Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The meeting was also attended by Chief of the General Staff of the Libyan National Army, General Khaled Haftar; Director General of the Libyan Development and Reconstruction Fund, Eng. Belqasim Haftar; and Director of the General Intelligence Service, Minister Hassan Rashad.
Spokesman for the Presidency, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, stated that President El-Sisi welcomed Field Marshal Haftar’s visit to Egypt, underscoring the profound fraternal relations between Egypt and Libya and stressing the importance of strengthening the historical ties between the two brotherly countries.
President El-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s steadfast position toward Libya, which is based on the vital need to preserve Libya’s unity, work toward unifying Libyan institutions, and hold parliamentary and presidential elections. President El-Sisi reiterated Egypt’s unwavering support for Libya’s security and stability, as well as its support for initiatives to this end, and its commitment to achieving security, development and prosperity in Libya, while safeguarding its unity and territorial integrity. The meeting also explored opportunities for joint cooperation between the two countries in a manner that strengthens their fruitful partnership.
Field Marshal Haftar expressed his appreciation for his visit to Egypt, commending the significant efforts Egypt is exerting to support peace, security and stability in the region in general and in Libya in particular. Field Marshal Haftar affirmed his support for initiatives aimed at achieving security and stability in Libya and preserving its unity, emphasizing his keenness on continuing coordination with Egypt to address various common challenges and achieve comprehensive development in Libya.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Northern Cape Provincial Whip, Mr Patrick Mabilo, has expressed deep appreciation for the positive developments made in the province since the previous oversight visit.
Mr Mabilo is leading an NCOP delegation during the annual NCOP Provincial Week, which began yesterday at the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature. The week-long programme affords permanent NCOP delegates an opportunity to conduct oversight in their respective provinces, tracking progress on recommendations made during previous visits and assessing service delivery outcomes.
The highlight of the programme was a visit to the Sol Plaatje Municipality, where the delegation inspected the R2,5 billion Riverton Water Treatment Plant – a major infrastructure project aimed at ensuring quality water supply to the citizens of the municipality.
“We received a comprehensive report from the municipality, led by the Mayor, the Municipal Manager and the City Engineer, who explained the advanced multi-million-rand technology being used at the treatment plant. Once complete, this project will have a multiplier effect in terms of massive investment, infrastructure development and economic activity – because without water, there can never be any progress,” said Mr Mabilo, adding that the project will benefit local economic participation with 33 local small to medium enterprises (SMMEs) benefiting from the project.
He further commended the municipality for documenting all the processes for future generations, research, and public access, adding that the project also includes sanitation improvements.
Mr Mabilo emphasised the need for all government departments to strictly adhere to the 30-day payment policy in order for SMMEs to be able to sustain their businesses. He said it was also important to ensure that women, youth and people living with disabilities participate in the economy of the province.
During yesterday’s engagement, the delegation received a consolidated provincial progress report delivered by Northern Cape Leader of Government Business, Mr Bentley Vass, who briefed the NCOP delegation on behalf of Premier Dr Zamani Saul, who tendered his apology.
Mr Vass reaffirmed the provincial government’s commitment to strengthening service delivery, accelerating development and unlocking the full social and economic potential of the province. Among the key areas of progress since 2016 highlighted by Mr Vass was the investment of over R4,2 billion in water and sanitation infrastructure through 222 projects. He said according to Census 2022, the investment has positioned the province as the third-highest province in terms of household water services and fourth in terms of access to flush toilets.
Other key progress areas include: the drop in the province’s unemployment rate to 28,7% in quarter 2 of 2026, marking the strongest quarterly reduction among all provinces; there were no adverse audit opinions as all municipalities submitted financial statements and underwent the audit process during the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years; and the Northern Cape Investment Jobs Conference, held in April 2026, secured R105,3 billion investment pledgers, creating 19 800 jobs, with a target to grow the provincial GDP to R200 billion and create 60 000 additional jobs by 2030.
The delegation also received comprehensive reports from the Department of Public Works, Health, Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs, the Office of the Auditor General (on the provincial audit outlook) and the Department of Water and Sanitation.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.
Ten years ago few people outside a small circle of researchers spoke about artificial intelligence in daily conversation. Today it recommends what to watch, drafts emails and shapes decisions in businesses across the world. Binance (https://www.Binance.com/), the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem believes digital assets are on a similar trajectory, moving from a niche interest to a normal part of everyday financial life within the next decade. The question the continent faces is not whether that shift happens. It is whether Africa is ready for it when it does.
