A rescue ship saved them from the sea. Now these migrants find a tough road in Europe

February 12, 20245:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA wooden boat was spotted at night in international waters north of Libya by Doctors Without Borders’ rescue team aboard the MV Geo Barents.

Valerio Muscella for NPR

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Valerio Muscella for NPR

A wooden boat was spotted at night in international waters north of Libya by Doctors Without Borders’ rescue team aboard the MV Geo Barents.

Valerio Muscella for NPR

ABOARD A SHIP ON THE MEDITERRANEAN — It’s 2 a.m. and the team on the MV Geo Barents rescue ship has just spotted a boat in distress.
The migrants on board the small wooden fishing vessel are waving the light of their cellphone screens to attract attention after the boat’s engine cut out. They’ve been drifting for hours in the pitch black, hundreds of miles offshore in the Mediterranean Sea.
When the rescuers from Doctors Without Borders reach them, they find 162 people, 29 of them children, so tightly packed into the vessel that many can only..

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U.N. ambassador on Sudan and Gaza

February 10, 20245:52 PM ET

This week, the United Nations pleaded for more aid to Sudan, after nearly 10 months of war. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield is working to draw more attention to the crisis there.

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Cheap, plentiful and devastating: The synthetic drug kush is walloping Sierra Leone

February 10, 20249:52 AM ET
Enlarge this image26-year-old Zainab Sankoh in a shack at the Kingtom dump site in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A self-described “hustler,” Sankoh used to send money home to support her family and her young daughter in a village in the south of the country. Now, she spends almost all her money on kush. “My life is miserable” said Sankoh. “This is not the Zainab I used to be.”

Tommy Trenchard for NPR

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR

26-year-old Zainab Sankoh in a shack at the Kingtom dump site in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A self-described “hustler,” Sankoh used to send money home to support her family and her young daughter in a village in the south of the country. Now, she spends almost all her money on kush. “My life is miserable” said Sankoh. “This is not the Zainab I used to be.”

Tommy Trenchard for NPR

It’s barely 9 a.m. but the cramped alleyways of Kaduna in the western end of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, are already pack..

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It’s no surprise there’s a global measles outbreak. But the numbers are ‘staggering’

February 8, 20248:06 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA child receives a measles vaccination at a clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe, where a 2022 outbreak saw some 700 children die from the highly infectious childhood disease.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

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Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

A child receives a measles vaccination at a clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe, where a 2022 outbreak saw some 700 children die from the highly infectious childhood disease.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

Measles is on the rise around the world, and even experts who saw it coming say the increase is “staggering.”
The World Health Organization said in December that its European region (which extends into parts of western and central Asia) saw an “alarming” increase in measles cases – from under a thousand in 2022 to more than 30,000 last year.
John Vertefeuille, directorof the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global Immunization Division, said in a statement that the numbers are “stagge..

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Analysts: Iran Using Gaza War to Consolidate Regional Influence

Analysts: Iran Using Gaza War to Consolidate Regional Influence

FILE – Iranian women, one of them holding an anti-Israeli placard, attend a pro-Palestinian rally, in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 13, 2023. The woman at left holds a portrait of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020.

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Ghana’s parliament passes anti-LGBTQ+ bill that could imprison people for years

February 28, 20247:41 PM ET
Enlarge this imageSpeaker of Ghana Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin speaks at the Parliament House in Accra, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Ghana’s parliament passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.

Misper Apawu/AP

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Misper Apawu/AP

Speaker of Ghana Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin speaks at the Parliament House in Accra, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Ghana’s parliament passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.

Misper Apawu/AP

ACCRA, Ghana — Ghana ‘s parliament passed a highly controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.
The bill was introduced to parliament three years ago and criminalizes members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as its supporters, including promotion and funding of related activities and ..

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Raising a child with autism in Kenya: Facing stigma, finding glimmers of hope

February 26, 20248:46 AM ET
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Scovian Lillian for NPR

Scovian Lillian for NPR

Mary Gachoki had learned about autism spectrum disorder from a caregiving course she’d taken in college. When her son was 2 years old, she recognized that he was displaying traits associated with this neurological condition. He wasn’t making eye contact, he stopped talking and he began flapping his fingers – a common behavior for people with autism as they seek to calm themselves.
Deep down, the 34-year-old single mom knew he likely had autism. But, she says, she was in denial.
When she did get a diagnosis, she says, the news “felt burdensome because I am a single mother. I am not strong mentally. I need support and reassurance that [my son] will be okay someday.” (Editor’s note: We are not naming the children in this story to protect their privacy as we discuss their condition.)
Challenges for parentsAround the world, parents like Gachoki often struggle to find reliable informa..

