The family of Kenyan worker Sheila Chebii is seeking further information from Australian authorities following her death at a Sydney hotel, as investigations continue into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Chebii’s cousin, who regularly communicated with her during work shifts, said the last message she received from Chebii came shortly before emergency services were called to Meriton Suites Sussex Street in Sydney.At 12.36pm, Chebii sent a message saying she was doing well. It was the final communication her cousin received from her.

Emergency services were called to the hotel at about 1.30pm, according to New South Wales police.Chebii’s family has since raised concerns about the lack of detailed information available regarding her death. Her older brother Amos travelled to Australia following the incident and said the family hoped legal representatives would assist in obtaining answers.

The family has requested that all relevant avenues be examined as they seek clarity over the circumstances leading to Chebii’s death.Australian authorities are continuing their inquiries. New South Wales police said a report would be prepared for the state coroner, who will determine whether an inquest should be held.SafeWork NSW, the workplace safety regulator, confirmed it was making inquiries into the matter.

The case has drawn attention from members of the Kenyan community in Australia. A protest was held outside the hotel weeks after Chebii’s death, with participants calling for transparency and further information about what occurred.Mathew Gitau, a Kenyan community leader, said Chebii’s death had affected many people beyond her immediate family and friends.

Community members have also helped raise funds for the repatriation of her body.Gitau said Chebii represented the hopes of many young Kenyans who travel abroad seeking education, employment opportunities and improved prospects.He said the delay in receiving detailed updates from authorities had contributed to concerns among members of the community.

The incident has also received attention in Kenya. Member of parliament Timothy Toroitich raised the matter in parliament, saying that significant questions remained about the circumstances of Chebii’s death.Kenya’s high commission said it had remained in contact with Australian authorities, including law enforcement agencies, regarding the case.

A spokesperson for the mission said it had not received final findings or conclusions from the investigation.Meriton said Chebii was not directly employed by the hotel but worked through a subcontractor.A spokesperson for the company said internal inquiries indicated that Chebii had only been employed as a hotel room cleaner for a few weeks before her death.

The company’s statement did not provide further details about the circumstances of the incident.Chebii’s case has highlighted the challenges faced by families dealing with investigations in foreign legal systems.

Her relatives have sought updates while navigating procedures involving Australian authorities and workplace regulators.The state coroner’s review will determine whether further examination through an inquest is required.

Such proceedings, if held, may provide additional information about the events leading to Chebii’s death.Authorities have not released final conclusions, and investigations remain ongoing.

The victims, aged between 15 and 18, died after flames broke out in their dormitory late on May 28, trapping students inside, according to the Red Cross. A total of 132 pupils were injured in the blaze.Nine students from the academy, which primarily serves children of police officers, remain in custody as investigations continue, authorities said.

At a memorial service held at Gilgil Stadium, about 120 kilometers north of Nairobi, religious leaders urged attendees to focus on mourning rather than the wider issues surrounding the unrest.“We have come for prayers, not politics,” a priest said during the ceremony attended by families and community members.

The fire has become part of a wider crisis involving school disturbances across Kenya. The country has recorded 47 school fires this year as pupils protest issues including exam pressure, alleged corruption and conditions in boarding schools, which are widely used in the education system.

Several schools have sent students home following additional fires, with experts pointing to possible copycat incidents and long-running frustrations linked to the pressures faced by students.Police said the bodies of the victims were found on the upper floor of the two-storey dormitory.

A student identified as Rosie, 15, said she woke up to smoke and flames and attempted to escape through a locked door before jumping from the first floor, suffering a leg injury.“I was very scared,” she said, adding that she was thinking about classmates who remained inside as she escaped.

Students and families have raised concerns over dormitory safety, including reports that pupils were locked inside rooms at night despite fire safety requirements.

During the memorial, Rosie spoke of her close friend Abigail, who died in the blaze.“She was a dancer, we would always chat together,” Rosie said, describing the loss as deeply painful.Relatives mourned as the coffins arrived during the service, with several parents collapsing under the weight of the tragedy.

Liz Munyaga, 46, whose 17-year-old niece Gertrude died, said schools should provide protection for children.“A school is supposed to be the safest place for children,” she said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday that the country’s specialized treatment network remains ready to respond to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the World Health Organization has reported 344 confirmed cases and 60 deaths.

The issue has gained prominence after the U.S. State Department said American citizens exposed to Ebola but not showing symptoms would be quarantined at a facility under construction at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base. The department has also pledged to prevent travelers infected with Ebola from entering the United States.

