UN Helicopter Shot Down By South Sudanese Armed Forces, Four Killed

A UN helicopter was shot down by the South Sudanese army on Friday, killing all four people on board, according to UN officials. The helicopter was part of a peacekeeping mission to South Sudan, called UNMISS. It was created after the country seceded from Sudan in July of last year, according to Reuters. The UN […]

Nigerian Governor, Five Others Killed In Helicopter Crash

Nigerian Governor Ibrahim Yakowa and five others were killed when their plane crashed on Saturday in Nigeria’s oil-producing Bayelsa state, according to officials. Also killed were a former national security adviser, General Owoye Azazi, their aides Dauda Tsoho and Mohammed Kamal, as well as the two pilots, Muritala Mohammed Daba and Adeyemi Sowole, reports Reuters. […]

Nelson Mandela ‘Not Talking’: Despite Official Reports Of ‘No Cause For Alarm’

CAPE TOWN – South Africa is bracing for the worst after it was reported that Nelson Mandela’s health has deteriorated since being airlifted to hospital on Saturday. On Sunday, South African leaders issued more assurances about Mandela’s condition after a source close to the former president’s family toldThe Sunday Times — a South African newspaper […]

100 Graves Robbed, Body Parts Stolen For VooDoo Rituals

The body’s of 100 people have been desecrated by grave robbers in Benin. Authorities believe the tomb raiders dug up bodies in order to sell organs and skulls on the Voodoo black-market. The body parts are used for voodoo ritual fetishes throughout Africa. The grave-robbing incident occurred in Benin, the West African state that is […]

Twin Car Bombs Rock Nigerian Military Church, 11 Dead

Kaduna, Nigeria — At least 11 people were killed and dozens more injured when a suicide bomber rammed a bus into a military church and another detonated an explosives-packed car minutes later in Nigeria on Sunday. The attacks occurred at a church on a military base in northern Nigeria on Sunday. The first attack happened […]

Lawmakers Propose Life In Prison For Gays

Uganda lawmakers have drafted an anti-homosexuality bill that will place gay men and women in jail for life. Homosexuality is already considered an illegal act in the east African nation where gays and lesbians regularly suffer physical attacks and social exile because of their lifestyle. The new bill seeks to build on the country’s homophobia […]

Seven Robbers Shot Dead In South Africa

Johannesburg — An elite South African police unit shot seven men dead when attempted to rob a cash depot in western Johannesburg Saturday evening. Nine others were injured during the attempted robbery and are currently under police guard in a hospital. Police confiscated 11 vehicles and four firearms. Paul Ramaloko, captain of the South African […]

New Coptic Pope Installed In Islamist-Run Egypt

The Coptic Pope Tawadros II was enthroned Sunday as the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christians. He was elected Pope in early November. Reuters reports that Coptic Christians make up about a tenth of Egypt’s 83 million people, making them one of the largest minority groups in the predominantly Muslim nation. Copts have long complained […]

Suicide Bomber Attacks Nigerian Catholic Church, Kills Eight, Wounds 100 Or More

A suicide bomber in Nigeria drove a vehicle full of explosives into a Catholic church on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 100, according to officials. The bomber, suspected to be part of terrorist group Boko Haram, drove a Jeep into the crowded St. Rita’s church in Malali, Kaduna, which is […]

Khamis Gaddafi Reportedly Killed By Libyan Army During Bani Walid Siege

Khamis Gaddafi has reportedly been killed during fighting in the Libyan town of Bani Walid a year to the day that rebel forces killed his father and former dictator of Libya, Muammar. The announcement was made through a short statement by Libyan national congress spokesman Omar Hamdan, who stated that the 28-year-old was killed “in […]

Teen Wins Parliament Seat In Uganda

A teenager in Uganda has won a seat in the country’s parliament, adding to the ruling party’s majority, while embarrassing some who believe her success lowers the expectations of lawmakers in the country in East Africa. Proscovia Oromait, a 19-year-old recent high school graduate and college hopeful, contested elections deep in eastern Uganda, in order […]

Congo Massacre Claims Hundreds Of Civilian Lives, UN Reports

A massacre in Congo has claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians, according to the UN. They believe that rival armed groups are at fault for killing hundreds of civilians in “incomprehensibly vicious” attacks in eastern parts of the country. The violence has been focused in North Kivu near the Rwandan border, where warring groups […]

Cholera Outbreak Leaves 224 Dead In Sierra Leone

A Cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone has left 224 people dead and many others sick and health officials warn that the outbreak may still be gaining speed. The Financial Times reports: “Many of the deaths have occurred in the capital Freetown, where a combination of heavy rain, overcrowding, poor sanitation and dirty water has caused […]

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Dies At 57

Longtime Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died of an illness at age 57, according to Ethiopian state television. “Prime Minister Meles Zenawi passed away yesterday evening at around midnight,” goverenment spokesman Bereket Simon said Tuesday, adding that the Zenawi “was abroad” when he died. “He has been struggling to be healthy in the last […]

South Africa Massacre Was Self Defense, Police Say

In what some are calling the South Africa Massacre, more than 30 people were shot and killed by South African police Thursday at a platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg. The police claim they acted in self defense. Reuters reports that a labor dispute was the cause of a worker’s strike at the mine, and it […]

Sweet Potato: Africa Making Life-Saving Push To Improve Nutrition With Simple Tuber

Sweet potatoes in Africa are more than just a side dish at Thanksgiving. Due to the efforts of public health efforts who see the benefits of the vitamin A-rich tubers, the more nutrient-rich orange sweet potato in Africa is an important staple of the diet for millions of impoverished people, NPR reported. Though many farmers […]

2024 Olympic Bid Planned By Nairobi

In a little over two decades the Olympic Games could be hosted for the first time in Africa. Nairobi’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga said today that the city plans to make a bid for the 2024 Olympics. Reuters reports that if Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is awarded the 2024 Olympics it will be the […]

South Africa Experiences Snow For 22nd Time In 103 Years

Snow in South Africa is rare, in fact it has only snowed in Johannesburg 22 times in the last 103 years, including a rare event on Tuesday morning that sent snowflakes to the ground and residence running into an unseasonably cold outdoors. Mobile phone cameras quickly began to capture the snow laced sky as residence […]

Mali Stoning: Islamists Stone Couple To Death For Committing Adultery

A group of radical Islamists in northern Mali reportedly stoned an unmarried couple to death for adultery last Sunday. CNN reports that nearly 200 local residents watched quietly as the couple was dragged to the center of the town, buried up to their necks, and pelted by rocks until they died. “I don’t know how […]

Namibia’s Newly Discovered Aquifer Could Provide 400 Years Of Water

Scientists have discovered a massive aquifer underneath Namibia, a country in Northern Africa that is desperate for water. Currently, the 800,000 people in the area are dependent on a 40-year-old canal for their drinking water, which comes from nearby Angola. The BBC reports that The Namibian government has been attempting to tackle the lack of […]

Moroccan Imam Demands Death For Journalist, Morocco Sex Debate Rages

Abdellah Nhari, an imam in the northeastern Oujda region of Morocco, recently declared in a sermon that Mokhtar el-Ghzioui, the editor of the daily al-Ahdath al-Maghribia, should be put to death for his support of decriminalizing sex outside of marriage. Three of Morocco’s most prominent conservative clerics have also backed the call for death for […]

Joyous, Nervous Libyans Vote For First Time In 40 Years

Libyans were able to do something that some haven’t gotten to do their entire lives: vote. The country held its first elections on Saturday, electing a parliament after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi last year. Newser reports that this will be Libya’s first elections in 40 years, and like a lot of social and political […]