Zambians began voting Thursday in a presidential election testing President Hakainde Hichilema’s economic record amid widespread frustration over the cost of living. Millions are also choosing lawmakers and local councillors in a one-day vote expected to produce results on Monday.

The case comes at a sensitive time for French diplomacy. Paris has been working to restore ties with the Central African Republic after relations deteriorated in recent years as Russia expanded its influence in the country through the Wagner paramilitary group

The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and Iran says it will stay that way until its conditions are accepted.

South African law enforcement officials said last week they would intensify operations targeting illegal migration and related offenses.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, say they have taken full control of Geissan, in the Blue Nile region, near the Ethiopian border.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin observed naval exercises off Sakhalin Island on Thursday before travelling to the disputed Kuril Islands, prompting a strong protest from Japan.

A Russian Shahed drone struck a passenger train in Ukraine’s Odesa region on 13 August 2026, killing the driver and his assistant and forcing the evacuation of 340 passengers, including 67 children, in the Berezivka district.

Soaring gold prices are reshaping the investment landscape across West Africa. In the first quarter of 2026, global demand reached 1,231 tonnes, representing a record $193 billion market up 74% year-on-year.

Fifty-seven residents of Woro, rescued earlier this month, are being treated at a hospital in Ilorin, with most of the suffering notably from malnutrition.

An incumbent, two former ministers and a veteran journalist are among 14 candidates vying to become Zambia’s president in an election Thursday.

It was in a zone that experience almost 98 per cent of totality as the moon passed between the Earth and the sun.

Economic pressures and changing social norms are driving couples in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to have fewer babies, with a recent study saying Maghreb fertility was at a historic low. Across all three Maghreb countries, fertility rates fell by more than half since the 1970s.

California is seeing unusually large numbers of round stingrays near its beaches, as warmer coastal waters and an expected strong El Niño draw the animals closer to shore.

Colombia’s earthquake death toll rose to 265 in Pereira by 12 August 2026, with almost 500 still missing. Rescuers described scenes of horror as the critical 72-hour survival window closed.

President Hakainde Hichilema is running on his economic record even as households face a cost of living crisis.

Spain witnessed its first total solar eclipse in more than a century on Wednesday 12 August, drawing millions of people to viewing sites across the north of the country as the Moon passed directly in front of the Sun.

The annoucement comes as calls resurfaced on social media for mass crossings into the Spanish enclave in North Africa.

Having returned from a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world health organisaiton chief is sounding the alarm on the ebola outbreak.

It’s been two weeks since Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said was inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list, much to the delight of residents.

Chef preserves Hatay’s culinary heritage after devastating earthquake

14 candidates are throwing their hats in the ring to become Zambia’s next president in the upcoming election. Among them is main opposition challenger Brian Mundubile, seeking to defeat president Hakainde Hichilema.

Western Europe has endured its hottest June-July period on record, with extreme heat, drought and wildfires gripping parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The WMO says the warming climate is making heatwaves more frequent, intense, longer and more widespread.

Health officials say misinformation and delayed treatment continue to fuel the outbreak.

HYROX is gaining momentum across Asia, drawing everyone from elite athletes to first-time competitors into a fast-growing fitness phenomenon. In Bangkok, packed training sessions are preparing participants for a race combining running and functional workouts.

Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament hosts Morocco and Cameroon will face each other Wednesday evening at the Moulay El Hassan stadium.

Meta faces a high-stakes trial in California over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep minors hooked. A coalition of U.S. states is seeking sweeping changes to the platforms and potentially up to $1.4 trillion in penalties.

Tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Lusaka for President Hakainde Hichilema’s final campaign rally ahead of Thursday’s election, as the incumbent seeks a second term amid concerns over jobs, living costs and allegations of opposition intimidation.

Western Colombia hit by deadly quake as Zarzal, Roldanillo and El Cairo report widespread damage.

A 32-year-old woman has been rescued alive in Pereira after spending 36 hours trapped beneath a collapsed building. Rescuers located her 10 hours before reaching her.

After six months in captivity, victims of a mass kipnapping in Nigeria’s Kwara state have been recounting their ordeal. More than 100 people abducted from the Woro community were rescued by government forces earlier this month.

Senior Libyan National Army officials gathered in Benghazi on Tuesday for the funeral of military intelligence chief Fawzi al-Mansouri, killed in a car bombing a day earlier as he left a mosque. His assassination has raised fresh security concerns in Libya’s divided east.

Search and rescue operations were underway on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba on Tuesday after a ferry capsized in bad weather. At least 15 people were confirmed dead, authorities say, and 77 people were rescued.

Kenya Bids to Become First African Nation to Host World Athletics Championships

A 7.4 quake in Colombia partially collapsed the Hospital Universitario del Valle in Cali on Monday, forcing patients outside as rescuers search for hundreds feared trapped.

Shops and opticians across Europe are running short of certified eclipse glasses ahead of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse, with queues forming in Paris, London and Brussels as demand surges.

The United States Senate has approved a two-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, maintaining duty-free access on more than 1,800 products from eligible countries.

At least 14 artisanal miners were killed and eight others injured when the walls of an illegal mine collapsed in on them, South African police said on Tuesday.

At least 18 people, many of them children aged 13 to 14, were killed on Tuesday in northern Egypt when two pick-up trucks carrying agricultural day labourers crashed, a local medical source told AFP.

A major gasoline reservoir in Libya’s Zawiya, west of Tripoli, caught fire and collapsed on Monday after what authorities said was an attack by unknown perpetrators.

Bashar and Maher Assad remain in Russia after fleeing Syria following the collapse of their government. Syria’s new authorities have called on Moscow to extradite them to face justice.