Abortion debate in US: Legal pregnancy termination doesn’t harm women’s mental or physical health
In more than 40 reports published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, researchers analysed what happened to the women, adjusting for potential confounding factors such as age. The overall finding was that, on average, abortion didn’t harm women’s mental or physical health, but being denied an abortion resulted in some negative financial...
How drone rapidly grew into insurgents’ choice arsenals in Africa; used to hit civilian and military targets
In recent years, the uses for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have multiplied across Africa. Drones have been used to fertilise crops, monitor wildlife and deliver medicine to hard-to-reach places. Drone technology has grown rapidly worldwide and is projected to be a $43 billion global industry by...
East African countries on alert as terrorists fleeing Mozambique scatter in the region
Shaky cell phone videos captured the scene of a lone terrorist engaged in a shootout with police on the streets of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in late August. Walking in the afternoon sun, the man held an assault rifle in his hands with a second rifle hanging around his neck....
We’re not out of the woods yet, Covid vaccine makers warn as world braces for variants worse than Delta
Companies are updating vaccines and testing them on people to prepare for whatever comes next in the pandemic. Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, made a bold promise in June. Standing next to US President Joe Biden at a press conference in St Ives, UK, just before the G7 summit meeting,...
Surgeons successfully transplant pig kidney to human as pig-to-human organ switch come a step closer
Scientists temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Pigs have been the most recent research focus to address the organ shortage, but among the hurdles: A...
Ruthless South African ‘construction mafia’ kill for 30 per cent commission on tenders
With elections a week away, attacks on ward councillors are bad for democracy and reflect the country’s organised crime problem. A growing extortion ‘mafia’ is sweeping across South Africa, crippling construction and small businesses with threats and bribes, and more recently killing political ward councillors if demands aren’t met. These...
Myanmar’s hidden hunger: We’re just eating whatever is available
Khin, a 59-year-old rice farmer, faced a distressing choice at the height of Myanmar’s monsoon season three months ago: sell a cow, a prized asset for agricultural households, or go hungry. She sold the animal for half its value. The proceeds went to buy food for her family and inputs...
Studies confirm mix-and-match Covid vaccines generate more potent body immunity responses
Combining two different Covid-19 vaccines provides protection on par with that of mRNA vaccines – including protection against the Delta variant. Study after study has shown that people who receive two different Covid-19 vaccines generate potent immune responses, with side effects no worse than those caused by standard regimens. But...
Refugees: How Ukrainian war has destroyed our plans, our future; living a quiet life on pension is pointless
For children Ukraine know just one thing: war. Not a day goes without the rumbling of bombs, gunfire and the inevitable outcome: bloodshed and death. Love and peace are remote to the point of sounding unreal. Earlier this year, Veronika and half a dozen other children spoke to photojournalist Jakub...
Children in Ukraine’s conflict regions live with wounds and need support to address emotional trauma’
On the frontline of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, nearly half a million children are living childhoods defined by war. “I see that war made people here negative, abusive, and violent,” says 12-year-old Veronika. “That used to be just an adult thing, but children are now like that too here.”...
