Some news: I’m moving to Lebanon to be a Middle East Correspondent for @nytimes.com. I was honored to cover East Africa for nearly six years during a momentous and shifting period. I’ll miss the region and my wonderful colleagues across Africa. Excited for new stories and great collaborations ahead.

China has racked up a $60 billion trade surplus with Africa so far in 2025, nearly surpassing last year’s total, as Chinese companies redirect trade to the region while President Trump’s tariffs crimp the flow of goods into the United States.

Witnesses said the second strike took place after rescue workers, journalists and other people had rushed to the site of the initial attack. The Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which was operated by Masri, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike reut.rs/41pmNLb

BREAKING: Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza killed at least 15 people, including three journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, Palestinian health officials said reut.rs/45OFPfr

South Sudan should not “use the issue of Palestinians as negotiating chips to improve their foreign relations,” said Edmund Yakani, the leader of a South Sudanese civil society organization. “This is ethnic cleansing that we are supporting.”

Fascinating and deeply reported piece from Aida Alami in @nybooks.com on what makes a uniquely Muslim American imam, and how they are helping themselves and their community navigate the demands of a secularizing, pluralistic, and Islamophobic country.

More than 100 aid agencies and rights groups, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, warned on Wednesday that mass starvation was spreading across Gaza, adding to calls for Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. nyti.ms/46TKTRO

My piece on the protests in Kenya against President William Ruto and his government leads @nytimes.com The Morning newsletter. Here's a gift link.

Could America gamble away its scientific and educational leadership in the service of ideology? Together with my colleagues, we write about what Trump's crackdown on universities will mean for America and the world.

“There was a brief silence among the three of us, a beat of shared recognition of the difficulties of staying alive.” Hanif Abdurraqib reflects on meeting Mahmoud Khalil and Zohran Mamdani at a comedy show.

From @theathletic.bsky.social: Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon fell short in her bid to become the first woman to break the four-minute mile. Kipyegon ran 4:06.92, the fastest time over the distance recorded by a woman, breaking her own world record. nyti.ms/44AXZll

Kenyan police used live rounds, tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters on Wednesday, as thousands marched nationwide to mark a year since huge demonstrations against a contentious tax plan turned deadly and laid bare the growing anger at President William Ruto’s government.

The U.S. struck three key nuclear sites in Iran overnight on Saturday. President Trump claimed that three facilities had been “totally obliterated,” but top Pentagon officials said that it was too soon to say whether Iran still retained some nuclear ability. nyti.ms/45AFnD1

The Trump administration’s tightening of visas for international students has raised fears the U.S. could lose its status as a top higher education destination. For tens of thousands of African students, that shift was already underway. Their destination: China. My latest.

From @theathletic.bsky.social: Coco Gauff won the French Open, prevailing over the No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka in a tense and chaotic final match on Saturday. She is the first American woman to win on the clay since Serena Williams in 2015. nyti.ms/43OLRf7

Here are the countries under President Trump’s new travel ban.

How Noor Abdalla, the wife of Mahmoud Khalil, has navigated becoming a new mother while fighting for her husband’s freedom.

Through his novels, plays, and memoirs, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o listened to the chords of the African conscience, writing powerfully about the transgressions of colonialism, the corrupt postcolonial elite, the importance of African languages, and more. He will be sorely missed!

More background on the Djibouti/Sudan case, the Trump administration's emerging third-country deportation strategy, and the broader legal and human rights implications here, in our explainer. With @lattif.bsky.social and @amandataub.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/w...

Ugandan lawyer Agather Atuhaire, who was arrested alongside Boniface Mwangi on the way to witness Tundu Lissu’s trial in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, remains unaccounted for. There is concern that she, like Boniface Mwangi, has been tortured. Mwangi was dumped at the Horohoro border this morning.

Watch the moment Heart Lamp was announced as the winner of the #InternationalBooker2025, and hear what Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi said in their speeches. youtu.be/uVH0blFhSFc

Koyo Kouoh, one of the global art world’s most prominent figures, who had been slated to become the first African woman to curate the Venice Biennale, died on Saturday in Basel, Switzerland. She was 57.

A U.S.-funded charter plane carrying dozens of white South Africans who claim to have been victims of discrimination in their home country left Johannesburg on Sunday, heading for the U.S., where the Trump administration is welcoming them as refugees.

I’m thrilled to be a 2025–26 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. I’ll be examining migration reporting by exploring the intersection of the science of trauma and the various creative forms journalists can use in their storytelling. Let's go! tinyurl.com/39hky8nd

"The big theme the story showed was the systematic way these deaths were happening... The abuse happens and there's a system, particularly in East Africa and Saudia Arabia, that is covering up this abuse." @lattif.bsky.social @nytimes.com @krishgm.bsky.social

Lydia Mugambe, a United Nations judge, has been jailed for six years and four months after being convicted of forcing a young Ugandan woman to work for her as a slave in Britain.

