Features catergory

How where you’re born influences the person you become Kampala, Uganda | SAMUEL PUTNAM & MASHA A. GARTEIN | As early as the fifth century, the Greek historian Thucydides contrasted the self-control and stoicism of Spartans with the more indulgent and free-thinking citizens of Athens. Today, unique behaviors and characteristics seem …

A radical new approach to treating disease Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This saying is particularly apt in medicine where doctors treat nearly every condition–from depression to hypertension–with a pill. If your doctor prescribed you anything other …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Hundreds of people demonstrated in Freetown on Saturday against sexual violence against women, days after the Sierra Leone government promised a crackdown on rape and sexual abuse. Among the estimated 300 to 400 demonstrators was the country’s first lady, Fatima Bio, who on Friday …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Two South African men accused of cannibalism were given life sentences for murder on Wednesday, with the judge saying they were guilty of “the most heinous crime”, local media reported. Sitting at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, judge Peter Olsen sentenced Nino Mbatha, 33, and …

Why cute, heart-shaped button isn’t so harmless Kampala, Uganda | A. TREVOR SUTTON | Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder and CEO, was recently reported to have questioned how the site “incentivises people to want (the number of likes on their posts) to go up.” He also said that “he was not a …

  Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | Lucie was just seven years old when the men took her. She was found the next day, naked and bleeding, on the edge of the vast forested hills of Kahuzi Biega Park, in violence-plagued eastern DR Congo. “The militants entered the family home …

Hong Kong, China | AFP | Immaculate-looking flight attendants who appear unruffled by the demands of a life spent in the air are part of the slick image sold by carriers — but Hong Kong-based workers are increasingly hitting back against sexual harassment. Female cabin crew told AFP of how …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | In Democratic Republic of Congo, they call him “Doctor Miracle” for his surgical skill and dedication in helping women overcome the injuries and trauma of sexual abuse and rape. Denis Mukwege is a crusading gynaecologist who has spent more than two decades treating appalling …

Paris, France | AFP | Here is a rundown of the main points in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in Paris 70 years ago. – The charter addresses four key areas: personal rights, such as freedom and equality; relationship rights, such as nationality and …

Accra, Ghana | AFP | Respect Ruvimbo Topodzi was 15 and walking home from school in her native Zimbabwe when a 22-year-old man asked her out. She turned him down but it was too late. Her father saw them and assumed they were already together. He told her she had …