Ukraine’s liberated east faces cold season minus humanitarian aid and heating worries as winter sets in
In late September, as Albina Iliushchenko drove down the familiar streets of her childhood in Izium in eastern Ukraine, she choked back tears looking at the cracked, blackened facades of apartment blocks, and at the restaurants and shops reduced to rubble. At the elementary school where her mother used to...
Understanding bereavement: An emotional black hole for which puzzled psychologists prescribe ‘acceptance’
It was early springtime in Australia when my son died. I took jasmine and dark-red sweet peas from my garden to his funeral and laid them carefully beside him, wondering how I could even keep breathing through the pain. His name was Adam. He was 38, and more than six...
Little known Nigerian ‘keeper Uzoho denied Man United strikers 30 times, now he’s a hero of Europa League
Owen Hargreaves heaped praise on Omonia Nicosia goalkeeper Francis Uzoho after his stunning display in his side’s 1-0 defeat against Manchester United on Thursday night at Old Trafford. The Cypriot outfit were on the backfoot for the majority of the Europa League clash, but United could not find a way...
An Ivorian teenager once dreamed of living in Italy, 23 years later he’s elected to the nation’s parliament
When Aboubakar Soumahoro was a teenager in his native Ivory Coast, he used to clean shoes and dream of going to Italy, filling a scrapbook with pictures of Italian fashion designs that he cut out of magazines. He eventually made it to Rome in 1999, aged 19, but was shocked...
Alert: China’s diplomacy in Horn of Africa that’s anchored on firming ruling regimes protects its interest only
At the outset of the conflict in Tigray in November 2020, China worked with the Ethiopian military to evacuate 600 Chinese citizens from the massive Wolkaiyt sugar refinery near the frontlines and a water project near Mekelle run by the Gezhouba Group, one of China’s largest energy state-owned enterprises. In...
China’s parallel peace agenda in Horn of Africa questioned as it lures region toward the Communist Party
The launch of China’s Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa initiative in March 2022 to facilitate a Chinese-led peace process in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa highlights Beijing’s interest in the region that is grappling with humanitarian crises touched climate change and scramble for natural...
Ebola rampage: Uganda President Museveni bans herbalists, witchdoctors and miracle healing prayers
Uganda has imposed an indefinite ban on the work of herbalists and other traditional medicine men to halt the rapid spread of Ebola outbreak that already killed scores – including Health-workers – in the past three weeks. The ban was announced on Thursday by President Yoweri Museveni as new assessment...
Disaster beckons as Barcelona count themselves alive by a miracle after shock Champions League draw
Around Camp Nou, it was mostly an eerie silence on the final whistle of Barcelona’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan, as it dawned on fans that the Catalan side are almost certainly eliminated from the competition already. As Inter’s players, coaches and fans celebrated in their small pockets, most of...
Kylian Mbappe’s ego’s the epitome of how player brand is eclipsing club and football pre-eminence
It’s the short clip of Neymar being asked ‘What’s Mbappe like? which reveals most about the reality of working life with the footballer who never seems satisfied, even now he’s been crowned the little emperor of Paris. The Brazilian is a picture of contentment as he passes through the player-media...
Food security: How scientists caught between swapping gasoline for ethanol, protection of grasslands and forests
Tyler Lark, a geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, grew up among farms, working on a neighbour’s dairy, vaguely aware of the tension between clearing land to grow food and preserving nature. As an engineering student working on water projects in Haiti, he saw an extreme version of that conflict:...