📰 The Secrets of Saudi’s Maid Trade Inside a year-long investigation into how the Saudi elite exploit and abuse East African domestic workers while politicians profit. 🗣️Justin Scheck @lattif.bsky.social @krishgm.bsky.social Livestream 7 May: sirharrysummit.org/watch Full agenda: tinyurl.om/322jwf8y

Breaking News: Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and organizer of the pro-Palestinian movement, was freed from federal custody on Wednesday after ICE tried to rescind his green card and deport him. nyti.ms/4iGIa0m

Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, a Congolese-American philosopher, cultural historian and novelist who questioned the West’s intellectual tools for appraising Africa, identifying them as part of what he deemed a colonizing apparatus, died on Monday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 83.

Dozens of people were killed in an attack on a migrant facility in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, the Iran-backed militia and aid officials said on Monday. The Houthi militia blamed the U.S. for the strike.

Pope Francis died at 88, the Vatican announced Monday, ending a pontificate that sought to reshape the Roman Catholic Church into a more inclusive institution. Cardinals will now decide whether to continue his approach or restore more doctrinaire leadership. Follow live updates: nyti.ms/42RZB9n

A draft White House executive order proposes a drastic restructuring of the State Department, including eliminating almost all of its Africa operations and shutting down embassies and consulates across the continent.

Breaking News: Trump officials blame a mistake for setting off the tectonic confrontation with Harvard. nyti.ms/4ioHtIT

After years of building relationships with congressional Republicans and conservative think tanks, officials in Somaliland believe President Trump will grant their ultimate wish: statehood. My latest story from Hargeisa and Berbera with photos by Joao Silva.

“Oh, I’ve lived in a constant state of nonsafety,” [Wole Soyinka] said, with a small laugh [about his latest visit to the U.S.]. “So I’m used to that. If I’m walking through the street and they pick me up, I have no problem whatsoever. You know, my laptop is where it is. It’s up in the clouds.”

“There is no God but God, Muhammad is his messenger,” the paramedic is heard saying. He asks God for forgiveness and says he knows he is going to die. “Forgive me, mother. This is the path I chose — to help people,” he said. “Allahu akbar,” God is great, he says.

“A massive storm is forming over South Sudan, and the visa ban only adds to the anxiety people have about all that could go wrong,” said Daniel Akech, the senior South Sudan analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The timing and execution of it is just not right or helpful.”

When abused domestic workers in Saudi Arabia asked Kenya's embassy for help, officials responded with insults and demands for sex and money. Read the second part of our investigation into how diplomats and foreign ministry officials profit off the misery of stranded women.

South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar has been arrested, according to his party, amid escalating tensions in the world’s youngest country that the United Nations has warned could blow up a peace deal and has pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

@lattif.bsky.social thanks for writing this and bringing this dark and pressing issue to the world’s attention.

For more than a year, my colleague Justin Scheck and I looked into why domestic workers from across East Africa, who are promised jobs and a better life in Saudi Arabia, continued to face abuse, starvation and death. Here's what we found.

There are 22 African countries among the 44 countries the Trump administration aims to target in a new travel ban. Somalia and Sudan are in the category where all travel will be banned, while visas will be sharply restricted for Eritrea, Sierra Leone and South Sudan

A short reflection on how Trump's foreign aid cuts are impacting vulnerable communities in East Africa.

Federal immigration authorities on Saturday detained a well-known activist who played a major role in Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian student movement last year, his lawyer said. The former Columbia graduate student is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.

The Ebola outbreak in Uganda has worsened significantly, and the country’s ability to contain the spread has been severely weakened by the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign assistance, American officials said in private this week.

Uganda’s LGBTQ population was already struggling to cope with the fallout of a harsh anti-gay law when the disruption of U.S. aid put people at even greater risk. Vital medical supplies remain scarce, and members of LGBTQ groups increasingly report feeling depressed or suicidal.

Lebanon’s large and influential diaspora has been trickling back, hoping to offer physical and financial support for a homeland devastated by one of the bloodiest and most destructive wars in decades in the Mediterranean nation. My latest story from Lebanon.

Hundreds have been killed in Sudan in recent days as fighting intensifies between the paramilitary R.S.F. and Sudan's army, who stand accused of executions during a recent battle. By @lattif.bsky.social and Abdo Altayeb. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/w...

A new movement is underway in African publishing, with writers, agents, publishers, bookstores, literary magazines and festivals collaborating to create a new ecosystem that is opening up the continent's literary landscape unlike ever before. My latest piece.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah may be suspended in a fragile truce, but the damage to the infrastructure, tourism and the larger economy of Lebanon remains immense. “We are starting from zero,” one man in Beirut who lost his business and homes told me.