Africa

World News

Amnesty Report: Child Labor Used To Gather Minerals For Gadget Batteries

2:16pm January 20, 2016

by Gregory Warner

Amnesty International says that Apple, Samsun and Sony are failing to do basic checks to make sure that minerals in their products are not mined by children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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When a country is declared Ebola-free â like Sierra Leone last November â the mood is upbeat. But that doesn't mean the virus is vanquished, as Sierra Leone learned this month.

Has The World Learned The Wrong Lessons From The Ebola Outbreak?

3:34pm January 19, 2016

by Nahid Bhadelia

By focusing on the end of the epidemic, writes infectious disease specialist Nahid Bhadelia, we miss the larger point.

Burkinabe soldiers evacuate an injured man from the Splendid hotel during an attack by Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen late Friday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso's troops, supported by French special forces, battled the attackers early Saturday morning

World News

4 Assailants, At Least 20 Victims Dead After Hours-Long Attack In Burkina Faso

9:34pm January 16, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Al-Qaida-linked gunmen stormed a hotel popular with Westerners in Ouagadougou, taking more than 120 hostages Friday night, officials say. Security forces have now taken back the hotel.

Emmanuel Kwame, who lost his sight to river blindness, in his cashew grove.

The Story Behind The River Blindness Story: Itching, Weeding, Snipping

7:00am January 16, 2016

by Marc Silver

NPR reporter Jason Beaubien talks about his trip to Ghana to report on river blindness — and how a farmer who lost his vision is still able to weed his garden.

A soldier stands near a hotel that was attacked by militants on Friday in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.

World News

Suspected Al-Qaida Militants Strike Hotel In Burkina Faso

10:52pm January 15, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The gunmen attacked a hotel and a cafe in Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African nation. The foreign minister says people have died. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility.

Anglican Communion Temporarily Suspends U.S. Episcopal Church

6:46pm January 15, 2016

by Tom Gjelten

Anglican leaders meeting in Canterbury have temporarily suspended the U.S. Episcopal Church from full participation in the Anglican Communion. The move comes at the behest of conservative bishops — mostly from Africa — who are unhappy with the American church's stance on same-sex marriage and gay clergy.

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Sierra Leone Reports New Ebola Death, One Day After WHO Declaration

5:54pm January 15, 2016

The World Health Organization declared Thursday that the deadliest outbreak of Ebola has ended. But a day later, Sierra Leone confirmed another death from Ebola. Survivors struggle to overcome stigma and mental illness. NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Foday Gallah, an Ebola fighter and survivor in Monrovia, Liberia.

These U.N. posters remind staff that sex for cash or barter is prohibited.

Why Is Sexual Abuse Such A Problem With U.N. Peacekeepers?

5:10pm January 15, 2016

by Maanvi Singh

This month, investigators learned that some peacekeepers were paying girls for sex in the Central Africa Republic. It's part of a pattern of abuse. Can the U.N. stop it?

A Pakistani mourner sits alongside bodies of blast victims following a bombing near a polio vaccination center at a hospital in Quetta.

Why Terrorists Are Targeting 'Unsung Heroes'

2:45pm January 15, 2016

by Diane Cole

The bombing in Quetta, Pakistan, is the latest of several attacks on polio vaccination centers. We asked an expert to put the incident in context.

A corpse has tested positive for the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone, a day after world health officials declared West Africa free of the disease. On Friday, people pass a banner reading

World News

Sierra Leone Reports Ebola Death, 1 Day After Outbreak Declared Over

11:33am January 15, 2016

by Bill Chappell

On Thursday, the World Health Organization announced that West Africa was Ebola-free. The virus has been found to survive in people for nine months or more.