In an editorial published on Wednesday, the Hokkaido Shimbun described the incident as serious and warned against downplaying its implications. The article stressed that the Japanese government has yet to apologize to China, despite the gravity of the case.
According to the editorial, SDF personnel, who are expected to uphold the law, instead violated international norms protecting diplomatic missions. The newspaper criticized the government for treating the matter as an isolated act by an individual, urging authorities not to trivialize the situation.
The editorial also highlighted the need for preventive measures, including stronger education and discipline within the SDF, to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, host countries are obligated to protect diplomatic premises from intrusion, damage, disturbance of peace, or impairment of dignity. The newspaper noted that the Japanese government’s delayed response raises questions about its commitment to these obligations and could harm the country’s international credibility.
Additionally, the incident has prompted concerns over the adequacy of security arrangements for foreign diplomatic missions in Japan, the editorial added.
The changes come in response to a sharp rise in fuel prices, which recently reached historic levels in Rwanda. For the first time, both petrol and diesel exceeded Rwf 2,000 per litre, with petrol priced at Rwf 2,303 and diesel at Rwf 2,205.
Under the revised pricing structure, passengers in Kigali will now pay Rwf 59.28 per kilometre, while intercity travels will be charged Rwf 41.58 per kilometre.
Currently, the most expensive route in the country is from Nyabugogo to Kamembe via Huye, with a fare of Rwf 11,445. This route was not among those listed in the 2024 fare structure.
Passengers traveling from Nyabugogo to Pindura will now pay Rwf 10,930, up from the previous Rwf 8,070.
For those heading from Nyabugogo to Kamembe via Karongi, the fare has increased to Rwf10,296. Meanwhile, passengers traveling from Muhanga to Kamembe via Huye will pay Rwf 9,603, compared to the previous Rwf 7,090.
The fare from Nyabugogo to Mushubi has risen to Rwf 9,524 from Rwf 7,032. Similarly, passengers traveling from Rubavu to Kamembe will now pay Rwf 9,009, up from Rwf 6,652.
Other updated fares include Rwf 4,950 for the journey from Rubavu to Karongi, Rwf 4,851 from Nkomero to Kirambo, and Rwf 5,881 for passengers traveling from Gakeri to Nyamasheke.
This groundbreaking find began with a simple fossil examination. Paleontologist Rudy Lerosey-Aubril noticed something unusual: a claw-like appendage in place of where an antenna should be.
Initially puzzling, closer analysis revealed that this claw belonged to a chelicerate, a group of arthropods that includes spiders and scorpions.
The fossil, named Megachelicerax cousteaui, is now regarded as the earliest and most primitive chelicerate discovered, predating previous finds by a stunning 20 million years.
What makes this find so remarkable is that it reveals complex body features that were thought to have developed much later in evolutionary history.
The fossil shows a segmented body with a head shield, legs, and respiratory structures similar to modern horseshoe crabs, but with the distinct chelicera at the front of the body a hallmark of chelicerates.
This pincer-like appendage sets them apart from other arthropods that instead possess antennae.
The Megachelicerax fossil fills a significant gap in our understanding of the Cambrian Explosion, the rapid diversification of life that occurred over half a billion years ago. Prior to this discovery, evidence of chelicerates from this period was scarce.
This tiny claw has now pushed back the origins of this ancient group, showing that specialized body plans and appendages were evolving much earlier than previously thought.
Named in honor of the renowned marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the fossil reminds us of how even the smallest discoveries can have profound impacts on our understanding of evolution.
Today, chelicerates remain one of the most diverse and widespread groups of arthropods. Thanks to this new finding, we now have a clearer picture of their early origins, which were once hidden beneath the layers of time.
Ancient fossil claw unlocks new insights into the origins of spiders and chelicerates.
The last adjustment to fuel prices was made on March 4, 2026, when petrol was priced at Rwf 1,989 per litre and diesel at Rwf 1,948 per litre.
In a statement released on April 3, 2026, RURA indicated that the new prices will take effect from April 4 at 6:00 a.m.
“These adjustments reflect the prevailing international market trends as well as government measures to mitigate the impact of global price fluctuations,” reads the statement.
“The public is encouraged to plan travel efficiently, use public transport and avoid unnecessary trips and in order to reduce fuel consumption,” the statement adds.
RURA also noted that the changes in fuel prices have led to a revision of the base fare in public transport. In the City of Kigali, passengers will now pay Rwf 59.28 per kilometre, while intercity travels will cost a passenger Rwf 41.58 per kilometre.
