Africa – News Stories About Africa - Page 27

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

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

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

Dec 16, 2007 6:07 AM CST

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

Dec 10, 2007 7:01 AM CST

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

Dec 10, 2007 4:03 AM CST

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

Dec 8, 2007 3:51 PM CST

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

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

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

Nov 28, 2007 3:35 PM CST

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

Nov 25, 2007 8:30 PM CST

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

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

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...

Africa: Let There Be Light

Nov 16, 2007 2:50 AM CST

Africa: Let There Be Light

World Bank initiative aims to bring electric power to 250 million Africans

(Newser) - Even after decades of development, most African communities have no electrical power and still go dark when the sun goes down. Only 5% of Ugandans, 6% of the Congolese population and 15% of Kenyans have electricity. Now the World Bank has launched an initiative to light the homes of 250...

Africa's Child 'Witches' Abused, Abandoned

Nov 15, 2007 1:34 PM CST

Africa's Child 'Witches' Abused, Abandoned

Superstition, poverty take ugly toll on Angolan, Congolese youth

(Newser) - Thousands of children in Angola, Congo, and the Congo Republic are being abused, abandoned, and even killed after being accused of witchcraft, the New York Times reports. Such accusations—born from tribal superstition and poverty that leaves some families unable to care for children—are a "massive" problem, sending...

Growing African Economies Could Lessen Poverty

Nov 14, 2007 3:52 PM CST

Growing African Economies Could Lessen Poverty

Ten years of positive growth could 'put a dent' in poverty: World Bank report

(Newser) - The growth of Africa's economy over the past 10 years is strong enough to "put a dent in a dent in poverty," according to a World Bank report. Growth over the past decade has averaged 5.4%, but more foreign investment is needed to keep that going. The...

Type O Blood Protects
Malaria Victims

Oct 30, 2007 8:52 PM CDT

Type O Blood Protects Malaria Victims

Drugs based on finding could spark cure, save 2 million annually

(Newser) - Scientists may be closer to a malaria cure after learning that type O blood naturally shields victims from harsh forms of the disease. A study published today showed that African malaria victims with type O blood are two-thirds less likely to suffer fatal anemia or unrousable coma, the BBC reports....

ITU Head Wants Broadband Net Help for Africa

Oct 28, 2007 10:38 PM CDT

ITU Head Wants Broadband Net Help for Africa

Less than 1% on continent have high-speed access

(Newser) - Fewer than four per cent of Africans use the Internet and less than one per cent have broadband access, helping to keep Africa behind in education, medicine and business, the BBC reports. Dr Hamadoun Toure, head of the International Telecommunication Union, is asking world organizations to make sure a third...

Elephants Know Who to Trust

Oct 21, 2007 7:21 AM CDT

Elephants Know Who to Trust

(Newser) - Elephants apparently never forget a smell or clothing, at least when it comes to spotting their human hunters, researchers have discovered. Pachyderms in a study remained calm near members of an African community who had not harmed them, but instantly shied from those in a tribe who hunted them. It's...

Maternal Death Rate Still High

Oct 13, 2007 3:11 PM CDT

Maternal Death Rate Still High

(Newser) - Despite two decades of efforts, more than half a million women die each year while pregnant or from complications after childbirth, the Guardian reported. While overall abortion rates have dropped and contraceptive use has increased, Africa and parts of Asia are bucking those trends. Some experts blame the Bush administration,...