Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | “Cover your goods,” Diakaria Fofana, a doctor of public health, warns food vendors as a thick cloud of insecticide spray wafts down a street in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital. Men in protective clothes, goggles and masks are disgorging plumes of mosquito-killing chemicals in a …
Read More »For stomach cancer, aerosol chemotherapy offers breath of hope
Dijon, France | AFP | “Classic chemotherapy was awful… but with this treatment, I feel hope,” says French pensioner Jacques Braud, who is undergoing treatment for stomach cancer with a new form of therapy dispersed by aerosol. Several hours before going into theatre, Braud is waiting in his room, looking surprisingly …
Read More »‘Mr. Green’: British environmentalist is Gabon’s new forestry minister
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Here’s your new job: You have to protect the country’s precious tropical forests. You have to stop illegal logging and fight the entrenched corruption backed by powerful forces which goes with it. By the way, you are a committed environmentalist — and you are foreign-born. This …
Read More »Gambles by Ujiri pay off with NBA crown for Raptors
Oakland, United States | AFP | From the ashes of an epic playoff failure last year, the Toronto Raptors made a pair of risky moves and wound up winning the first NBA title in their 24-season history. The Raptors defeated defending champion Golden State 114-110 Thursday to capture the best-of-seven …
Read More »Rose equals Tiger record to seize US Open lead
Pebble Beach, United States | AFP | Justin Rose roared home with three straight birdies to match Tiger Woods’ record for the lowest US Open round ever shot at Pebble Beach, a six-under par 65 that gave him a one-shot lead after the first round on Thursday. England’s Rose, who won …
Read More »Far-right AfD eyes control of German town favourite of Hollywood
Görlitz, Germany | AFP | Its cobblestone lanes and Baroque architecture are so quaint that Hollywood directors often come calling, but the German town of Goerlitz may soon have a new claim to notoriety. A run-off election in the small city of around 55,000 people on the Polish border on …
Read More »Sudan military admits dispersing sit-in, says ‘mistakes happened’
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s ruling military council Thursday for the first time admitted it had ordered the dispersal of a Khartoum sit-in, which left dozens dead, as US and African diplomats stepped up efforts for a solution to the country’s political crisis. Protesters had staged the weeks-long sit-in outside …
Read More »Uganda-DRC border point on high alert over Ebola outbreak
Mpondwe, Uganda | AFP | At the bustling Mpondwe border post, a woman crossing from the Democratic Republic of Congo into Uganda is whisked away to an isolation unit after a thermal scanner picks up her high temperature. Health workers keep Mulefu Kyakimwa, a 32-year-old vegetable oil trader, under …
Read More »UGX 200bn allocated for 2021 elections
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Government has allocated 223 billion shillings for the implementation of the Electoral Roadmap for the 2021 General Elections. This was revealed by the Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija on Thursday during the presentation of the budget for financial year 2019/2020. …
Read More »The first transatlantic flight 100 years ago
Paris, France | AFP | When two British pilots steered a biplane across the vast Atlantic 100 years ago, battling frozen sleet and thick fog for more than 16 hours, they were making aviation history. With their harrowing 3,000-kilometre (1,860-mile) crossing, Captain John Alcock and navigator Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown completed …
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