Africa – News Stories About Africa - Page 28

Oct 11, 2007 8:39 AM CDT

African Wars Cost $300B Over 15 Years

Fighting drained as much money as aid programs contributed

(Newser) - Armed conflict in Africa over the last 15 years cost nearly $300 billion—equal to the total amount of aid received by the continent—a report compiled by several NGOs concludes. Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who wrote the report's preface, says that a key move to counter poverty and spur...

Businesses Line Up for .Asia Domain Rush

Oct 9, 2007 3:14 PM CDT

Businesses Line Up for .Asia Domain Rush

Governments also get first dibs on coveted new address suffix

(Newser) - The regional internet domain .asia has opened for registration; businesses and governments will get first crack at trademarked and other protected names. The public will come rushing in to scoop up what’s left of the suffix in February 2008. The second regional domain—.eu began selling in April 2006—...

African Nation's Response to Aid: No, Thanks

Oct 2, 2007 1:42 PM CDT

African Nation's Response to Aid: No, Thanks

Eritrea refuses food and money, raising worries over isolation

(Newser) - Eritrea, one of the world's poorest nations, has a novel response to offers of foreign aid: refusal. President Isaias Afwerki argues that African nations that accept money from the World Bank or food from the UN are "crippled societies." In a time of global connection, the LA Times ...

He Quietly Gave Away Billions

Sep 29, 2007 10:39 AM CDT

He Quietly Gave Away Billions

But now the secretive philanthropist spills the beans behind his generosity

(Newser) - Chuck Feeney’s foundation gave $458 million in grants last year—third only to Ford and Gates—but very few know the secretive philanthropist’s name. Having thus far shielded himself from fame, Feeney gets some star treatment in a new biography that sheds light on his good deeds and...

Clinton Summit Pulls in Billions

Sep 27, 2007 7:19 AM CDT

Clinton Summit Pulls in Billions

Norway, Netherlands, Brangelina vow to help

(Newser) - Over 1,000 philanthropists pledged billions of dollars at this year's Clinton Global Initiative, where the ex-president annually brings together world leaders, corporate biggies and change-minded celebs. Angelina Jolie plans to educate 1 million children in conflicted areas; Brad Pitt pledged $5 million to build homes in New Orleans, and...

Israel Welcomes
500 Darfur Refugees

Sep 24, 2007 3:56 AM CDT

Israel Welcomes 500 Darfur Refugees

All others will be expelled

(Newser) - Israel has agreed to allow 498 refugees who fled Darfur through Egypt to remain in the country, although their legal status remains undecided. Africans from other parts of the continent and new arrivals from Darfur, however, will be expelled. Egypt has agreed to accept refugees who are returned after trying...

Floods Devastate Africa

Sep 20, 2007 3:04 AM CDT

Floods Devastate Africa

Deluge triggers humanitarian crisis

(Newser) - Several of Africa's poorest countries have been devastated by a catastrophic deluge of rain, washing away lives, communities and crops. As many as 18 of the normally driest countries in the world, from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso in the west, to Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in the east,...

Cell Phones Spur Growth Surge in Africa

Sep 15, 2007 7:30 AM CDT

Cell Phones Spur Growth Surge in Africa

Phones kickstart development, improve standard of living, in remote areas

(Newser) - Mobile phones are revolutionizing the economic life of many of the world's poorest countries, igniting an unprecedented growth surge across Africa. In remote villages in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, people who until recently lived without any modern infrastructure now use cell phones to sell crops, summon doctors, transmit vital information,...

Global Infant Mortality Rate
Lowest in Years

Sep 13, 2007 3:10 AM CDT

Global Infant Mortality Rate Lowest in Years

Public-health campaigns trigger major advances

(Newser) - Infant mortality rates have dropped to new lows worldwide, according to UNICEF. Vaccination drives, education supporting breastfeeding, and anti-malarial measures helped drive last year's death rate of children under 5 down to 72 per 1,000. It stood at 93 per 1,000 in 1993. "It could be that...

Painkiller Is Denied to Poor

Sep 10, 2007 10:08 AM CDT

Painkiller Is Denied to Poor

Morphine is cheap and available, but it's withheld because of 'opoid phobia'

(Newser) - Though morphine is cheap, effective, and widely available, most people sufferering extreme pain don't get it, the New York Times reports. The poorest 80% of the world’s population consumes only 6% of the pain-killer. Why? Because health care workers in poor countries are afraid to prescribe morphine, or not...

