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Africa

Started by D Lim; Last updated by D Lim

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Africa

"When elephants fight, it is the grass who suffers." -African proverb

Stories

Stories 1 - 20 of 512

1 2 3 4 5 ... 26 Next >>

June 2009
- One in 4 South African Men Admit to Rape
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jun 18, 09 8:35 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - One in four men in South Africa admitted to rape in an anonymous study, and many say they’ve attacked multiple times, the Guardian reports. Three-quarters of rapists first did so as teenagers and half are repeat offenders; 5% of the men surveyed said they’d raped a woman or girl in the past year, the study by South Africa’s Medical Research Council found. More »
- Sarko Jeered at African Leader's Funeral
  
  BBC | Jun 17, 09 5:39 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Crowds in the African nation of Gabon booed Nicolas Sarkozy at the funeral of the country's long-serving strongman president, Omar Bongo. Dozens of onlookers shouted "We don't want you, leave!" at the French leader and his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. France ruled Gabon in the colonial era and kept close ties to the oil-rich nation after independence. More »
- Fashion Week Hits Africa
  
  Reuters | Jun 15, 09 3:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The recession is taking a toll on demand for haute couture, but African designers are betting the youthfulness of their industry will trump the economy at the first pan-African fashion week. “We’re growing,” says a designer from Sierra Leone who trained in New York and Paris. "The excitement of youth is what African fashion really has to offer the industry right now." The event brings 50 designers from 20 countries together in Johannesburg, Reuters reports. More »
- US Aims to Help Zimbabwe, Not Mugabe
  
  New York Times | Jun 12, 09 12:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - With Zimbabwe’s prime minister visiting President Obama today, the key question is how the West can help Morgan Tsvangirai without boosting Robert Mugabe. Under the government's power-sharing agreement, the president retains control of the police, justice system, spy service, and media, writes Celia Dugger in the New York Times . “The choice is: Do you re-engage Robert Mugabe, or do you continue to alienate him?” Tsvangirai has said. More »
- Youngest Gitmo Detainee, Captured at 14, Goes Free
  
  Reuters | Jun 11, 09 4:26 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay has been freed to his native Chad, Reuters reports. Mohammed El Gharani was seized in Pakistan in 2001 at 14, and accused variously of being an al-Qaeda operative, messenger, and combatant. Five months ago a judge found the evidence against him insufficient. “That it took 7 years and a federal judge to sort this out demonstrates just how failed an experiment Guantanamo Bay is,” Gharani’s lawyer said. More »
- Africa Well Rid of Thieves Like Gabon's Bongo
  
  Time | Jun 11, 09 11:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Gabon is officially in mourning for Omar Bongo, who was, until his death Monday, the world’s longest-serving president in the world. But unofficially, “it’s worth remembering that Bongo was precisely the kind of leader Gabon, and Africa, could have done without,” Alex Perry writes for Time . The tiny, oil-rich country should have been an African Kuwait. Instead, Bongo funded “his own fantastically opulent lifestyle.” More »
- Zuma's First Big Test: South Africa's 23% Jobless
  
  New York Times | Jun 11, 09 8:01 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - South Africa is facing its first post-apartheid recession, and unemployment has hit 23.5%—a punishing figure that has ended the honeymoon of its new president, Jacob Zuma. Many who voted for Zuma have never had a job at all and are desperate for work, Celia Dugger reports for the New York Times . But the president is caught between competing demands from economists and union leaders, and South Africa's masses may be disappointed. More »
- Bono Charity Rips Italy, France for Stiffing Africa
  
  BBC | Jun 11, 09 4:52 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An anti-poverty group founded by Bono has issued a report harshly condemning France and Italy for reneging on promises to boost aid to Africa, the BBC reports. The report from the organization One called France's performance "disappointing" and Italy's an "utter failure," which has dragged down the overall G8 performance in delivering on promises made at its 2005 summit. More »
- Tanzania Opens Trials in Killings of Albinos
  
  BBC | Jun 9, 09 8:28 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Tanzania is trying seven people for murdering albinos and selling their body parts for use in witchcraft, the BBC reports. Dozens have been arrested in some 40 murders over the past year and a half, but so far no one has been convicted. Witch doctors sell “albino potions” for thousands of dollars, saying they bring good luck; some of their customers are believed to be top businessmen. More »
- Shell Settles Nigeria Case for $15.5M
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Jun 9, 09 5:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Royal Dutch Shell agreed to settle a lawsuit over the 1995 deaths of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Nigerians for $15.5 million, reports the Financial Times . Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists against petroleum exploitation were executed by the Nigerian military government, allegedly at the behest of the oil giant. In a statement Shell continued to deny it had any role in their deaths, but said it would focus on "the process of reconciliation." More »
- Angelina: UN Must Take a Stand on Darfur
  
