Tag - africa

 
 

AFRICA

Yuji "Gump" Suzuki, the Japanese runner and social media sensation, runs with supporters while pushing his rickshaw as he nears his goal in Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2025
Japanese man ends his 6,000 kilometer Africa rickshaw trek in Cape Town
His latest quest started in the Kenyan capital in July and took him through Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, attends a meeting in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on June 8, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025
Daglo, the feared Darfuri general accused by the U.S. of genocide
The paramilitary commander went from feared Darfur militia commander to de facto vice-president before unleashing a devastating war for power in Sudan.
Africa’s growing resource nationalism is prompting governments to renegotiate mining deals, aiming for a larger share of profits from mineral resources and reducing the revenues for multinational companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2024
Africans demand a bigger share of their natural resources wealth
Multinational companies should hurry to find sustainable ways in which they can share risk and revenue with governments, as they do elsewhere.
A volunteer at a Sudanese mobile kitchen prepares food at one of the displacement centers in New Halfa, Sudan, on Nov. 2.
WORLD
Dec 24, 2024
Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report
The move is likely to undercut efforts to address one of the world’s largest hunger crises.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's government is strengthening cooperation with Middle East countries and diversifying its involvement in African nations, a Japanese government think tank said.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 18, 2024
China boosting influence over Global South, Japan think tank says
An annual report on China by the National Institute for Defense Studies says that Beijing's growing sway has the risk of destabilizing the region.
An Apple logo is seen in Brussels, Belgium, in 2016.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 17, 2024
Congo files criminal complaints against Apple over conflict minerals
International lawyers representing Congo argue that Apple uses minerals pillaged from the country and laundered through international supply chains.
Customers queue at a bank ATM in Lagos. Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation sits outside of banks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Nigeria’s dying ATMs leave a cash-shaped hole filled by agents
Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation — or 4 trillion naira ($2.6 billion) — sits outside of banks as of September.
185 content moderators sued Meta last year, saying they had lost their jobs for trying to organize a union.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Meta contractor dismissed threats to moderators by Ethiopia rebels: court documents
Court documents say that Meta allegedly ignored advice from experts it hired to tackle hate speech in Ethiopia.
Since Oct. 24, there have been 406 cases of an unidentified illness in Congo’s southwest.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2024
‘Disease X’ outbreak widens as U.N. sends health team to Congo
The unidentified illness is marked by fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches, with 31 deaths currently on record.
A grapnel, used to retrieve cables, on the deck of the Leon Thevenin in Cape Town on April 30. In a wireless world, it is easy to forget the all-too-real cables that snake across the turbulent ocean floor — until they snap.
WORLD
Dec 4, 2024
When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed
Landslides, a ship dragging its anchor, military skirmishes and sabotage can all damage cables.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024
Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain
African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
A woman carries firewood she bought at a marketplace in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 2. Telehealth — the use of technology to provide and access health care services remotely — has been growing around the world but is relatively new in Zimbabwe.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2024
In Zimbabwe, Starlink’s fast internet gives telehealth a boost
The satellite unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX received the green light in May to operate its internet services in Zimbabwe.
Genetically modified mosquitos are being released in Djibouti as the African nation tries to stem the tide of malaria infections.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2024
Djibouti tests genetically modified mosquitoes to fight malaria
A species of mosquito native to Asia and the Middle East is a key factor in an unprecedented spike in malaria cases in Djibouti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Moscow on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024
Russian sends 200 military instructors to Equatorial Guinea in West Africa push
The deployment fits into a wider pattern of waning Western influence in the region while offering Moscow funding opportunities.
Nigeriens gather in a street to protest against the U.S. military presence, in Niamey, Niger, on April 13.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 12, 2024
Trump inherits waning U.S. strength in Africa
Biden made sweeping political promises to Africa that he has yet to keep, including visiting during his presidency, which ends in January.
A demonstrator holds a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian flag to protest against the visit of the French President Emmanuel Macron in front of the French embassy in Kinshasa, Congo, on March 1, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 11, 2024
Putin promises Africa 'total support' in anti-West pitch to continent
Facing isolation in the West following its full-scale offensive against Ukraine, Moscow has tried to build new partnerships across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Pedestrians walk in front of the venue for COP29 Summit in Baku on the eve of UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 11, 2024
Who are the key voices at the COP29 climate summit in Baku?
The U.S., the world's second largest emitter comes to COP29 following an election that will put Donald Trump back in power in 2025.
Prime Minister of Mauritius and candidate for the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) Pravind Jugnauth (C) is surrounded by supporters during a campaign rally in Mahebourg on Oct. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2024
Dynasties battle to lead Mauritius with democracy out of favor
Members of just three families have led the Indian Ocean archipelago since it gained independence from Britain in 1968.
The surge in spending came as countries across Africa, including Uganda, attempted to introduce legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people.
WORLD / Society
Nov 6, 2024
U.S. anti-LGBTQ+ groups' spending in Africa soars, report finds
The Institute for Journalism and Social Change found that seventeen American groups spent $5.2 million in 2022, up 47% compared to 2019.
Refugees from Darfur in eastern Chad on July 8. A major surge in fighting in Sudan has taken a searing toll on civilians, killing hundreds of people in aerial bombings and revenge attacks in late October, as Africa’s largest war shifts into a higher gear after the end of seasonal rains.
WORLD
Oct 27, 2024
Hundreds killed in days as war in Sudan surges
Territory has changed hands; a prominent commander has switched sides; and retreating fighters have sexually assaulted, kidnapped and killed villagers.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past