Africa

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One of Africa's Driest Countries Finds Water

And aquifer could be enough to supply northern Namibia for centuries

(Newser) - Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, but perhaps not for long. The BBC reports that an aquifer flowing beneath its boundary with Angola has been discovered—and the new water source could keep the country's north anything but parched for some 400 years. And one encouraging announcement...

In Florida Skies This Week: Saharan Dust

Annual visitor helped along by trade winds

(Newser) - Residents of South Florida this week might find the sky a little hazier and the temperature a little higher, and they can thank the African Sahara. As the Miami Herald explains, desert dust will be making an appearance, a regular summer event. The dust particles travel across the ocean on...

Rwanda, Congo OK Border Army to Hunt Rebels

African nations set differences aside at summit

(Newser) - Presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo mended fences today by agreeing on an international force to hunt down rebels in the Congo's chaotic borderlands, Reuters reports. Rwanda's Paul Kagame and the Congo's Joseph Kabila signed the surprising agreement at an African Union summit in...

Obama&#39;s &#39;Boring&#39; Aid Is Saving Lives in Africa
Obama's 'Boring' Aid
Is Saving Lives in Africa
nicholas kristof
Jul 12, 2012 2:02 PM CDT

Obama's 'Boring' Aid Is Saving Lives in Africa

Nicholas Kristof: US emphasis on agriculture isn't sexy, but it's effective

(Newser) - President Obama deserves credit for a great foreign aid success, writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , but it's a safe bet you haven't heard of it. That's because it's happening not in a war zone or some sexy locale but on small farms in...

'Tough' New Car Designed for Sale ... in Africa

Mobius Two can fit eight people and haul large cargo

(Newser) - Africa, meet the $6,000 car. Mobius Motors plans to sell Africa a new vehicle, the Mobius Two, even though the entire continent has just a $15 billion market (about $485 billion lower than America's). But the Mobius Two could revolutionize the economy in a land where hundreds of...

US Outsourcing African Spy Missions

US contractors have been searching for Joseph Kony for years, with contractors

(Newser) - The US was searching for Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony for years before it sent troops to central Africa last year , but it was using American contractors instead of the military, the Washington Post finds in a detailed look at the program code-named "Tusker Sand." Private...

US Has Vast Secret Intel Operation in Africa

'Washington Post' reveals details in extensive article

(Newser) - In an extensive piece today, the Washington Post details a vastly expanded secret intelligence operation that the US military has been establishing across Africa since 2007, a surveillance network of disguised aircraft and a dozen air bases used to spy on al-Qaeda and other terrorist operations. The Obama administration has...

Cargo Plane Crashes Into Crowded Bus

 Cargo Plane Hits 
 Bus, Kills 10 
updated
Jun 2, 2012 4:46 PM CDT

Cargo Plane Hits Bus, Kills 10

Ghana's capital city is scene of horrific accident

(Newser) - A Boeing 727 cargo plane attempting to land at the international airport in Ghana's capital crashed today, slamming into a bus loaded with passengers on a nearby street, killing all 10 people inside the vehicle, emergency responders and airport officials said. The crash occurred in Accra near Kotoka International...

Red Cross: 16 Killed in Nigeria University Attack

Bayero University strike resembles assaults by Islamist sect

(Newser) - Gunmen attacked church services on a university campus today in northern Nigeria, using small explosives to draw out and gun down panicking worshipers in an assault that killed at least 16 people, officials said. The attackers targeted an old section of Bayero University's campus where religious groups use a...

Africa Sitting On Tons of ... Water?

Seemingly dry continent has vast groundwater reserves

(Newser) - Believe it or not, Africa is lousy with water—it's just mostly underground. British scientists have produced a new map of the groundwater hidden in aquifers under the arid continent, and found that there's about 100 times more water down there than there is on the surface, the...

Swede Minister Blasted for 'Racist Cake' Stunt

Controversial 'art' aimed to highlight genital mutilation

(Newser) - A Swedish culture minister is under attack for gleefully cutting into a cake made to look like a racist caricature of a black African woman. Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth defended the cake-cutting event, part of an art installation at Stockholm's modern art museum that was intended to highlight the issue...

Farmers Fight Elephants With Chili Peppers

Low-tech solution saves crops because elephants' noses very sensitive

(Newser) - With elephant populations finally on the rebound in eastern Africa, farmers are increasingly squaring off against the giant pachyderms, which can eat up to 660 pounds of food a day. Electric fences have been deemed too dangerous and expensive, so many farmers have started employing a much lower-tech solution to...

How Old Is That Giraffe? Check Its Spots

They get darker around the time of puberty

(Newser) - You can tell how old a male giraffe is by looking at its spots, according to a new study. Researchers looked at 33 years of data on Thornicroft giraffes in Zambia and discovered that the level of darkness of the animal's brown blotches reveals its age, reports BBC Nature...

Southern Africa Gets First Female Leader

Joyce Banda is Malawi's new president

(Newser) - A milestone for southern Africa today, by way of Malawi: Joyce Banda was sworn in as president to become the first female leader in the region, reports the BBC . Banda takes over from Bingu wa Mutharika, who died of a heart attack on Thursday but whose death was confirmed by...

Nobel Peace Prize Winner: Anti-Gay Law Is OK

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf spoke while Tony Blair squirmed

(Newser) - Nobel Peace Prize winner and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says gay sex should remain illegal: "We like ourselves just the way we are," she told the Guardian . "We've got certain traditional values in our society that we would like to preserve." Former British Prime...

Trump Sons Slammed for 'Desecrating' Elephant

Donald Jr., Eric shown posing with big game hunting kills

(Newser) - Donald Trump's sons went on a hunting safari in Africa last year, and thought it would be a good idea to pose in photo after photo with the animals they killed. Said photos surfaced yesterday, and not surprisingly, animal rights groups are outraged, TMZ reports. One picture in particular...

4 Dead, 40 Hurt in Kenya Attack

Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents blamed for grenade strike

(Newser) - A grenade attack at one of the main bus stations in Kenya's capital killed at least four people and wounded 40 others today, officials said, in the latest bloodshed blamed on sympathizers of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked insurgency. Witnesses reported that people in a moving car hurled three grenades at...

Amazing Race Producer Poisoned in Africa

Jeff Rice dead in Uganda following failed shakedown by thugs

(Newser) - An American Amazing Race producer was found dead of poisoning in an African hotel following a failed shakedown by local thugs, Fox News is reporting. Freelance producer Jeff Rice's assistant was also discovered critically ill from poisoning in the same Uganda hotel after the pair refused to comply with...

Ben Affleck Lends Star Power on African Atrocities

He and 'Washington Post' columnist hear tales of LRA brutalities

(Newser) - Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army have been terrorizing central Africa for years, "but the net around him tightens," writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post . Gerson accompanied Ben Affleck, who founded the Eastern Congo Initiative , to the region to hear first-hand the tales of atrocities...

Bungee Cord Breaks Over Croc-Infested River

Australian tourist falls into African river on New Year's Eve

(Newser) - An Australian tourist plummeted 360 feet into crocodile-infested waters in Africa on New Year's Eve when her bungee cord broke, Channel 9 News reports. Plunging into the Zambesi River, which borders Zambia and Zimbabwe, Erin Langworthy, 22, blacked out for a moment before battling roaring water and a maddening...

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