  Time | Jun 5, 09 11:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Angelina Jolie argues in a Time essay that it's put-up-or-shut-up time for the UN on Darfur. The Security Council will receive a report today on the nation's genocide under the watch of Omar al Bashir, and its response will determine whether the idea of an "international standard of justice" is real or just talk. "The evidence the prosecutor has presented is clear and compelling," she writes. "Millions of people have been displaced; hundreds of thousands have been killed." More »
- Chadian 'Vampire' Dish Gets Blood Boiling ... or Frying
  
  BBC | Jun 1, 09 4:10 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - There’s a vampire resurgence in Chad, and no, it’s not because Twilight has swept the African country. Cost-conscious residents have resurrected a dish slyly known as “vampire”: cooked animal blood, the BBC reports. With global food prices soaring and meat increasingly expensive, traditional vampire is “actually an excellent source of nutrients, especially for children,” a local aidworker says. More »
- Scientists Urge WHO to Slam Homeopathy as HIV Remedy
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jun 1, 09 8:51 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Concerned about deaths tied to choice of treatment, British scientists are calling on the World Health Organization to speak out against homeopathy as a way to battle HIV, TB, malaria, influenza, and infant diarrhea. Clinics throughout Asia and sub-Saharan Africa offer to treat such diseases through homeopathy, though there is no evidence that it is effective, reports the Guardian . Currently, the WHO’s position on homeopathy is “wishy-washy,” said a biophysicist. More »
- UN Fights to Release Child Soldiers in Chad
  
  BBC | Jun 1, 09 6:11 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The UN has obtained access to 80 child soldiers, some as young as 13, who have been taken prisoner in Chad near the Sudanese region of Darfur. UNICEF says that the children were captured and paraded before television cameras after a battle in early May between the Chadian army and a rebel group. According to the BBC, both sides in the ongoing Chad conflict are using child soldiers. More »
May 2009
- Congo Battles Gorilla Pet Trade
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | May 28, 09 8:19 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Conservationists trying to save the Republic of Congo's gorillas are fighting to protect the primates from poachers and the pet trade, the Daily Telegraph reports. One foundation, which warns that the gorilla population will be half what it is now by 2020 at the current rate of extermination, has founded the world's only sanctuary for rescued gorillas in the jungles north of Brazzaville. More »
- Recession Pushes African Immigrants to Head Home
  
  Washington Post | May 26, 09 6:48 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The US recession is driving many middle-class African immigrants home, where life is slower and growth has lately pointed to a bright economic future, the Washington Post reports. Diaspora societies of immigrants say many members are planning to return to Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana.“The people I know here work two or three jobs just to make ends meet, while in Kenya—despite its problems—people seem more happy,” says the head of one such association. More »
- African Lawmaker Calls for 'Branding' HIV Sufferers
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | May 26, 09 4:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A member of Swaziland's parliament has come under fire for suggesting making HIV tests compulsory and branding warning logos on the buttocks of those with the disease, the Telegraph reports. "Before having sex with anyone, people will have to check their partners' buttocks before proceeding," he explained. Health campaigners in the country—where the HIV infection rate, at 43%, is the highest in the world—accused the lawmaker of disregarding human rights. More »
- Zimbabwe Unity Government Divided Over 2 Key Posts
  
  Reuters | May 21, 09 9:54 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The appointment of two key officials has become a sticking point in the tenuous power-sharing agreement between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Reuters reports. The rivals can’t agree on an attorney general or central bank chief, and Tsvangirai has called upon the Southern African Development Community to mediate the dispute. More »
- Abuse of Child 'Witches' Burgeoning
  
  CNN | May 18, 09 10:17 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Children dubbed “witches” are facing increasing abuse in Nigeria and elsewhere, advocates say. “They would take my clothes off, tie me up and beat me,” said a 14-year-old, whose grandfather concluded he was a “witch” 2 years ago when he cried at the threat of being beaten with a broom. “Nigerian witches are terrified of brooms,” the grandfather tells CNN. More »
- Obama to Visit Ghana in July
  
  Ghana Business News | May 16, 09 8:17 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama will visit Ghana in July to hold bilateral talks with President John Atta Mills, Ghana Business News reports. The talks will focus on “strengthening the fraternal relationships” between the US and Ghana, according to a Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will be Obama’s first trip to Africa, where he is widely popular thanks in part to his Kenyan ancestry. More »

Stories 1 - 20 of 512

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WORLD NEWS MED-AFRICA-1 DA

WORLD NEWS MED-AFRICA-1 DA (KRT Photos)

A band of Ethiopian musicians play during the launching ceremony...

A band of Ethiopian musicians play during the launching ceremony... (Getty Images)

A photo taken 19 May 2007 shows fishermen returning from a fishing...

A photo taken 19 May 2007 shows fishermen returning from a fishing... (Getty Images)

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Related Threads

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's Misery • Kenya • Genocide in Darfur • Kenya Unrest • Mbeki's Turn as Prez • Crime • The War on HIV • Public Health • Ahoy, Matey...Argggh • Zuma

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