Sorfequiline shows stronger action than existing treatments against illness that killed 1.23 million last year
A new treatment for tuberculosis could boost cure rates and shorten the time needed to treat the disease by months, trial results suggest.
Globally, an estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB last year and 1.23 million died from it.
Continue reading...Campaigners say the company is contributing to rising rates of childhood obesity, while the firm says it is helping to combat malnutrition
Nestlé is still adding sugar to most baby cereals sold across Africa, according to an investigation by campaigners who have accused the company of “putting the health of African babies at risk for profit”.
The food firm was accused of “double standards” over the researchers’ findings, which come at a time when rates of childhood obesity are rising on the continent, prompting calls for Nestlé to remove all added sugar from baby-food products.
Continue reading...Rapper to give address on Tuesday after supporting Trump’s post condemning Nigerian government
The US-based Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj will work alongside the White House to highlight claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria.
Minaj is expected to deliver a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, according to a Time journalist who first posted about the collaboration on Sunday, adding that it was arranged by Alex Bruesewitz, an adviser to Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Abdalmonim Alrabea has appeared in hundreds of videos in which he expresses support for paramilitary group accused of committing genocide
A British citizen based in Sheffield appeared in a TikTok live broadcast laughing along while a notorious fighter from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces group boasted about participating in mass killings in the city of El Fasher.
The video, broadcast on 27 October, is just one of hundreds posted to social media in which 44-year-old Abdalmonim Alrabea expresses support for the RSF and the ethnically targeted atrocities it has committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
Continue reading...Africa CDC says at least nine cases have been detected of Ebola-like illness, which kills up to 80% of those infected
Ethiopia has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in the south of the country, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.
The Marburg virus is one of the deadliest known pathogens. Like Ebola, it causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and has a 21-day incubation period.
Continue reading...Advocates fear that other donors will follow Britain’s reduction to the Global Fund for Aids, TB and malaria
The UK is undermining its legacy in fighting infectious diseases including Aids and malaria by cutting money pledged to a leading global health fund, campaigners claim.
The 15% reduction in the contribution to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced this week – in a year when the UK, alongside South Africa, is co-host of the fund’s replenishment drive – risks encouraging other countries to cut back commitments as well, advocates fear.
The Gates Foundation is a major private contributor to the Global Fund. The foundation also contributes to theguardian.org, which funds independent journalism at the Guardian
Continue reading...Passengers held on runway for 12 hours after landing in Johannesburg without travel documents
South Africa will investigate the “mysterious” arrival of scores of Palestinians who were kept on a charter plane at Johannesburg for 12 hours by border police because they did not have travel papers, the president has said.
A group of 153 Palestinians arrived at OR Tambo international iarport in Johannesburg on a chartered Global Airways flight from Kenya on Thursday without departure stamps, return tickets or details of accommodation, according to the border authorities.
Continue reading...Egyptian authorities prevented Alaa Abd el-Fattah from attending human rights awards in London
Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer and human rights campaigner who was freed from jail in September, was stopped from flying to the UK by Egyptian passport control, his family has said.
Abd el-Fattah was pardoned after more than 10 years in jail but his status, including his right to travel back and forth between Britain and Egypt, was left unclear and subject to discussion between the family and authorities.
Continue reading...Policy body calls for western-backed investigation into oil officials known to be at heart of illegal enterprise
A surge in state-sanctioned fuel smuggling between 2022 and 2024 cost the Libyan people about $20bn (£15bn) in lost revenue – an alarming sum that demands decisive international sanctions against those responsible, according to the most comprehensive report published on how Libya’s primary revenue source has been systematically pillaged.
The report by the investigative and policy body the Sentry states that “politicians and security leaders who claim to serve the public and fight organised crime have, in fact, acted as the chief architects of Libya’s fuel-smuggling industry, often with backing from foreign states”. Some of the imported fuel has also been smuggled into Sudan, where it has prolonged that country’s civil war.
Continue reading...British American Tobacco pushed Zambian ministers to drop or delay ad bans, health warnings and restrictions on flavoured products, letter shows
British American Tobacco has been accused of “utter hypocrisy” for lobbying against tobacco control measures in Africa that are already in place in the UK.