Public health specialists have increasingly urged the U.S. government to bring infected Americans back to the United States for treatment rather than relying on overseas facilities. Opposition to the Kenyan quarantine center has intensified following protests that resulted in at least two deaths, while a Kenyan court has ordered construction work halted.

The United States invested heavily in Ebola preparedness after the 2014 West African outbreak, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to strengthen treatment capacity and establish a national network of specialized facilities capable of handling highly contagious pathogens.

Reuters contacted the 13 hospitals and universities participating in the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center network. Nine confirmed they are currently prepared to receive and treat patients exposed to Ebola.

The network includes institutions such as the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Emory University in Atlanta, Bellevue Hospital in New York and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Four institutions, including Emory, did not respond to requests for comment.

“The United States’ investment in preparedness remains a critical component of national health security,” HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said, adding that participating hospitals are equipped to evaluate, isolate and treat patients with high-consequence infectious diseases while supporting broader outbreak response efforts.

Under federal requirements, designated treatment centers must be capable of caring for at least two patients exposed to contagious viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. Facilities are required to conduct quarterly training exercises, maintain laboratory testing capabilities and stock protective equipment.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dozens of personnel deployed in the DRC and has said members of the U.S. Public Health Service Corps could be sent to support operations at the proposed Kenyan facility. American healthcare workers and aid personnel also continue to serve in the region through international relief organizations.

Several healthcare officials, including former CDC leaders, argued in an open letter this week that medical evacuation to established U.S. treatment centers would pose fewer risks than housing exposed Americans at a newly constructed overseas quarantine site.

A former CDC official familiar with the response effort said concerns surrounding the Kenya plan could complicate efforts to recruit American personnel for outbreak response missions.

The official said some prospective volunteers fear they could be left overseas if exposed to the virus, potentially undermining confidence in government support for public health workers deployed to epidemic zones.

practice of medically repatriating citizens exposed to or infected with dangerous infectious diseases abroad.The administration announced last week that it was establishing a quarantine facility in Kenya for U.S. citizens exposed to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak affecting eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Under the plan, Americans who develop symptoms would not be returned to the United States but instead transferred to a third country for treatment as Washington seeks to prevent Ebola cases from entering U.S. territory.

The health officials said the proposal raises “profound clinical, ethical, operational, and legal concerns,” warning that it could discourage healthcare workers and emergency responders from participating in outbreak-control missions in affected regions.They also expressed concern that resources would be diverted toward creating temporary quarantine, isolation and treatment infrastructure overseas rather than supporting efforts to contain the disease at its source.

According to the letter, such a shift could weaken already strained outbreak response operations and complicate international public health coordination.The administration’s plan has also generated opposition in Kenya, where concerns have been raised about the potential public health implications of hosting a quarantine center for foreign nationals exposed to Ebola.

A Kenyan court has temporarily suspended plans to establish the facility following a legal challenge arguing that the project could pose risks to public health. The ruling places the future of the proposed site in doubt as legal proceedings continue.The dispute highlights growing tensions between domestic disease-control priorities and international public health practices as governments seek to manage cross-border infectious disease threats while balancing political, logistical and medical considerations.

The blaze erupted around 1 a.m., prompting emergency rescue operations as firefighters and police evacuated students and searched the damaged dormitory for survivors, according to Capital FM radio.

Regional police commander Samuel Ndanyi said rescue teams were continuing operations at the school, while county police official Masoud Mwinyi described the incident as “distressing and saddening” as anxious parents gathered outside the campus.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the fire.The tragedy has renewed concerns over school safety standards in Kenya following a series of deadly boarding school fires. In 2024, 21 students died in a dormitory blaze at a primary school in neighboring Nyeri county.

Speaking in interviews with Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report during a two-day economic summit in Nairobi, Macron said Europe remained committed to multilateralism, the rule of law and open trade while global powers increasingly pursued confrontational economic policies.

“Europe defends the international order, effective multilateralism, the rule of law, free and open trade,” Macron said, drawing a distinction between European policy and the intensifying trade rivalry between the United States and China.

The French leader accused China of creating economic dependencies through its control of critical minerals and rare earth supply chains, arguing that Beijing prioritizes domestic processing while limiting broader industrial development elsewhere.“China operates according to a predatory logic,” Macron said, adding that Europe instead aimed to build “a strategy of autonomy” shared between African and European economies.

Macron’s remarks come as France attempts to recalibrate its relationship with Africa after years of deteriorating influence in several former colonies, particularly in the Sahel region where anti-French sentiment and military coups have weakened Paris’ regional standing.

France withdrew troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger following military takeovers between 2020 and 2023 that brought juntas to power and led to demands for French forces to leave.Macron defended France’s former military deployments in the Sahel, saying French troops had operated there at the request of local governments to combat jihadist insurgencies.

