Africa

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Pirates Hijack Yacht, Kidnap UK Couple

Brits reportedly safe after yacht seized off Somalia

(Newser) - A British couple whose yacht went missing in the Indian Ocean four days ago is being held by Somali pirates. The couple was captured during a round-the-world trip while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania; five international warships were searching hundreds of miles off the African coast for the pair....

Madonna Starts Malawian Girls School

Star breaks ground on $15M project in children's homeland

(Newser) - Construction on a Malawian school for girls founded by Madonna began today. The singer has put up $15 million for the creation of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, which is expected to be finished in 2 years, the BBC reports. "Growing up in a privileged life, I took...

$5M African Leadership Prize Goes to ... Nobody

Committee passes over all three candidates, doesn't award $5M to any

(Newser) - Nobody has won this year's $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the committee responsible for picking a winner announced today. That’s an enormous snub to the people eligible for the award, who include former heads of state Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,...

Elephants on Verge of Extinction

Illegal hunting could kill off African population in 15 years

(Newser) - Within 15 years, African elephants could be extinct as a consequence of rampant ivory poaching, conservation experts say. Africa's elephant population numbers just 600,000, and that number appears to be dwindling by about 38,000 a year. That’s faster than the birth rate. One animal welfare group is...

Tsvangirai Boycotts Unity Government in Zimbabwe

But he's not pulling out of the coalition just yet

(Newser) - Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai’s party will boycott Cabinet meetings and cut off communication with president Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, theoretically its partner in government. The move accompanies growing anger among members of Tsvangirai’s MDC over Mugabe’s strong-arm tactics and the jailing of a Cabinet minister-designate, the New ...

In Coup-Torn Guinea, Women Raped in Public

Cell phone images harden opposition to military junta

(Newser) - In the west African nation of Guinea, where a military junta seized power in 2008, 50,000 people attended a political demonstration in a stadium last week, where they were attacked by soldiers who shot and killed at least 157 unarmed people, according to human rights groups, and raped at...

10% of Babies Are Premature, Taxing World's Health System

Of 13 million preemies, 1 million die before surviving 1 month

(Newser) - Nearly 10% of babies born each year worldwide arrive prematurely, and the stress of caring for them "is exacting a huge toll emotionally, physically and financially on families, medical systems and economies," the March of Dimes said today. Some 13 million babies are preemies, and more than 1...

Fossil Find Shakes Up Evolution Timeline

Ardipithecus ramidus lived in trees and walked upright

(Newser) - A primate fossil found in Africa in 1994 predates the famous “Lucy” skeleton by 1 million years and offers clues to human evolution, researchers say. “This is huge,” a paleoanthropologist tells the Washington Post. “This is the biggest discovery really since” Lucy. The researchers believe “...

Mountain Gorillas Take Fight to Survive Online

Ugandan animals' advocates embrace social networking

(Newser) - Not only can your online buddies be any age and in any location, they don't even have to be your species. Tech-savvy advocates of the endangered mountain gorilla are about to launch an umbrella site, friendagorilla.org, that will feature videos, social networking, and blogs—by park rangers, not gorillas....

Toxic Booze Kills 40 Ugandans

Victims of adulterated spirits include much-loved radio host

(Newser) - Toxic alcohol has killed at least 40 drinkers in the last month in the the African party capital of Kampala, where all-night bars sell cheap spirits. Among the victims who suffered sudden blindness followed by organ failure was one of the country's best-loved media personalities, lonely-hearts radio host DJ Ronnie,...

Scandinavia Battles Genital Mutilation

African, Middle Eastern immigrants arrested after mutilations abroad

(Newser) - Scandinavian countries are hitting perpetrators of genital mutilation with heavy fines and prison sentences, even when the act is committed in other countries, Global Post reports. African and Middle Eastern immigrants who take their daughters abroad for genital mutilations—which are considered normal and even necessary in some cultures—are...

Oil Giant Tries to Settle Biggest- Ever UK Lawsuit

Trafigura offers deal to Africans sickened by toxic sludge

(Newser) - A British multinational has offered a multimillion-dollar payout to settle a case involving toxic pollution in the Ivory Coast, the Independent reports. A contractor working for oil trading firm Trafigura dumped hundreds of tons of toxic sludge around Abidjan in 2006, sickening tens of thousands. Some were permanently disfigured, and...

221 Missing, 8 Dead in Sierra Leone Boat Accident

Vessel was carrying mostly schoolkids

(Newser) - Police say more than 200 people remain missing in Sierra Leone a day after a boat capsized, killing at least eight. Most of the passengers were schoolchildren returning from holidays in the West African nation. At least 221 people remain missing, with 39 passengers rescued. The boat was traveling from...

Ugandan Child Murders Linked to Witch Doctors

US-backed task force struggles to quell brutal surge

(Newser) - Ritual murders and kidnappings continue to haunt Uganda despite police efforts to battle the horrors, the Guardian reports. Often linked to organ trafficking and witch doctors, some 300 cases were reported last year, and only 18 taken to court. A US-backed task force started this year has failed to stem...

Mali's President Bails on Women's Rights Law

Protests force him to send it back for review

(Newser) - Mali's president says he won't sign a controversial new law that gives more rights to women, the BBC reports. President Amadou Toumani Toure says he supports the so-called family law, which Muslim leaders have denounced as the devil's work, but is sending it back to parliament for review. "I...

This Bitch of a Life Offers Frank View of Fela Kuti

Biography pulls no punches in describing this powerful musician

(Newser) - Carlos Moore’s Fela: This Bitch of a Life, a newly re-released 1982 authorized biography, contains the usual makings of sociomusical hagiography: Fela’s stunning music, his uncompromising anticolonial message, and the many beatings and imprisonments he suffered as a result. But most readers likely already know the legend—what...

King Sends Wives on Spree While Africans Starve

(Newser) - Swaziland King Mswati III sent several of his 13 wives on a multi-million-dollar shopping spree in the Mideast and Europe while two-thirds of his subjects continue to suffer in abject poverty, reports the Times of London. The move has triggered sharp criticism in Britain, which provides the impoverished nation with...

Ransom Demand Made for Lost Ship

(Newser) - The missing Maltese-flagged ship that was reported off the coast of Africa appears to have been hijacked for a second time, CNN reports. “There has been a demand for ransom,” a Finnish police official said of the Russian-crewed Arctic Sea. “We are now dealing with two separate...

Clinton Leaves Africa 'More Committed' Than Ever

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton ended her African tour today on a note of optimism colored by disdain, the New York Times reports. The secretary of state visited seven nations over 11 days and made her final remarks on the Cape Verde islands off the coast. “I leave Africa after this remarkable...

Missing Ship Spotted Off African Coast

(Newser) - The Russian-crewed Arctic Sea has been spotted off the coast of West Africa today, say French officials who claim to have seen a ship resembling it near the Cape Verde islands. The Arctic Sea, last seen on July 30, is carrying $1.8 million in lumber and was due to...

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