Yes I had two wrist surgeries this year, but eczema on my palms and fingers is THE WORST. Keeping me up all night with raging itchy blisters unless I apply ice packs every couple of hours hmmm? At least I've finally figured out the likely cause: making fruit salad. Which fruit? Couldn't tell you.

Anthony Joshua was injured and two people were killed when the car they were travelling in crashed into a stationary truck on the Lagos-Ibadan Highway in Nigeria this morning.

Woke up to see that the US has bombed an Islamic State offshoot in Sokoto, northwest Nigeria, with the collaboration of the Nigerian government. Trump says the militants were "targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians". But that area is almost completely Muslim

One of my favourite things about Christmas. I got a double bed this year, so am just enjoying others' contributions from last night's #DuvetKnowItsChristmas

The release of South Africans tricked into fighting for Russia is reportedly complicated by Russian recruiters demanding they're repaid for money allegedly sent to relatives and the MK party for the men. If true, why doesn't Russia just override the recruiters hmm?

Incredible quote on continuity in Angola’s oil industry during 40 years of war and upheaval from an executive of the state oil company: “You see, through colonialism, foreign invasion, Marxist-Leninism and capitalism, I have not left the same building.”

If you haven't been repeatedly ignored by government officials and politicians when giving them the opportunity to respond to a story, or got nothing but pointless spin from government press officers "purely for your background", then you haven't been a journalist.

Whew London feels cold! But this crisp weather with blue skies? I am here for it 🤩

The tie up between the Trumps' media company and an unproven nuclear fusion company sounds exactly about as tenuous as you'd expect

Good Reuters deep dive on the Simandou mega iron ore mine in Guinea. The IMF "found it could boost the country's real GDP by 26% by 2030, but it also said the reduction in poverty could be... just 0.6 percentage points without active policies to manage the transition."

The true end of history

"The trouble is that England are scoring fewer runs than their opponents for the cost of more wickets. Insufficient." Test Match Special commentary summing up the Ashes 😆😭

The US using undocumented workers to process the only refugees it lets in now (over a fake ‘genocide’) while issuing African visa bans left, right and centre?? How ironic.

South Africa has deported seven Kenyans who were processing white "refugees" for the US on tourist visas, after work visas had been denied. "The presence of foreign officials apparently coordinating with undocumented workers naturally raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol."

This is the best piece I've read on the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) and the question of who "owns" the Benin Bronzes. Nuanced and covers most of the shades of grey in this whole debacle

The spokesperson for South Africa's president said the govt was in talks with Russia over bringing home 17 men allegedly tricked into fighting for Russia. "They are facing grave, grave danger to their lives... the information that we have is that they were bungled into the Russian military forces."

Part of the Chanukah tradition is to place the light menorah either outside or in a window where outsiders can see it. This is supposed to advertise the miracle of Chanukah. These days, it is also a way of saying, “This is a Jewish home.” Every year I think about how it is also an act of bravery.

I can't stop thinking about the shooters targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah on a beach and Bondi Beach of all places. About Ahmed Al Ahmed heroically tackling one of the gunmen and being shot twice, in the arm and hand. About the 11 people who were killed. May their memories be a blessing🕯️

"For Duduzile to actually take a child... I think that is outright evil." Jacob Zuma's daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has been accused in lawsuits of tricking 17 South African men & 2 Batswana men into fighting for Russia. Story with @pjotrsauer.bsky.social

Where is Wunmi Mosaku? Her performance in Sinners was astounding. Sinners for all the awards, please and thank you.

lmao they put the World Cup in America and now it's got commercial breaks.

If this succeeds then one-third of West Africa will be under military rule.

It might be the colour grading on my TV, but the Barmy Army are looking as pink as the ball. My pale skinned brethren always delivering on the allegations

I see Mitchell Starc also knows how to bat 😑

Six weeks after the Rapid Support Forces took El Fasher, British MPs have been briefed that at least 60,000 were killed by the group there. As many as 150,000 residents are still unaccounted for. There is satellite evidence of possible piles of bodies & new burial pits. The scale is unimaginable.

