Latest Sierra Leone News

'We fall and we rise': Some amputees in Sierra Leone turn to farming to combat discrimination

Dec. 27, 2024 00:44 AM EST

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Lahai Makieu struck the bamboo with a machete until it cracked and fell. Balancing on his crutch, he reached to pick it up. But colleagues pulled the bamboo's other end, and he tumbled into the dense grass. “They forgot I had one leg,” the...

Rescue group saves 11-year-old girl floating alone in the Mediterranean for days after shipwreck

Dec. 12, 2024 13:44 PM EST

MILAN (AP) — An 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone was found floating in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, believed to be the only survivor of a shipwrecked migrant boat that had departed from the port of Sfax in Tunisia, a humanitarian group said Thursday. ...

Five years since its inception, a US development agency competes with China on global projects

Dec. 09, 2024 18:34 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden visited Angola last week, one of the highlights was his pledge of hundreds of millions of dollars for an ambitious trans-Africa rail project that would bring copper and cobalt from central Africa to the Atlantic port of Lobito. The project...

Jockey Flavien Prat wins Remsen to set record with his 80th stakes victory of the year

Dec. 07, 2024 19:47 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — Flavien Prat notched his 80th stakes victory of the year on Saturday, winning the $250,000 Remsen at Aqueduct to set the single-season record. The French jockey guided Poster to a nose victory in the 1 1/8 mile race for 2-year-olds. Prat broke the...

Sierra Leone begins nationwide rollout of Ebola vaccine a decade after deadly outbreak

Dec. 05, 2024 10:32 AM EST

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Authorities in Sierra Leone on Thursday started a nationwide rollout of the single-dose Ebola vaccine, the first such campaign in West Africa where a deadly outbreak 10 years ago resulted in the death of thousands. The 2014 Ebola outbreak – the...

Sierra Leone loves rice and wants to free itself from imports. But how to do it?

Nov. 21, 2024 00:14 AM EST

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Rice borders on the sacred in Sierra Leone. Unless a meal includes rice, people say, you haven’t eaten at all. But as prices soar, consumers in the West African nation are giving up other food to buy it. That's a major reason why 83% of the...

Russia vetoes UN resolution calling for immediate cease-fire in the war between Sudan's rival forces

Nov. 18, 2024 20:40 PM EST

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution Monday calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war between Sudan's military and paramilitary forces and delivery of humanitarian aid to millions in desperate need. Russia’s ally China supported the resolution sponsored by...

Sierra Leone wins $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic after suffering close loss in Kentucky Derby

Nov. 02, 2024 20:39 PM EDT

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Sierra Leone won the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic by 1 1/2 lengths Saturday at Del Mar, ending a frustrating run of recent losses, including the Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Sierra Leone ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.78. Sent off as the 6-1 fourth...

Solar power companies are growing fast in Africa, where 600 million still lack electricity

Oct. 05, 2024 00:35 AM EDT

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Companies that bring solar power to some of the poorest homes in Central and West Africa are said to be among the fastest growing on a continent whose governments have long struggled to address some of the world's worst infrastructure and the complications of climate...