A letter seen by the Guardian, sent from the company’s subsidiary in Zambia to the country’s government ministers, asks for plans to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship to be abandoned or delayed.
Continue reading...Eighty-one year-old, who has prostate cancer, can now be transferred from Algeria to Germany for medical treatment
The French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal has been pardoned and is to be released from prison, the Algerian presidential office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The move, which will mean Sansal can be transferred to Germany for medical treatment, comes after the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, urged Algeria to free Sansal.
Continue reading...Fears rise for displaced civilians as UN reports deteriorating situation and MSF warns of ‘staggering’ malnutrition
There are grave fears for civilians who survived the capture of El Fasher by a Sudanese paramilitary group last month, as the UN warned relief operations were on the brink of collapse and an aid group said malnutrition in displacement camps had reached “staggering” levels.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured El Fasher – the capital of North Darfur state and the last urban centre outside of its grasp in the wider Darfur region – on 26 October. Survivor accounts and video and satellite evidence suggest more than 1,500 people were killed in ethnically targeted massacres in the immediate aftermath.
Continue reading...The tech giant has released a statement acknowledging the use of different border displays between Western Sahara and Morocco
The dotted lines illustrating the border between Western Sahara and Morocco, indicating the former’s disputed territory status, have never been visible to people using Google Maps in the latter.
After media reports last week highlighted the discrepancy, tying it to the UN security council endorsing the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, the tech company released a statement acknowledging it has always displayed the border differently depending on the search region.
Continue reading...Mariam Cissé, who posted videos in support of ruling junta, received death threats before being abducted and killed
A TikTok influencer has been shot dead in front of a crowd by suspected jihadists in Mali, underlining how state control has been eroded in the west African nation.
Mariam Cissé often wore combat attire to post videos in support of the country’s military to more than 100,000 followers on TikTok. According to Yehia Tandina, the mayor of Timbuktu region, she was abducted in a market on Friday by unknown gunmen.
Continue reading...Protest at Mowaa comes amid dispute over ownership of Benin bronzes looted by British colonial forces
Protesters have disrupted a preview event at a major new museum in the Nigerian city of Benin that has become embroiled in a row over the restitution of artefacts looted by British colonial forces.
The demonstrators asserted that the opening of the Museum of West African Art (Mowaa) is a violation of Benin City’s cultural heritage, which falls under the authority of its traditional ruler, the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II.
Continue reading...Fighting between Boko Haram and rival militants from Islamic State West Africa Province broke out on shores of Lake Chad
As many as 200 terrorists were killed in a turf war on Sunday between rival jihadists in north-east Nigeria.
The fighting between Boko Haram and rival militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) broke out over the weekend in the village of Dogon Chiku, which lies on the shores of Lake Chad, a restive area located at the junction of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Continue reading...Chadema party says deputy secretary general arrested and calls election of incumbent president fraudulent
Tanzanian authorities have detained a senior official from the main opposition party, Chadema, amid a spate of arrests in connection to deadly protests during elections last week.
More than 1,000 people were killed by security forces during the demonstrations, according to Chadema and human rights bodies. The Tanzanian government has said these figures were exaggerated but did not give its own figures.
Continue reading...Administration has long accused South Africa of allowing white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked
Donald Trump said Friday that no US government officials would be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.
The US president had already announced he would not attend the annual summit for heads of state from the globe’s leading and emerging economies. JD Vance had been scheduled to attend in Trump’s place, but a person familiar with Vance’s plans who was granted anonymity to talk about his schedule said Vance would no longer travel there for the summit.
Continue reading...Accusations of violent interceptions and human rights violations levelled at EU-funded Libyan services by NGOs
More than a dozen NGO rescue vessels operating in the Mediterranean have suspended communication with the Libyan coastguard, citing escalating incidents of asylum seekers being violently intercepted at sea and taken to camps rife with torture, rape and forced labour.
The 13 search-and-rescue organisations described their decision as a rejection of mounting pressure by the EU, and Italy in particular, to share information with the Libyan coastguard, which receives training, equipment and funding from the EU.
Continue reading...Exclusive: British government adopted ‘least ambitious’ option months before RSF’s massacres in El Fasher
Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.
Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four presented.
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