São Paulo’s official Carnival celebrations burst into life on Friday night as the city’s top-tier samba schools paraded at the Anhembi Sambadrome, blending cultural pride, feminist themes, and mystical storytelling in a dazzling display of color and rhythm.

Several athletes collapsed and were rushed to hospital on Friday during pre-finale events at the annual Argungu Fishing Festival in northwestern Nigeria, as the centuries-old cultural celebration made a triumphant return after years of security-forced suspension.

In the relentless hustle of Lagos, a city of over 20 million where love often gets lost in the daily grind, musician Bianca ‘Clayrocksu’ Okorocha is on a mission—taking romance off the stage and onto the streets with surprise serenades and single-stem roses.

Western Cape police are preparing to receive South African National Defence Force members deployed to combat gang violence, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of military intervention in crime hotspots.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday for the second Italy-Africa Summit, the first held on African soil, reaffirming Rome’s strategic pivot toward investment-led cooperation with the continent under its Mattei Plan.

In eastern Bitlis, farmers lead water buffaloes and horses into 40-degree Budakli thermal springs to bathe, heal and keep milk quality high during sub-zero winter temperatures.

Rio’s Carmelitas parade draws thousands to Santa Teresa, with samba, costumed revellers and a nod to a runaway nun legend.

Guinea-Bissau’s main opposition leader, Domingos Simões Pereira, appeared before a military court on Friday facing allegations of involvement in multiple coup attempts, accusations his entourage has vehemently denied as politically motivated.

Matchmaking websites are in their hayday in Kano, a conservative hub in northern Nigeria. It’s not uncommon for women in the predominantly Muslim city to marry at 18.

Liberia’s supreme court has reaffirmed that Tweah and several ex officials are not protected from prosecution under claims of national security council immunity.

Romance in Zimbabwe is taking strikingly inventive forms, reflecting life in an economy where cash reigns supreme and sustainability gains new social value.

Malawi has started a vaccination programme across the commercial city of Blantyre after derived poliovirus was found in sewage samples.

The Democratic Republic of Congo said Friday it had “accepted the principle of a ceasefire” involving a “strict and immediate” freeze of positions in the conflict in the east of the country

A video posted online last month shows a group of soldiers in a snow-covered forest singing a Ugandan song. In the background, a Russian voice mocks them, calling them “disposable.”

The body of a French citizen has been found in northeastern Chad after two days of search efforts in the Sahara Desert, authorities announced on Friday.

The Senegalese navy has launched a large-scale search operation to locate three sailors who went missing after their patrol boat capsized in poor weather conditions.

At least 38 people were killed when a cyclone slammed into Madagascar’s second-largest city this week, authorities said Thursday, as Mozambique braced for the storm’s arrival

Senegal’s largest university said Thursday it had suspended student associations after violent demonstrations over scholarship payments turned deadly.

The bodies of two Nigerians fighting for Russia have been found in eastern Ukraine, the country’s authorities said Thursday.

On Thursday, exiled Malian imam Mahmoud Dicko Dicko urged an end to the jihadist violence engulfing the Sahel countries, insisting, ‘we must find a solution for the entire sub-region’.

Access to electricity in Africa was a central topic at the recent World Governments Summit in Dubai. While hundreds of millions of Africans still live without power, new solutions are emerging, particularly around solar-powered micro-grids.

Mass Russian drone strikes hit Ukraine’s Odesa region overnight, killing one and injuring six, damaging port and energy sites and disrupting basic city services.

On the ‘Lover’s Canal’ in Ganvie, a lake village in Benin, love can flow in unusual ways. Long a place for chance encounters, this stretch of water has over the years become a favoured meeting spot for young men and women in search of a soulmate

Traditional Dambe boxers traded heavy blows before a cheering crowd in north-western Nigeria on Thursday.

In Benin, the lakeside village of Ganvié is seeing a quiet shift: its once discreet meeting spots are fading as young couples swap secret night encounters for smartphones and social media.

In his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the army would help police fight gang violence and illegal mining in two different provinces.

Vladimir Stevanovic braves Serbia’s icy lakes and snowy ridges in shorts, using extreme cold as daily meditation that slows his mind and resets his body.

Morocco plans to spend some $330 million on regions hit hardest by weeks of flooding across the country’s north that have battered its key agricultural zones, the government said Thursday

The long route and harsh weather in the Atlantic can easily spell disaster for the people aboard.

Japan’s Akiba Festival in Niyodogawa features samurai parades and fire rituals, preserving a 200-year-old prayer for protection from disasters.

Austria’s Vienna Opera Ball returned to the Vienna State Opera in glittering style, bringing together politics, business and culture as around 5,500 guests gathered in Vienna for one of Austria’s most prestigious charity evenings.

The UN mission will support efforts towards a ceasefire between the DR Congo army and AFC/M23 rebels.

In a bid to lower high rates of gang violence and other crime, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced he’ll deploy the army to work with the police.

Amid a drop in global cocoa markets, Ghana has slashed its farmgate cocoa rate paid to farmers. The move aligns the price with that of the international market to encourage more demand.

The price of gold has been on the rise in both local and international markets – a trend that analysts attribute to currency volatility, and geopolitical tensions. As a result, some traders in Morocco are having difficulty selling the product.

Ghanaians celebrated the country’s traditional colourful woven clothing, known as fugu, smock or batakari, after the government declared a weekly “Fugu Day” on Wednesdays.

In a communique on Thursday, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) said it strongly rejected the unilateral recognition of the “so-called Republic of Somaliland” by Israel, and called for ‘its immediate revocation’

The acting head of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrived on Thursday in Goma, which is under the control of the M23 armed group. The mission described the arrival as ‘an important milestone’.

The appeal trial of a prominent Tunisian lawyer jailed on anti-terror charges started on Thursday, after the judge rejected the defence’s demand for his provisional release on health grounds.

A cyclone packing violent winds has killed at least 35 people and caused devastation in Madagascar’s second-largest city, the Indian Ocean island’s disaster authority said Thursday, releasing an updated toll.