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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If you donate DNA, what should scientists give in return? A ‘pathbreaking’ new model

January 22, 20245:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageAnthropologist Carla Handley, center, meets with Wario Bala, right, to present the results of a DNA study she conducted seven years ago in his community in northern Kenya.

Rebecca Siford

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Rebecca Siford

Anthropologist Carla Handley, center, meets with Wario Bala, right, to present the results of a DNA study she conducted seven years ago in his community in northern Kenya.

Rebecca Siford

Anthropologist Carla Handley is sitting cross-legged in a mud-walled house in a Kenyan village called Merti. She’s meeting with a man dressed in a flowing blue robe and a woven cap of red and white. His name is Wario Bala and he’s a member of Kenya’s Borana ethnic group, a nomadic people who raise cattle across Kenya’s northern regions.
Handley introduces herself, then adds that she’s “known locally as Chaltu Jillo Hanti” – the Borana language name bestowed on her by elders in the community. An interpreter transl..

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In between shoveling, we asked folks from hot spots about their first time seeing snow

January 20, 20247:41 AM ET
Enlarge this imageIs the series of snowy storms in North America making you a little … um … squirrely? Well imagine if this was the first time you ever saw snow in your life! We reached out to people in the Global South and other parts to share their stories of the first time they saw snow.

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

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Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Is the series of snowy storms in North America making you a little … um … squirrely? Well imagine if this was the first time you ever saw snow in your life! We reached out to people in the Global South and other parts to share their stories of the first time they saw snow.

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Has the novelty worn off yet? Much of North America is snowed in, and unless you’re a school-age kid angling for a snow day, the white stuff may be losing its charms by this time of year.
But what if you’d never seen snow before? Thinking back to when s..

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US, Japan Accelerate War Drills to Deter China 

US, Japan Accelerate War Drills to Deter China

U.S. Marines execute command and control from a combat operations center during Keen Edge 22 at Camp Hansen, Japan, Jan. 31, 2022. The U.S. and Japan finished Keen Edge 24, a biannual bilateral command post exercise, Feb. 8, 2024. (U.S. Marine Corps)

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Senegal’s parliament delays presidential election until December

February 5, 20247:23 PM ET
Enlarge this imageSenegalese riot police lob tear gas at supporters of opposition presidential candidate Daouda Ndiaye, in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.

Stefan Kleinowitz/AP

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Senegalese riot police lob tear gas at supporters of opposition presidential candidate Daouda Ndiaye, in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.

Stefan Kleinowitz/AP

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal’s parliament voted Monday to delay the West African nation’s presidential election until Dec. 15 in a chaotic voting process that took place after opposition lawmakers were forcefully removed from the chambers as they debated President Macky Sall’s earlier decision to delay the crucial election.
Security forces stormed the legislative building and forcefully removed several opposition lawmakers who were trying to block the voting process on the unprecedented delay of the presidential election initially scheduled for Feb. 25. The adopted bill extend..

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New Grammy category for African music ignores almost all of Africa

February 4, 202410:12 AM ET
Enlarge this imageNigeria’s global star Burna Boy (center) is nominated in Grammy’s new category “best African music performance.” Nominees are from Nigeria, South Africa and Benin. Other African musicians feel neglected. Mulatu Astatke (left) is a pioneer of Ethio-jazz in Ethiopia, which has never earned a Grammy nod. North African musicians have rarely been nominated. At right: Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi.

Alexis Maryon, Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld, courtesy of the artist

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Alexis Maryon, Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld, courtesy of the artist

Nigeria’s global star Burna Boy (center) is nominated in Grammy’s new category “best African music performance.” Nominees are from Nigeria, South Africa and Benin. Other African musicians feel neglected. Mulatu Astatke (left) is a pioneer of Ethio-jazz in Ethiopia, which has never earned a Grammy nod. North African musicians have rarely been nominated..

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Namibian President Hage Geingob dies in a hospital where he was receiving treatment

February 4, 20242:16 AM ET
Enlarge this imageFILE – Namibia President Hage Geingob speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, on Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Namibian president has died in a hospital where he was receiving treatment, his office said Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Peter Dejong/AP

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Peter Dejong/AP

FILE – Namibia President Hage Geingob speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, on Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Namibian president has died in a hospital where he was receiving treatment, his office said Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Peter Dejong/AP

CAIRO — Namibian President Hage Geingob died Sunday while receiving medical treatment, his office announced.
In a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the Namibian presidency said Geingob’s medical team at Lady Pohamba Hospital did its best to help him, but Geingob died with his wife, Monica Geingos, and ..

