At least seven children have been killed in a United States-led coalition air strike in a religious school in Afghanistan, the coalition said on Monday, amid rising anger over civilian deaths from foreign military operations. More than 120 civilians have been killed by foreign troops in Afghanistan in recent months.
Sudan and seven other sub-Saharan African countries are among the 10 nations in the world most vulnerable to violent internal conflict and deteriorating conditions, according to a private survey. In the third annual ”failed state” index, Sudan was judged most at risk of failure.
Gazans rushed to stock up on petrol and food on Sunday as Israel cut fuel supplies in its first concrete response to Hamas’s seizure of power in Gaza. The panic-buying came on another frenetic day of politics as President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new government in Ramallah and outlawed the Hamas militias that deposed the Palestinian Authority in Gaza.
Africa’s ever-recurring armed conflicts and civil wars and the new waves of globalisation in the post-Cold War era have accentuated the marginalisation of a continent so severely that it is now at the periphery of the periphery of the world. The failure to deconstruct and reconstruct Africa’s inherited colonial economy has exacerbated centuries-old dependence and dispossession.
Women’s voices have largely gone unheard in the debate on male circumcision as an HIV-prevention method, but informal discussions with women reveal a range of concerns, preferences and views that researchers and governments would do well to consider before drawing up plans for rolling out a national circumcision programme.
South Africa’s peaceful democratic transition confounds Afro-pessimistic views that the continent is doomed. Yet the "Rainbow Nation" is still struggling to come to terms with the HIV/Aids epidemic — a crisis with long-term consequences for its political economy and the sustainability of Africa’s states and societies.
When George W Bush appeared at the White House correspondents’ dinner last year beside an impersonator, everyone other than those at the front tables had trouble telling who was who. A new cartoon that debuted on Wednesday night on the American cable channel Comedy Central could pose the same dilemma.
UNAids is careful in its assessment: "Without question, we absolutely have to ensure that men and women are aware that male circumcision is not a ‘magic bullet’ — it does not provide total protection and it does not mean people can stop taking the safe sex precautions they were already using."
Some mining companies dispute that billions have been lost in mining investment in South Africa, as reported this week. They argue that while there may have been delays because of the new Mineral Petroleum and Resources Development Act, there has not been a loss in investment and the Act has brought about an increase in exploration in South Africa.
Described as "one of the biggest economic phenomena of the last decade", the astonishing speed at which South Africa has become the largest investor in the rest of Africa has eclipsed even the recent surge in interest from non-African investors such as China. Following a gradual increase on the continent after 1994, investment opportunities have taken off in the past five years.