From Thursday night into Friday morning, Earth’s shadow will swallow the moon, transforming the usually pearly orb into a striking red sphere. It’s the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years. Also known as a blood moon, the event will be most visible across the Americas, western parts of Africa and Europe, New … Read more
A senior official at the main U.S. aid agency, which is being dismantled by the Trump administration, told employees to clear safes holding classified documents and personnel files by shredding the papers or putting them into bags for burning, according to an email sent to the staff. The email sent by Erica Y. Carr, the … Read more
In early 2010, I was sitting at a communal table in a coffee shop in Cape Town, when I spotted a grizzled, bearded fellow who looked strangely familiar. It was Athol Fugard, South Africa’s foremost playwright and the great chronicler of his country’s apartheid past. There he was, sipping a cup of coffee like any … Read more
Dalvin Modore walked as if there was broken glass beneath his feet, stepping gingerly, his frail shoulders hunched against the anticipation of pain. His trousers had become so loose that he had to hold them up as he inched around his small farm in western Kenya. Mr. Modore has tuberculosis. He is 40, a tall … Read more
Since an armed rebel group backed by Rwandan troops launched a major offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, professional cyclists have raced on lush Rwandan hills, John Legend performed a sold-out concert in the capital, Kigali, and entrepreneurs have gathered at a conference center for a financial technology convention. Rwanda’s role in the war … Read more
The United States is cutting almost all its spending on aid. The biggest loser will be Africa. For years, sub-Saharan Africa has received more U.S. aid money than any other region — except for 2022 and 2023, when the United States came to Ukraine’s aid after the Russian invasion. In 2024, $12.7 billion of $41 … Read more
Gunmen attacked a United Nations helicopter on an evacuation mission in a volatile part of South Sudan on Friday, killing one crew member and injuring two others, the United Nations said. The helicopter crew was trying to rescue wounded South Sudanese soldiers in Upper Nile State, an attempt to defuse tensions in the area, the … Read more
The United States will immediately start offering a rapid pathway to citizenship for South African farmers, President Trump said in a social media post on Friday, falsely claiming that South Africa’s government was confiscating their land “and MUCH WORSE THAN THAT.” The post largely echoed what Mr. Trump has previously said about South Africa, including … Read more
CAIRO — At least two people have died and 186 others were missing after four boats carrying migrants from Africa capsized overnight in waters off Yemen and Djibouti, the United Nations migration agency said on Friday. Two vessels capsized off Yemen late Thursday, said Tamim Eleian, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration. Two … Read more
After a blistering February heat wave in South Sudan’s capital city caused dozens of students to collapse from heat stroke, officials closed schools for two weeks. It was the second time in less than a year that the country’s schools closed to protect young people from the deadly effects of extreme heat. Climate change, largely … Read more