Journalist’s notebook: I saw a woman gang-raped, uterus burned with hot metal rod, so no Tigrayan womb can give birth
Lucy Kassa is an Ethiopian journalist whose reporting on the war in Tigray has exposed massacres, sexual violence, man-made starvation, and other grave human rights abuses. She has been attacked and threatened for her work, but has refused to stay silent. Here, she reflects on the emotional toll of covering...
Why damage from natural hazards is severest in societies with low incomes
The year 2020 saw further devastating floods, caused by storms such as Cyclone Amphan in South Asia and a record-breaking hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. It is now clear that the changing climate is making coastal flooding more frequent, downpours heavier and storms wetter. Less appreciated is that the...
Vaccine made of live malaria parasites shows early success in clinical trial
An experimental malaria vaccine that contains live parasites protected nearly all recipients from infection in a small clinical trial. Participants in the study, published on June 30 in Nature, were given a shot containing live Plasmodium falciparum parasites, along with drugs to kill any parasites that reached the liver or...
How some institutions address academic bullying said to be rife in universities
Academic bullying remains a scourge in research and higher institutions of learning around the world. Alexandra Olaya-Castro, vice-dean for equality, diversity and inclusion in the faculty of mathematical and physical sciences at University College London (UCL), says her institution established a Report + Support tool in 2019 to addresses the...
Ugandan war criminal termed ‘Jesus carrying the cross for everyone and what they have done’
In May this year, the International Criminal Court sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a former senior commander of Uganda’s notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, to 25 years in prison on more than 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ongwen’s conviction was a landmark. It was the first ICC prosecution of...
Congo Brazzaville plans to launch gas master plan at African Energy Week
The Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Republic of Congo will launch the country’s comprehensive Gas Master Plan (GMP) at the African Energy Week (AEW) 2021 scheduled for November in Cape Town, South Africa. The master plan comprises a framework that aims to incentivise the development of and investment in the...
Climate activists oppose oil exploration, call for a fossil free Virunga in new film
Climate activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have expressed strong opposition to plans for oil exploration in the Virunga National Park. In a short film titled Fossil Free Virunga that was released by 350Africa.org worldwide today, the activists raised concerns with the environmental impacts, as well as the...
Much as Covid is ravaging the world, ‘without viruses, we would not be alive’
Mya Breitbart has hunted novel viruses in African termite mounds, Antarctic seals and water from the Red Sea. But to hit pay dirt, she has only to step into her back garden in Florida. Hanging around her swimming pool are spiny-backed orbweavers (Gasteracantha cancriformis) – striking spiders with bulbous white...
Down, but not out: Tennis queen Venus Williams vows to keep going
Five-time champion Venus Williams insists her Wimbledon journey is not over after she bowed out in the second round. The 41-year-old, who first appeared at SW19 in 1997 and won her first title way back in 2000, was beaten 6-0, 7-5 by Tunisian Ons Jabeur on Court One. Given her...
From 30m to zero: WHO declares China malaria free, cites artemisinin drug as key
The World Health Organization (WHO) today is certifying China as free of malaria, after a decades-long effort drove an estimated annual toll of 30 million cases in the 1940s, including 300,000 deaths, to zero in 2017. Along the way, China developed new surveillance techniques, medicines and technologies to break the...
