Creating a Space for Women Healing from FGM
One night 14 years ago, Hawa Bah crept out of her house in Guinea and slipped into the darkness. She says she had lost count, but it may have been her 14th or 15th escape attempt from an abusive marriage she was forced into with a man 37 years her senior. ow 32, Bah is […]
Benin Identifies an Outbreak of the Highly Contagious H5N1 Avian Flu
Laboratory testing conducted last week showed that several recent bird fatalities in Benin’s southern Seme-Podji and Abomey Calavi districts were associated with positive H5N1 cases, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. Benin is now waiting for those results to be confirmed by a laboratory in Italy, the statement said. “To date, the situation at […]
Seychelles Giant Tortoise has made Scientists Doubt Themselves
A video shows the astonishing moment an Aldabra giant tortoise hunts and kills a noddy tern chick. It’s the first time this behaviour has ever been documented and changes what scientists thought they knew about the species. A study of the slow-speed hunt has been published in the scientific journal Current Biology. The footage was […]
A Silver Lining for the South African Economy
South Africa’s economy is 11% bigger than previously estimated, after statistics authorities changed the way they calculate gross domestic product. GDP at current prices measured $369 billion in 2020, compared with a previous estimate of 4.97 trillion rand, said Joe de Beer, deputy director-general of economic data at Statistics South Africa, told reporters Wednesday in […]
The Meteoric Rise of a Financial Services Firm Based in Nigeria
In less than three years, OPay has gone from a curious startup known for its motorcycles in Lagos, Nigeria, to a financial services company worth $2 billion. The latest valuation comes after it raised $400 million from a round led by SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, with Sequoia Capital China, and five other large firms […]
Madagascar On the Brink of the World’s First Climate Change Famine
The drought – the worst in four decades – has devastated isolated farming communities in the south of the country, leaving families to scavenge for insects to survive. “These are famine-like conditions and they’re being driven by climate not conflict,” said the UN World Food Programme’s Shelley Thakral. The UN estimates that 30,000 people are […]
Afghanistan’s Only Girls Boarding School Evacuates Students and Staff to Rwanda
The move came days after the Taliban ousted the government in Afghanistan. “Last week, we completed the departure from Kabul of nearly 250 students, faculty, staff, and family members,” said Shabana Basij-Rasikh, who co-founded the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) in the Afghan capital. “Everyone is en route, by way of Qatar, to the nation […]