China's Africa Aid Has a Price

Aug 21, 2007 8:49 AM CDT

China's Africa Aid Has a Price

Manufacturing suffers on the continent as Asian imports flood the market

(Newser) - As China increases its economic investment in Africa, locals are finding that the benefits of increased trade with the East comes at a price. In the third of a series of articles in the New York Times, workers at a Zambian factory describe how Chinese imports have undercut their market...

Israel Rejects Refugees from Darfur Region

Aug 19, 2007 4:37 PM CDT

Israel Rejects Refugees from Darfur Region

Jewish state conflicted about denying migrants targeted by genocide

(Newser) - Israel has turned back 48 Africans to Egypt and says it will no longer accept Darfur refugees who illegally enter the country, the AP reports. Some of the 50 migrants a day who have already snuck into the country will be allowed to stay, Israel says, but all others will...

Chinese Seek Fortune in Africa

Aug 17, 2007 3:22 PM CDT

Chinese Seek Fortune in Africa

To satisfy country's thirst for oil, emigrants strike it rich out west

(Newser) - A growing number of poor Chinese are flocking to Africa, hoping to cash in on the destitute continent’s infinite growth potential. China is building factories in eastern Africa, and trade between the two burgeoning economies ballooned to $55 billion last year. The eastern entrepreneurs are diving into every sector...

China Seeks Oil in Africa

Aug 13, 2007 10:34 AM CDT

China Seeks Oil in Africa

Eschewing the West, Beijing touts mutual prosperity with developing nations

(Newser) - China is exploring the sweltering wilderness of Chad in search of lucrative pockets of oil and other materials, the New York Times reports. Chinese officials tout the strategy as a "win-win" situation as the country develops relationships with African nations to achieve mutual prosperity by capitalizing on natural resources...

African Union Rejects Asian Troops for Darfur

Aug 13, 2007 3:47 AM CDT

African Union Rejects Asian Troops for Darfur

Claims African countries can supply all 26,000

(Newser) - Asian troops promised by the United Nations for a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur won't be needed, the leaders of the African Union said yesterday; African countries will supply all 26,000 peacekeepers, the BBC reports. But critics doubt that enough trained African soldiers are available for an effective force,...

South African Prez Fires
AIDS Crusader

Aug 10, 2007 11:02 AM CDT

South African Prez Fires AIDS Crusader

Minister sacked as Mbeki continues to deny science of HIV

(Newser) - South Africa's president has fired his government's leading HIV/AIDS crusader, the prime mover of a plan to offer free treatment to millions. Thabo Mbeki dismissed his deputy health minister, who has opposed his AIDS denialism for years, the Mail and Guardian reports. Mbeki has drawn worldwide outrage for the...

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human
Family Tree

Aug 9, 2007 8:15 AM CDT

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human Family Tree

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

(Newser) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens, as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner...

African Villagers Sold on the Simpsons

Jul 26, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

African Villagers Sold on the Simpsons

Tribe members market soapstone carvings of the cantankerous family

(Newser) - Villagers in a remote Kenyan village are thrilled about tomorrow’s premiere of The Simpsons movie, but not because it’s playing in a theater near them. Most, in fact, have never even seen the TV show. But their soapstone busts of the cartoon characters have been declared official Simpsons...

Darfur Lake Is Dried Up, Draining Hope

Jul 20, 2007 4:41 PM CDT

Darfur Lake Is Dried Up, Draining Hope

Huge underground lake, a hope for peace, emptied 5K years ago

(Newser) - Hopes for an enormous underground lake discovered recently in Darfur might supply enough water to end starvation and violence in the area were dimmed by a second opinion from a French geologist. The area receives too little rain and has the wrong type of rocks for water storage, said a...

Elephants Go on the Offense in Africa

Jul 15, 2007 12:57 PM CDT

Elephants Go on the Offense in Africa

Farmers all ears on ways to stop attacks by vengeful beasts

(Newser) - Elephants are now endangering Southern Africans, as attacks on humans increase and the creatures savage farms. While tourists tend to see the mammoths as cuddly and harmless, Africans tell the Times that the peril is becoming an elephant in the room. "Elephants are horrible things to live next door...