🦭🍻

'New Zealand police have spent six days monitoring every bowel movement of the suspect, a spokesperson said, and the NZ$33,000 ($19,000) James Bond Octopussy pendant was recovered from his gastrointestinal tract on Thursday night by natural means, without requiring medical intervention.'

this story isn’t going away www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Up to 6,500 people are at risk of being displaced in the DRC by planned railway rehabilitation. It's part of the multi-billion-dollar Lobito Corridor infrastructure project funded by the EU & US, amid a global race to secure supplies of “critical minerals”, according to a @globalwitness.org report

A truly outrageous case. "A letter arrived from the Duchy of Cornwall... [that] argued in support of the deli’s right to trademark the word sabzi, a plot twist so colonial that I had to check whether the East India Company had been revived."

In 1970s Congo/Zaire, television news broadcasts began with President Mobutu's head rising out of the sky like the sun. Same basic vibes

A dim sum bond sounds very tasty... I'd guess that panda and dim sum bonds got their names because both are aspects of China's soft power 🐼🥟

A man in New Zealand was charged with theft after allegedly swallowing a $19,200 Faberge-James Bond Octopussy pendant - an egg with an octopus inside. He's apparently been on a rampage - in November he was charged with stealing an iPad and then $100 of cat litter & flea treatment

Another day, another MP resigning from Jacob Zuma's MK party. Today it's Lucky Montana, who the South African Revenue Service says owes them R55m (£2.4m). He was accused of massive corruption when he led the Passenger Rail Agency from 2010-15. By 2020, only 4 of PRASA's 40 lines worked

The saga of South Africans allegedly recruiting for Russia continues. Five people, including a radio DJ who co-chaired a Russian media NGO sanctioned by the EU, appeared in court this morning charged with breaking a law prevents South Africans from fighting for or helping foreign militaries

The Your Party conference is continuing to provide the most entertainment I've had from politics in a very long time

Many things Trump says and does defies reason, but the fact he thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize while bombing fishing boats and starting a war with Venezuela takes the proverbial biscuit

It's giving: "Are you the Judean People's Front?" "Fuck off! 'Judean People's Front'. We're the People's Front of Judea!"

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has resigned as an MP after being accused of tricking men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine, MK party officials told reporters today. Zuma-Sambudla claims she was duped herself and had attended a month of what she thought was a legit paramilitary training course in Russia

Rescue efforts have now ended for the Hong Kong tower block fire, with 128 people dead and as many as 200 still missing. Just devastating.

I also see that the Kit Williams painting I included in that post, featuring the naked goddess Diana climbing through a moonlit frame, was labelled as adult content 😅

Oops, that should be Eleyne Williams. Her jewellery is extraordinary and I'm lucky enough to own a pair of her earrings, which my mum bought me for a birthday many years ago.

Kit Williams lived in the village I grew up in and put on the most incredible exhibitions every year at his house with his wife Elaine, who makes "narrative necklaces" /1

Fascinating piece about "spiritual diplomacy" influencing US-Africa policy. The evangelical Paula White leads Trump's Faith Office in the White House and toured Gabon, DRC, Rwanda & Uganda this month. She's close to Nicholas Duncan-Williams, a Ghanaian pastor close to numerous African presidents

Despite South Africa's efforts, Trump won't let go of his vendetta against the government or repeating false claims that it is "killing white people". Yesterday he said South Africa wouldn't be invited to the US' G20 summit in Miami next year. So South Africa accused the US of "punitive measures"

The Hong Kong fire is just horrific. Being trapped in a burning high rise is one of my worst nightmares. And I can't help but think of Grenfell.

If you want to know what's really going on in Nigeria, where Trump & Nicki Minaj claim there's a "Christian genocide", read The Long Wave newsletter with @eromoegbejule.bsky.social. "There’s never enough data, no one even truly knows the true size of the economy, it’s just inshallah and vibes."

Another coup in Guinea-Bissau (I couldn't find a complete list, but there've been several). This time, it looks like it was successful. AFP reports soldiers said they were taking "total control" of the country, suspending its electoral process and closing its borders, three days after elections

SA’s National Treasury also then releases all budget documentation as soon as the finance minister starts speaking, and then after that the minister, deputy minister, and civil servants are usually available to press and investors. Quite different to the UK’s leaky accountability sink approach.

South Africa keeps its Budget very under wraps and the finance minister refuses to discuss anything substantive about it ahead of time. I've only been here for one finance minister so far, but it does feel like a more "serious" process, which is of course itself a political choice.