“The rise of AI has shown us how quickly technology can move from unfamiliar to unavoidable. Digital assets are heading in a similar direction over the next decade and the countries that prepare their youth early will be the ones that benefit most. That preparation has to start with the basics of money, taught well before anyone touches a digital asset,” said Larry Cooke, Binance Africa.
Africa is the youngest continent in the world and that will only become more true in the years ahead. Population data (https://apo-opa.co/3Uql5se) compiled by the Population Reference Bureau shows young Africans are expected to make up 42 percent of the world’s youth by 2030. That generation will inherit a financial system already reshaping itself around digital tools, and how well prepared they are for it will depend far less on the technology itself and far more on what they are taught about money long before they ever open an app.
That preparation is currently falling short. Research from the S&P Global FinLit Survey (https://apo-opa.co/4zlXYPP) cited in a 2025 analysis of the region found only around 27 percent of adults across Sub-Saharan Africa are considered financially literate, well below the average in higher income economies. This reflects how rarely budgeting, saving and the basic mechanics of money are taught formally at school level, a foundation every other financial decision is eventually built on.
Crypto has followed a similar arc to AI, only a few years behind it. Ten years ago digital assets were a niche, largely speculative interest with almost no everyday use across the continent. Today Sub-Saharan Africa is the third fastest growing crypto market (https://apo-opa.co/4xj0IvJ) in the world. Much of that growth comes from people using it to send money across borders and protect savings against currency swings, such as a trader in one country paying a supplier in another without losing days and fees to the banking system. The next ten years could see digital assets become as ordinary a part of daily finance as mobile money has already become across the continent.
“This is not a distant trend, it is already happening here. More than 8 percent of crypto moving through the region (https://apo-opa.co/4xj0IvJ) last year was in small, everyday amounts under 10,000 dollars, well above the global average. This proves that ordinary people, not just large investors, are putting this to practical use. Our focus now is to ensure that Africa increases this momentum, empowering people across the continent,” Cooke explained.
Binance Academy (https://apo-opa.co/4hCsqyB) was built with this goal in mind. The platform offers free courses covering the fundamentals of budgeting, saving and financial decision making with blockchain and digital assets introduced once those foundations are covered. Courses are available in multiple languages and designed for learners with no prior background in finance or technology, reflecting an approach that starts where most people actually are rather than where the industry assumes they should be.
“Financial literacy is not a side project for us, it is the foundation that everything is built on,” Cooke said. “If a young person in Accra or Nairobi understands how money works before they ever encounter a digital asset, they are in a far stronger position to benefit from where this technology advances to next.”
Binance Africa continues to invest in education initiatives across the continent, built on the view that financial confidence, not just financial access, is what will determine who benefits most from the next ten years of digital finance.
HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani met on Wednesday with HE Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and President-elect of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly Dr Khalilur Rahman, who is visiting Qatar.
At the beginning of the meeting, His Excellency congratulated HE Dr Khalilur Rahman on his election as President of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly, expressing his best wishes for his success.
During the meeting, they discussed bilateral cooperation relations and ways to support and strengthen them along with the latest regional and international developments, in addition to a number of issues of common interest.
They also exchanged views on prospects for cooperation between the State of Qatar and the United Nations in addressing global challenges, particularly in the areas of peacebuilding, sustainable development, and climate change.
The Department of Energy, through the Rural Electrification Unit (REU) visited Ha Ratheepe in the Matelile Constituency to introduce the contractor appointed to undertake a rural electrification project benefiting communities in the area.
The project will extend electricity connections to households in three villages, namely:
Moreneng
Khohlong
Sekhutlong
At least 100 households are expected to benefit from the project marking an important step towards expanding access to electricity and improving the quality of life for communities in Matelile.
During the visit, the Department introduced Turbotek as the contractor responsible for implementing the electrification works. The contractor has been given ten weeks to complete the project, after which the targeted households are expected to have access to electricity.
The project forms part of Government’s ongoing efforts to expand rural electrification and ensure that more Basotho households, particularly in underserved communities, gain access to reliable electricity.
For the people of Moreneng, Khohlong and Sekhutlong, the project will bring the prospect of improved household livelihoods, greater economic opportunities and better access to essential services powered by electricity.
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Markus Engstler, Chair and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
Tsetse flies transmit some of Africa’s most persistent parasitic diseases. They have affected human health, livestock production and rural development for generations, across a region spanning millions of square kilometres in 37 sub-Saharan countries.
Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is caused by two species of single-celled parasites. Others infect wild and domestic animals, causing animal trypanosomosis, often called nagana in cattle.
Sustained surveillance, diagnosis and treatment have driven sleeping sickness to historically low levels, a remarkable public-health success. But animal trypanosomiasis remains a major problem, causing anaemia, weight loss, reduced productivity and fertility and death. For rural communities that depend on cattle for food, income and for use in tilling fields, the consequences extend far beyond the loss of individual animals. Across affected regions, the economic costs run into billions of US dollars.
Tsetse flies move between hosts. They take blood from humans and a wide range of wild and domestic animals, including elephants, buffalos, rhinos, hippos, turtles and monitor lizards. By moving between hosts, tsetse flies can connect wildlife, livestock and humans in complex transmission networks.
We are molecular cell biologists and parasitologists researching vectors, and we have extensive laboratory and field experience studying African trypanosomes and tsetse flies. Our work focuses on the interactions between parasites and their insect vectors, including the adaptations that allow tsetse flies to thrive across diverse ecosystems.
For a recent study, we assembled an international team spanning parasite biology and cell biology in Würzburg, vector research at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi and insect biomechanics in Kiel. We wanted to understand how the insects can penetrate such diverse skin types.
We detailed the anatomy and mechanical properties of the feeding apparatus and measured the forces a fly exerts while probing. We found its ability to pierce skin wasn’t due to one special “tool”. Instead, rows of tiny teeth, strong backward strokes of the mouthparts and flexible behaviour work together. The flies used the same pressure on very different natural skins and, when faced with reptile skin, selected softer gaps between scales.
This versatility helps explain how tsetse flies feed across such a broad host range – and therefore why they are so effective at carrying parasites among wildlife, livestock and humans.
More than a century of fighting tsetse
People have tried to control tsetse flies for more than a century. In Zimbabwe, for example, wildlife killing was used from at least the 1920s, while vegetation clearing continued into the early 1960s. Such environmentally destructive approaches have long been abandoned. Today, control methods include insecticide-treated cattle, odour-baited traps and targets, aerial spraying and the release of sterilised males.
These methods can eliminate local populations, but controlling tsetse across their vast and diverse range remains difficult and expensive.
We approached the problem from a different direction. Instead of asking how to kill a tsetse fly, we asked what makes it such a successful bloodsucker. The animals it feeds on present very different barriers, from relatively soft, pliable mammalian skin to the tougher, scaly skin of big reptiles. How can the same tiny fly bite such different animals?
To find out, our team combined high-tech imaging with micro-mechanical experiments. We filmed flies feeding, measured how strongly they attach and recorded the forces generated as their mouthparts moved through different types of skin.
Using natural tissues and artificial skin models, we could study the tsetse feeding apparatus as a complete biomechanical system.
A tsetse fly taking a blood meal from human skin equivalents placed on sheep blood. The skin equivalents were stacked to provide sufficient biting depth for the fly. Vibratory movements of the fly’s maxillae can be observed during feeding. The video was recorded in collaboration with Christian Reuter.
A microscopic saw rather than a syringe
At the tip of the tsetse proboscis – the long, tube-like mouthpart it uses to pierce skin and drink blood – is an elaborate structure called the labellum, armed with rows of tiny teeth. During feeding, the labellum opens inside the skin, exposing these teeth, while the fly repeatedly pushes and pulls its proboscis through the tissue.
The forces generated when the fly pulled backwards were greater overall than those used to push forwards. That is counterintuitive: one might expect a piercing organ to do most of its work while being pushed into the skin. But once the labellum opens, its teeth face outwards. The stronger backward strokes may therefore act like a cutting motion, dragging those teeth through tissue, disrupting it and enlarging the feeding site.
This is fundamentally different from how a mosquito feeds. A mosquito uses extremely fine mouthparts to locate and tap individual blood vessels. Tsetse flies are pool feeders: they damage tissue until blood accumulates and then drink from the resulting pool.
If the mosquito feeding apparatus is a sophisticated syringe, the tsetse proboscis is closer to a microscopic saw.
The real superpower is versatility
We expected a fly capable of feeding on such different animals to possess some exceptional adaptation: enormous penetration forces, extraordinary grip or uniquely powerful mouthparts.
We found none.
Instead, tsetse flies succeed through subtle adaptations working together. They penetrated different types of skin using broadly comparable forces. Faced with reptile skin, they targeted softer regions between scales. Their feet provided sufficient grip, but their attachment was not exceptional compared with other insects.
