Senegal has made history by officially eliminating trachoma, a debilitating bacterial eye infection, as a public health problem—bringing an end to a struggle that has lasted over 100 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the milestone following a rigorous verification process. With this achievement, Senegal becomes the ninth country in the WHO African Region—and the 24th globally—to eliminate the disease, which remains a leading cause of preventable blindness in many low-income countries. A century-old scourge Trachoma was first recorded in Senegal in the early 20th century, but it wasn’t until the 1980s and 1990s that the disease’s impact was…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
By Abdallah el-Kurebe | July 15, 2025 – Russia is heading into a deepening demographic crisis that could leave the country short of nearly 11 million workers by 2030, the government has warned. Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov sounded the alarm during a high-level meeting with President Vladimir Putin, revealing that over 10 million people are expected to leave the workforce within the next five years due to retirement. Meanwhile, just around 800,000 new jobs are forecast to be created—leaving a massive gap that threatens Russia’s economic future. Births down, deaths up The crisis is being fueled by a sharp decline…
By Abdallah el-Kurebe | July 15, 2025 – A bold new political wave is rising in Togo, led not by politicians or party elites—but by a tech-savvy, restless, and outspoken generation of youth. Togolese Generation Z—young people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s—is turning its frustration with decades of one-family rule into a loud and visible demand for change. At the center of their ire: the Gnassingbé political dynasty, which has ruled the country since 1967. A dynasty under fire Togo’s current president, Faure Gnassingbé, came to power in 2005 after the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma,…
Scientists have discovered that camel tears contain antibodies capable of neutralizing venom from at least 26 different snake species. The discovery offers a beacon of hope to millions of people across regions where snakebites are a persistent public health crisis. The research was led by a team of veterinary and medical scientists from India’s National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC) in Bikaner and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai, who had been studying camelid immune systems for their remarkable resilience and resistance to diseases. In their work, they found that camel tears—an often-overlooked biological fluid—carry specialized antibodies known…
President/Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has called on African entrepreneurs, business leaders, and wealthy individuals to invest in the development of the continent. Speaking while hosting participants of the Global CEO Africa Programme—a partnership between Lagos Business School and Strathmore Business School, Nairobi—after a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Dangote emphasized that Africa has the potential to grow and compete globally if given the right investments. He asserted that the continent needs bold and transformative projects to address long-standing challenges. Citing the successful completion of the world’s largest single-train refinery, the…
Australian scientists at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research have discovered that honeybee venom, particularly its main component melittin, can kill 100% of aggressive breast cancer cells—including the difficult-to-treat triple-negative and HER2-enriched subtypes—within 60 minutes, while sparing healthy cells. The study, published in Nature Precision Oncology in 2020, was led by Dr. Ciara Duffy, who tested venom from 312 honeybees and bumblebees collected in Western Australia, Ireland, and England. The venom from honeybees showed potent anti-cancer effects, whereas bumblebee venom, which lacks melittin, was ineffective. Melittin works by inserting into cancer cell membranes, forming pores that disrupt membrane integrity…
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State stirred public discourse recently when he boldly revealed that 99 percent of arrested kidnappers in his state are Igbos, not Fulanis—a declaration that cuts through layers of ethnic myths and blame games that often cloud Nigeria’s internal security challenges. His frankness is not just refreshing—it offers a roadmap for reducing communal tensions and tackling insecurity with integrity. For too long, communal clashes and farmers-herders crises have bedeviled Nigeria, particularly in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, and Nasarawa states. These conflicts often escalate because of a dangerous habit of ethnic shielding, where communities protect or excuse…
In a striking illustration of South Sudan’s deep agrarian roots, the country’s livestock population has been reported to significantly outnumber its human population by nearly three to one. South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the west by the Central African Republic. South Sudan’s diverse landscape includes vast plains and plateaus, dry and tropical savannahs, inland floodplains, and forested mountains. The Nile River system is the defining physical feature of the country, running south to north…
Côte d’Ivoire has inaugurated a major state-owned cocoa processing factory in a strategic move to increase local value addition in the global industry. The new facility, built at a cost of 130 billion CFA francs (approximately US$232 million), is located within the PK24 Industrial Park on the outskirts of Abidjan. The newly commissioned Transcao complex covers 21 hectares and marks the country’s first modern, government-owned grinding plant. It is expected to significantly advance Côte d’Ivoire’s goal of processing at least 50 percent of its cocoa production locally by 2030. The facility boasts: An annual processing capacity of 50,000 tons of…
In a world where Africa often exports its riches raw and cheap, Côte d’Ivoire is making a bold break from the script on cocoa. With the launch of its new $233 million cocoa grinding factory in Abidjan, the world’s largest cocoa producer is not just processing beans—it’s processing a new economic vision. This isn’t merely about chocolate; it’s about power, equity, and Africa’s right to profit from what it produces. The bitter truth behind sweet profits For decades, the global chocolate industry has thrived on the backs of African farmers. Côte d’Ivoire produces nearly half of the world’s cocoa, yet…