Tanzania

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Nodding Disease Strikes Uganda, Confounds World

No answers to affliction that causes retardation, stunts growth

(Newser) - It's called the "nodding disease," a mysterious ailment in East Africa that attacks only children, striking the brain and nervous system, stunting growth, causing seizures and mental retardation, reports the New York Times . It first appeared in the 1960s, but was often misdiagnosed until recently. Found from...

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...

Meet the World's Newest Snake: Matilda

Matilda's Horned Viper, to be precise

(Newser) - A brand-new species of snake sports yellow and black scales, two spiked horns, and a pretty cool name: Matilda's Horned Viper. Scientists discovered it in Tanzania two years ago and it got introduced last month as the world's newest snake species. It's only the third new snake...

Unlikely Tourist Hotspots for 2012

Panama, Finland, and Myanmar top the list

(Newser) - If you like cool design, upscale safaris, or a forbidden communist island, the New York Times can recommend 45 locales to visit in 2012. Among them:
  • Panama. See the world-famous canal before its expansion, then stay for Panama City's economic boom and Frank Gehry's first design in Latin
...

Amnesty Demands Bush's Arrest

African countries should seize president 'responsible for torture'

(Newser) - George W. Bush should be arrested for his role in waterboarding, Amnesty International says, and his trip to Africa presents an opportunity for that. “International law requires that there be no safe haven for those responsible for torture; Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia must seize this opportunity to fulfill their...

Hundreds Missing in 2 Ferry Accidents

600 aboard vessel in Tanzania; smaller accident in China

(Newser) - Separate ferry accidents in Tanzania and China have taken a heavy toll:
  • Tanzania: An overcrowded ship with about 600 people capsized in rough seas after leaving port at Dar es Salaam. At least 40 are dead and about 370 missing. The rest were rescued, reports AP . Relatives are livid the
...

Why Lions Will Eat You After Full Moon

They're especially hungry because they can't hunt on bright nights

(Newser) - African lions are most likely to hunt prey on moonless nights, and especially on nights following a full, bright moon, the Telegraph reports. A study looked at roughly 500 lion attacks on Tanzanian villagers over the past two decades, and found that a vast majority occurred between dusk and 10pm...

Cunning Crew Foils Pirates... by Locking Door

Aargh. They give up, go home

(Newser) - Somali pirates attempted to grab a French tanker yesterday, and failed—after the crew locked themselves in the control room. Unable to take over the vessel, the pirates gave up and returned to their ship. The attack took place about 100 miles off the coast of Tanzania on a liquefied...

US Navy Thwarts Pirate Attack on Tanzanian Ship

Eight pirates captured while trying to escape

(Newser) - A US warship stepped in to defend a Tanzanian ship that was under attack from pirates, scaring off and capturing the scallywags. When the USS Farragut got a distress call from the Tanzanians saying a gang on a skiff was attacking them, a Seahawk helicopter was dispatched to the scene....

Startled Snake Horks Up New Chameleon Species

British scientist startled reptile before it could digest dinner

(Newser) - A Tanzanian snake so startled by a British researcher that it threw up its still-undigested dinner in fact horked up a previously unknown species of chameleon. Andrew Marshall tells the Guardian he was surveying monkeys in the Magombera forest when he tripped over the nervous twig snake; though worried about...

Chimps Can Get AIDS: Study
 Chimps Can Get AIDS: Study 
Jul 22, 2009 3:44 PM CDT

Chimps Can Get AIDS: Study

SIV-infected chimps have high death rate, low T-cell counts

(Newser) - Scientists have found evidence that chimpanzees can be sickened by SIV, the non-human version of HIV, adding to the understanding of how HIV/AIDS developed, the AP reports. Scientists have long believed that while other primates can contract simian immunodeficiency virus, they are not affected by it. A 9-year study of...

Thirteen Bodies, Plane Wreckage Found Near Tanzania

Remains suspected to be from Yemenia flight

(Newser) - Thirteen bodies found off the coast of Tanzania’s Mafia Island may be the remains of passengers from the Yemen Airways flight that crashed into the Indian Ocean last week, Reuters reports. Tanzanian authorities say that airplane seats and what may be part of an airplane wing were also found...

Tanzania Opens Trials in Killings of Albinos

Dozens arrested in 40 murders; body parts used for witchcraft

(Newser) - Tanzania is trying seven people for murdering albinos and selling their body parts for use in witchcraft, the BBC reports. Dozens have been arrested in some 40 murders over the past year and a half, but so far no one has been convicted. Witch doctors sell “albino potions” for...

First Gitmo Detainee Arrives in US for Trial

Ahmed Ghailani to be tried for bombing US embassies

(Newser) - The first Guantanamo Bay detainee has landed on US soil, landing in New York to face trial on charges of bombing US embassies, the Justice Department said today. Ahmed Ghailani arrived in the early morning, to be held in law enforcement custody until his trial in federal court in lower...

Timberlake to Scale Kilimanjaro for Charity

Star climbing African mountain to raise awareness of global water crisis

(Newser) - Justin Timberlake is taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise awareness about the world water crisis, Access Hollywood reports. The star—who has been training four times a week to boost his lung capacity for the week-long climb—will be joined by Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco and Ethiopian-born...

Tanzanians Asked to Secretly Finger Albino-Murderers

(Newser) - The government of Tanzania is turning to a secret “referendum” to ferret out those behind a surge in killings that have left 45 albinos dead in the past 15 months, the BBC reports. Officials aim to collect, in writing, names of suspects. “When you invite people to accuse...

Watershed Vaccine May End Malaria Toll

If trials work as expected, shots could save millions of children

(Newser) - Scientists have developed a promising vaccine against malaria, a devastating disease that kills a milion people a year, most of them young children. Trials of the breakthrough vaccine enter the final phase next year and it could be widely available by 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times. Successful trials have...

Man's New Best Friend: Rats Ferret Out Land Mines, TB

(Newser) - Move over, Rover: Man has a new best friend that is helping to combat two scourges plaguing the developing world. Rats, normally reviled as filthy vermin, are sniffing out land mines and detecting tuberculosis bacteria. "Rats are usually considered pests or enemies of humanity,” said one Mozambican handler,...

Murders Terrify Tanzanian Albinos
Murders Terrify Tanzanian Albinos
Nov 4, 2008 2:03 PM CST

Murders Terrify Tanzanian Albinos

Killers sell body parts for use in witchcraft

(Newser) - Tanzanian Albinos are living in fear, "unsure of waking up in one piece," said one, as 30 have been killed this year for their body parts, the Guardian reports. Their pigment-free hair, skin, genitals, and extremities are used in witchcraft to bring enrichment, a “stupid belief,”...

Downturns Spark 'Witch Hunts' Against Elderly

People lash out during tough times, researchers explain

(Newser) - "Witch-hunting” is a hot term these days as angry Wall Street investors pine for revenge—but in some countries they take it literally, Tim Harford writes in Slate. In Tanzania, Bolivia, and India, elderly women are often targeted as witches when resources are scarce. Tanzanian women are killed by...

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