Headline
Top 10 African Countries With Shortest Work Schedules
Published
6 months agoon
By
Editor
Across the world, work hours vary significantly, and African countries are no exception with some on the continent notable for their relatively shorter workweeks.
According to data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), several African nations maintain a lower average of working hours, fostering better work-life balance, improved well-being, and increased productivity.
While many countries still struggle with excessive work hours in specific industries, these nations have made notable progress in ensuring a more balanced approach to employment.
Here’s a look at the top 10 African countries with the shortest average work hours per week:
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1. Rwanda – 30.4 hours per week
Rwanda leads the continent with an impressively short average workweek of 30.4 hours. Only 12% of its workforce logs 49 or more hours weekly. Globally, Rwanda ranks 4th for its relatively relaxed work schedule, a result of strong labor policies and a focus on work-life balance.
2. Somalia – 31.4 hours per week
Somalia follows closely behind, with an average workweek of 31.4 hours. Ranked 5th globally, Somalia has only 10% of workers exceeding 49 hours per week, positioning it as an outlier in the region for its shorter work schedules.
3. Ethiopia – 31.9 hours per week
With an average of 31.9 hours per week, Ethiopia ranks 9th worldwide. Despite this relatively short workweek, about 15% of the workforce still puts in over 49 hours weekly.
4. Madagascar – 34.5 hours per week
Workers in Madagascar clock an average of 34.5 hours per week. With just 10% exceeding 49 hours, Madagascar ranks 20th globally, offering a favorable work-life balance for its workforce.
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5. Democratic Republic of Congo – 36.3 hours per week
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), employees work an average of 36.3 hours per week. Around 15% of workers exceed 49 hours weekly. The DRC ranks 34th globally, reflecting a relatively balanced work culture.
6. Mozambique – 36.4 hours per week
Mozambique follows closely, with a weekly average of 36.4 hours. Approximately 19% of employees work over 49 hours, placing the country in 35th position globally for shorter work schedules.
7. Comoros – 37.8 hours per week
In Comoros, the average workweek stands at 37.8 hours. About 13% of the workforce logs more than 49 hours. Ranking 51st worldwide, Comoros demonstrates a commitment to balancing professional and personal life.
READ ALSO: 5 Countries With The Poorest People In The World
8. Ghana – 38.5 hours per week
Ghana’s workweek averages 38.5 hours, with 24% of workers exceeding 49 hours. While slightly longer than some countries on this list, Ghana ranks 61st globally for shorter working hours.
9. Tanzania – 39.7 hours per week
Tanzania records an average of 39.7 hours per week. However, 28% of its workforce still endures extended hours, placing it 81st globally.
10. Niger – 39.7 hours per week
Tied with Tanzania, Niger also averages 39.7 working hours weekly. However, a slightly higher 29% of its employees work over 49 hours, positioning the country 83rd globally for work duration.
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Headline
Fake Labubu Dolls Worth Millions Seized In London Raid Amid Growing Safety Fears
Published
12 hours agoon
August 3, 2025By
Editor
Thousands of fake Labubu dolls believed to be worth millions of pounds have been seized at an industrial estate on the outskirts of London following a major crackdown led by Trading Standards and law enforcement agencies.
The operation, which followed weeks of investigation, traced the fake merchandise from a corner shop in Swansea, south Wales, to a warehouse complex in London.
Officers discovered rooms stacked floor-to-ceiling with fake goods, but it was the imitation Labubu dolls at the centre of a viral TikTok craze that drew the most concern.
The dolls, produced by popular toy company Pop Mart, have surged in global demand, with some genuine pieces retailing for up to £80. The popularity of the brand helped the company double its revenue to £1.33 billion last year, according to Forbes. However, authorities say the boom has also attracted criminal enterprises looking to profit from the trend through counterfeit production.
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“The head comes off. The feet pull off. The eyes aren’t glued in,” said Rhys Harries, a Trading Standards officer, while examining one of the seized dolls. “These are clear choking hazards.”
Using a plastic tool modelled after a child’s throat, Harries demonstrated how easily parts of the fake dolls could become life-threatening. “These parts would get stuck and potentially cause choking,” he warned.
The scale of the operation was alarming. Border Force officials say they have intercepted hundreds of thousands of fake Labubu dolls at UK ports in recent months, with many traced back to manufacturers in China, Hong Kong, and Turkey.
In one case, a mother from Caerphilly, Jade, recounted how fake Labubu dolls she bought for her six-year-old son Harri’s birthday began falling apart within hours. “The hook came off and ended up in his mouth,” she said. “Luckily he was old enough to spit it out and tell me.”
READ ALSO:Bank CEO Beaten To Death In London
Despite knowing the dolls were fakes, Jade said she bought them due to the high cost of the original ones and peer pressure from other children. She got the knock-offs for just over £10 each.
