Africa

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Madonna's $15M School Ousts 200 Malawi Villagers

 Madonna's $15M 
 School Ousts 
 200 Malawi 
 Villagers 
celeb humanitarianism
Feb 12, 2010 8:19 AM CST

Madonna's $15M School Ousts 200 Malawi Villagers

Residents must relocate, but singer did compensate them

(Newser) - Madonna wants to help Malawi with her $15 million girls’ school so much that she’s ejecting villagers to make it happen. Residents didn’t want to leave the school site just outside the capital, but the government handed the land over to Madonna and told 200 Malawians they must...

British Pirate Captives Beg for Help

Death looms without ransom

(Newser) - A British couple abducted by pirates as they sailed off Africa are pleading for help before they're killed. Rachel Chandler, seized three months ago and held separately from her husband, Paul, in Somalia, begged for aid in a phone call to British TV after the pirates vowed to kill them...

Al-Qaeda Linked to 'Air Cocaine' Network

Rogue trans-Atlantic aviation set-up sparks security fears

(Newser) - A rogue aviation network with links to al-Qaeda has security analysts seriously worried. The network, believed to consist of at least 10 aircraft, including several Boeing 727s, transports huge amounts of cocaine from South America to West African smugglers who slip it into Europe. Islamic militant groups in Africa reap...

Nigerians Call on Prez to Prove He's Alive

Adua, abroad for medical treatment, mum on Xmas bomb attempt

(Newser) - Some Nigerians suspect their president, who split the country in late November, complaining of chest pains, and has not made a public appearance since, could in fact be dead. Umaru Yar’Adua has failed to weigh in on critical state decisions, and was even mum on the Christmas terror attempt...

Human Rights Watch: UN Supports Atrocities in Congo

Mission provides logistical support to brutal national army

(Newser) - Women and children beaten to death with clubs, hacked up with machetes—or, if they're "lucky," gang-raped and left alive. Such shocking acts are sadly commonplace in the conflict that has consumed Congo, perpetrated by both Rwandan rebels and their enemies in the Congolese army. The army, however,...

Developing Countries Boycott Climate Talks
 Developing Countries 
 Boycott Climate Talks 

COPENHAGEN SUMMIT
Dec 14, 2009 9:23 AM CST

Developing Countries Boycott Climate Talks

Refuse to participate unless rich countries cut more

(Newser) - A group of 125 developing countries, including China and India, boycotted the climate change talks in Copenhagen today, accusing developed countries of trying to ditch the Kyoto protocol, and the penalties it imposes on them if they don't meet emissions limits. The Africa-led move created chaos at the talks, which...

To Battle Climate Change, Look Toward Africa

Fallout from changes in weather patterns threatens hard-won gains

(Newser) - A quarter-century after the Ethiopian famine crisis, another catastrophe threatens Africa: climate change. But this time, the First World stands to gain from improving the lot of the Third World. "The inefficiencies of the hydrocarbon economy will be replaced by clean, cheap renewables," pop star and activist Bob...

Guinea Leader Survives Attack by Renegade Troops

Camara shot, wounded in attack blamed on former aide

(Newser) - The leader of Guinea's ruling military junta has survived an attack on his convoy by a renegade faction of his presidential guard. Moussa Dadis Camara was shot and wounded but his life is not in danger, a regime spokesman said. The attack was blamed on Lt. Toumba Diakite, a former...

100M Years Ago, Africa Was Crocodile Central
 100M Years Ago, Africa 
 Was Crocodile Central 
PALEONTOLOGISTS SAY
Nov 20, 2009 1:12 PM CST

100M Years Ago, Africa Was Crocodile Central

3 new species unearthed from Sahara include DogCroc

(Newser) - The universe of diverse prehistoric crocodile species keeps expanding, suggesting crocs were one of the dominant forms of life 100 million years ago. Paleontologists have just unearthed three new species in the Sahara desert: the 20-foot BoarCroc, which likely fed on dinosaurs; the 20-foot PancakeCroc, a flat-bodied fish-gobbler; and the...