The real tsetse superpower may therefore be versatility – combining anatomy, mechanics and behaviour to overcome very different physical challenges.
Could understanding the bite help fight the disease?
Our research does not immediately provide a new method for controlling tsetse flies. But it reveals an overlooked aspect of vector biology (how diseases are spread).
To transmit a parasite, a tsetse must successfully land, hold on, penetrate the skin, feed and escape the host’s defences. Each step presents a physical challenge, and potentially a vulnerability.
Understanding these mechanics could eventually inspire new ways to interfere with feeding or improve control technologies that exploit tsetse behaviour.
But our findings also help explain why these flies are such successful disease vectors. Its many small adaptations work remarkably well together. The result is a tiny fly capable of taking blood from an astonishing range of animals. For a parasite looking for its next host, it is difficult to imagine a better ride.
– The bloodsucking insect with a saw for a mouth: how the tsetse fly bites through almost anything – https://theconversation.com/the-bloodsucking-insect-with-a-saw-for-a-mouth-how-the-tsetse-fly-bites-through-almost-anything-289260
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Sedzani Musundwa, Associate professor, University of South Africa
For the past few decades, universities, employers and professional bodies globally have invested in mentoring programmes, scholarships and student support initiatives to diversify careers such as professional accounting. The assumption has been that if talented students have help to overcome barriers, representation will improve.
For many socioeconomically marginalised people, going to university is seen as the key to a better life. Accounting has been one of the professions that promises stable jobs, financial security and upward social mobility. But while more students are getting through the university gates, building a successful career in accounting has proved much harder than simply earning a degree.
The most recent World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report (2025), which has tracked gender disparities since 2006, reports that, at the current rate of progress, full gender parity remains an estimated 123 years away. The gap is clear when you compare educational attainment with career progression. Although women now outperform men in tertiary education globally, they account for only 29.5% of senior managers with tertiary qualifications. Similarly, women’s representation in top management increased only modestly, from 25.7% in 2015 to 28.1% in 2024. The pace of progress has slowed since 2022.
In South Africa, too, where I am based as an accounting professor, changing gender and racial representation in the profession has been slower than expected.
To understand why, researcher Joanne Sopt and I reviewed 81 studies examining how minority students globally have been supported over decades, from university entry to professional accounting practice.
We found that early initiatives focused on helping students overcome what were seen as individual shortcomings. The solutions offered were tutoring, scholarships and mentoring. While these programmes remain important, they assumed that the main challenge was preparing students to fit into existing institutions.
More recent research we reviewed tells a different story. It shows that success is shaped just as much by the environments students enter as by their own ability. Across countries, the evidence shows that meaningful support goes beyond financial assistance. It includes visible role models, culturally responsive teaching, strong mentoring relationships and institutions that recognise the diverse experiences students bring with them.
It’s also clear from the research that solutions should fit each context (local histories, identities and institutional realities).
Our findings have implications far beyond accounting. It is the responsibility of universities, employers and professional bodies to create environments where everyone has an equal chance to thrive.
The next phase of transformation must be to make changes to institutions to fit the people they were created to serve.
Framing inequality
Our literature review included 81 peer-reviewed accounting research articles. They investigated diversity and marginalisation in accounting education and in the profession worldwide.
The research showed a shift in how scholars understand inequality.
In the early 1990s they tended to frame under-representation as an individual problem. If students struggled to succeed, the response was to provide more support. Tutoring, mentoring and financial assistance programmes were designed to help them catch up.
These initiatives assumed that the main barriers lay within students themselves.
From around the 2020s, however, researchers began asking a different question. They asked why capable students continued to experience obstacles even after receiving support and why even some qualified professionals did too.
This moved attention away from perceived individual deficits towards the environments in which people were expected to learn and work. The question was how inclusive these environments were.
Persisting patterns
Across continents, countries and demographic groups, the same patterns emerged. Students were attracted to accounting because it promised good jobs. Yet many reported feeling that they did not belong. They encountered language barriers, limited access to professional networks, few role models who shared their backgrounds, and institutional cultures that assumed everyone entered university or the workplace with similar experiences and resources.
Some interventions proved remarkably effective. Joining professional associations strengthened students’ sense of belonging. Small changes, such as using cream-coloured rather than white examination paper for students with dyslexia, improved accessibility. Inclusive language in recruitment material influenced whether women and LGBTQ+ applicants perceived accounting as a profession where they belonged. Mentoring, culturally responsive teaching and meaningful role models all made a positive difference.
