Fears Africa’s dream of electric railway network may be rocked by burgeoning foreign debts
The “Al Boraq,” Africa’s first express train, whizzes through Morocco’s coastal landscape at the lightning speed of 320 kilometers (199 miles) per hour. Named after the magical steed on which the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden from Mecca to Jerusalem, the train makes the journey between Tangier and...
Sexual abuse in South Sudan’s refugee camps: ‘Perpetrators are mostly humanitarians, UN peacekeepers’
Some cases of sexual abuse in Malakal refugee camp in South Sudan are sometimes covered up by men paying money, proposing marriage, or giving the family a dowry, said Josephina James, assistant head for the women’s group in the camp that holds regular meetings to discuss such abuse and other...
UN’s predators: Harrowing tales of sexual abuse by aid workers and UN peacekeepers in South Sudan
Adeyinka Badejo, World Food Programme’s (WFP) South Sudan acting country director and the co-chair of the UN-led task force that aims to prevent such abuses, said in a written response to reporters that some prevention efforts had also been disrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An external mid-term review of...
UN peacekeepers, aid workers on the spot over alleged sexual abuse in South Sudan’s refugee camps
Accounts of sexual abuse by aid workers at a UN-run camp in South Sudan first surfaced in 2015, two years after the civil war erupted. Seven years on, such reports not only continue but have recently increased, an investigation by The New Humanitarian and Al Jazeera found. The revelations come...
Engineers get closer to building surgical robots that can independently operate on patients
In 2004, the United States’ Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) dangled a $1 million prize for any group that could design an autonomous car that could drive itself through 142 miles of rough terrain from Barstow, California, to Primm, Nevada. Thirteen years later, the Department of Defence announced another...
Rise in mass atrocities in Sahel region linked to Islamic extremists gaining foothold in West Africa
Mass atrocities, forced displacement, public executions: terror. It has been a fact of life in parts of Africa’s Sahel region since extremists gained a foothold in Mali in 2012 and then spread their reach beyond its borders. Despite efforts by regional security forces and global partners, the violence shows no...
Security report reveals how Russian mercenary Wagner Group is used to kill civilians in Africa
The governments of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali are using Wagner, the shadowy Russian private military company believed to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as an agent for attacks against civilians, new research suggests. And the CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra is going further by deploying Wagner...
Why millions are mourning Queen Elizabeth: They feel the loss as a part of themselves, even those who never met her
The death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96 has prompted an outpouring of emotion – in the United Kingdom and around the globe. Her close family and confidants are grieving for the loss of someone they knew and loved, but what is everyone else feeling? Can feelings...
Weaponising social media: How Big Tech firms rake in hefty fortunes from terrorist content
When al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, the group live-blogged the terrifying event on Twitter, taunting the authorities who were struggling to end the siege. It represented a chilling milestone in the weaponisation of social media platforms and demonstrated the audacity and adaptive nature of...
Consumption of certain types of fish reduce carbon emissions, an analysis of seafood around the world says
Replacing meat with certain types of sustainably sourced seafood could help people to reduce their carbon footprints without compromising on nutrition, finds an analysis of dozens of marine species that are consumed worldwide. The study, published on September 8 in Communications Earth & Environment, suggests that farmed bivalves – shellfish...