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A new home for the African diaspora in Ghana stirs tensions

February 25, 20245:00 AM ET
Enlarge this image74-year-old Lenval Skiers at his home in Pan-African Village, in Asebu.

Jude Lartey for NPR

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Jude Lartey for NPR

74-year-old Lenval Skiers at his home in Pan-African Village, in Asebu.

Jude Lartey for NPR

ASEBU, Ghana — Nestled in the sleepy town of Asebu, a few miles inland from the Atlantic along Ghana’s Cape Coast, lies a serene 5,000 acre rural settlement. A mud road at the entrance weaves through a dense, green landscape of dozens of homes and partially built concrete structures, enveloped by miles of farmland and palm trees.
“Nobody’s ever lived here before,” says 74-year-old Lenval Skiers, from the sun-lit lounge of his six-bedroom home and guesthouse. “It was me alone in the forest. It was idle land, but I braved it.” From his wide-set balcony on the second floor, Skiers points to his large garden, full of clusters of cassava, avocado and sugar cane. Beyond lies Pan-African Village, a..

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Kenyans demand justice — and a new kind of law — for the brutal murders of women

February 16, 202410:58 AM ET
Content Warning: The following story references graphic violence and descriptions of murder.
Enlarge this imageActivists march through the Central Business District of Nairobi on Jan. 27 at a demonstration calling for government action to address the murders of young women.

Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images

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Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images

Activists march through the Central Business District of Nairobi on Jan. 27 at a demonstration calling for government action to address the murders of young women.

Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images

Hashtags like #WeAreNotSafe, #StopKillingWomen and #EndFemicideKE are trending in Kenya.
They reflect an intense national debate over a series of murders that have rocked the country. In the month of January, 30 women were murdered, according to data compiled by the grassroots organization Usikimye (Swahili for “don’t be silent”), whose mission is to end gender-based violence, workin..

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Resurging violence in Democratic Republic of Congo forces thousands to flee

February 16, 20245:10 AM ET
The brutal decades-long conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is moving into a new phase, and the city of Goma is in the crosshairs of the violence.
Enlarge this imageThousands who are fleeing the ongoing conflict between government forces and M-23 rebels reach the entrance the Democratic Republic of Congo eastern city of Goma.

Moses Sawasawa/AP

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Moses Sawasawa/AP

Thousands who are fleeing the ongoing conflict between government forces and M-23 rebels reach the entrance the Democratic Republic of Congo eastern city of Goma.

Moses Sawasawa/AP

Ruth Alonga and Sammy Mupfuni in Goma

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Ebola vaccine cuts death rates in half — even if it’s given after infection

February 15, 202412:43 PM ET
Enlarge this imageJanine Kibwana, Ebola survivor and mother of five, sits in her living room in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Researchers studying the DRC’s most recent Ebola outbreak say that a new vaccine can dramatically reduce the risk of dying from the disease.

John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images

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John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images

Janine Kibwana, Ebola survivor and mother of five, sits in her living room in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Researchers studying the DRC’s most recent Ebola outbreak say that a new vaccine can dramatically reduce the risk of dying from the disease.

John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images

There’s welcome news in the battle against the Ebola virus, an infectious disease that for years had almost no treatments or remedies.
Outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus flare up in parts of Africa almost every year, and they’re vicious.
“When you see a person who has Ebola, you don’t nee..

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Watching the Africa cup of Nations soccer final in a bar in Lagos

February 12, 20244:22 PM ET
While millions of fans were watching the super bowl in the U.S., billions have been watching the African cup of nations soccer tournament and Sunday’s final between hosts Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Enlarge this imageCote D’Ivoire players celebrate after winning the African Cup of Nations final soccer match between Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire, at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, Feb. 11

Sunday Alamba/AP

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Cote D’Ivoire players celebrate after winning the African Cup of Nations final soccer match between Nigeria and Cote D’Ivoire, at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, Feb. 11

Sunday Alamba/AP

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An account from the frontline of ‘the largest displacement of children on the planet’

February 12, 20249:05 AM ET
Enlarge this imageFighters ride in a vehicle moving in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Sudan’s Darfur State on Aug. 30, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

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AFP via Getty Images

Fighters ride in a vehicle moving in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Sudan’s Darfur State on Aug. 30, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

The United Nations warns that the conflict in Sudan has caused one of the world’s largest human displacements.
It began about 10 months ago, when the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group began fighting each other for political control.
Last week, the U.N. pleaded for more aid to the region. It said the fighting had displaced more than 10 million people — many of them fleeing to neighboring countries. It’s also left 18 million people facing acute food insecurity.
Africa Sudan’s war passed 6 months, with much of the world consumed by other conflictsJames Elder is a spokesperso..

