Africa

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For Just the 2nd Time, a Virus Is Eradicated in Africa

The continent is now free of wild poliovirus

(Newser) - "This is an incredible and emotional day," WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said Tuesday as health authorities declared the African continent free of the wild poliovirus after decades of effort. The declaration leaves Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan as the only countries thought to still have the wild poliovirus,...

Leaking Oil Ship Splits Apart
Leaking Oil Ship Splits Apart
Aug 16, 2020 11:50 AM CDT

Leaking Oil Ship Splits Apart

And remaining fuel is spilling off the coast of Mauritius

(Newser) - The grounded Japanese ship that leaked tons of oil near protected areas off the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius has split apart, officials said Saturday, with remaining fuel spreading into the turquoise waters, the AP reports. Photos posted on social media by the official cleanup effort with support of...

Cows With &#39;Butt Eyes&#39; Ward Off Deadly Attacks
Experts Paint Eyes on
Cow Butts—and It Works
in case you missed it
Aug 15, 2020 2:40 PM CDT

Experts Paint Eyes on Cow Butts—and It Works

Researchers find a low-cost way to save cattle in Botswana

(Newser) - Want to save cattle from predatory attacks? First, paint eyeballs on their butts. Then see what happens. That's pretty much the gist of a new study out of Botswana—and it worked, Happy Mag reports. Researchers at the University of South Wales painted the eyes on cow butts to...

Here&#39;s What the &#39;Ring of Fire&#39; Looked Like
The 'Ring of Fire'
Eclipse Looked
Like This
photos
Jun 21, 2020 3:00 PM CDT

The 'Ring of Fire' Eclipse Looked Like This

People in the eastern hemisphere saw the sun 85% covered by the moon

(Newser) - Stargazers in Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East looked to the skies this weekend to witness a partial solar eclipse, the AP reports. It was known as a "ring of fire" because the moon covered most, but not all, of the sun. It started at at 11:...

Huge Dust Cloud Heads for America
Huge Dust Cloud
Heads for America
Jun 20, 2020 9:30 AM CDT

Huge Dust Cloud Heads for America

The Saharan dust is expected to hit the Gulf Coast this week

(Newser) - Gulf Coast residents, get ready for brilliant sunsets—and a few possible health hazards. A massive dust cloud is heading west across the Atlantic and could affect the lives of people from Florida to Texas, AccuWeather reports. "According to scientists ... this is an abnormally large dust cloud," says...

Fauci Has a Word About the 'Second Wave'

And researchers offer a stern word about mask-wearing

(Newser) - Anthony Fauci issued a word of calm Friday as coronavirus case numbers spiked across several US states. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on CNN the latest uptick may not be the "second spike" many fear, but "when you start to see...

$2M Candy Order Turns Bitter for Top Official

Madagascar's education minister is even out of a job

(Newser) - Which idea will get your country's education minister fired? A) Giving school children an untested coronavirus remedy. B) Planning to order more than $2 million in candies to cover the remedy's "bitter" taste. If you guessed B, you know why Madagascar's education minister, Rijasoa Andriamanana, is...

Scientists Spot the 'Most Dangerous Place in History'

100M years ago, Morocco was not for the faint of heart

(Newser) - Morocco looked a lot different 100 million years ago—and it wasn't too inviting. This according to scientists who studied fossils from southeastern Morocco and say the area was heavily populated with animals, including three of the biggest predatory dinosaurs ever discovered. "This was arguably the most dangerous...

Africa Sees Worrying 43% Jump in Virus Cases

Overall numbers still relatively low, but that's changing quickly

(Newser) - Africa registered a 43% jump in reported COVID-19 cases in the last week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent could become the next epicenter of the global outbreak, per the AP . Africa also has a "very, very limited" and "very, very strained" testing...

For Africa, Apocalyptic News Just Got Worse

Locust swarms are back, and much bigger

(Newser) - Weeks before the coronavirus spread through much of the world, parts of Africa were already threatened by another kind of plague, the biggest locust outbreak some countries had seen in 70 years. Now the second wave of the voracious insects, some 20 times the size of the first, is arriving,...