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A fire set off by a gas explosion in Kenya kills at least 3 people and injures 280

February 3, 20245:06 AM ET
Enlarge this imageIn this image made from video, firefighters work on a fire in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

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In this image made from video, firefighters work on a fire in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

AP

NAIROBI, Kenya — Liquid petroleum gas cylinders exploded in an illegal depot in a residential area of the Kenyan capital, officials said Friday, setting off a late-night inferno that killed at least three people and injured 280 others. The death toll was expected to rise.
The depot in Nairobi had twice been demolished, and the owner had been found guilty of operating an illegal gas refilling business in May, but continued to do business, officials said. That raised suspicions — in a country where corruption is endemic — that bribes were paid to ignore the operation.
At least 24 people were critically injured, the Kenya Red Cross said, after a huge fireball erupted from the gas..

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After the coups, West Africa’s Brexit moment

January 31, 20246:25 AM ET
Enlarge this imageSupporters of the Alliance Of Sahel States (AES) drive with flags as they celebrate Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niamey on January 28, 2024.

Hama Boureima/AFP via Getty Images

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Supporters of the Alliance Of Sahel States (AES) drive with flags as they celebrate Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niamey on January 28, 2024.

Hama Boureima/AFP via Getty Images

LAGOS, Nigeria – Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three countries ruled by military juntas, overwhelmed by jihadist insurgencies and a series of coups in recent years, have severed ties with regional West African countries this week, and quit the regional bloc called ECOWAS.
It was announced on Sunday before it was communicated through official diplomatic channels, catching neighbouring leade..

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Why diphtheria is making a comeback

January 23, 20247:30 AM ET
Enlarge this imageThe potentially fatal disease diphtheria is caused by bacteria — the club-shaped, Gram-positive, Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacilli shown in this microscope photo.

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The potentially fatal disease diphtheria is caused by bacteria — the club-shaped, Gram-positive, Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacilli shown in this microscope photo.

CDC via AP

It had been over 30 years since the last case of diphtheria was seen in Guinea. So when patients began showing up six months ago with what looked like flu symptoms — fever, cough and sore throat – doctors weren’t alarmed. Until the children started dying.
That’s when they realized that this longtime scourge, long quashed by vaccination, was back.
As of December 2023, there have been around 25,000 cases of diphtheria in West Africa and 800 deaths. In Guinea, the cases were clustered in Siguiri, a rural prefecture in the ..

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Israel defends itself at the U.N.’s top court against allegations of genocide

January 12, 20245:26 AM ET
Enlarge this imageBritish jurist Malcolm Shaw, right, legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry Tal Becker, left, look on during the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

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British jurist Malcolm Shaw, right, legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry Tal Becker, left, look on during the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Patrick Post/AP

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel defended its war in Gaza at the United Nations’ highest court Friday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the allegations as hypocrisy that “screams to the heavens.”
Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has vehemently denied the accusations brought by South Africa in one..

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Morning news brief

January 11, 20245:11 AM ET

Closing arguments are to begin in Trump’s civil business fraud trial in New York. U.N.’s highest court to hear accusations of genocide in Gaza against Israel. The SEC approves new bitcoin fund.

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South Africa tells the U.N. top court Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Enlarge this imageJudges preside over the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday. The United Nations’ top court opens hearings Thursday into South Africa’s allegation that Israel’s war with Hamas amounts to genocide against Palestinians, a claim that Israel strongly denies.

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Judges preside over the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday. The United Nations’ top court opens hearings Thursday into South Africa’s allegation that Israel’s war with Hamas amounts to genocide against Palestinians, a claim that Israel strongly denies.

Patrick Post/AP

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — In a case that strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity, South Africa formally accused the country of committing genocide against Palestinians and pleaded Thursday with the United Nations’ top court to order an im..

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Native American News Roundup Jan. 7-13, 2024

WASHINGTON — Mission to deposit human remains on moon a ‘desecration’

The United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket launched Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying Astrobotic Technology’s lunar lander Peregrine, which contains human remains and DNA to be deposited on the moon.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren called this a “profound desecration.”

“The moon is sacred,” Nygren posted to Facebook. “It’s in our songs, our stories, our creation. The moon is a place that we’ve looked to for hundreds of years to make sure that we continue to exist. It’s part of ceremonies that have been around for the Navajo people for a long, long time.”

On Friday, Astrobotic reported that Peregrine’s fuel leak had slowed down; the craft was about 225,000 miles from Earth and had about 48 hours of propellant remaining.

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Two North Dakota tribes win voting rights lawsuit

A federal judge in North Dakota this week ordered state officials to create a new joint legislati..

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