Author: Faith Daniel

England and South Africa have agreed to postpone their scheduled Twenty20 international series that was due to take place during the northern hemisphere winter of 2026–27. Instead, the two teams will contest a tour made up of three Test matches and three one-day internationals, to be played between December 2026 and January 2027. Under the ICC Future Tours Programme, the white-ball portion of the tour had originally included three T20 internationals alongside the ODI series. However, those matches have now been removed from the itinerary. Both Cricket South Africa and the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed they are working…

Nigerian authorities have confirmed that a formal inquest into the death of a toddler belonging to celebrated novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will begin on 14 April. The decision was announced during a preliminary session at the Yaba Magistrate Court in Lagos, almost seven weeks after her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi Esege, died while receiving medical care at Euracare. Adichie and her family have accused the hospital of medical negligence, alleging that staff denied the child oxygen and administered excessive sedation, leading to cardiac arrest. Euracare has rejected the accusations, stating that it followed internationally accepted medical standards and expressing condolences…

Anxiety is spreading across northern Ethiopia, with growing fears that the war-scarred region of Tigray could once again be on the brink of conflict — barely three years after the guns fell silent. In the regional capital Mekelle, residents describe a quiet but urgent exodus. Those with the means are boarding flights, while others crowd onto long-distance buses heading south to Addis Ababa. “People are leaving in whichever way they can,” one resident told the BBC. “If you can afford a plane ticket, you fly. If you can’t, you take a bus.” Young people are leading the movement, driven by…

Police in South Africa are investigating a deadly shooting outside a secondary school in Cape Town that claimed the life of a 14-year-old pupil and a taxi operator, in what authorities believe is the latest episode in the country’s long-running “taxi wars”. According to police, an unidentified gunman opened fire on a minibus taxi on Wednesday as the driver waited to collect pupils after school. The attacker shot the driver, another adult man, and two children before fleeing the scene. The taxi driver, aged 42, and a 14-year-old schoolgirl were killed. Two other pupils — girls aged 14 and 16…

Manchester United decided against pursuing a move for Victor Osimhen largely because of concerns around the Africa Cup of Nations, according to the club’s former first-team coach Benni McCarthy. Osimhen, Nigeria’s prolific striker, emerged as one of Europe’s most sought-after forwards after netting 26 league goals during the 2022-23 campaign, playing a central role in Napoli winning their first Serie A title in 33 years. His performances placed him firmly on the radar of several elite clubs across the continent. McCarthy, who was part of the coaching staff at Manchester United under then-manager Erik ten Hag, said he was involved…

Pope Leo XIV is set to embark on a 10-day tour of Africa beginning on 13 April, the Vatican has confirmed. The visit will be his first pastoral journey to the continent since becoming head of the Catholic Church. The papal itinerary includes stops in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. The tour will run from 13 to 23 April. In Cameroon, the Pope is scheduled to visit the political capital Yaoundé, the commercial centre Douala, and Bamenda, an Anglophone city located in the country’s conflict-affected Northwest region, where separatist violence has persisted for nearly a decade. The visit to…

Two women in their 20s have been detained by Ugandan police after neighbours accused them of kissing in public, an act criminalised under Uganda’s strict Anti-Homosexuality Act. According to police, the arrests took place on Wednesday 18 February in Arua, a city in the north-west of Uganda. In a statement released on Tuesday, authorities said the women were taken into custody after residents reported what they described as same-sex behaviour. Police say neighbours photographed the women before contacting officers. The pair remain in detention and have not yet been granted access to legal representation, according to the Agence France-Presse. Uganda…

The UN Security Council has sanctioned four leaders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over atrocities committed during the capture of el-Fasher in western Sudan. Sanctioned officials include RSF deputy commander Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, Brigadier General Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris—nicknamed Abu Lulu, or the “Butcher of el-Fasher”—RSF deputy commander Gedo Hamdan Ahmed, and field commander Tijani Ibrahim. The RSF’s October takeover of el-Fasher was among the bloodiest episodes of Sudan’s nearly three-year civil war. A UN fact-finding mission last week said the campaign showed signs of genocide. Dagalo, brother of RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), oversaw operations on…

Zimbabwe has turned down a major health funding agreement proposed by the United States, rejecting what officials described as an imbalanced arrangement that would have required the country to hand over sensitive biological data without guarantees of fair access to future medical benefits. The deal, worth $367m (£272m) over five years, would have supported Zimbabwe’s programmes for HIV/Aids treatment and prevention, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and preparedness for disease outbreaks. But the government ultimately refused to sign after concluding that the terms favoured Washington at the expense of Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and long-term public health interests. The decision became…

Senegal’s government has voiced strong disappointment after 18 of its nationals were sentenced to prison in Morocco over disturbances that erupted during the Africa Cup of Nations final earlier this year. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko told lawmakers that it was “regrettable” the situation had escalated beyond football, following convictions linked to clashes between Senegalese fans and stadium security in the Moroccan capital. The incidents occurred on 18 January during the final in Rabat, after Morocco were awarded a controversial penalty deep into second-half stoppage time. Tensions flared in the stands, with sections of Senegal’s support attempting to breach the perimeter…