Perhaps the most striking finding from our review was that many of the barriers that professionals encountered had little to do with their technical skills and knowledge. Instead, they related to organisational culture, informal expectations, psychological safety and the pressure to conform to dominant professional norms.
Many professionals described feeling they had to continually prove their competence, adapt their language or behaviour, or hide aspects of their identity in order to succeed. These are not problems that can be solved by another scholarship or mentoring programme alone.
Culture and belonging
Around the world, organisations of various kinds are asking why decades of diversity initiatives have not produced the transformation they hoped for.
Our findings suggest that mentoring, scholarships and student support should continue to form part of the broader strategy of restructuring institutional culture, recruitment practices, promotion systems, curriculum design and the everyday experiences of belonging within organisations.
Success should no longer be measured only by how many people from historically disadvantaged groups enter a profession. It’s also about whether those professions have changed sufficiently for diverse talent to flourish.
Mentoring and scholarships open doors. But lasting change depends on what people encounter once they walk through them.
– Why isn’t the accounting profession more diverse? Research points to the real levers of change – https://theconversation.com/why-isnt-the-accounting-profession-more-diverse-research-points-to-the-real-levers-of-change-289618
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met on Wednesday with HE Ambassador of the State of Libya to the State of Qatar Mohammed Mustafa Al Saghir Al Lafi, on the occasion of the end of his tenure.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs expressed his appreciation to HE the Ambassador for his efforts in supporting and strengthening bilateral relations, wishing him success in his new duties.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.
The Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs (MoGCA) in partnership with UN Women today launches the Gender Accountability Framework and the 2025 Annual Report on the Implementation of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act 2022, marking a significant step in advancing gender equality and strengthening accountability for the realization of women’s and Girls rights across the country.
The initiative was supported by World Bank, the Government of Ireland and the Government of Iceland whose partnership has contributed to strengthening gender-responsive governance, accountability mechanisms, and the implementation of the GEWE Act.
The launch brought together representatives from Government, Parliament, civil society organisations, development partners, women’s rights organisations, the private sector, the media, traditional and religious leaders, and other stakeholders to reflect on progress made in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sierra Leone.
Since the commencement of his presidency in 2018, significant progress has been recorded across all 12 critical areas of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, particularly in strengthening institutional, legislative and policy frameworks for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Progressive legislation has been enacted, institutional mechanisms strengthened, and policies implemented to expand opportunities for women and girls and advance their meaningful participation in Sierra Leone’s development.
His Excellency Dr Julius Maada Bio highlighted the enactment of the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act 2022 as a significant milestone in this journey.
“The GEWE Act 2022 represents a landmark legislative intervention to address long-standing gender inequalities and create greater opportunities for women to participate in leadership, governance, employment and economic activities,” President Bio said.
Emphasizing the Government’s commitment to ensuring the full implementation of the GEWE Act, Dr. Isata Mahoi, Hon. Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs said, “The Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act 2022 is one of Sierra Leone’s most transformative pieces of legislation.”
She said that, the Gender Accountability Framework and the Annual Report provide important tools for strengthening transparency, coordination and accountability in the implementation of our commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment.”
Adding that, we must all use the evidence and lessons emerging from this process to accelerate action and ensure that no woman or girl is left behind.
The Gender Accountability Framework is a practical mechanism to support the implementation, monitoring, and reporting of commitments under the GEWE Act 2023 and GEWE Policy 2020 and the Sustainable Development Goals. It provides a structured approach for tracking progress, identifying challenges, and strengthening institutional accountability to ensure that gender equality commitments translate into meaningful outcomes for women and girls throughout Sierra Leone.
Commending the Government of Sierra Leone for its leadership and commitment to advancing gender equality, Dr. Maxime Houinato, UN Women Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said, “The launch of the Gender Accountability Framework demonstrates Sierra Leone’s determination to move beyond commitments and focus on measurable results.”
Adding that accountability is pivotal for achieving sustainable progress on gender equality.
During the launch stakeholders will examine the findings of the 2025 Annual Report, discuss key implementation priorities and strengthen collective action towards the effective implementation of the GEWE Act 2022.
The event will also underscore the importance of sustained political commitment, adequate resources, institutional coordination and evidence-based monitoring in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment across Sierra Leone
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.
HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met on Wednesday with HE Ambassador of the State of Libya to the State of Qatar Mohammed Mustafa Al Saghir Al Lafi, on the occasion of the end of his tenure.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs expressed his appreciation to HE the Ambassador for his efforts in supporting and strengthening bilateral relations, wishing him success in his new duties.