“When our presence was no longer wanted after the coups, we left,” Macron said. “That wasn’t a humiliation but a logical response to a given situation.”Despite acknowledging the enduring legacy of colonialism, Macron argued that Africa’s current political and economic difficulties could not be attributed solely to European imperial history.

“We must not exonerate from all responsibility the seven decades that followed independence,” he said, urging African governments to strengthen governance and institutional accountability.Macron, who has previously described colonialism as a “crime against humanity,” has sought since taking office in 2017 to redefine France’s relationship with Africa through economic partnerships and reduced military dependence.

He also called for reforms to international financial systems aimed at expanding guarantees capable of attracting larger volumes of private investment into African economies.

“A new era is about to start,” Macron said, expressing confidence that the Sahel region would eventually return to democratic governance under elected civilian leadership.

For decades, women in fishing communities along Lake Victoria were expected to stay on shore, selling fish rather than catching them. In Kagwel village in Kenya’s Kisumu County, stepping into a fishing boat was seen not only as unusual but as a violation of deeply rooted social beliefs.

That changed in 2002 when Rhoda Ongoche Akech, then a 39-year-old mother of seven, decided to enter the lake herself.At the time, Akech had spent years working as a fishmonger, buying fish from male fishermen and reselling them in local markets.

But rising costs for fish purchases, cooking oil, firewood and transport were reducing her earnings and making it harder to support her family.“People were alleging that when women go into the waters accompanied by men, they would engage in sexual intercourse,” Akech, now 61. She said community members initially treated her decision with suspicion, but after realising she was determined to learn fishing rather than challenge morality, opposition gradually faded.

Her decision followed an encounter in 2001 when women from neighbouring Homabay County came to Kagwel and began fishing. Watching them convinced her that the work was possible despite local resistance.“I sought the help of two young men by then to assist me with fishing as I learned,” she said.The cultural restrictions around women fishing in Lake Victoria communities are rooted in longstanding beliefs tied to gender and ritual purity.

According to Kagwel village elder William Okedo, one of the strongest taboos concerned menstruation.“It was believed that if women went into the lake while on period, they would scare away the fish and that would cause losses to people who are fishing,” Okedo said.The restrictions extended to men as well. Fishermen were traditionally discouraged from having sexual relations with their wives the night before fishing trips, based on beliefs that it would reduce their catch.

For 16 years, Akech remained the only woman fishing regularly in Kagwel, working alone among male crews.It was not until 2018 that another woman joined her. Faith Awuor Ang’awo, a 37-year-old mother of four, had also been working as a fishmonger and was facing similar financial strain.“My husband refused the idea at first,” Ang’awo said, citing fears of social backlash from the fishing community.

“But later on allowed me to join Rhoda.”In 2020, Dorcas Awiyo, then a 22-year-old mother of three, followed. Her husband, himself a fisherman, initially opposed the decision but later agreed after the family’s need for additional income became more urgent.“At first, my husband was not receptive to the idea, but later on allowed me,” she said.By 2022, when Janet Ndweyi joined the group, resistance had largely disappeared.

“I didn’t face any challenge or receive any warning when joining them because the community around was used to seeing Rhoda and Faith fishing,” Ndweyi said.Without a husband to support her and with fish trading becoming less profitable, fishing offered her a more stable income. She now uses her earnings to pay college fees for both of her children.

“Through fishing, I am able to cater for my household’s basic needs and also pay for children’s school fees that are in college,” she said.Economic necessity has been the strongest force behind the social shift.According to Wilson Onjolo, fisheries officer for Seme subcounty, boat owners at Kagwel Beach can earn between 6,000 and 8,000 Kenyan shillings ($46 to $62) on productive days. Crew members earn between 500 and 800 shillings ($3.88 to $6.20), while traders such as fishmongers may earn up to 1,000 shillings ($7.75).

That compares favourably with the roughly 500 shillings women like Akech earned daily when they relied solely on fish trading.Village elder Okedo said the economic pressure facing households has made communities more willing to reconsider long-held norms.“This is all because of economic hardships that the community is facing; it is pushing women to break the taboo,” he said.

Fisherman Dalmas Onyango said most male fishermen now support women entering the trade.“The majority of my fellow fishermen now support their decision to fish,” he said, adding that changing economic realities have made old restrictions less practical.At the same time, the lake itself is becoming less reliable.

Lake Victoria, which supports more than 42 million people for food, employment and drinking water, is under increasing pressure from overfishing, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Annual harvests remain around one million tonnes, but per capita catch rates have declined significantly.Akech said she has seen the change directly over the past two decades.

