Yohannes Bimrew Simegn, an Agricultural Science student from Addis Ababa, currently attending EARTH University in Limón, Costa Rica, has been named to the top 50 shortlist for the Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2025, an annual $100,000 award to be given to one exceptional student who has made a significant impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond.

Yohannes was selected from nearly 11,000 nominations and applications from 148 countries.

Chegg.org partnered with the Varkey Foundation to launch a sister award to the Global Teacher Prize in 2021. Now in its fifth year, the Global Student Prize serves as a powerful platform to recognise outstanding students who are reshaping our world for the better. 

Backed by tanks and artillery, soldiers from Uganda sneaked across the border with South Sudan and opened fire on troops long considered to be allies, South Sudanese officials said on Wednesday. When the firefight was over, the bodies of eight men, some in army fatigues, one in bluejeans, were left crumpled and bleeding on the ground. It was not immediately clear what prompted the surprise attack in the border county of Kajo Keji in South Sudan, a country teetering on the edge of civil war. Uganda has long provided military support to the South Sudanese government. … More than 100 people were displaced by the fighting, Bishop Nicanor said. The firefight, which erupted on Monday, represented a rare clash between the longtime security partners at a time when the hard-won stability of oil-rich South Sudan is increasingly at risk. In March, after years of slow progress toward cohesion, the South Sudanese vice president was placed under house arrest in a political standoff. The same month a Ugandan official said the country had deployed troops to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in support of the South Sudanese president. New York Times

At least 22 people were killed and 197 others were injured in violence that erupted during protests against a fuel price hike this week, Angola’s government has said. The unrest broke out on Monday when minibus taxi associations launched a three-day strike against a government decision to increase the price of diesel by one-third, part of efforts to curb costly subsidies and shore up public finances. Looting, vandalism and clashes with police started in the capital, Luanda, and then spread to six other provinces. Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police. President Joao Lourenco’s cabinet met on Wednesday and received an update on the security situation and police response. … Authorities have often been accused of clamping down harshly on protests to silence dissent in Angola, an oil-rich nation on Africa’s Atlantic coast where the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party has been in power for 50 years – since independence from Portugal in 1975. Al Jazeera

In a move that presents hope for the beleaguered peacekeeping mission in Somalia, the African Union has appointed new leadership for the African Union Stabilisation and Support Mission in Somalia (Aussom), naming Senegalese diplomat El Hadji Ibrahima Diene “Boly” as head and Djibouti’s Mouktar Osman Karie as his deputy…The officials replace Mohamed Al Amine Souef, appointed AU Chairperson’s Chief of Staff in March, and Siyuvile Thandikhaya Bam, whose tenure ended unceremoniously in April this year, when the AU recalled him, just over a year into his tour of duty…In a statement, Aussom said Ambassador Diene brings a wealth of experience to the role, having held various tactical, operational, and strategic positions within and outside Senegal, spanning conflict and crisis settings in West, Central, and East Africa…Ambassador Karie, on the other hand, has diplomatic and political experience in peace and security across Africa, having most recently served as Regional Desk Coordinator for West Africa at the AU Commission, where he provided high-level strategic engagement with member states and regional organisations. (The East African)