The director general of the World Health Organization appeared Saturday to be walking back his decision to make President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe a WHO goodwill health ambassador, amid international outcry about Mugabe being an appropriate choice for the role. “I’m listening. I hear your concerns,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus…
The World Health Organization said Friday it is working with Uganda to contain an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) that has appeared in the eastern parts of the country near the Kenya border. WHO confirmed that at least one of two reported deaths is tied to MVD, a virus in…
The new FCB Mihrab building has opened in the Kenyan capital, and managers with the Mihrab Development Ltd (MDL) say the space in the majestic, USD$1.3 million tower is already 50 percent full. The building, designed by architectural firm Morphosis, is designed to reflect Islamic values and welcome tenants who…
South African scientists are celebrating their contribution to an unprecedented space discovery, through data gathered by their Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory. For the first time, scientists have directly detected gravitational waves, or ripples in space-time, in addition to light from the spectacular collision of…
After much confusion, Liberian election officials have confirmed a November 7 date for the runoff election between presidential candidates George Weah and Joseph Boakai. That’s according to the National Elections Commission (NEC), following the release of final vote tallies ahead of a deadline for next Wednesday. Weah, a former football…
Carrefour, the global retail giant based in suburban Paris, operates stores in more than 30 countries – but in Kenya, there’s one woman who won’t be welcomed back to any of their locations. That’s after a September 30 altercation in which a white woman reportedly made racist comments to other…
Police in Uganda confirmed the death of an unidentified man they say was injured when a political rally in Rukungiri turned violent Wednesday – but they tell a starkly different story than opposition leaders who say they were there when police opened fire on the crowd. Patrick Amuriat, an opposition…
Human rights advocates are again calling on the United States Congress to move forward with a resolution they say the Ethiopian government has intentionally suppressed, using threats to withhold its cooperation on counterterrorism. Legislators were supposed to vote October 2 on H.Res. 128, a measure calling for human rights protections…
Nigeria’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, this year’s recipient of the World Food Prize, says that Africa has the potential to help feed the world but needs assistance to cultivate a modern agribusiness sector and infrastructure to support it. “Africa cannot grow in the dark,” said Adesina in remarks made this week while…
A federal judge in the United States has ruled to block President Donald Trump’s latest version of a travel ban that affects people from Chad, Libya and Somalia, as well as five other nations including Syria. The decision by U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu, Hawaii, prevents the ban…
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Tuesday that Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, died suddenly while en route to a global health summit in South America. Fikri had served since February as the regional director of a challenging territory that includes Djibouti, Egypt, Libya,…
Liberians are still anxiously waiting to hear complete election results from the National Elections Commission (NEC) as voters in two Nimba precincts will recast their votes on Tuesday. The NEC says it will withhold any further results reporting until Nimba’s are added to the count, which keeps the known results…
Federal prosecutors in Ethiopia have set a November 3 hearing date in the case of Merera Gudina, the head of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) who has remained in custody since a November 2016 arrest. Merera, a 61-year-old scholar and lifelong human rights activist, entered long-delayed not guilty pleas on…
It’s not every day that you find “Sahara” trending on Twitter accounts in Ireland and England, but Monday was no ordinary day as thousands of people marveled at skies turned orange and yellow, and a sun turned a striking red. People described “surreal skies” and a daylong eerie scene in…
Donald Yamamoto, the acting assistant secretary for African affairs at the United States Department of State, testified before a U.S. congressional committee on Wednesday in defense of a USD$5.2 billion foreign assistance budget request for FY2018. Yamamoto, in a position that President Donald Trump’s administration has yet to formally fill,…