Latest Africa News
The West African Sahel is becoming a drug smuggling corridor, UN warns, as seizures skyrocket
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Drug seizures soared in the West African Sahel region according to figures released Friday in a new U.N. report, indicating the conflict-ridden region is becoming an influential route for drug trafficking. In 2022, 1,466 kilograms, (3,232 pounds), of cocaine...
A Nigerian chess champion is trying to break the world record for the longest chess marathon
NEW YORK (AP) — A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate is attempting to play chess nonstop for 58 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the global record for the longest chess marathon. Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children's education...
AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa
April 12-18, 2024 Performers take part in the official flame lighting ceremony in Athens in preparation for the Paris Olympics. A local resident swims in floodwater in Orenburg, Russia, after a dam on the Ural River burst. The northern lights shine over an erupting volcano near the...
Donors pledge $630 million for conflict-hit Ethiopia but fall far short of $1 billion needed
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A United Nations-backed gathering raised pledges of almost $630 million for Ethiopia's humanitarian crisis on Tuesday but fell short of the $1 billion sought to help feed and support millions of people facing conflict and climate change in Africa's second most populous...
2023 was a record year for wind installations as world ramps up clean energy, report says
The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, a 50% increase from the year before, making it the best year for new wind projects on record, according to a new report by the industry's trade association. The latest Global Wind Report, published Tuesday by the...
As a landmark United Methodist gathering approaches, African churches weigh their future.
The United Methodist Church lost one-fourth of its U.S. churches in a recent schism, with conservatives departing over disputes on sexuality and theology. Now, with the approach of its first major legislative gathering in several years, the question is whether the church can avert a...
AP Week in Pictures: Africa and Europe
April 5-11, 2024 Northern lights dance in the sky over the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, and Anouk Garnier breaks a record climbing a rope under the Eiffel Tower. This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or...
10 years after Chibok, Nigerian families cope with the trauma of more school kidnappings
KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — His weak body stood in the doorway, exhausted and covered in dirt. For two years, the boy had been among Nigeria’s ghosts, one of at least 1,500 schoolchildren and others seized by armed groups and held for ransom. But paying a ransom didn't work for...
10,000 miles and 352 days later, a UK man reaches his goal of running the length of Africa
RAS ANGELA, Tunisia (AP) — Sore and sandblasted but triumphant, runner Russ Cook reached the northernmost point of Africa on Sunday, almost a year after he set off from its southern tip on a quest to run the length of the continent. Dozens of supporters gathered on a rocky outcrop...
A Dubai company’s staggering land deals in Africa raise fears about risks to Indigenous livelihoods
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Matthew Walley's eyes sweep over the large forest that has sustained his Indigenous community in Liberia for generations. Even as the morning sun casts a golden hue over the canopy, a sense of unease lingers. Their use of the land is being threatened, and they have organized...
