Category: top stories

Peter Mwai & Richard Irvine-BrownBBC Verify Getty Images Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence and gunshot injuries. A crowd runs in panic along a dusty street. Shots ring out. A woman wearing a purple jacket carrying a stick falls to the ground. Another woman can be heard pleading, “Mama, mama, stand,” as she read more

South Africa’s Malcolm Marx has been named men’s 15s player of the year at the World Rugby Awards, becoming the first hooker to win the award since 2001. The 31-year-old has started 11 of the Springboks’ 13 Tests so far this year, scoring five tries. Compatriots Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ox Nche, and France’s Louis read more

Tyson ContehBBC Africa Eye, Sierra Leone BBC Papayo’s mother Sally Kalokoh has not come to terms with her son’s death and wants his killers found With many families left traumatised by killings apparently linked to supposed magic rituals in Sierra Leone, BBC Africa Eye looks into those behind the trade in human body parts. Warning: read more

After the game, Gueye – who is in his second spell with the Toffees – apologised on social media. “I want to apologise first to my team-mate Michael Keane,” he wrote. “I take full responsibility for my reaction. “I also apologise to my team-mates, the staff, the fans and the club. “What happened does not read more

South Africa are on the brink of a first Test series win in India for 25 years after reducing the hosts to 27-2 in pursuit of 549 on day four in Guwahati. India, who were skittled for 201 in their first innings, must bat throughout the final day to avoid a second whitewash in three read more

Nigerian actor, content creator and influencer Odira Nwobu has died in South Africa aged 43, a lawyer and the Actors’ Guild of Nigeria have told the BBC. News of his death has shocked many at home in Nigeria, prompting an outpouring of grief online from fans and colleagues alike for the Nollywood star who was read more

Tanzania has cancelled next month’s independence day celebrations, with the funds to be instead spent on rebuilding infrastructure damaged in recent election unrest, Prime Minister Mwigulu Nchemba has said. His announcement comes as the opposition and others have been calling for people to gather on independence day – 9 December – to demonstrate about killings read more

President Donald Trump’s senior Africa envoy, Massad Boulos, has rejected criticism that the US’s latest proposal to end the Sudan civil war is “biased”. The US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been attempting to mediate between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting for read more

The defeat increases pressure on Gambhir. Since the the former batter took charge in July 2024, India have won seven Tests but lost 10. The defeats by New Zealand and South Africa are added to by a 3-1 defeat in Australia last December and January, while Gambhir’s side drew 2-2 in England in the summer. read more

Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment correspondent, BBC World Service Getty Images The Tapanuli orangutan was only discovered by scientists to be a separate species in 2017 – distinct from the Sumatran and Bornean apes An unusual silence in the forests of north Sumatra in Indonesia is worrying wildlife experts and conservationists. Here, in the mountainous forests of read more

Watch: Video shows US military seizing oil tanker off Venezuela coast The US has imposed fresh sanctions on six more ships said to be carrying Venezuelan oil, a day after seizing a tanker off the country’s coast. Sanctions have also been placed on some of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s relatives and businesses associated with what read more

The English section of South Korea’s gruelling college entrance exam, or Suneung, is notoriously difficult, with some students comparing it to deciphering an ancient script, and others calling it “insane”. So intense was the criticism around this year’s test that the top official in charge of administering it resigned to take responsibility for the “chaos” read more

Reddit has launched a challenge in Australia’s highest court against the nation’s landmark social media ban for children. The online forum is among 10 social media platforms which must bar Australians aged under 16 from having accounts, under a new law which began on Wednesday. The ban, which is being watched closely around the world, read more

Residents in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada are bracing for what could be record-setting floods as an atmospheric river dumps heavy rain on already swollen rivers. On Thursday, the National Water Center reported major, in some cases record, flooding along the Skagit and Snohomish rivers in the state of Washington that is read more

Ethiopian police have arrested a sixth popular TikTok creator days after five other influencers were detained over allegations of wearing “indecent attire” at a public event in the culturally conservative country. Adonay Berhane, 25, is a lifestyle and motivational creator with close to four million followers, who was named “TikToker of the Year” at the read more

A judge has ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported and brought back to the US to face criminal charges, from immigration custody. US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said since returning to the US, Mr Abrego Garcia was re-detained “without lawful authority”. The order means he can at read more

Brandon Livesayand Bernd Debusmann,at the White House Watch: Video shows US military seizing oil tanker off Venezuela coast A US helicopter flies low over a hazy blue sea as it approaches a massive ship. It hovers as camouflaged soldiers holding rifles swing down ropes to the vessel’s deck. The video, released by the US government, read more

Kayla Epsteinand Ione Wells,São Paulo Watch: Video shows US military seizing oil tanker off Venezuela coast US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government. Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the tanker was “the read more

Joshua Cheetham, Paul Brown, Richard Irvine-Brown & Matt MurphyBBC Verify BBC The oil tanker seized by US forces on Wednesday had a track record of faking or concealing its location information, apparently to hide its activities, ship tracking data shows. On Wednesday evening, the US confirmed that its forces seized a vessel during a helicopter-launched read more

Imran Rahman-Jonesand Liv McMahon,Technology reporters Getty Images Nvidia boss Jensen Huang is among the tech bosses the magazine has put on its biggest cover of the year Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2025 is not a single person. Instead, the magazine has recognised the year’s most influential figure as “the architects” of artificial read more