The death toll continued to rise in Lebanon following a massive blast in Beirut, with the government confirming at least 73 people dead and another 4,700 injured and seeking care at overwhelmed and damaged hospitals. The explosion in the city’s port shattered buildings and overturned cars on nearby roadways with…
Some 6,500 service personnel will likely return to assignments in the United States as the U.S. Africa Command based in Stuttgart, Germany, plans a move of AFRICOM headquarters announced this week. U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of AFRICOM, acknowledged President Donald Trump’s decision to move from Germany while assuring…
The music world is mourning the death of Balla Sidibé, a founding member and lead singer of the Senegalese music group Orchestra Baobab. He died in Dakar on Wednesday and was buried late in the day. “He was rehearsing new material with the group only yesterday. Balla was a giant…
The United States on Friday added to what it says is the growing body of evidence that Russia, through the private military Wagner Group, is actively providing military equipment and fighters to factions in Libya in violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution that establishes an arms embargo. U.S….
The World Health Organization has issued a clear warning about the acceleration of coronavirus cases on the African continent, noting that many countries are seeing a rise in positive COVID cases that exceeds the percentage that has commanded so much attention in South Africa. “It’s not accelerating any faster than…
President Alassane Ouattara was on hand Friday for services to honor Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the former prime minister of Côte d’Ivoire who died on July 8. Coulibaly was buried in his family hometown of Korhogo following a week of national mourning. He was 61, and had recently returned from France…
South Africa has instituted a mandatory face mask policy, nighttime curfew and a return to a ban on liquor sales as the country faces an upsurge in coronavirus cases – the equivalent of 500 new cases each hour. “Like the massive cold fronts that sweep into our country from the…
The outlook on Libya is gloomy, says United Nations chief António Guterres, warning that “time is not on our side” in the effort to achieve a political solution for a nation divided by nearly a decade of war. Guterres, speaking to the UN Security Council, said the conflict was in…
The European Union has committed €15 million to the fight against desert locusts, which have devastated crops in East Africa. It’s the worst outbreak in decades, and a new generation of locusts is now threatening the region with the potential to spread beyond the Horn of Africa and Yemen, into…
Attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Democratic Republic of Congo have claimed 793 lives in the last 18 months and may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new United Nations report. The report, released Tuesday by the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the…
Nine Nigerian nationals working aboard the Sendje Berge have been abducted by armed attackers, according to vessel operator BW Offshore. The nine were taken about 4:20 a.m. local time on Thursday, said the company in a statement. The incident happened on the Okwori oil field, located offshore of Bonny Island…
Rwanda is the only nation in sub-Saharan Africa that appears to be approved for travel to the European Union as management of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, according to a list seen by the New York Times. The short list of non-European nations with citizens determined eligible to enter the EU,…
Activists in Belgium have targeted statues of King Leopold II in several cities as part of the Black Lives Matter protest movement sweeping from the United States and into European nations. Protest actions in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent were among those focused on the statues, which commemorate a king whose…
France saw another round of anti-racism and police brutality rallies on Saturday, as protests that touched off in the United States after the May 25 death of an African American man in police custody continued to spread into other countries. The country’s interior ministry said more than 23,000 people gathered…
Cities across the United States woke up Sunday morning to the grim aftermath of fresh waves of protest that have now lasted nearly a week, spreading from Minneapolis – a diverse community that is home to many African immigrants – and cascading across dozens of cities where racial tensions have…