessing CEO: fearless, fabulous, and - she claimed - dying. The dying part, investigators now allege, was a spectacular and cold-blooded lie. And the people she targeted with that lie were not wealthy patrons or anonymous philanthropic foundations. They were ordinary Nigerians - fans who trusted her, strangers who wept for her, citizens who quietly transferred money they could barely afford…
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DRC: Protests force Tshisekedi to pause bid to join Africa’s long queue of leaders who would be kings

DRC: Protests force Tshisekedi to pause bid to join Africa’s long queue of leaders who would be kings

KINSHASA BURNS - AGAIN The images that emerged from Kinshasa on the afternoon of Friday, 12 June 2026, were visceral and deeply familiar to anyone who has followed the DRC's tortured democratic trajectory. Martin Fayulu — one of the country's most prominent opposition leaders and a man who may never have been allowed a fair shot at the presidency he arguably won in 2018 — was photographed with blood around his eyes and across his shirt. Around him, supporters frantically tried to shield him as security forces dispersed protesters with tear gas and live ammunition. Fayulu and his allies had…
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Tinubu to terrorists and kidnappers: surrender now or face state’s full force

Tinubu to terrorists and kidnappers: surrender now or face state’s full force

NIGERIA’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued one of the most pointed security warnings of his administration, telling Nigeria's armed criminal networks — from kidnappers and bandits to those who finance terror — that the time to surrender is running out. Speaking during the Democracy Day address at the Eagle Square in Abuja, where Nigeria marked 27 consecutive years of unbroken civilian rule, Tinubu delivered an unambiguous ultimatum that drew audible attention in the hall and will reverberate across conflict-affected communities from the North-West to the North-East. "To bandits, kidnappers, and sponsors of terror: Surrender or face the full force of…
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DRC’s Ebola crisis deepens as the sick, the malnourished and the forgotten bear the cost

DRC’s Ebola crisis deepens as the sick, the malnourished and the forgotten bear the cost

IN approximately three weeks since the outbreak was formally confirmed, the Democratic Republic of Congo's health authorities have recorded 676 cases and 136 deaths from the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus - a relatively rare variant of the disease for which no approved vaccine or targeted therapeutic currently exists. Those statistics alone are alarming. The geography behind them is catastrophic. Active infections have now been identified across a corridor spanning some 1,000 kilometres - from Aru in the north of Ituri province to Miti Murhesa in South Kivu - with 34 health zones affected as of the last reporting…
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How Nigeria cabinet minister rented an Ethiopian Airlines plane to stage fake Nigerian Air launch

How Nigeria cabinet minister rented an Ethiopian Airlines plane to stage fake Nigerian Air launch

IT WAS THEATRE. Carefully scripted, meticulously timed, and breathtakingly brazen — a political magic trick performed on a nation that had waited years for a national airline to call its own. Courtroom testimony delivered in Abuja on Wednesday has laid bare what prosecutors describe as an extraordinary act of official deception: that the aircraft which rolled onto the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on 27 May 2023 — painted in the proud colours of Nigeria Air — was never Nigerian at all. It belonged to Ethiopian Airlines. It had been chartered for three days. And the moment the…
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Tanzania goes to St. Petersburg: Samia’s $10-billion gambit to reposition Africa’s hidden giant

Tanzania goes to St. Petersburg: Samia’s $10-billion gambit to reposition Africa’s hidden giant

WHEN President Samia Suluhu Hassan rose to address the plenary of the 29th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on 5 June 2026, she opened not with economic data but with imagery — the deliberate, considered imagery of a continent tired of being abstractly referenced and determined to be concretely present. "Greetings from the snow of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world. Greetings from the great plains of the Serengeti, where the wildebeest migration rights one of nature's oldest and most magnificent stories. And greetings from the Spice Island of Zanzibar."President Samia Suluhu Hassan, SPIEF 2026 Plenary It…
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Swift justice: Zimbabwean truck driver jailed for 20 years for smuggling explosives into SA

Swift justice: Zimbabwean truck driver jailed for 20 years for smuggling explosives into SA

ON the morning of 10 April 2026, a routine operation at the Beitbridge Port of Entry, the busiest land border crossing on the African continent, produced anything but a routine result. A SARS customs officer was observed in pursuit of a truck driver. A Border Management Authority officer joined the chase. What followed was the unravelling of one of the more brazen attempts to smuggle an industrial-grade arsenal into South Africa. Edgar Maroto, a 42-year-old Zimbabwean national, had lied to border officials, declaring his cargo as scrap material. What inspectors found concealed beneath the trailer was a different kind of…
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