Each year the world produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste, much of it discarded after just a few minutes of use.Negotiators hope to reach the world’s first treaty on plastic pollution this year, but across five very different countries, AFP found single-use plastic remains hugely popular as a cheap and convenient choice, illustrating …

How single-use plastic still rules the worldWed, 18 Sep 2024 08:22:44 GMT Read More »

One day in August, Aynalem was on her way to university in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia when armed men suddenly stopped the bus and climbed aboard. “They were all very young and threatened us with assault rifles. I was terrified,” recalled the 21-year-old biomedical engineering student. The kidnappers blindfolded Aynalem and the other passengers. After …

Ethiopia plagued by abductions ‘epidemic’Wed, 18 Sep 2024 05:17:08 GMT Read More »

Almost 200 environmental activists were murdered last year, with the toll especially heavy in South America, according to rights group Global Witness.Here are the stories of three campaigners who have faced violence and repression trying to stop wildcat gold mining in Ecuador, illegal shrimp farming in Indonesia and a controversial oil project in Uganda.- ‘We …

Three activists risking their lives for the planetWed, 18 Sep 2024 03:41:00 GMT Read More »

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Mali’s capital Bamako that saw them temporarily take control of part of the international airport.Images broadcast on the communication channels of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) group showed fighters strolling around and firing randomly into the windows of the presidential …

Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capitalTue, 17 Sep 2024 21:14:49 GMT Read More »

Sierra Leone’s Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said Tuesday the death toll from a seven-storey building collapse in the capital a day earlier had risen to at least nine, as rescuers searched for survivors.The building, thought to be used for both residential and commercial purposes, gave way between 11:00 am and noon GMT on Monday, …

S. Leone building collapse death toll rises to at least nine: VPTue, 17 Sep 2024 16:41:11 GMT Read More »

Khames made it out alive when the overcrowded vessel he was on capsized in the English Channel, but the migrant from Egypt has no idea whether the childhood friend he was travelling with also managed to survive.Eight people have been confirmed dead since the boat ran into trouble trying to reach Britain from France in …

‘Shouted his name’: Channel tragedy survivor hopes friend made itTue, 17 Sep 2024 13:32:04 GMT Read More »

Ghana’s main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), held nationwide protests on Tuesday, intensifying its call for an audit of the voter register, three months before a presidential election.The NDC has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of tampering with the voter registry to favour the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its candidate Vice …

Ghana opposition protests over voter registerTue, 17 Sep 2024 12:47:26 GMT Read More »

Gunmen attacked a military police base early Tuesday in the Malian capital Bamako where gunfire and explosions were heard and the airport was closed, sources, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.”This morning armed men attacked at least one military police base in Bamako. They have not been formally identified,” a police source told AFP on …

Gunmen attack police base in Mali capitalTue, 17 Sep 2024 08:51:00 GMT Read More »

Tiny but oil-rich Equatorial Guinea long escaped the youth exodus plaguing other African nations, but a decade of economic decline and rising unemployment has left many eager to leave.The discovery of off-shore oil in the mid-1990s turned the country into Africa’s third richest in terms of per capita income. But the economy has been badly hit …

Young Equatorial Guineans yearn for the American dreamTue, 17 Sep 2024 06:35:24 GMT Read More »

A packed Kampala audience holds its breath as four self-styled “singing fools” in choir uniforms bound onto the stage for their latest daring satire of Ugandan politics.The Bizonto comedy troupe recount the misadventures in a fictional village, ruled by an ageing leader and suffering from a dire lack of basic services and sky-high taxes.The parallels …

Uganda’s ‘singing fools’ use satire to attack governmentTue, 17 Sep 2024 06:31:23 GMT Read More »