Authorities say the rush to cash in on the craze has led to the use of substandard and potentially dangerous materials, including toxic plastics. Kate Caffery, deputy director of intelligence and law enforcement at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office, said counterfeiting is the second most lucrative source of criminal income worldwide, after drug trafficking.
“There’s a complete disregard for safety,” Caffery said. “They’re made from anything from the inferior to the outright dangerous.”
TikTok collector and plush toy enthusiast Meg Goldberger, 27, said she struggled to find genuine dolls due to scalpers bulk-buying authentic stock and reselling them at inflated prices. “They sell out in seconds,” she said. “Some resellers are using bots to buy hundreds at once.”
Investigators found invoice books showing the dolls were destined for locations across the UK. Some of the seized dolls will be used as evidence, while the rest will be stored in a secure location before being recycled or destroyed.
Pop Mart has been contacted for comment on the counterfeit issue, which authorities say is now a national concern.
Headline
Young Catholics Converge On Rome For Pope Leo’s Vigil
Published
1 day agoon
August 2, 2025By
Editor
Thousands of young Catholics began assembling Saturday for an evening prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage and a key event in the Jubilee holy year that is expected to draw up to a million people.
The “Jubilee of Youth” — when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church’s power — has seen young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome, waving flags, singing or praying in groups.
It comes nearly three months after Leo, 69, the first American pontiff, began his papacy, and 25 years after the last such massive youth gathering in Rome under Poland’s Pope John Paul II.
On Saturday morning, thousands of young pilgrims had already gathered at the vast open space in Rome’s eastern Tor Vergata neighbourhood where the pope will lead the vigil, the ground already dotted with blankets and mattresses.
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Elsewhere in the Eternal City, numerous groups of young people were seen preparing to set off for the venue.
On the plaza outside the Basilica of St John Lateran, they filled water bottles, applied suncream and checked bags of food and snacks — ready to spend the next 24 hours surrounded by a swarm of people and then sleep under the stars.
Victoria Perez, who carried a Spanish flag, could not contain her excitement at seeing “the Pope up close.
“It’s the first time I’m going to see him, and I can’t wait,” the 21-year-old told AFP, excited to experience the “night of prayers under the stars”.
French pilgrim, Quentin Remaury, 26, said he had been inspired by the late Pope Francis’s rousing message to youth during a 2016 visit to Krakow, Poland.
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“Pope Francis told us to ‘get off your couches,’ and that really gave me a boost,” he said.
– ‘What is his message?’ –
Since the youth jubilee began on Monday, attendees have participated in various Church-planned events throughout the city.
On Friday, approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession at Circus Maximus, one of Rome’s top tourist spots.
Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held, and youths lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages.
Of the many languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital this week, Spanish seemed to dominate. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries were represented, and it expects up to a million people to attend the vigil.
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The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty and anxiety over climate change rise among the under-30s, with many saying they were curious to hear the Church’s position on global warming, wars and economic inequalities.
Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome.
“We are still trying to understand his leadership,” she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about “third world countries”.
As Parisian student Alice Berry exclaimed, “What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?”
– Raising voices –
The youth pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and more than three years of war in Ukraine.
READ ALSO:Pope Leo XIV Outlines A Path For A Modern Church That Follows Francis’ Steps
The Vatican has praised young Catholics who managed to travel to Rome from war-scarred countries, with Pope Leo saying the voices of the world’s youth “will be heard to the end of the earth”.
In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass on Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signalling the Vatican’s openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth.
More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organisers.
Roman authorities have tightened security in the city — which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundating the city.
AFP

Ukrainian drone strikes killed three people and wounded two others overnight in western Russia, regional governors said on Saturday.
One woman was killed and two other people were wounded in an attack on an enterprise in Penza, the region’s governor, Oleg Melnichenko, wrote on Telegram.
An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram.
In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack and a fire in one of the site’s buildings, acting Rostov governor Yuri Sliusar said.
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“The military repelled a massive air attack during the night,” destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory — 34 over the Rostov region — in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning.
In Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, overnight Russian drone attacks left three people wounded, governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram.
Several buildings, homes and cars were damaged, he said.
READ ALSO:Tension In Edo Over List Of Commissioner-nominees
Russian forces have claimed advances in Dnipropetrovsk, recently announcing the capture of two villages there, part of Moscow’s accelerated capture of territory in July, according to AFP’s analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Kyiv denies any Russian presence in the Dnipropetrovsk area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire in the more than three-year conflict, said Friday that he wanted peace but that his demands for ending Moscow’s military offensive were “unchanged”.
Those demands include that Ukraine abandon territory and end ambitions to join NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders.
“The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia’s readiness,” he wrote on X.
AFP
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