Category Archives: Africa

Italian charity ship defies Rome to rescue 50 off Libyan coast

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Rescue could spark showdown with government after order not to bring migrants to Italy

An Italian charity ship has rescued about 50 people from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya, prompting Rome to warn it is ready to stop private vessels “once and for all” from bringing rescued migrants to Italy.

The interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has repeatedly declared Italian waters closed to NGO rescue vessels and has left several of them stranded at sea in the past in an attempt to force the rest of Europe to take in more asylum seekers.

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Social workers can do so much more than just pick up the pieces

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At its best, social work can break cycles of crisis, and help people change their lives and communities

  • Guardian Jobs: see the latest vacancies in social care

Too often, social services are designed as rotating doors. They focus on individuals in crisis who, when the symptoms of the emergency have eased, are sent directly back to the stressful situation that caused all the damage – a painful, costly and tragic cycle.

There is little focus in formal social services on helping people to transform their environments to provide ongoing support and love, let alone engaging people to become advocates for their rights. Yet outside these limitations, social workers are supporting connections in communities designed to last people’s whole lifetimes. In many countries we call it “working beyond services”. There are countless examples around the world.

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Aerial footage shows Cyclone Idai devastation in Mozambique – video

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Aerial footage shows the scale of damage to Beira in Mozambique following Cyclone Idai. Up to 90% of the port city has been damaged or destroyed, according to the Red Cross.

Idai hit Beira last week before moving inland and spreading heavy winds and rain to Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 215 people have been killed by the storm across the affected countries, while hundreds more are missing and more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the widespread destruction and flooding

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Cyclone Idai death toll in Mozambique ‘could rise above 1,000’

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President describes scale of disaster as huge, as Red Cross says most of Beira damaged or destroyed

More than 1,000 people are feared dead in a devastating cyclone that hit Mozambique on Friday, the country’s president has said.

Filipe Nyusi told Mozambican radio he had seen “many bodies” floating in the overflowing Pungwe and Busi rivers. “It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths,” he said, adding that more than 100,000 people were at risk because of severe flooding.

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Mass funeral service held for Ethiopian crash victims – video

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Thousands of people have mourned victims of the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crash, as 17 empty caskets draped in the national flag were accompanied through the streets of the capital, Addis Ababa, amid emotional scenes. Relatives, friends, and colleagues of the 157 people killed when the plane crashed on 10 March lit candles and held prayers during the service. The identification of some remains of crash victims could take weeks or months, according to experts

• Ethiopian Airlines crash: thousands turn out for funeral service

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Ethiopian Airlines crash: thousands turn out for funeral service

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Empty caskets parade through Addis Ababa a day after relatives of 157 victims began receiving earth from crash site

Thousands of people have mourned Ethiopian victims of the Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crash, as 17 empty caskets draped in the national flag were accompanied through the streets of the capital, Addis Ababa.

The funeral service came one day after officials began delivering bags of earth to family members of the 157 victims instead of the remains of their loved ones because the identification process is expected to take a long time.

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Ethiopian air crash investigators begin black box analysis

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Black box arrives in France amid reports suggesting similarities with Lion Air crash

Air crash investigators have begun analysing the black box data recorder from Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, amid reports that the plane wreckage suggested similarities with a previous disaster involving the Boeing 737 Max jet.

Accounts have also emerged of communications between the plane and air traffic control, in which the pilot is said to have asked in panicked tones to turn back three minutes into the flight, as the 737 Max dipped and climbed.

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Algeria protests grow as elite distances itself from ailing president

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Senior figures in ruling FLN show signs of backing demands for Bouteflika to step down

Thousands of demonstrators have protested in the centre of the Algerian capital for a fourth consecutive Friday, as the country’s political elite began distancing themselves from the ailing 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Despite a heavy police presence, crowds gathered at Algiers’ Grande Poste square hours before the scheduled start of a demonstration calling on Bouteflika to step down after two decades in power.

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Boeing’s 737 Max fleet ‘will remain grounded for weeks’

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US politicians say ban will last through April, as data from Ethiopian Airlines flight arrives in France

Boeing’s 737 Max 8 and 9 planes will remain grounded for weeks at a minimum, US politicians said on Thursday, as flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the crashed Ethiopian Airlines plane arrived in France.

After a briefing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), congressman Rick Larsen said the planes, which have been involved in two fatal crashes in the last five months, would be banned from flying “at least through April” while new software is installed and investigations continue.

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Shadow falls over Ethiopia reforms as warnings of crisis go unheeded

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Having fled violence, a million Ethiopians now face hunger and disease. Yet Abiy Ahmed seems intent only on their return

In southern Ethiopia, tens of thousands of people are enduring what aid workers say is a full-blown humanitarian crisis. But the government of the new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, appears not to be listening.