As of April 3, 2026, the price of a barrel of crude oil on the international market had reached $112.4 up from about $70.
The ongoing conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, now entering its second month, has led to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage through which 20% of the world’s daily oil supply passes.
On April 3, 2026, Prime Minister Dr. Justin Nsengiyumva told members of the press that the situation is already impacting Rwanda’s economy.
“This issue is affecting international trade, particularly in energy and transport, and has already caused noticeable changes in global market prices, especially for petroleum products and gas,” he said.
He further explained that the conflict is disrupting Rwanda’s exports, with some trade routes, including those to the United Arab Emirates, already affected.
Imports are also impacted, as rising global prices are expected to translate into higher costs within Rwanda.
“These are some of the effects we are observing that could impact our national economy. It is projected that global economic growth could decline from 3.3% to 2.7%. This will also contribute to rising prices in Rwanda, meaning it will affect nearly every Rwandan. We must be prepared, but without panic,” he added.
RURA has announced new fuel prices, with the cost of petrol rising to Rwf 2,303 per litre, an increase of Rwf 314. Diesel has also gone up to Rwf 2,205 per litre, reflecting an increase of Rwf 257.
From her early studies in interior architecture to leading an internationally recognized coffee brand, Kubwimana combines creativity, heritage, and entrepreneurship in a journey that celebrates both her roots and Rwanda’s growing prominence in the global coffee market.
IGIHE spoke with her during the recent International Food and Drink Event (IFE) trade show in London about her career, the evolution of Kinunu, and the story behind the coffee that has captured international attention.
IGIHE:Your academic and professional background is in architecture, yet today you lead a coffee business. How did this transition come about?
Michaelle Kubwimana: I wasn’t initially destined for the coffee sector. I completed my bachelor’s degree in interior architecture in 2001 in South Africa, and later earned my master’s degree in 2006 in Italy. I practiced in this field for several years, running my own architecture business in Rwanda before gradually becoming involved in the family coffee enterprise.
Can you share how you became involved in the family coffee business?
Kubwimana: By the time I finished my studies, my father had already started the coffee farm in his native village, working with one of my brothers. That village has always been central to our family life, and I spent much of my childhood there. Over time, I developed a genuine interest in the farm, particularly as I saw the positive impact it had on the local community.
Kinunu today seems to be much more than a coffee farm. How has it evolved?
Kubwimana: Absolutely. What started as a small farm aimed at supporting the village and surrounding region has grown into a full ecosystem. We now operate a coffee washing station, host tours for both local and international visitors, and offer a guesthouse and restaurant managed by my sister. Kinunu is recognized by the Rwanda Development Board as a key stop along the Congo Nile Trail, blending heritage, tourism, and community development.
You have also played a role in expanding Rwandan coffee internationally. What has the journey been like?
Kubwimana: In 2014, I began promoting our coffee abroad, especially in Dubai, through Boneza Coffee. In 2020, after moving to Singapore, I launched Kawah Coffee, targeting the international market. The goal was not just to showcase our coffee but also to highlight the stories of our farmers—90% of whom are women. By September 2022, the brand was registered in the UK after we relocated there.
What inspired you to formally take on the leadership of Kinunu Agroprocessing?
Kubwimana: It was a gradual decision fueled by both passion and responsibility. Kinunu is more than a business—it’s a family legacy. Leading it allows me to honor the heritage of my father and grandfather while supporting the community that has grown with the farm.
How do you see Rwandan coffee positioned in the global market today?
Kubwimana: Rwanda has made a clear strategic choice to focus on quality. Despite its small size, the country produces coffee under excellent conditions, which is why Rwandan coffee is now recognized among the best in the world. Initiatives such as the Visit Rwanda brand have also helped increase the country’s visibility internationally, making it much easier today to introduce Rwandan coffee to new markets compared to a few years ago.
Any final thoughts you’d like to share?
Kubwimana: Taking over Kinunu is about continuing a family and human story. It’s about preserving heritage, staying true to our values, and looking forward, ensuring that the legacy of our coffee farmers continues to thrive both locally and globally.
Michaelle Kubwimana, the Managing Director of Kinunu Agroprocessing, is redefining the legacy of her family’s coffee farm. Kubwimana during an interview with IGIHE at IFE-2026
Photos showing Kubwimana and her father with farmers working on their farm in Kinunu
He made his criticisms during an interview with Jeune Afrique where he addressed concerns about his personal reputation, recent U.S. sanctions and rumors that once circulated about his health.