The amount of fish she catches today is noticeably lower than when she first entered the lake in 2002.Chris Mutai, senior meteorologist in charge of the Kisumu meteorological station, said rising water temperatures are contributing to the decline by encouraging algae growth and reducing oxygen levels in the lake.

“To reverse this, people should keep off riparian land to allow undergrowth that will serve as the breeding ground of fish, and avoid pollution of the lake that traps more heat than plain, clear water,” Mutai said.He warned that temperatures could rise by another 0.5 degrees Celsius over the next 10 to 20 years, reaching between 29.5C and 31C.

Without stronger environmental controls, including protection of riparian zones and regulated fishing, fish stocks are expected to continue falling.Weather forecasting has become increasingly important for fishing communities. Mutai’s office distributes five-day forecasts through WhatsApp groups and local government channels, helping fishermen and fisherwomen prepare for dangerous lake conditions.

Despite their success, Akech and her team still operate in a legal grey area.Susan Claire, acting director of fisheries and blue economy for Kisumu County, said women officially participate as boat owners and fish traders, but not as night fishermen or crew members.“We have women who own boats and women traders, but they are not involved in night fishing or as boat crew members,” Claire told Al Jazeera.

That leaves women like Akech without formal recognition or equal access to support available to male fishermen.However, Christopher Aura of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute said in 2023 that Lake Victoria had more than 47,000 fishermen, including 1,000 women, suggesting official county records may not fully reflect women’s participation.

Claire acknowledged that declining fish stocks remain a major concern and said the county is working with meteorological services and Beach Management Units to improve awareness, climate adaptation and enforcement against illegal fishing.For Akech, the debate is less about recognition than survival.She continues to leave before dawn with the same determination that first took her to the water more than two decades ago.

Some days the catch is poor, and the income barely covers the effort. On better days, it is enough to keep going.The lake has changed, but so has the community around it.

The United States is restructuring how it delivers life-saving medical supplies for HIV and malaria to low-income countries, a shift that officials and health experts warn could disrupt treatment access across parts of Africa and Asia.

The changes centre on winding down the Global Health Supply Chain Program – Procurement and Supply Management, a U.S.-funded initiative run by Chemonics, which has coordinated the delivery of critical medicines and prevention tools since 2016. According to internal communications and multiple sources familiar with the matter, U.S. officials have been instructed to begin halting implementation of the programme by May 30.

From its inception through 2024, the programme distributed more than $5 billion worth of HIV and malaria-related commodities to 90 countries, with a primary focus on sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia. The supplies included antiretroviral drugs, malaria treatments and insecticide-treated bed nets, forming a key component of global disease control efforts.The restructuring follows broader changes to U.S.

foreign aid policy under the administration of Donald Trump, which has prioritised reducing reliance on contractors, cutting budgets and shifting toward direct agreements with recipient governments. The overhaul also comes after the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, which had previously overseen much of Washington’s development assistance.

Five sources familiar with the transition said the pace of the changes risks creating supply gaps for essential medicines, particularly in countries with fragile health systems. An internal email reviewed by Reuters warned that accelerating the transition without a clear implementation plan could jeopardise continuity of services.

The communication, sent by the U.S. State Department to staff in 17 African countries and Haiti, directed country teams to prepare for the end of programme operations while outlining potential risks. It did not provide a detailed roadmap for replacement mechanisms, instead asking local offices to identify vulnerabilities and report back to Washington.

A State Department spokesperson said the agency had not issued technical instructions for Chemonics to cease operations by May 30, though the contract is set to expire on September 30 in line with other USAID awards. The official end date is listed as November.

The uncertainty has revived concerns stemming from earlier disruptions. In January last year, a freeze on international aid left millions of dollars’ worth of medical supplies stranded in ports and warehouses worldwide, including HIV drugs and malaria prevention tools. Distribution resumed only after waivers were granted for life-saving interventions.

Six sources said the United States has been in discussions with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria about potentially using its procurement and distribution systems to replace the existing programme. The Geneva-based institution already manages approximately $2 billion in annual purchases for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria programmes through partnerships with national governments and implementing agencies.

However, two sources said earlier plans had envisaged a transition timeline extending to November 2027, allowing sufficient time for procurement cycles and logistical adjustments. Compressing this timeline into a matter of months could create operational bottlenecks, they said, noting that delivering medical supplies to remote areas can take up to a year from order to distribution.

