Heal or kill? How Germany colluded with drug makers to dupe citizens about efficacy of Covid vaccines
And according to a February 25, 2022, document, RKI was prevented from downgrading its overall risk assessment of Covid-19 from “very high” to “high” even after the mostly mild symptoms of the Omicron wave were evident, due to intervention from Lauterbach and the German Health Ministry.
Tough choices Zimbabwean children make daily: Giving up school or risk being mauled by wild animals
In Zimbabwe, schoolchildren face threats from animals. Now they are learning how to spot the dangers On the impoverished edges of a conservancy that protects wildlife in southeastern Zimbabwe, 14-year-old Esther Bote wakes up at dawn to a practiced daily routine. She cleans the house, lights the fire, cooks, bathes...
Report: When Tigrayan conflict ended in Ethiopia it triggered a surge in rape and violence against women
Women can be double victims. An entrenched cultural idea of a woman’s “purity” often stigmatises survivors – forcing them into silence. They are left alone to bear the burden of what they have been forced to endure as communities become desensitised to the horror.
Humanitarian aid trap: Somali official calls for state control over aid funds as ‘aid community actors are only accountable to themselves’
Budget support is justified, Ainte said, because the government is responsible for what happens in Somalia, even if the conflict means it does not control all of the country’s territory. Ainte did not specify which institutions might work with the government to programme any redirected money, though he mentioned it could be done by UN agencies.
Details emerge of how US top brass were caught conspiring to duck questions on Covid origins at Wuhan Lab
EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organisation focused on emerging infectious diseases, has been at the centre of debates surrounding the origins of Covid-19 due to its work with bat coronaviruses and its partnership with the Wuhan lab.
Barcelona getting rid of Airbnbs in move likely to be copied by other tourist destinations to fight crime, raise cheap housing
Residents of the city, which has a population of about 1.6 million, have campaigned against “overtourism” for several years, but the anti-tourism sentiment has grown more heated: During a protest in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district this month, some participants shouted “Go home!” and squirted water pistols at people seated at outdoor tables.
How after clearing their TNT stocks US and Nato relied on imports from Ukrainian for missile making but Russians easily cut off supplies
Besides the plant in Poland, production of TNT is now concentrated in China and India. Customs records examined show at least 1,200 tonnes of TNT were exported from India in 2023 and 2024 to arms makers that supply Western forces. India also shipped large volumes of the explosive fillers RDX and HMX to Poland’s Nitro-Chem.
Report: Failure by US, NATO to prepare for war against Russia is down to military leaders, Pentagon officials, defence contractors and politicians
In the years between Russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and its 2022 invasion, for example, repeated warnings from top NATO commanders and from officials who operated or supervised US munitions plants went largely unheeded. They advised their governments, both publicly and privately, that the alliance’s munitions industry was ill-equipped to surge production should war demand it. Because of the failure to respond to those warnings, many artillery production lines at already-ancient factories in the United States and Europe slowed to a crawl or closed altogether.
Housing: How rapid urban migration is piling pressure on cash-strapped Kenyan government
Kenya’s urban areas are home to a third of the country’s total population of about 55 million. Of those in urban areas, 70 per cent live in informal settlements marked by a lack of basic infrastructure, according to UN-Habitat.
Conservationists resort to beekeeping to combat threat of logging along Kenyan coast
Mangroves are threatened by illegal logging, climate change and rising seas, pollution and urban development. According to a Kenya environment ministry report in 2018, about 40% of mangroves along the Indian Ocean coast are degraded.
