Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | Eighteen suspected militiamen, including a provincial lawmaker, went on trial Friday in DR Congo’s chaotic east for kidnapping and raping some 40 girls. Frederic Batumike and 17 others face charges of “crimes against humanity through rape and murder … and taking part in an …
Read More »Nine children drown as boat capsizes in DR Congo lake: official
Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | Nine children died and another was missing after a canoe capsized on Lake Tanganyika in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo. a local official said Thursday. The motorised boat left the town of Kalemie and was heading for the port of Wimbi when …
Read More »Five Tanzanian children killed playing with grenade
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | At least five children were killed Wednesday while playing with a grenade at a school in northern Tanzania, a local official told AFP. “We regret the death of five children, there are 23 others injured,” said Adroniz Rurindoli, a local government official in the Ngara region, …
Read More »Colombia mothers stage ‘nurse-in’ to defend breastfeeding
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Hundreds of mothers gathered to breastfeed their babies in a park in Bogota Friday, in a “nurse-in” demonstration aimed at raising acceptance of the practice and promoting its health benefits. Nearly 1,000 families met in the city’s Parque de Los Novios for the fourth event …
Read More »UN fears 2017 will be record year for attacks on schools
United Nations, United States | AFP | With 500 attacks on schools documented in just six months, 2017 is shaping up as a record year for the number of schools bombed and destroyed in war zones like Yemen, South Sudan and Syria, a UN official said Friday. Last year, the …
Read More »6 girls, 2 women from one family shot dead in S.Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Eight female members of one family were shot dead in their homes in South Africa, police said Wednesday, with attackers also setting fire to the houses. Six of the victims were aged between three and 18, while two were older women. Police said the cause …
Read More »Toddler shoots playmates at Michigan daycare
Chicago, United States | AFP | Two toddlers were hospitalized in serious condition after a playmate accidentally shot them with a loaded gun at a daycare in the US state of Michigan. Both of the children’s conditions were upgraded from critical a day earlier, police said Thursday, as they wrapped up …
Read More »Desperate parents, missing children at quake-hit Mexico City school
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Adriana Fargo nervously bites her lip as she waits for news on the fate of her seven-year-old daughter, feared buried in the earthquake-hit remains of a Mexico City elementary and middle school. At least 21 children died when a three story wing of the Enrique …
Read More »Museveni calls for accelerated action to end child marriage
Presidents of Malawi, Uganda and Zambia call for accelerated action to end child marriage in Africa New York, US | UN WOMEN | President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has emphasized the importance of education for girls and skills training to boost women’s economic empowerment and financial independence in the fight against …
Read More »Inside the brutal world of Ivory Coast’s ‘microbe’ child gangs
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Vieux-Pere runs his fingers through his patchy hair as he remembers escaping being lynched. “The locals caught me and hit me everywhere, I still have scars on my skull,” he says. “That’s why I can’t get my hair right,” he says with a laugh. For …
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