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Native American News Roundup, Feb. 25-March 2, 2024

WASHINGTON — Ten US states control and profit from federal Indian reservation lands

It is commonly assumed that the U.S. government holds in trust all land inside Indian reservation borders for the exclusive use of tribes.

This week, High Country News and the nonprofit online news magazine Grist report that 10 state governments hold trust to 647,500 hectares (1.6 million acres) of surface and subsurface acres of lands inside 83 federal Indian reservations.

Tribes have little to no say over how the lands are used, and state-run mining, grazing, logging and leasing generate millions of dollars that are used to support non-Indigenous agencies such as public schools, prisons or universities.

In 1887, Congress passed the General Allotment Act, or Dawes Act, carving up reservations into smaller parcels that were doled out to families and individuals. The remaining land — about 36,400,000 hectares (90 million acres) — was sold or opened up to U.S. states, settlers and federal projects suc..

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What in the World?

What in the World?Test yourself on the week of Feb. 24: ECOWAS reconsiders sanctions, Palestine shakes up its leadership, and anti-Muslim hate crimes rise in India.

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An account from the frontline of ‘the largest displacement of children on the planet’

February 12, 20249:05 AM ET
Enlarge this imageFighters ride in a vehicle moving in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Sudan’s Darfur State on Aug. 30, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

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AFP via Getty Images

Fighters ride in a vehicle moving in a military convoy accompanying the governor of Sudan’s Darfur State on Aug. 30, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

The United Nations warns that the conflict in Sudan has caused one of the world’s largest human displacements.
It began about 10 months ago, when the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group began fighting each other for political control.
Last week, the U.N. pleaded for more aid to the region. It said the fighting had displaced more than 10 million people — many of them fleeing to neighboring countries. It’s also left 18 million people facing acute food insecurity.
Africa Sudan’s war passed 6 months, with much of the world consumed by other conflictsJames Elder is a spokesperso..

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A rescue ship saved them from the sea. Now these migrants find a tough road in Europe

February 12, 20245:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA wooden boat was spotted at night in international waters north of Libya by Doctors Without Borders’ rescue team aboard the MV Geo Barents.

Valerio Muscella for NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Valerio Muscella for NPR

A wooden boat was spotted at night in international waters north of Libya by Doctors Without Borders’ rescue team aboard the MV Geo Barents.

Valerio Muscella for NPR

ABOARD A SHIP ON THE MEDITERRANEAN — It’s 2 a.m. and the team on the MV Geo Barents rescue ship has just spotted a boat in distress.
The migrants on board the small wooden fishing vessel are waving the light of their cellphone screens to attract attention after the boat’s engine cut out. They’ve been drifting for hours in the pitch black, hundreds of miles offshore in the Mediterranean Sea.
When the rescuers from Doctors Without Borders reach them, they find 162 people, 29 of them children, so tightly packed into the vessel that many can only..

Read more

EU Eyes Export Ban on Three Chinese Firms 

EU Eyes Export Ban on Three Chinese Firms

FILE – High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell (2ndR) opens an Informal Foreign Affairs Council (Development Ministers) in Brussels, Feb. 12, 2024.

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Cheap, plentiful and devastating: The synthetic drug kush is walloping Sierra Leone

February 10, 20249:52 AM ET
Enlarge this image26-year-old Zainab Sankoh in a shack at the Kingtom dump site in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A self-described “hustler,” Sankoh used to send money home to support her family and her young daughter in a village in the south of the country. Now, she spends almost all her money on kush. “My life is miserable” said Sankoh. “This is not the Zainab I used to be.”

Tommy Trenchard for NPR

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR

26-year-old Zainab Sankoh in a shack at the Kingtom dump site in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A self-described “hustler,” Sankoh used to send money home to support her family and her young daughter in a village in the south of the country. Now, she spends almost all her money on kush. “My life is miserable” said Sankoh. “This is not the Zainab I used to be.”

Tommy Trenchard for NPR

It’s barely 9 a.m. but the cramped alleyways of Kaduna in the western end of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, are already pack..

Read more

Native American News Roundup Feb. 4-10, 2024

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Brian Schatz took to the Senate floor on February 1 to demand that museums and federal agencies comply with the law and return to Native American tribes all ancestral remains and funerary objects in their collections.

Passed in 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, directs all federally funded institutions to catalog all Native American human remains, funerary items and objects of cultural significance in their collections, submit the information to a National Park Service database, and work with tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, or NHOs, to repatriate them.

A January update to NAGPRA now requires institutions to “obtain free, prior and informed consent from lineal descendants, tribes or NHOs before allowing any exhibition of, access to, or research on human remains or cultural items.”

“Give the items back. Comply with federal law. Hurry,” the Hawaii senator said.

Schatz credited institutions that have stepped..

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