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It’s been really eye-opening to be able to know more about my heritage and to be able to know this is just the beginning of my discovery,” she told guests at the event on women in leadership.

Markle and her husband, British Prince Harry, are visiting Nigeria for the first time to promote mental health for soldiers and young girls.

“What’s been echoed so much really in the past day by men and women alike is ‘Oh! We weren’t surprised when you found out you were Nigerian,” she said.

“I say that mostly as a compliment to all of you, because what they define as a Nigerian woman is brave, resilient, courageous, powerful, beautiful,” she added.

Markle is known for her advocacy on women’s rights and gender equality.

The event, held in the capital Abuja, was co-hosted by Nigerian economist and head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

It highlighted the importance of female leadership and empowerment in driving positive change globally. Participants discussed the importance of mentorship for young women and career challenges faced by women in the country.

“Oftentimes, when women reach the peak of success, they leave. But you need to come back home, you need to at least be a familiar face for the next generation to say ‘Oh she looks like me, and I can be that’,” said Markle.

The couple’s three-day visit to Nigeria ends on Sunday.

Rwanda says it didn’t arm rebels accused of a grenade attack, despite Burundi’s accusations. Relations between the two countries remain tense.

“We call on Burundi to solve its own internal problems and not associate Rwanda with such despicable matters,” government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement Sunday.

Burundi’s interior ministry blamed the grenade attack on Friday that injured 38 people on RED-Tabara rebels and said the group was backed by Rwanda. The rebel group denied responsibility for the attack.

Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have deteriorated since early this year when Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye renewed accusations that Rwanda was funding and training the RED-Tabara rebels, who oppose the Burundi government.

Burundian authorities consider RED-Tabara a terrorist movement and accuse its members of being part of a failed coup attempt in 2015. The group first appeared in 2011 and has been accused of a string of attacks in Burundi since 2015.

In January, the Rwandan government accused Burundi of closing the border between the two countries, two weeks after an attack that Burundi said was carried out by the RED-Tabara group.

Pope Francis expressed concern on Saturday for “the planet in flames” because of wars during his meeting with the participants of ‘#BeHuman’, the world meeting on human fraternity that brings together 30 Nobel Prize laureates and top figures from international bodies at the Vatican for a dialogue on peace.

“On a planet in flames, you have come together to reaffirm your ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace, bearing witness to the humanity that unites us and makes us recognise each other as brothers, in the mutual gift of our respective cultural differences,” the pope told the delegates.

Among those attending the meeting are New York Mayor Eric Adams, retired U.S. football star Tom Brady, country singer Garth Brooks, former first lady of South Africa Graca Machel Mandela, and Nobel laureates Maria Ressa and Jody Williams.

The pontiff said that “war is a deception. War is always a defeat, as is the idea of international security based on the deterrent of fear. It is another deception. To ensure lasting peace, we must return to a recognition of our common humanity and place fraternity at the center of peoples’ lives.”

The two-day meeting has been organised by the ‘Fratelli tutti’ foundation and will consist of 12 thematic tables set up in different locations in Rome, such as the Palazzo de Campidoglio and the Vatican’s Chancellery.

The Nobel laureates will debate with scientists, economists, doctors, managers, workers, sports champions from various parts of the world, with the aim, according to a note of presentation, “of looking for alternatives to wars and poverty”, with proposals to “understand where the principle of fraternity is already present in social life and discern the parameters needed to measure it”.

As hope dwindles, authorities in South Africa race against time to rescue 44 construction workers trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building.

The daunting task ahead involves moving thousands of tons of concrete with heavy machinery to search for survivors. The death toll climbed to nine as a critically injured worker passed away in the hospital.

Of the 28 workers rescued from the site, 21 were in critical condition or had life-threatening injuries following Monday’s collapse of the five-story apartment complex that was under construction.

With fears that the final death toll could exceed 50, authorities in the city of George on South Africa’s south coast said large earth-moving equipment had arrived and rescue teams were removing huge slabs of concrete and rubble to reach deeper into the wreckage.

it was still a rescue rather than a recovery operation, but no survivors have been located or brought out since Wednesday.

“Despite the introduction of large machinery, rescue techniques will still be applied meticulously and sensitively by the highly skilled and experienced disaster management team,” the city said in a statement.

It also revised the number of missing from 38 to 44 after determining that there were more construction workers at the site than previously thought. New information provided by the construction company showed there were 81 workers when the building came crashing down, not 75 as authorities had initially announced, it said.

More than 600 personnel are involved in the rescue operation, with many brought in from nearby towns and cities. George, which is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Cape Town, is a small city known as a vacation and golfing destination.

Authorities say multiple investigations are underway into the cause of the collapse, including by police, the provincial government, and the National Department of Labor.

Chad’s military leader, Mahamat Deby Itno, was declared the winner of this week’s presidential election, according to provisional results released Thursday. The results were contested by his main rival, Prime Minister Succès Masra.

The national agency that manages Chad’s election released results of Monday’s vote weeks earlier than planned. The figures showed Deby Itno won with just over 61% of the vote, with the runner-up Masra falling far behind with over 18.5% of the vote. Gunfire erupted in the capital following the announcement.

Preliminary results were initially expected on May 21.

Chad held its long delayed presidential election following three years of military rule, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win. Deby Itno, also known as Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021.

The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn’t had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule.

Hours ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Masra published a speech on Facebook accusing the authorities of planning to manipulate the outcome.

Prince Harry and Meghan arrived in Nigeria to support the Invictus Games, helping wounded veterans, including Nigerian soldiers in a 14-year battle against extremists.

Invited by the military, the royal couple landed in Abuja early Friday 10TH May, said defense spokesman Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau.

Connect with wounded soldiers

Harry and Meghan will be meeting with wounded soldiers and their families in what Nigerian officials have said is a show of support to improve the soldiers’ morale and well-being.

“This engagement with Invictus is giving us the opportunity for the recovery of our soldiers,” Abidemi Marquis, the director of sports at Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, told reporters on Thursday.

Harry served in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner, after which he founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans and servicemembers the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics.

Couple’s itinerary

During their stay, they will attend basketball and volleyball matches and will meet with local non-governmental organizations in Abuja and Lagos that are receiving support from them.

Meghan will also co-host an event on women in leadership with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, according to their spokesman Charlie Gipson.

The news of Meghan’s visit excited some in Nigeria where her life and association with the British royal family is closely followed.

Impact of the game

The Nigerian military has touted the Invictus Games as one that could help the recovery of thousands of its personnel who have been fighting the homegrown Boko Haram Islamic extremists and their factions since 2009 when they launched an insurgency.

“Eighty percent of our soldiers that have been involved in this recovery program are getting better (and) their outlook to life is positive,” Marquis, the military’s sports director, said.

“The recovery program has given them an opportunity to improve their personal self-esteem, to improve their mental health and emotional intelligence.”

Heavy rains in eastern Congo led to floods, affecting over 470,000 people, according to the World Food Program.

Overflowing rivers and lakes destroyed crops, blocked roads, and displaced villagers, with climate change cited as a cause.

One farmer told WFP that he was struggling to feed his family of six after losing his crops to floods, and was living in a temporary shelter with other families displaced by the inundation.

The WFP report said the people impacted by the floods are also vulnerable to diseases, often having no option but to wash clothes and kitchen utensils in cholera-contaminated water. In some areas, farmers are sheltering with their cattle, further increasing the risk of disease.

WFP also said that it lacked the resources needed to respond to the needs of people in areas impacted by the floods.

Africa has been hard hit by extreme weather in recent days. In Kenya, 257 were killed by flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains and 55,000 were displaced according to a government announcement Wednesday.