“Those who apply sanctions, they’ll do what they want, any day. You don’t have to have done anything wrong, but because they support somebody who has done something wrong, or is doing something wrong, they will apply it if it is based on interest,” he stated.
On March 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against the RDF as an institution and four senior military officials; Chief of Defence Staff Gen Mubarakh Muganga; Army Chief of Staff Maj Gen Vincent Nyakarundi; Commander of the RDF Special Operations Force, Brig Gen Stanislas Gashugi; and Commander of the RDF’s Fifth Division, Maj Gen Ruki Karusisi.
In early December 2025, Rwanda and the DRC signed the Washington Accords in Washington, D.C., aimed at restoring peace in eastern DRC.
Despite the agreements, however, a DRC-allied coalition—including the genocidal FDLR militia, mercenaries, Burundian soldiers, and Wazalendo militia, continued launching attacks on AFC/M23 positions and densely populated areas using ground and drone offensives.
The DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the AFC/M23 rebel coalition, which resumed fighting in 2021 to defend the rights of marginalized Tutsi communities targeted by the DRC government after previous talks failed.
The United States statement imposed sanctions, accusing Rwanda of backing the M23, allegations Kigali has consistently denied, while urging the Democratic Republic of the Congo to end its collaboration with the FDLR, which has launched attacks on Rwandan territory on multiple occasions.
During the fighting in DRC, Rwanda was targeted multiple times, prompting the country to establish defensive measures along its border.
In its statement released on March 2, 2026, the Rwandan government insisted that the sanctions unfairly target only one party to the peace process while ignoring violations by the DRC side.
Commenting on these sanctions, Kagame also emphasized that Rwanda’s global reputation is important, but it cannot be compromised by sanctions that ignore the root causes of conflicts.
On the topic of public perception, Kagame also reflected on his brief disappearance from public view last year, which had sparked health rumors. He explained that the time away was personal, spent with his grandchildren, and not related to any illness.
The President reassured the public of his robust health, comparing himself favorably to others worldwide.
“But let me tell you, if you take 100 people randomly from anywhere to investigate how healthy they are—here, France, London, the UK, America—and include me among them, I would come among the top 10.”
President Kagame has criticized biased sanctions against Rwanda
In an exclusive interview with Jeune Afrique, Kagame criticized the hypocrisy by international actors calling for lifting of defensive measures without taking Rwanda’s security concerns into consideration.
“We refuse to remove defensive measures, whether it means troops or whatever else. We call it defensive measures. And in your logic, why would a threat be against me and you are asking me to remove my defensive measures but you’re not dealing with a threat? What is the logic?” he said.
Kagame stressed that the defensive measures are intended solely to secure Rwanda’s borders and prevent any hostile force from crossing into the country.
He emphasized that the FDLR terrorist group remains a persistent threat, making the continuation of measures put in place essential.
Since January 2025, when AFC/M23 forces captured Goma, Kagame highlighted that the security situation in Eastern Congo has improved. He highlighted that the presence of M23 on the border guarantees better border security with the DRC.
“The situation today is better than it was before. Anybody can make their own assessment. It is better there in Goma and better in Bukavu than it was before. There is no question about it. The whole border now is secure.”
Despite criticism from some international actors, Kagame maintained that Rwanda’s defensive posture is necessary to ensure no threat crosses into Rwanda.
“The easiest thing to do here is to blame Rwanda and keep all the penalties and whatever on Rwanda because it is easy. They are doing what is easy for them to do. […] But can it give a solution when you are keeping quiet about the root cause?” he wondered.
He also hinted at the possibility of compromise but warned that previous agreements with the DRC had not been fully respected.
“A compromise solution has been indicated in many of these agreements we have had, including the one in Washington, D.C., but previous agreements have never been respected by DRC.”
President Kagame has defended Rwanda’s defensive measures during an interview with Jeune Afrique.
In research led by a team at Oregon Health & Science University, scientists observed that cells create dynamic internal currents similar to trade winds in the atmosphere. These internal currents, described by researchers as cellular winds, help push proteins toward the front edge of the cell where they are needed for movement and repair.
Previously, it was believed that cells mainly relied on simple diffusion and structural filaments to move proteins around, but this new discovery shows that cells have a more active and powerful transport system than previously understood.
The discovery was made possible through advanced imaging techniques that allowed scientists to see how proteins and other components travel inside living cells.
They found that these internal air‑like currents extend far beyond what was expected and operate in a coordinated way, guiding materials quickly and efficiently within the crowded environment of the cell. This process represents a fundamentally new form of intracellular organization that researchers had not observed before.
