Four more deaths in India have been linked to selfie-taking after members from the same family fell while taking the photo at a dam in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Those deaths have renewed attention to the global “selfie death” problem and African nations are by no means immune. A study…
Five students from Kenya have been named as short-list finalists for the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded for exceptional achievements in human rights. The five – Stacy Owino, Cynthia Otieno, Purity Achieng, Mascrine Atieno and Ivy Akinyi – developed an app to help young women…
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta met with business leaders in the United States this week in a bid to attract more investment, particularly in manufacturing as his nation seeks to nearly double the sector’s share of GDP by 2022. Kenyatta spoke at a private forum hosted by the U.S. Chamber of…
Scientists from Ghana and Kenya are among 19 members from a host of nations who are launching the new “Earth Commission,” a project that draws from both the natural and social sciences to combat climate change. The group will begin immediately, with plans to complete by 2021 what they describe…
Kenya has joined the nations of Ghana and Malawi in administering a new malaria vaccine, with parts of the country participating in a pilot program offered in partnership with the World Health Organization. The vaccine known as RTS,S has taken 30 years to develop and so far is the only…
Scientists racing to save the northern white rhino say they’ve successfully created two embryos in the lab by using eggs from the last two remaining females and frozen sperm from deceased males. “The embryos are now stored in liquid nitrogen to be transferred into a surrogate mother in the near…
At least 164 people across the globe were killed in 2018 while seeking to protect their land, water and other environmental rights, according to a Global Witness report released this week. That works out to more than three people each week, with the greatest losses in the Philippines and the…
International aid organization Oxfam says more than 15 million people in the Horn of Africa region need assistance because of an ongoing drought, with lives at risk because lessons learned from drought conditions earlier this decade are being ignored. Parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are affected again after sparse…
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya was on hand Friday for the launch of the Lake Turkana wind energy project, which is expected to increase the country’s electricity supply by an estimated 13 percent. The project, the largest in Africa, has an installed capacity of 310 megawatts of clean renewable energy,…
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta focused on sustainable urban development as the two participated in a panel discussion on cities at the United Nations Habitat Assembly in Nairobi. Kenyatta said the future represents a massive challenge for urbanization, with the need for alternative solutions…
The UN human rights agency said Friday it was dismayed by the Kenyan High Court decision to uphold the nation’s ban on same-sex relations. “Criminalizing acts targeting certain individuals based on who they are and whom they love is inherently discriminatory,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet….
The hippopotamus is contributing to ecosystem health in African lakes and rivers in a way that scientists haven’t considered before, and it’s because of the beneficial silicon that hippos are transferring through their poop. “Hippos differ from other large grazing animals in the savannah,” said biologist Jonas Schoelynck from the…
President Xi Jinping of China, speaking Friday at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, focused on sustainable global development as he assured world leaders that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aligns with their own initiatives. “From the Eurasian continent to Africa, the Americas and…
Malawi on Tuesday became the first African nation to launch a pilot program to administer the world’s first malaria vaccine to children ages 2 and under, according to the World Health Organization. The vaccine known as RTS,S has taken 30 years to develop and so far is the only vaccine…
Paleontologists at Ohio University in the United States say they have discovered a new species of large carnivore, after taking a second look at fossils stored in a drawer at the National Museums of Kenya. The 22-million-year-old fossils were found in Kenya decades ago by researchers focused on ancient apes,…