Africa

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African Quakes Kill at Least 40
African Quakes Kill at Least 40
Feb 3, 2008 6:35 PM CST

African Quakes Kill at Least 40

Hundreds injured; residents avoid returning home after houses topple

(Newser) - A pair of earthquakes killed at least 40 people and injured nearly 400 in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo today, AFP and the AP report. The first quake measured 6.0 on the Richter scale and the second, less than 4 hours later, 5.0. Public buses carted...

'Sickening Brutality' Spreads in Kenya

Annan meets with opposition leader

(Newser) - Ethnic violence and revenge killing continued unchecked in western Kenya today, with at least 17 more people beaten, hacked, or burned to death by mobs engaged in what the BBC correspondent calls  "sickening brutality" since last month’s contested presidential election. The death toll is nearing 750, the BBC...

Bush's Unsung AIDS Policy
Bush's Unsung AIDS Policy
Jan 5, 2008 6:19 PM CST

Bush's Unsung AIDS Policy

Under-the-radar program saves millions in Africa

(Newser) - A little known, $19-billion program has provided medicine to 1.4 million AIDS-stricken Africans and may be President Bush's most enduring success story, the New York Times reports.  “I’m amazed at how little (Americans) know about Pepfar,” said one Ugandan doctor of the program. Africans are...

Scramble for Peace After Kenya Carnage

African Union boss in talks today in bid to control spiraling violence

(Newser) - Political leaders scrambled yesterday to contain violence in Kenya as rioting and retaliation over an election dispute appeared to leave the nation teetering on the edge of bloody chaos, the BBC reports. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes. At least 300 people have been killed, including 30...

Fight Disease, Not Just AIDS
Fight Disease, Not Just AIDS
OPINION
Jan 1, 2008 1:05 PM CST

Fight Disease, Not Just AIDS

Public health expert urges perspective in global efforts

(Newser) - Global action to fight HIV/AIDS is imperative, but wealthy countries should reconsider committing most of their assistance to just one disease, Harvard expert Daniel Halperin writes in today's New York Times. Cheaply preventable illnesses like diarrhea claim many more lives in the poorest African countries than HIV yet receive scant...

Kenyan Prez Kibaki Declared Victor, Sworn In

News sparks riots as late vote count upsets challenger's lead

(Newser) - Kenya today declared President Mwai Kibaki the winner of Thursday's election, igniting riots in Nairobi as protesters accused the Kibaki government of election fraud and demanded a recount, reports the BBC. At least 10 people have been killed. Kibaki was sworn into a second 5-year term immediately after the announcement...

Not So Bad for Dirt-Eaters to Dig In: Study

Research finds unusual diet may rid body of toxins

(Newser) - New research is giving new meaning to the term Mother Earth: Scientists say loam in the soil may provide vital protection against poisonous agents in the body. People around the world, especially pregnant women, have eaten dirt for hundreds of years. Now researchers have found that earth not only provides...

Kenya Race Tightens; Riots Delay Count
Kenya Race Tightens; Riots Delay Count
UPDATED
Dec 29, 2007 5:44 PM CST

Kenya Race Tightens; Riots Delay Count

Prez candidates now neck and neck; results due tomorrow

(Newser) - Police had to restore order today at Kenya’s election commission as the presidential race tightened yet again and officials halted the count until tomorrow. Politicians on both sides scuffled and shouted accusations of election fraud as the once-hefty lead of opposition candidate Raila Odinga dropped to just 40,000...

Kenya's Prez Appears Defeated
Kenya's Prez Appears Defeated
Dec 28, 2007 9:57 AM CST

Kenya's Prez Appears Defeated

Challenger vows to spread wealth more equitably

(Newser) - A populist challenger appears to be winning Kenya's presidential election, the New York Times reports. Raila Odinga, a businessman who promises to spread Kenya's growing wealth more equitably, has a 57%-40% lead over incumbent Mwai Kibaki in early results, while many in Kibaki's inner circle, including the vice president and...

Sex Slaves Win Cash Damages
Sex Slaves Win Cash Damages
Dec 16, 2007 12:46 PM CST

Sex Slaves Win Cash Damages

Ruling could open floodgates of compensation for thousands of others

(Newser) - In a groundbreaking decision, Britain has awarded four women smuggled from eastern Europe to the UK and subjected by their captors to "forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings" more than £140,000. The decision, the first to consider false imprisonment and forced prostitution as categories for awarding damages,...