China Offers Africa Billions in Aid, Debt Forgiveness

Beijing gives back amid flak over greed

(Newser) - Chinese premier Wen Jiabao today pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government debts of some of the poorest of those countries. The Asian powerhouse, at the start of a two-day China-Africa summit, looked to deflect...

Desert Rift Creating New African Sea—Slowly

Crack created by volcanic eruption will eventually meet with Red Sea

(Newser) - Africa is getting a new ocean—in a million years, give or take. It's starting with a 35-mile rift in the Ethiopian desert caused by the eruption of a volcano in 2005. The rift will eventually meet with the Red Sea, allowing the waters to spill in, say scientists. The...

Famed Man-Eating Lions Not That Hungry: Scientists

Kenyan duo credited with 135 kills ate just 35 humans

(Newser) - The Tsavo lions, reputed to have consumed 135 railroad workers in Africa at the turn of the last century, were not quite as ravenous as legend would have it. The lions—whose stuffed carcasses are enshrined at Chicago’s Field Museum—actually dispatched a mere 35 souls, new research shows....

Swine Flu Crisis Is Fake —Just Like AIDS in Africa

Those dang Africans are just fishing for relief cash, says Limbaugh

(Newser) - What do H1N1 and HIV have in common? They’re both money-making schemes! At least according to Rush Limbaugh, who yesterday took a fairly reasonable critique of swine flu hysteria off the rails and into crazy town, by saying it was being purposely hyped “for many of the same...

Pirates Hijack Yacht, Kidnap UK Couple

Brits reportedly safe after yacht seized off Somalia

(Newser) - A British couple whose yacht went missing in the Indian Ocean four days ago is being held by Somali pirates. The couple was captured during a round-the-world trip while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania; five international warships were searching hundreds of miles off the African coast for the pair....

Madonna Starts Malawian Girls School

Star breaks ground on $15M project in children's homeland

(Newser) - Construction on a Malawian school for girls founded by Madonna began today. The singer has put up $15 million for the creation of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, which is expected to be finished in 2 years, the BBC reports. "Growing up in a privileged life, I took...

$5M African Leadership Prize Goes to ... Nobody

Committee passes over all three candidates, doesn't award $5M to any

(Newser) - Nobody has won this year's $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the committee responsible for picking a winner announced today. That’s an enormous snub to the people eligible for the award, who include former heads of state Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,...

Elephants on Verge of Extinction

Illegal hunting could kill off African population in 15 years

(Newser) - Within 15 years, African elephants could be extinct as a consequence of rampant ivory poaching, conservation experts say. Africa's elephant population numbers just 600,000, and that number appears to be dwindling by about 38,000 a year. That’s faster than the birth rate. One animal welfare group is...

Tsvangirai Boycotts Unity Government in Zimbabwe

But he's not pulling out of the coalition just yet

(Newser) - Zimbabwe PM Morgan Tsvangirai’s party will boycott Cabinet meetings and cut off communication with president Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, theoretically its partner in government. The move accompanies growing anger among members of Tsvangirai’s MDC over Mugabe’s strong-arm tactics and the jailing of a Cabinet minister-designate, the New ...

In Coup-Torn Guinea, Women Raped in Public

Cell phone images harden opposition to military junta

(Newser) - In the west African nation of Guinea, where a military junta seized power in 2008, 50,000 people attended a political demonstration in a stadium last week, where they were attacked by soldiers who shot and killed at least 157 unarmed people, according to human rights groups, and raped at...

10% of Babies Are Premature, Taxing World's Health System

Of 13 million preemies, 1 million die before surviving 1 month

(Newser) - Nearly 10% of babies born each year worldwide arrive prematurely, and the stress of caring for them "is exacting a huge toll emotionally, physically and financially on families, medical systems and economies," the March of Dimes said today. Some 13 million babies are preemies, and more than 1...

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