African leaders were quick to extend their condolences after hearing the news that former French president Jacques Chirac had died in Paris. Chirac, 86, had a history of illness. President George Weah was among those who expressed his sorrow over the loss of Chirac, who considered himself a friend to…
It’s been one year since the death of Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino. He lived to be 45 before age-related health complications and infections claimed his life at Ol Pejeta, the conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya, that Sudan called home. He left behind a daughter, Najin, and her…
A Congolese boy who traveled to the United States for medical care – capturing many hearts along the way – has left a few of them broken, on the news that he died during complications in surgery on Friday. Matadi Sela Petit, an 8-year-old from Kinshasa, was born with a…
Fans of Marvel Comics are mourning the loss of Stan Lee, the co-creator of Black Panther and the fictional kingdom of Wakanda born on the pages of Marvel before its appearance earlier this year on the big screen. The 95-year-old Lee, whose full name was Stanley Martin Lieber, died in…
Journalist Briahna Joy Gray said Thursday that she was perhaps the only 12-year-old in Kenya who knew every word to every Aretha song – a comment she made as part of her tribute to Aretha Franklin, whose music she heard on road trips with her father while living in Kenya…
In South Africa, the family of former president Jacob Zuma – mourning the loss of his son, Vusi Nhlakanipho Zuma – issued a statement Wednesday explaining that the 25-year-old died at the weekend from complications of lupus. Services will be held Saturday in Johannesburg, followed by burial at the Westpark…
South Africans mourned on Monday the loss of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the apartheid-era leader of the country’s struggle for justice and former wife of the late Nelson Mandela. Madikizela-Mandela, 81, died at a Johannesburg hospital where she had been treated over the last year for chronic illness, the family said in…
Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, has died following a series of age-related health complications and infections. The 45-year-old rhino has been at the center of global attention because unless science can perform a technological miracle, the northern white rhino – which once roamed East and Central Africa…
Former Zimbabwe prime minister and longtime political opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has died, members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party confirmed late Wednesday. The 65-year-old Tsvangirai was reportedly battling cancer for which he was treated in South Africa, and in recent weeks had taken a turn for the…
Roy Bennett, a controversial opposition politician in Zimbabwe praised by human rights and democracy activists at home and abroad, has died in a helicopter crash while in the United States. The 60-year-old Bennett and his wife, Heather, were among five people who died when the helicopter went down Wednesday evening…
The world’s financial and diplomatic leaders have reacted with sadness to news of the death of Peter Sutherland, the 71-year-old Irish statesman and former European Union commissioner. Among the many tributes to his influence as a United Nations diplomat, or his leadership as a World Trade Organization negotiator, were those…
A New Year’s Day adventure turned deadly for two climbers on South Africa’s Table Mountain, while leading to a lengthy and daring cable car rescue to save the third and surviving member of their party. The Japanese tourists and their guide were supported by ropes just below a cable car…
Emmanuel Mensah, a Ghanaian immigrant living in the United States, is being hailed as a hero for saving the lives of four neighbors before he couldn’t escape from what is now New York City’s worst fatal fire since 1990. Twelve people died in Thursday’s blaze, among them the 28-year-old member…
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,…
Alan Root, the award-winning British filmmaker who documented the beauty of the Serengeti and other African ecosystems and wildlife for decades, has died at age 80. Root, a resident of Kenya, traveled for years with his wife Joan as they worked together on films that helped to build an understanding…