Transportable and cheap, a made-in-Italy DNA kit prototype promises to allow molecular analysis directly in the field, sending collected data instantly across the world.
Tag: africa
FORÉCARIAH — Assény Touré’s tightly drawn features bear testament to his harrowing ordeal. In December, after he was diagnosed with Ebola, this taciturn 30-year-old was chased out of the village where he was born, Béta, an hour-drive away from Forécariah, in western Guinea. The virus killed 19 members of his family. He survived. And yet […]
Spaghetti produced from the wheat of local farms is served in the restaurants of Ethiopia, which discovered pasta during Italian colonial rule but only now are developing an entire economy around it.
For the past 50 years, religion has been a key element in Moroccan diplomacy with its African neighbors. Now it’s part of the fight against Islamic terrorism on the continent.
In the fifth grade, a 10-year-old Noh Blaghen discovered graphic Japanese comics, otherwise known as mangas. It was in the early 2000s in Benin, Nigeria, and they were rare there. A friend’s parents, who had been traveling in France and in Belgium, returned home with stacks of them, which Noh devoured with his friends. In […]
China may be Africa’s largest trade partner and investor, but what China brings to the table is often regarded as sloppy, thoughtless and inconsistent with African values.
Categories
Next Mechanic: 10 Miles
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well that’s lucky, because I don’t really remember what happened here. I’ll let you imagine the misfortunes of these two Swazi men.
Categories
The Stone Giant
It’s a geological phenomenon known as giant’s kettles, where erosion carves out cauldron-like shapes in stone. In this picture of Bourke’s Luck Potholes — in the upper Blyde River Canyon, in the South African Drakensberg mountain range — it seemed the giant himself was staring at us.
CAIRO — The Egyptian military, with its recently announced Complete Cure device, is hardly the first to claim unproven cures for diseases that have ravaged millions of lives. Since the discovery of HIV/AIDS, false claims of cures have been advertised and often endorsed by governments all over the world — especially in Africa, the continent […]
Producers from Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia have visited the Colombian estates of producers to discover the social, environmental and aesthetic benefits of growing shade coffee.
GENEVA — Between a mission in Ethiopia and a meeting in Rome, Hans Herren stops over in Geneva to speak at a conference at the World Trade Organization. The Swiss agricultural engineer is a world-renowned expert in insects who has spent most of his professional life in Africa. During the 1980s and 90s, he established […]
Look up in the sky. No wait, don’t!
The tragedy earlier this month off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, which left more than 300 dead, is a cruel reminder of the treacherous journey across the sea to Italy’s southern coastlines made by so many would-be immigrants. But Italy is typically just the entry point for immigrants, a springboard for other European […]
GULF OF GUINEA – In the dark of night, dozens of oil wells are spitting orange flames. They are the only things to be seen on this jet-black sea. This area south of Nigeria is one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world. There are no lights on the deck of the Latouche-Treville […]
Categories
In Rwanda, Circumcision Is All The Rage
The procedure is gaining popularity amongst young men who believe, erroneously, that it eliminates any risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
SAHARONIM – Last summer, Israel passed an amendment to the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law, which allows refugees to be held for a minimum of three years without detention without a trial or charges being brought against them. According to the law, refugees from “enemy states” can be held in indefinite detention, even if they […]
Idjwi is a rare example of a preserved ecosystem in the troubled eastern Congolese region. But poverty and crop disease are now putting this tranquil island at risk too.
Worldcrunch El Financiero reported this week that child labor abuses affect at least three million kids in Mexico: long workdays, minimal or no payment, informal jobs, and more blatent abuse are constant factors in their daily lives. The last official numbers on underage workers were released in 2011 and indicated that about 870,000 boys and […]
ADDIS ABABA – Initially, her idea was to provide work for her family in her native village of Zenabework, about 30 kilometers from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. When she announced that she was going to start her own company on a plot of land lent by her grandmother, everyone said: You are crazy! You […]
RFI, FRANCE 24 (France), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), AAP (Australia), MAIL&GUARDIAN (South Africa) Worldcrunch BANGUI – After rebels in the Central African Republic ousted President François Bozize, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared Monday that he was “deeply concerned by reports of violations of human rights.” Michel Djotodia, the leader of the Seleka rebels, declared himself president […]
Benedict XVI himself said Africa deserves to be considered for the papacy.
