Without Fews Net, recognised as ‘a vital life-saving tool’ for preventing food crises, people will die, experts warn

The system for monitoring global food crises appears to have been suspended after President Donald Trump’s executive order froze US foreign aid.

The website for the US-funded famine early warning systems network (Fews Net) was not accessible on Friday. A banner said reports and data were “currently unavailable” without elaborating.

After a brush with death pushed Othuke Ominiabohs to self-publish his novels, he realised there was a gap in the market for fresh African writing

In a hospital bed fearing his death was imminent, English teacher Othuke Ominiabohs thought ruefully of his four unpublished novels. “My biggest regret was I was going to die, and no one would see my work,” says Ominiabohs. “When I got better, I decided to self-publish and put those books out there for the rest of the world to read.”

His kidney failure was later cured by a transplant, and his literary ambitions led him to found Masobe Books, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing independent publishers.