Articles

Longer pieces that expand on @WhatYouMissed_.

WorldOctober 20, 20263 min read

The “All-Time” Ballon d'Or Is Real. Every Vote Costs €1

The B.O.A.T. is an official fan poll, not a new jury trophy. Each vote costs €1, and Ronaldo's 2008 season is running away with it.

ZimbabweOctober 20, 20262 min read

Filming the Raid: Two Zimbabwean Journalists, Two Press Cards, One Week of Being Shut Out

Thomas Madhuku showed his press card while filming a vendor raid in Harare. Officers put him in the truck anyway. Two days later, another accredited reporter was thrown out of the ZANU PF conference.

AfricaOctober 19, 20262 min read

The Town That Ran Out of Chlorine

More than 400 people in Bronkhorstspruit fell ill from their own taps, most of them toddlers. The City of Tshwane has admitted it ran out of chlorine.

AfricaOctober 19, 20262 min read

“Why Always Otedola Bridge?” Another Tanker, Another Inferno

A tanker carrying 33,000 litres of diesel fell from Otedola Bridge in Lagos and burst into flames. Two men were badly burned. Lagos asked the same question it always asks.

AfricaOctober 19, 20262 min read

“You Can't See Shiny Things”: The Line That Turned Kenya's 2027 Race Into Roads vs Rights

President Ruto says freedom means little without development. Senator Edwin Sifuna says it's the other way round, and his reply is one of the most-shared political posts in Kenya today.

AfricaOctober 19, 20262 min read

190 Children, One Verdict, and the Warnings That Came Too Late

A Kenyan court has convicted Paul Mackenzie and 28 co-accused of murdering 191 people in the Shakahola Forest, 190 of them children. The harder question is why the warnings came too late.

ZimbabweOctober 19, 20262 min read

Harare Takes the Wheel: COMESA Week Opens, and Zimbabwe's Tobacco Numbers Show What's at Stake

Zimbabwe hosts the COMESA summit this week and takes the chair on Thursday. Its tobacco exports show why the pitch to stop selling raw materials is more than a slogan.

ZimbabweOctober 19, 20262 min read

Sixty Runs From a Final: The Chevrons Collapse in Abu Dhabi, and Zimbabwe Is Now Cheering for Afghanistan

Zimbabwe only needed 196 to reach Friday's final, win or lose. Afghanistan bowled them out for 136, and their fate now sits with Wednesday's match against Bangladesh.

ZimbabweOctober 19, 20263 min read

No Party Letter, No Job? The Chinhoyi Resolution Zimbabwe Can't Stop Arguing About

A ZANU PF conference in Chinhoyi told government that public-sector job candidates should first be recommended by the party. Supporters call it loyalty. Critics call it a closed door.

WorldOctober 19, 20262 min read

France's Riots Started Over Prices. The People Paying the Bill Are the Shopkeepers

Marches over fuel, the cost of living and failing public services turned into fires and looting. In Paris, a bar manager was beaten and her family's business burned down.

AfricaOctober 19, 20262 min read

Christiane Amanpour Is Leaving CNN After 43 Years. For Millions of Africans, It's the End of How We Watched the World

CNN's chief international anchor will leave next June, ending a career that began in 1983. For a generation from Harare to Addis Ababa to Kinshasa, her voice was how the news arrived.

WorldOctober 19, 20262 min read

30 Years Later, Florida Wants Raúl Castro Arrested for Murder

A Florida court signed a no-bond arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes. Four men died. At 95, and living in Cuba, he is unlikely to ever face the charge.