Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Hard Numbers: Sub-Saharan Africa’s food crisis, Belograd attack, Uganda’s Ebola lockdown, COVID vaccine makers take a hit

​Labourers rest as they offload bags of grains as part of relief food that was sent from Ukraine at the World Food Program (WFP) warehouse in Adama town, Ethiopia.

Labourers rest as they offload bags of grains as part of relief food that was sent from Ukraine at the World Food Program (WFP) warehouse in Adama town, Ethiopia.

Reuters

123 million: At least 123 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa are food insecure, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund. The region was on the brink of economic recovery, but that’s changed since the war in Ukraine upended the global economy. IMF senior economist Andrew Tiffin recently spoke to GZERO about Africa’s hunger and energy crises. Watch the interview here.


11: Two men opened fire on Russian soldiers at a training camp in the Belograd region of Russia on Saturday, killing 11 and injuring more than a dozen before being shot and killed. Russia’s Defense Ministry said that the gunmen were from a former Soviet republic, but gave no further details. The shooting, which took place near the Ukrainian border, comes amid mounting opposition to Vladimir Putin’s unpopular "partial mobilization" campaign.

2: Two Ugandan districts outside the capital Kampala have gone into lockdown as the government tries to contain a growing Ebola outbreak. The vaccine developed to inoculate against the Zaire strain, which killed 11,000 people across West Africa from 2013-2016, is not effective against this newer strain, which originated in Sudan.

37: The average price for a COVID vaccine will rise to $37 in 2023, double the average price in 2021, as demand for booster shots slumps. As sales drop off, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna – vaccine makers that first produced the effective mRna shots – are anticipating big losses.


This comes to you from the Signal newsletter team of GZERO Media. Sign up today.

More For You

​Iranian pro-government protesters wave national flags while participating in an anti-war protest gathering against the U.S. and Israeli military attacks in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, on February 28, 2026.

Iranian pro-government protesters wave national flags while participating in an anti-war protest gathering against the U.S. and Israeli military attacks in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, on February 28, 2026.

Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto
The US and Israel struck several sites in coordinated attacks across Iran this morning. The total number of casualties across Iran is also unknown, though one of the missiles hit a girls’ school in Iran, reportedly killing 53 people. The country is under a near-total internet blackout.In response, Tehran has launched airstrikes at Israel, as well [...]
Hard Numbers: Kenya restarts railroad project without China, South Africans return from Ukraine war, the rapper who wants to run Nepal, Russians say things are going well
$4 billion: The amount Kenya wants to raise in order to complete a partially built railway line that was abandoned in 2019. The project, which will link Nairobi with South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, came to a halt after initial funding from China dried up. This time around, Kenya wants to finance the project itself, through new import tariffs, [...]
​An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

An army soldier stands guard at a post at the Friendship Gate, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, at the border crossing between the two countries in Chaman, Pakistan February 27, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai
Pakistan and Afghanistan in “open war”Pakistan has declared “open war” against Afghanistan, as the two sides engage in the fiercest clashes in years. On Thursday, Afghan’s Taliban-run forces launched six cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions. Pakistan retaliated today with air attacks on Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, hitting Afghan [...]
Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson leaves his residence after he was released following his arrest by London police on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following the release of U.S. Justice Department files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in London, Britain, February 26, 2026.

REUTERS/Toby Melville
The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt the world.This week kicked off with British police arresting Peter Mandelson, former UK ambassador to Washington, on suspicion of “misconduct in public office” from his time as business secretary between 2008 and 2010. Mandelson wasn’t named in the arrest records, part of the UK’s rules banning them [...]