The Microsoft founder and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are active in trying to eradicate polio. But immunization efforts have led to deadly attacks from Nigeria to Pakistan.
RWANDA – Severe weather kills and natural disasters can be particularly deadly in Rwanda, like elsewhere in Africa. The most deadly storm last year killed at least 72 people and injured more than 120. According to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR), in 2012 alone, 3000 homes were destroyed. Justin Kayira, Director […]
Italians teach locals in Burkina Faso both the recipe for pizza, and the formula for a successful small business. Is this how foreign aid is transformed into sustainable development?
BERLIN – Asir’s life was preprogrammed. The North African Muslim was to be trained to be a jihadist in a Palestinian terrorist camp. There he would learn how to build bombs and kill non-believers. But just before he was due to leave, he started to have doubts. “I realized that there were several versions of […]
KIGALI– Beginning in January, every African visitor to Rwanda will be granted his or her visa upon arrival in the country from any border post. This “on-the-spot” visa process, according to Ange Sebutege, communications officer at the Rwandan Immigration Services, is designed to bring in more Africans tourists. Until now, visitors had to fill out […]
FRANCE 24 (France), BBC NEWS (UK), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch BANGUI – The United Nations has evacuated its non-essential staff from the Central African Republic, while the U.S. urged its nationals to leave as rebels closed in on the capital, reports France 24. The United Nations ordered more than 200 non-essential staff and families of […]
BUKAVU – During the occupation of the Congolese city of Goma by the M23 rebels last month, the nearby border with Rwanda remained open, and daily exchanges between the two central African neighbors continued as usual. “We have no problem with the Rwandans as people. They are our brothers, our neighbors,” explains a Congolese teacher […]
GOMA – Following the withdrawal of the M23 rebel troops that for 12 days occupied the eastern city of Goma, locals remain cautious and fearful, despite reassurances from government authorities. Meanwhile, those who had supported the M23 are keeping a low profile. The M23 rebels took control of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu […]
REUTERS, BBC NEWS (UK), WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA) Worldcrunch BAMAKO – Mali“s Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra announced his resignation on Tuesday, hours after being arrested by soldiers while trying to leave for France, reports Reuters. Diarra addressed the nation on national television saying: “Our country is living through a period of crisis. Men and […]
CITI FM (Ghana), AFP (France) Worldcrunch A multi-story shopping complex has collapsed in the Ghanaian capital Accra Wednesday morning. Ghanaian public radio Citi FM reports that at least six people have been rescued. Reports suggest there could be as many as 200 people trapped inside, with many feared dead. There have been three reported deaths […]
THE NEW TIMES (Rwanda), LE MONDE (France), BBC (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch Rwanda is tipped to take one of five UN Security Council seats today, despite mounting pressure on the country over the allegations that it is backing an armed rebellion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A confidential UN report, leaked to Reuters on […]
KIGALI – In Rwanda, getting married has always been a complicated affair. Before anything, the families of the bride and groom sit down for a long negotiation. Once they have exchanged gifts and agreed that the couple should indeed marry, and of course settled on what the dowry will be, the traditional wedding can start. […]
Categories
Is Africa’s Economic Miracle Just A Mirage?
-Analysis- In the financial press, Africa is now hailed as the “go-to” continent. It seems to be at the cusp of a golden age: its growth and direct foreign investment rates recall those of China at the beginning of the 2000s; South Africa has become one of the booming BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa). The continent also […]
GOMA – In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mothers of disabled children, rather than being given the help they need, are typically blamed for the disability — and often literally chased out of their homes. Lingering local superstitions say that a mother is somehow responsible for her child’s health problems — and the consequences […]
TIMES OF SWAZILAND (Swaziland), REUTERS, MAIL & GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT (South Africa), AFP (France) Worldcrunch As weeks of protest culminate in an ongoing teachers strike and public enterprises’ workers threaten to down tools en masse this week, reports the Independent, King Mswati III of Swaziland has launched a three-day “people’s parliament” in an attempt to appease […]