According to the study published in Nature Communications, these cellular winds could help explain why certain cancer cells are able to move and spread so rapidly. Cancer cells often migrate faster and more aggressively than normal cells, and the discovery of this internal transport mechanism offers a possible explanation for that increased mobility.
By efficiently directing proteins to specific parts of the cell, the cellular winds may give cancer cells a kind of internal advantage that supports their invasive behavior.
Beyond cancer research, the implications of this discovery are broad. Cell movement is essential for normal biological processes such as wound healing and immune responses, where cells must travel to the site of injury or infection and repair damaged tissues.
A better understanding of how materials are transported inside cells can lead to new insights into these critical natural functions and may reveal new targets for medical treatments.
Scientists believe that uncovering this hidden mechanism opens the door to a deeper understanding of fundamental cell biology.
As researchers continue to explore how cellular winds function and interact with known structural components, this discovery may reshape the way we think about life at its smallest scale and offer innovative ways to intervene in diseases where cell movement plays a pivotal role.
Discovery of ‘cellular winds’ reveals new mechanism for protein transport and cancer cell movement.
However, no magnetic field is perfect, and eventually some particles escape confinement and move outward toward the divertor, the part of the machine that safely handles these escaping particles.
Experimental data from tokamaks around the world showed that far more particles consistently hit one side of the divertor than the other, but the reason for this asymmetry remained unclear for decades.
New research has now revealed that the rotation of the plasma itself plays a crucial role in creating this uneven particle flow. As plasma spins inside the tokamak, it interacts with sideways drift motions of particles in a way that causes more of them to travel toward one divertor target plate.
This plasma spin, combined with underlying particle drift effects that physicists already knew about, naturally produces the imbalance observed in experiments. Put simply, the plasma’s internal rotation acts like a hidden force that biases the paths of particles as they escape the magnetic cage.
Understanding this mechanism is important for the future of fusion power because it allows engineers and scientists to better predict where heat and particles will strike tokamak components.
If unanticipated particle loads accumulate on one side of the divertor, they can damage materials and reduce the lifetime of key components.
With the new insight that rotation‑driven drift causes asymmetrical exhaust flows, researchers can refine designs and operating strategies to make future devices more robust and efficient.
This breakthrough contributes to the broader global effort to make fusion energy a reality.
Fusion has long been considered the “holy grail” of clean energy because it mimics the processes powering the Sun while producing minimal long‑lived radioactive waste.
By solving mysteries like the plasma exhaust imbalance, scientists are steadily closing the gaps between theoretical understanding and practical, sustained fusion operation.
Physicists crack the fusion puzzle that had experts stumped for years.
The impasse stems from disagreements over how to support U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran, particularly in efforts to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which nearly a third of the world’s oil passes.
Trump has publicly expressed anger that European NATO countries have been reluctant to send naval forces or military assets to help reopen the strait and protect shipping lanes disrupted by Iran’s blockade.
This resistance has been met with sharp rebukes from the U.S. president, who has questioned the usefulness and reliability of NATO allies.
Trump’s comments have included blunt language calling into question Europe’s willingness to shoulder shared security responsibilities, and at times suggesting he may consider withdrawing the United States from NATO if the alliance does not change course.
Although U.S. law technically prevents a president from unilaterally exiting NATO without Senate approval, Trump’s repeated threats have still alarmed European capitals and sparked broader debate about the cohesion of the alliance.
European leaders have sought to counterbalance the criticism. Many have reaffirmed their commitment to NATO’s core mission of collective defense while also making clear that their support for Middle East military actions is separate from the alliance’s traditional role.
France’s President, for example, has emphasized that reopening the Strait of Hormuz by force would be unrealistic and risky, underlining the need for diplomacy and coordination.
Amid the tension, NATO Secretary‑General Mark Rutte has scheduled a visit to Washington to engage directly with U.S. officials in an effort to mend the relationship.
The move underscores the broader anxiety within the alliance about sustaining unity in the face of mounting geopolitical pressure.
Many analysts say the crisis represents one of NATO’s most vulnerable moments since its founding nearly 80 years ago, with trust between the United States and its European partners at a notable low.
The situation also reflects deeper changes in global geopolitics, especially as the United States and its allies grapple with the fallout from the broader Middle East conflict and challenges to international security structures.
While Trump’s opponents within NATO argue that the alliance must remain strong and united, supporters of Trump’s position say Europe must do more to defend shared interests and contribute to global security.
Trump’s anger over Iran escalates NATO into a fresh crisis.
