There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel — the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps.The pumps irrigate farms all around the lake, which is four times the size of Manhattan, and are vital for hundreds of thousands of people. Ethiopia has already lost at least one large lake — …
Ethiopia’s vast lake being pumped dryThu, 12 Jun 2025 14:07:28 GMT Read More »
In its more than three years in Mali, the Russian paramilitary group Wagner kidnapped, detained and tortured hundreds of civilians, including at former UN bases and camps shared with the country’s army, according to a report published Thursday by a journalist collective.The victims, who were interviewed by a consortium of reporters led by investigative outlet …
As President Bola Tinubu praised his country’s quarter century of democratic rule Thursday, many of the streets around the Nigerian capital carried a different, perhaps less-inspiring message.To name a few: Sani Abacha Way takes commuters into downtown Abuja. Ibrahim Babangida Way meanwhile cuts through upscale Maitama. Murtala Muhammed Expressway passes next to the presidency and …
South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns, a team used to dominating possession, may have their time with the ball considerably reduced at the Club World Cup, says coach Miguel Cardoso. The Pretoria outfit are outsiders in Group F with Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund expected to advance to the knockout phase in the United States at the …
Sundowns must adapt to less possession, warns coach CardosoThu, 12 Jun 2025 10:31:54 GMT Read More »
The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record peak but remains “untenably high”, the United Nations said Thursday.A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by …
Burundi’s veteran ruling party won every seat in last week’s parliamentary elections, the electoral commission said Wednesday, in a vote critics and observers say was tainted by irregularities.”Nationally, the CNDD-FDD came first with 96.51 percent of the vote,” election commission chief Prosper Ntahorwamiye said in a live televised ceremony.None of the other parties obtained two …
Burundi ruling party wins all seats in legislative voteThu, 12 Jun 2025 09:25:09 GMT Read More »
Nearly two years after Niger’s military seized power and the border with Benin was shut, tensions over security, sovereignty and French influence have hardened into a stand-off throttling trade and paralysing ties between the west African neighbours.Benin, which denies hosting foreign forces accused of destabilising Niger, claims it has made repeated overtures to ease the …
Niger-Benin border standoff deepens as trade collapse bitesThu, 12 Jun 2025 06:17:20 GMT Read More »
A winter chill hung over the windswept cemetery in South Africa’s eastern town of Cradock where the untended graves of four activists assassinated by the apartheid regime were watched over by a monument in their memory, itself in disrepair.In the city of Gqeberha two hours’ drive away, the murders in 1985 of the young men …
Kenya’s government was set to present its budget to parliament on Thursday, carefully prepared to avoid a repeat of massive protests over tax hikes a year ago.The east African nation is a regional economic powerhouse but tensions have simmered over the soaring cost of living and a stagnant job market.Last year’s finance bill sparked huge …
Kenya presents budget a year after massive demosThu, 12 Jun 2025 05:42:31 GMT Read More »
Away from the heady rush to build ultra-capable, sci-fi style artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley, ambitious Nairobi-based startup Amini AI is betting on the technology addressing emerging countries’ prosaic problems in the here and now.Chief executive Kate Kallot aims for Amini — still a relatively small firm with $6 million in funding and 25 employees …