Gates Charity Creates New African Woes

AIDS dollars distort fragile health systems, undermining basic care

(Newser) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $8.5 billion to global health causes and is slowly defeating AIDS in Africa, but it’s creating unexpected new problems for the continent, the LA Times reports. By pouring money into the treatment of AIDS, TB and malaria, it has lured...

Scientist Blasted for Racism Has Black Genes

Watson said blacks less intelligent than whites

(Newser) - Nobel laureate James Watson, famous for co-discovering DNA and infamous for his theory that black Africans are less intelligent than whites, turns out to have a genetic profile with 16 times as many black genes as the average white European, the Independent reports. Watson's genes are said to be comparable...

Defiant African Leaders Reject EU Trade Deal

Relations between continents sour over human rights, Mugabe

(Newser) - European-African trade talks at a tense Lisbon summit collapsed in their final session yesterday. If a new agreement isn’t reached by year’s end, the European Union may levy higher tariffs on African exports, further exacerbating tensions between the continents. A new, controversial set of agreements would have dropped...

Germany Rips African Ruler at Trade Talks

Calls human rights in Zimbabwe 'damaging' to Africa's image

(Newser) - Germany blasted Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe today as the EU began a historic trade summit with Africa, Reuters reports. Mugabe listened as German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared Zimbabwe’s human rights crisis “damaging the image of the new Africa.” Such issues loom on the first day of the...

EU Makes Nice With Africa
EU Makes Nice With Africa 
Dec 7, 2007 8:10 PM CST

EU Makes Nice With Africa

Europe offers trade pacts that snub human rights; UK refuses to attend Lisbon summit

(Newser) - The EU will pooh-pooh human rights issues this weekend as it woos Africa with new trade pacts at a rare summit in Lisbon, the Economist reports. With China and India snapping up more African resources, Europe plans to offer friendly deals that leave out human rights demands. But the EU's...

Kidnapped Gorillas Go Home
Kidnapped Gorillas Go Home
Dec 1, 2007 9:29 AM CST

Kidnapped Gorillas Go Home

Five years later, the 'Taiping Four' make the trip back to Cameroon

(Newser) - For four rare gorillas who were illegally smuggled from their home in Cameroon five years ago, the long journey has finally come to an end, the BBC reports. The one male and three female Western Lowland gorillas are returning to the Limbe Wildlife Sanctuary in Cameroon after being sedated and...

British Teacher Charged in Teddy Bear Flap

Jail, lashes could be punishment for 'insult to Islam' in Sudan

(Newser) - The British teacher held in Sudan for committing blasphemy by naming a teddy bear “Muhammed” has been charged with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, the BBC reports. The UK Foreign Secretary said he would summon the Sudanese ambassador; Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he...

8,000 Kenyans Killed by Cops, Lawyers Say

Police call charges against outlaw sect 'fictitious'

(Newser) - Kenyan cops have killed or fatally tortured more than 8,000 youth since 2002, human rights lawyers charged today. The deaths, along with 4,000 cases of missing men, are allegedly part of a state crackdown on the Mungiki—an outlawed sect the government blames for gang violence. Police have...

UN Slashes AIDS Estimate
UN Slashes AIDS Estimate
Nov 20, 2007 9:12 AM CST

UN Slashes AIDS Estimate

Agency admits it seriously overestimated spread of epidemic

(Newser) - The United Nations will publish a report admitting that it has greatly overestimated the scale and the progress of the AIDS epidemic, writes the Washington Post. The UN's AIDS agency now believes that the disease has been slowing for a decade and that the worldwide toll of people living with...

UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming
UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming
Nov 17, 2007 6:18 AM CST

UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming

Earth at 'tipping point' of irreversible catastrophe: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon

(Newser) - The last and most forceful of a series of UN reports on climate change unveiled today urges swift action to avoid "abrupt and irreversible" damage to the environment. Melting glaciers will cause a rapid rise in sea levels, wiping out vulnerable species and destroying water and food supplies for...

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