Latest Political and civil unrest News

Laborers and street vendors in Mali find no respite as deadly heat wave surges through West Africa

Apr. 19, 2024 02:08 AM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Street vendors in Mali's capital of Bamako peddle water sachets, ubiquitous for this part of West Africa during the hottest months. This year, an unprecedented heat wave has led to a surge in deaths, experts say, warning of more scorching weather ahead as effects of climate...

Mali's junta bans the media from reporting on political activities in a deepening crackdown

Apr. 11, 2024 22:42 PM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In a deepening crackdown, Mali’s ruling junta on Thursday banned the media from reporting on activities of political parties and associations, a day after suspending all political activities in the country until further notice. The order, issued by Mali's...

Mali's junta suspends all political activities until further notice

Apr. 11, 2024 16:19 PM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's ruling junta has issued a decree suspending all political activities until further notice, saying it needs to preserve public order, a move that follows last year's decision to call off elections indefinitely. Junta spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga read out the...

Wind and sun are free, but it's harder to get renewable energy projects built these days. Here's why

Mar. 26, 2024 02:19 AM EDT

SPRAKEBUELL, Germany (AP) — The wind gusting across north German farm country brings much to the village of Sprakebuell: fog and rain from the sea, the occasional migrating stork, the faint smell of manure in the newly fertilized fields. And perhaps best of all, money — from...

For Haitian diaspora, gang violence back home is personal as hopes dim for eventual return

Mar. 23, 2024 14:50 PM EDT

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — When Vivianne Petit Frere fled her native Haiti for Brazil in 2019 and later walked through the Panamanian jungle and on to Mexico, where she opened a restaurant, she always believed she would eventually return home. Until now. With gang violence wracking...

Cardinals super fan known as Rally Runner pleads guilty to storming Capitol in face paint

Mar. 22, 2024 12:50 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A St. Louis Cardinals super fan known as Rally Runner pleaded guilty on Friday to storming the U.S. Capitol while wearing red face paint and red clothes, fueling a baseless conspiracy theory that government plants secretly incited the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The...

Vietnam's vice president becomes interim president

Mar. 21, 2024 03:54 AM EDT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam's Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan will serve as acting president after the previous president's resignation a year into the position, a Communist Party newspaper reported Thursday. Analysts said a permanent candidate was unlikely to be selected soon,...

Why is Haiti so chaotic? Leaders used street gangs to gain power. Then the gangs got stronger

Mar. 12, 2024 11:46 AM EDT

Haiti’s prime minister has said he will resign, bowing to international pressure to save his homeland gripped by violence and controlled by heavily armed gangsters. Ariel Henry made the announcement hours after officials, including Caribbean leaders and U.S. Secretary of State...

UNICEF: 230 million females are circumcised globally, 30 million more than in 2016

Mar. 08, 2024 06:52 AM EST

CAIRO (AP) — Over 230 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation, most of whom live in Africa, according to a report issued on Friday by the United Nations children's agency. In the last eight years, some 30 million people have undergone the procedure, in...

Biden uses feisty State of the Union to contrast with Trump, sell voters on a second term

Mar. 08, 2024 03:39 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden delivered a defiant argument for a second term in his State of the Union speech Thursday night, lacing into GOP front-runner Donald Trump for espousing “resentment, revenge and retribution" and for jeopardizing freedom at home and abroad. ...