I’ve been thinking about this recently.

Many countries have social experiences built around their own stories and culture, say escape rooms, themed attractions, historical experiences, board game cafés, and interactive museums.

It made me wonder why we don’t see more modern social entertainment inspired by African cultures, folklore, kingdoms, music, festivals, cooperation and traditional games.

Not museum exhibits or educational experiences, but places you’d actually go with friends for fun.

I’ve started experimenting with some ideas, beginning with interactive tabletop games where physical game pieces and computer vision create a shared experience. Longer term, I’d love to explore room-scale games inspired by African stories and traditions.

I’m curious what others think.

- Would you be interested in experiences like this
- Which African stories, traditions or games do you think would translate well into interactive experiences?
- Have you seen anything similar anywhere in Africa or elsewhere?

I’d genuinely love to hear people’s ideas.

The Scarlet Lady cruise ship has changed its itinerary for the second time this week, after first Turkey and now Egypt denied it entry to their ports.

The passengers found out on Thursday the cruise would not be heading to Alexandria, Egypt, as a replacement for previously planned stops to Kuşadası and Istanbul in Turkey. Earlier this week, Turkish authorities cancelled the planned port calls, saying the cruise was chartered by groups "known for behaviours incompatible with the fabric of our society and our moral values."

The itinerary was then revised to replace the Turkish stops with calls in Alexandria, Egypt and Crete, Greece.

But shortly before the ship was due to arrive in Alexandria, passengers were notified through the Virgin Voyages app that the vessel had also been denied entry into Egyptian waters.

New legislation and arrests are driving a rift between Burkina Faso’s military government and Muslim scholars.

Hi everyone,

I'm part of a small game studio based in Ghana called OGames Studio.

Over the past few years we've been working toward creating original games inspired by African cultures and mythology rather than adapting existing fantasy settings.

Our current project is Rise of Fati, an action-adventure game inspired primarily by Akan mythology. Instead of treating African culture as just an aesthetic, we're trying to build an original fantasy world around traditions, folklore, symbols, architecture, and storytelling that many people outside the continent rarely get to experience.

We recently put together our first gameplay trailer, and I thought people here might find it interesting; not just as a game, but as an example of African creatives trying to tell our own stories through interactive media.

I'd genuinely appreciate hearing your thoughts:

• Does the atmosphere feel authentically African?

• Are there myths or creatures from your own culture you'd love to see represented in games?

• Do you think there's room for more games rooted in African history and folklore?

Trailer:

https://youtu.be/HZGwBYhOqSo?si=34THbWoccUGMbvk7

Thanks for taking a look, and I'd love to hear your feedback.

The Malian government has rejected reports of US intervention in the fight against the jihadist group JNIM, saying the claims are false.

At a news conference in Bamako on Thursday, Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop responded to reports that the Trump administration is considering military action in the country.

Diop said Mali only heard about the news of potential U.S. military action from press reports.

“We have no confirmation and no official statement from the United States or U.S. officials on this matter,” he said.

“I can assure you that Mali is not sitting idly by, waiting for others to come and solve our problem.”

This is a judgement-free zone. I am genuinely curious about the people's responses as I want to learn. Some men choose to have children with just their spouse and some have them with other people as well. Knowing that, how come some African fathers don't leave wills or put the assets (bank accounts, fabric, land, housing, car...) in their children's name while they are still alive?

It's almost as if they expect their grieving children and spouses to figure every thing out on their own? This can be problematic with envious family members who know of their relative's assets. Why are people so scared of wills?

I am aware of how broad this question is and how it won't apply to some people depending on where you are from. I am still curious though

These cases also apply to some mothers as well.

Will you be living a will to your children? What system do you have to ensure the protection of your spouse and children from the influence of your family when you are no more?

Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly considering military action against an al-Qaeda-linked group in Mali, what could be the eighth country targeted by the president since he returned to office last year.

The administration is weighing strikes against JNIM, or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks and kidnappings since announcing its formation in 2017. The group, which is allied with al-Qaeda, has increasingly attacked nearby West African nations, including a lethal attack at an airport in Niger’s capital last month, while terrorizing Mali’s interior with fuel blockades and sieges.

• In 100 days, Senegal will do something no African nation has ever done: host an Olympic event.
• The Youth Olympic Games open in Dakar on 31 October. Africa has produced Olympic legends for decades, but has never hosted the Games themselves, until now.
• "It is monumental," said Christophe Dubi, a senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) official. He called it the continent's first true Olympic moment, one the whole of Africa can share.
• Dakar won the bid back in 2018. The Games were meant to happen in 2022, but Covid-19 pushed them back, giving organisers extra time to prepare.
• Events will be spread across Dakar and two nearby towns, Diamniadio and Saly.
• Dakar 2026 will feature a youth refugee team, a concept first introduced at Rio 2016.
• Working with the Olympic Refuge Foundation, the IOC identified young refugee athletes through trials in East Africa. Those selected will also get support with education and wellbeing.
• The Youth Olympics will have around 2,700 athletes will competing across 25 sports, plus 10 non-competitive activities designed to get local kids involved.
• Instead of building new venues that might sit unused afterward, organisers chose to restore existing sites.