It is a stain on the record of an administration that, since Abiy’s appointment last April, has been lauded for opening up Ethiopia’s political space and making peace with neighbouring Eritrea. Last month, Abiy was nominated for a Nobel peace prize. His government has also been praised for passing a new refugee policy hailed as a model of compassion and forward-thinking. Yet the dire situation facing millions of people forced from their homes by conflict, and the new regime’s approach to their plight, has invited a more sceptical response from some observers.

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Children trapped after fatal building collapse in Nigeria

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At least four people dead and scores feared buried under rubbe of Lagos building

Dozens of children are among scores of people feared trapped after a four-storey building collapsed in Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos, killing at least four people.

Officials said the children were attending an illegal school in the residential building when the structure collapsed. “Dozens of children were trapped inside,” said Adesina Tiamiyu, the head of Lagos state emergency management agency, which was supervising the rescue operation.

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Egypt executed 15 people in February. Why is the UK staying silent? | Rhys Davies

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Britain is Egypt’s largest foreign investor. Yet at the recent Arab-EU summit, Theresa May was oddly quiet on rights abuses

While there may be “a special place in hell” for those who backed Brexit without a plan, regimes that execute people after fundamentally flawed trials get their own summit. Just a fortnight ago, Donald Tusk and the leaders of the EU met with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, at the Arab-EU summit in Sharm el-Sheikh – days after his regime executed nine people.

The summit was co-chaired by Tusk and Sisi. Tusk and other European leaders, including Theresa May, were curiously silent at the summit about the fate of Egypt’s political prisoners. The execution of the nine – convicted after unfair trials in which human rights campaigners say confessions were elicited by torture – was the third consecutive week of executions. In total 15 people were put to death in February in Egypt.

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Ethiopian Airlines crash – a visual guide to what we know so far

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Disaster marks second crash for Boeing 737 Max 8 in four months, with passengers from 35 different countries

An Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday near Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. Here’s what we know about the crash.

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Is Algeria on the cusp of freedom, or does Bouteflika have one last play?

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President’s promise of ‘deep reforms’ has calmed protests but may not be the end of the crisis

In the first line of Abdulaziz Bouteflika’s letter to the nation on Monday night, the Algerian president said the country was living through a sensitive stage of its history. On this, at least he and his compatriots are agreed.

The 82-year-old politician, who has had a series of strokes that have left him in poor health, has been in power since 1999. The announcement that he would not be seeking a further five-year term caused widespread celebration. This was the principal demand of the hundreds of thousands – possibly millions – who marched peacefully through cities and towns across Algeria on Friday in protests on a scale not seen for decades.

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Boeing and US under pressure to ground 737 Max as further bans brought in

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Federal Aviation Administration increasingly isolated in maintaining plane is safe as EU countries halt flights

Boeing and the US aviation authorities have come under increasing pressure to ground the 737 Max despite repeated reassurances as the European Union and numerous other countries halted flights and Donald Trump weighed in following a second fatal crash involving the plane in less than five months.

US regulators, airlines and the manufacturer have become increasingly isolated in maintaining that the plane is safe.

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Ethiopian Airlines crash: six members of Canadian family killed in disaster

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Three generations of the Dixit-Vaidya family were travelling on a family holiday to Kenya

Six members of one Canadian family were among those killed in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet on Sunday, it has emerged.

Three generations of the Dixit-Vaidya family were travelling on a family holiday to Kenya, where Kosha Vaidya, 37, was born. She had not been back to visit her birthplace in years.

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Algerian president says he will not run again after weeks of protests

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Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision not to seek a fifth term comes a day after general strike began

The Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has withdrawn his bid for a fifth term in office after mass protests against his rule and postponed elections scheduled for April to allow for consultation on reforms “for a new generation”.

Bouteflika made the surprise announcement on Monday in a letter to the Algerian people released by his office. The 82-year-old leader, who has been in power for two decades, acknowledged three consecutive weeks of demonstrations against his rule in which hundreds of thousands of people from across Algerian society took to the streets.

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Ethiopia plane crash: what we know about the disaster so far – video

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Investigations are under way after Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed shortly after taking off. The incident killed all 149 passengers and eight crew members onboard. The plane was on its way to Nairobi from Addis Ababa when it crashed six minutes after takeoff early on Sunday. The cause has not yet been determined

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Ethiopia plane crash: search operation continues at crash site – video

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A search and rescue operation is in progress after the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 crashed, killing 149 passengers and eight crew members. The plane was on its way to Nairobi from Addis Ababa when it crashed six minutes after takeoff early on Sunday. The cause has not yet been determined

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