Sierra Leone's parliament has approved a law banning child marriage in a development lauded by activists as a major win for children's rights. The law criminalizes marrying girls under 18 years of age. It also prescribes jail terms of up to 15 years for offenders. One-third of all girls are married before their 18th birthday in the west Afric...

 Egypt has withdrawn the licenses of over a dozen tourism companies accused of causing the deaths of hundreds of people during the hajj pilgramage in Mecca. Media reports say as many as 1,000 pilgrims died in Saudi Arabia from illness but the prime minister's office, tasked with handling the crisis has confirmed only 31 deaths. The travel agen...

 This is Ayetoro, where waves break over concrete bricks, wooden posts and ruined homes. The lives of its residents have been upturned repeatedly as the sea eats into their neighbourhood. Ayetoro, otherwise known as the Happy City, was founded in 1947 as a utopian Christian community. Victoria Mofeoluwa Arowolo, a retired civil servant, has li...

 World leaders, health groups, and pharmaceutical firms announced $1.2 billion in funding to produce vaccines in Africa, at the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation in Paris on Thursday. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed gaping global inequalities in access to vaccines, including in Africa which is facing numerous health crises. Spe...

Congolese and Burundian people pile onto this tractor and cross a 4km stretch of road flooded by Lake Tanganyika to reach the Kamvinvira border post between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. For more than six months, passengers have been charged between 2,000 and 5,000 FC to travel in heavy trucks or Land Cruiser jeeps to the border. Fo...

 The United Nations on Tuesday announced the delivery of aid to Haiti to caution against the devastating effects of the hurricane. The UN's deputy spokesperson Farhan Had announced Tuesday that the aid will help hundreds of displaced families in Haiti due to the ongoing violence and the upcoming hurricane. "Two cargo flights organized through ...

 Four people were killed and 120 others injured in an earthquake in northeastern Iran on Tuesday, officials said. Iran's state TV reported the magnitude 5.0 quake jolted the town of Kashmar, some 800 km (500 miles) east of the capital Tehran. Rescue teams have been deployed to the region, and three temporary camps have been set up, according t...

Tanzania inaugurated its first Emergency Operation and Communication Center (EOCC) Situation Room, which is also the first national situation room to be set up under the African Union's Africa Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action System (AMHEWAS) Programme. The event took place last week on friday and marked a milestone in the country's jour...

 In the impoverished slums of Nairobi, Jacinter Awino navigates her daily chores amidst a maze of rusty iron sheets. The small tin shack that lacks a toilet and running water has been her family's shelter for years, costing about $380 to build. Her husband, who earns about $75 per month from casual construction jobs, struggles to provide for t...

 In an attempt to tackle the stigma and reluctance of people to test for HIV, South African authorities are recruiting traditional healers. The healers are part of a pilot study to encourage more people, especially the young, to have the test and to seek medical treatment if needed. Shadrack Mashabane is a traditional healer in the small town ...

 The late Malawian Vice President will be buried on Monday in his home district of Ntcheu 180km south of Lilongwe. The 51-year-old Saulos Chilima and 8 other individuals including the ex-wife of the former Malawian President died when a twin-propeller aircraft went down in a hilly, forested area in bad weather. A state service was conducted on...

 The shores of Lake Victoria in Kisumu City bustle with fishermen selling their catch. There's been a surge of demand for one particular fish - Nile perch. These will fetch high prices at the market here. But it's not the flesh that buyers are after - it's their swim bladders, dubbed "mondo" or "maw". These vital organs, essential for buoyancy...

 South African health authorities say two people have died this week after contracting Mpox, and it appears there is local transmission of the disease. The health ministry said Thursday that a 38-year-old man died in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province on Wednesday, the same day a laboratory test confirmed that he had contracted the virus. Anot...

 A boat carrying more than 270 passengers has capsized on a river near Congo's capital of Kinshasa, leaving more than 80 dead, President Félix Tshisekedi said Wednesday. It was the latest deadly boat accident in the central African country where overloading is often blamed, including in February when dozens lost their lives after an overloaded...

 Riots erupted in Algerian desert city last weekend after months of water shortages left taps running dry and forced residents to queue to access water for their households. In Tiaret, a central Algerian city of less than 200,000 located 155 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of Algiers protestors wearing balaclavas set tires aflame and set up m...

The death toll in an attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Friday by militants and Islamist rebels has risen to at least 41, the government said on Monday. Red Cross volunteers and young people from the village of Masala in the eastern North Kivu province have been searching for bodies since the incident. Locals said armed men using g...

 Pope Francis gathered the Palestinian and Israeli ambassadors to the Vatican Gardens on Friday to pray for an end to the war in Gaza, marking the 10th anniversary of a similar encounter with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents with a new appeal for peace. "Every day I pray that this war will finally end," Francis told the small gathering, ...

 A Zambian court on Friday jailed 22 Chinese nationals over cybercrimes that included internet fraud and online scams targeting Zambians and other people from Singapore, Peru and the United Arab Emirates. The Magistrates Court in the capital, Lusaka, jailed them for periods ranging from 7 to 11 years. The court also fined them between $1,500 t...

27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: Shifting Geopolitical Focus and Exploring New Markets in Global SouthBy Prof. Maurice OkoliShareTweetPinMail All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author's name (only available in desktop version). To receive Global Research's D...

 At least 100 people were killed, and dozens were injured after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked a village in Gezira province in Sudan on Wednesday, officials said. Women, children, and elderly were among the victims in the attacks by the Rapid Support Forces on Wad al-Noura village in Gezira, Mini Arko Minawi, the governor of Da...