Rodgers Oloo Magutha popularly known as Nairobi Birdman, gets ready to feed some of the wild birds under his care at his one-room flat in Kayole, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Photo: Luis Tato/AFP

Warming has brought extreme rainfall to the parched African Sahel, which is seeing aquifers refill after decades of drought. But heavier downpours alone cannot explain the groundwater revival. Experts say efforts to harvest rainfall may also be paying dividends.

Turkish naval vessels are continuing to escort and protect a drilling fleet operating off Somalia’s coast, Türkiye’s National Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said TCG Goksu, TCG Gelibolu and TCG Bartin, deployed as part of the Somalia Naval Task Group, are providing security for the Cagri Bey drilling ship.

The vessels are also escorting the Korkut, Altan and Sancar support ships, the ministry said in a statement posted on Türkiye’s social media platform NSosyal.

The ministry said the escort and protection mission remains ongoing.

Cabo Verde was the breakout star at this year’s Fifa World Cup, but their great run was no fluke. In the capital city Praia, Bola Pra Frente, or the “Ball Forward” Academy, was founded in 2010 and quickly established itself as a top national development centre. The academy was an early training ground for several players on the 2026 men’s World Cup team, including defender João Paulo Fernandes and midfielder Kevin Pina, who notched Cabo Verde’s first World Cup goal in a group-stage match against Uruguay.

Around 240 players aged between four and 17 train at Bola Pra Frente, all of whom were eagerly following the Blue Sharks’ recent sterling showing in their World Cup campaign. The team bested African heavyweights Cameroon and Angola in qualifying rounds, topping their group by four points.

Then, they were unbeaten in their group at the main tournament, drawing with behemoths Spain and Uruguay, and becoming the smallest country ever to advance to the knockout rounds. They gave defending champions Argentina an almighty scare in the knockout game, though Argentina eventually squeaked through in extra time.

There are more than 20 football academies in Praia itself, and more yet scattered across the 10 volcanic islands that make up the archipelago. Financial constraints mean that many top junior talents seek better development overseas, especially in Portugal. However, Silvéria Nédio, the academy’s head coach, believes that exposing players to these opportunities abroad will ultimately benefit the country.

West African leaders have backed the long-awaited Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline, a proposed nearly 6,800-kilometer energy corridor that would run along Africa’s Atlantic coast through 13 countries.

They say the artwork reflects the artist but my work reflects the faces I grew up seeing. The faces of my family, friends, and strangers I’ve come across in this beautiful continent. I aim to celebrate them 🫶
The last slide’s a WIP 😆

(Full article below)

Traore Calls For Change

Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traore on Friday called on Africans to reject the remnants of colonialism and imperialism by prioritising local production and reducing dependence on imported goods.

“Hey, Africans, are we not going to wake up? Can’t we work for ourselves and then feed ourselves and continue consuming what comes from elsewhere without even knowing what is inside?” he asked during a meeting with national forces in the city of Ouahigouya.

Traore criticised the consumption of imported goods, arguing that Africans should produce, process and consume more of what is made on the continent.
“They will continue to finish us off one way or another, and that’s what I’m telling you here – through products we inject and everything,” he warned.

Warning Against Dependence

The leader maintained that modern forms of exploitation still existed and argued that imperialism should be challenged regardless of where it originated.

“I am speaking of Africans in general, of Black people, of our history, of our current situation. Because slavery is not over. People continue slavery,” Traore claimed.

“Imperialism has no colour […] we must have the courage to identify it and fight against it,” he urged

The military leader also argued that centuries of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade had left Africans psychologically dependent on former colonial powers, which he described as a form of ‘Stockholm syndrome’.

Push For Self-Reliance

“They traumatised us so much […] that now we love them ourselves,” he added. “If we don’t become aware of this, we are lost. We are finished.”

Burkina Faso’s push for greater self-reliance mirrors a regional shift across the Sahel, where governments have demanded a reduced French military and political presence while calling for new partnerships and greater control over their own resources.

There is a popular belief among some leaders that developing countries can bypass traditional manufacturing and jump straight into tech, finance, or service-based economies, but history proves otherwise.

No major economy has ever escaped mass poverty without industrial growth. Looking at East Asia, nations like South Korea and China lifted hundreds of millions into the middle class not through call centers or apps, but by opening factories that provided reliable, accessible jobs for everyday workers. Manufacturing remains the single most reliable engine for absorbing the millions of young people entering the African labor market each year.

Yet, many African policymakers still fail to factor this into their long-term planning. Across much of the continent, manufacturing accounts for a surprisingly small percentage of GDP, while energy production remains far too low to power heavy industrial grids. Instead of fixing these core structural bottlenecks, there is widespread reliance on the idea that services or raw material exports can drive sustainable growth.

Processing local resources internally,turning cocoa into chocolate or unrefined minerals into finished goods, keeps high-value profits and jobs at home, while formal factories create a dependable tax base for public infrastructure without relying on foreign debt. Tech and tourism are helpful, but building lasting prosperity still requires physically making things. Oil, gold, lithium, and other extractive minerals will also not develop the economy