Scientists Found Teeth in Peru That Shouldn't Be There

Extinct monkeys in South America apparently arrived there by raft from Africa

(Newser) - Archaeologists in the Amazon found four small teeth that had no business being in South America. The teeth are from an extinct species of monkeys from the family of primates known as parapithecids—which once roamed in North Africa. In a new paper in Science , researchers lay out what they...

Doctor Called for Vaccine Trial in Africa. Now He's Sorry

People weren't pleased with idea

(Newser) - A French doctor says he's sorry for suggesting Africa should be home to a trial for a coronavirus vaccine in televised comments viewed as racist. Jean-Paul Mira, the head of intensive care at Paris' Cochin Hospital, was discussing a vaccine trial in Europe and Australia during a debate on...

South Africa Will Be Locked Down for 21 Days

Country now has most coronavirus cases in Africa

(Newser) - South Africa, Africa's most industrialized economy and a nation of 57 million people, will go into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days starting Thursday to try to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the president said Monday. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures in response to...

Festival Urges an End to Fighting in Africa

Young people gather in Uganda to call for 'silencing the guns'

(Newser) - Young people played tug of war and others shook their bodies to crowd-pleasing music as a scorching African sun set near the Ugandan capital of Kampala. A tipsy poet drew loud cheers by repeatedly reciting: "One day. Someday. Could be this day." The good-natured weekend gathering attracted scores...

Scientists Find Clues of &#39;Ghost&#39; Human Ancestor
Evidence of a 'Ghost' Human
Ancestor Revealed in DNA
in case you missed it
Feb 16, 2020 4:06 PM CST

Evidence of a 'Ghost' Human Ancestor Revealed in DNA

Researchers say unknown archaic population mated with homo sapiens

(Newser) - Scientists already know that early humans mated with Neanderthals and Denisovans, distant relatives on the family tree. Now a new study suggests that another such group existed, one that has yet to be identified, reports the Guardian . In their study in the journal Science Advances , researchers say they found evidence...

Leila Janah Dies; Companies Hired Thousands of the Poor

Entrepreneur tapped world's 'biggest untapped resource'

(Newser) - "Let’s build an export industry but only for poor women," Leila Janah said on a trip to West Africa, after seeing people growing nuts that can be used in skin-care products. "We can solve poverty while also making our skin better." That led to projects...

Trump Issues New Travel Ban
Trump Issues
New Travel Ban
Feb 1, 2020 10:00 AM CST

Trump Issues New Travel Ban

But critics decry the move as racist or nakedly political

(Newser) - President Trump has expanded his 2017 travel ban to include six more countries with sizeable Muslim populations, USA Today reports. Announced Friday, the new plan will block overseas visas for nationals of Nigeria, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Eritrea, and keep people from Tanzania and Sudan from entering America via the diversity...

Press Ruling Goes Against Harry
Press Ruling
Goes Against
Harry
Jan 30, 2020 5:30 PM CST

Press Ruling Goes Against Harry

Newspaper had called prince's Instagram post of his work with wild animals misleading

(Newser) - An organization that monitors press standards has sided with a British newspaper after Prince Harry filed a complaint over criticism of a posting on his Instagram account. The Mail on Sunday did not violate the standards of the Independent Press Standards Organization, the watchdog decided. Harry had posted the photos,...

UN Pleads for Help Amid 'Devastating' Locust Invasion

Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya all overtaken; UN says locust numbers could grow 500 times by June

(Newser) - Last month, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization reported on the plague of locusts that had overtaken Somalia and Ethiopia, and now a new East African nation is being beleaguered by the bugs. The FAO says Kenya is also dealing with an "unprecedented" and "devastating" number of...

Locust Plague Swoops Down Upon 2 Nations

Somalia, Ethiopia seeing worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years: UN food agency

(Newser) - Crops on nearly 173,000 acres of land have been destroyed in Somalia and parts of eastern Ethiopia in what the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is deeming the region's worst desert locust invasion in a quarter century. The FAO notes the insect plague is imperiling farmers' livelihoods...

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