The Global Fund declined to comment on the discussions. The State Department did not directly confirm the talks but said it would rely on pooled procurement mechanisms to secure supplies at competitive prices from private manufacturers.The policy shift is part of a broader “America First” approach to global health funding, which aims to reduce what officials describe as inefficiencies in the existing system.

A strategy document released in September argued that contractor-led programmes had contributed to waste and inflated costs, and emphasised direct funding for frontline services and national governments.

Under the new approach, Washington has signed 28 bilateral health agreements with partner countries and is increasingly channeling funds directly to national authorities. It also plans to use private logistics firms to handle distribution rather than relying on large development contractors.

Recent agreements with countries such as Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda include commitments to increase domestic health spending alongside U.S. funding. However, implementation has encountered obstacles. In Kenya, a proposed deal faces legal challenges from activists concerned about data privacy, while negotiations with Zambia have been delayed as officials seek to safeguard national interests.

Health experts and aid practitioners say the transition risks compounding existing vulnerabilities in global disease control programmes. Previous disruptions linked to funding changes have already contributed to shortages of malaria treatments for children and gaps in HIV prevention services in several countries.

The State Department defended the overhaul, describing the current system as outdated and inefficient. A spokesperson said the new model would prioritise value for American taxpayers while maintaining support for critical health interventions.

Despite those assurances, several sources involved in programme delivery said the lack of a detailed transition plan remains a central concern. They warned that without clear coordination between donors, governments and implementing partners, the shift could interrupt supply chains that millions depend on for survival.

The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces it is fighting have received multiple international mediation offers, but none have succeeded in ending or even significantly pausing the fighting that broke out on April 15.

Earlier this month, IGAD, an East African regional bloc of which Kenya is a member, proposed an initiative that would include the deployment of peacekeepers in the capital Khartoum.

The Sudanese army has repeatedly rejected the Kenyan-led initiative, accusing the regional power of supporting the RSF.

It has said it would consider any foreign peacekeepers as enemy forces.

“Leave the East African forces where they are. Bring the Kenyan army … I swear to god, not one of them would make it back,” said Sudanese General Yassir al-Atta in comments to troops.

He also accused Kenya of being bought off by a third country, which he did not identify.

“This statement is unworthy of our comment,” Kenya’s foreign affairs principal secretary Korir Sing’Oei said. The accusations were unfounded, he said, and that his country was neutral.

“By insisting that durable peace will only be realised through the inclusion of civilian actors in any mediation process and calling on accountability for atrocities, some in Sudan may find these principles difficult to accept,” he added.

The fighting in Khartoum State continued on Monday. A neighbourhood committee in Ombada said at least 15 people had been killed in strikes in Omdurman.

In the Kalakla area in southern Khartoum, the local committee said that RSF forces had besieged the area.

This week’s visit by Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to host African leaders in St. Petersburg on Thursday and Friday and promises them free Russian grain “to replace Ukrainian grain.”

“He will highlight the exemptions in U.S. sanctions that have always allowed the continued flow of food and agriculture transactions,” the Treasury spokesperson added of Nelson’s trip, first reported by Reuters.

Nelson’s second trip to Africa as undersecretary and his first to East Africa follows visits by several senior Biden administration officials to the continent this year after President Joe Biden pledged in December that the U.S. was “all in” on Africa’s future.

While in Nairobi and Somalia’s capital Mogadishu from Monday to Saturday, Nelson will discuss strengthening anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism frameworks as Treasury looks to strengthen capacity across the continent.

Enhancing partnerships to address regional security, including to combat the Islamic State and al Shabaab militant groups, will also be a focus, the spokesperson said.

Nelson will discuss ways to work with governments on combating illicit financial flows associated with crises in the region such as in Sudan, according to the spokesperson, where over 1,100 people have been killed and more than 3 million uprooted since fighting broke out in April.

Black Sea Grain Deal

Russia quit the deal allowing Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain last week, saying that demands to improve its own food and fertilizer exports had not been met, and that not enough Ukraine grain had reached the poorest countries under the Black Sea deal.

Since Russia quit the deal and began attacking Ukrainian food-exporting ports on the Black Sea and Danube river, global wheat and corn futures prices have risen sharply.

The Black Sea grain deal was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey a year ago to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are both leading grain exporters.

Somalia received 84,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine in 2022, up from 31,000 tonnes in 2021, according to U.N. trade data, as donors stepped up assistance to fend off a looming famine in certain areas.

Famine in parts of the Horn of Africa was averted this year as the rainy season, projected to fail for a fifth consecutive year, beat expectations. But aid officials say some 60 million people are still food insecure in seven east African countries and worry about the impact of a further blow.

While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to sharp Western sanctions, Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

African nations have largely remained neutral on the Ukraine war.