Two African athletes are now suspended from further Olympics competition in Tokyo following the results of testing for banned substances. Kenyan runner Mark Otieno tested positive for the steroid methasterone, according to media outlet The Standard, and was pulled from competition in the 100-meter men’s race on Saturday. He has…
South Africa voiced its objection to Israel’s new status as an observer at the African Union, issuing a statement Wednesday that said it was “appalled” by a decision described as “unjust and unwarranted.” The statement from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) follows last week’s decision by the…
Some 1,000 Kenyans are suing the British military, after a wildfire back on March 24 destroyed part of a wildlife conservation area and affected people in the surrounding communities. Lawyers for the Kenyans say the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) started the fire while conducting military training exercises. The…
Four members of South Africa’s Olympic sports teams in Tokyo have tested positive for the coronavirus. Three of them are members of Team South Africa’s soccer squad and have moved into an isolation facility after testing positive for COVID, according to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC)….
A prominent labor union in Cyprus is among those calling for an investigation into the deaths of four Egyptians believed to have died in a fast-moving wildfire that authorities say was among the worst in recent memory. The four men were all migrant farm workers, according to the Pancyprian Federation…
Namibia reported a record high of 2,547 new COVID cases on Thursday, as health minister Kalumbi Shangula appealed for more oxygen supplies and nurses. South Africa saw 18,762 new cases as the government began deploying its COVID surge team. Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya – they’re all seeing impacts from a trending…
A Swiss court handed down a landmark conviction on Friday in the case of Alieu Kosiah, a former head of a Liberian militia accused of war crimes during the first Liberian war in the 1990s. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court in the city of Bellinzona found Kosiah guilty of 21…
William Lacy Swing, a former director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United States diplomat with several postings in Africa, has died. “It is with a heavy heart that I learned of my predecessor’s passing,” said IOM Director General António Vitorino, who replaced Swing in 2018. “His was…
The humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has reached a level of food insecurity not seen since the 2011 famine in Somalia, according to a new United Nations report released Thursday. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update warns that more than 350,000 people in the Tigray conflict zone,…
When Mount Nyiragongo erupted on Saturday, residents of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo evacuated the city until the lava flows stopped. Although 17 villages were destroyed and some three dozen people died, the rest were allowed to return – but not for long. That’s because of serious concerns…
Earthquakes continued to rumble in western Rwanda following the weekend eruption of Mount Nyiragongo volcano, with some 651 Congolese who fled the Goma area now taking refuge across the border, according to Rwandan media. The latest 4.6-magnitude quake happened Tuesday evening near Gisenyi and was one of a series of…
At least 15 people are dead following the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo volcano on Saturday, according to Congolese authorities who continue to assess the damage and coordinate aid response to affected villages. The 15 fatalities come from road accidents during an evacuation of Goma and its surroundings, and include four…
Congolese authorities have activated an evacuation plan for the populous city of Goma following eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo volcano on Saturday evening. The evacuation decision was made during an emergency meeting held by Prime Minister Sama Lukonde, amid mounting concern over the scope of lava flows and their impact….
Authorities in the Maldives were searching on Sunday for debris from China’s uncontrolled CZ-5B R/B rocket, which reentered earth’s atmosphere and broke apart over the Indian Ocean and just west of the island nation group. The Maldives National Defence Force said a Coast Guard squadron was activated after receiving reports…
All eyes are on the skies as space debris from China’s Tianhe-Long March rocket launch edges closer to a fall from orbit, with parts of the African continent still within the range of places that could be affected by any rocket debris that falls to earth. The latest update from…