South Sudan is ‘on the brink,’ U.N. warns amid renewed violence

March 22, 20258:08 AM ET
Southern Sudanese who have returned to the south by barges stand on the banks of the Nile river in Juba’s port on Jan. 10, 2011.

Jerome Delay/AP

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Jerome Delay/AP

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Another conflict is looming in the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, whichgained independence from Sudan in 2011 and saw civil war erupt shortly after its foundation.
A tenuouspower-sharing deal is teetering on the brink. An evacuation of non-emergency U.S. government employees is underway, and the United Nations has warned of a “regression” amid political infighting and escalating militia violence.
On Saturday, the German government was the latest to temporarily close its embasy in the capital Juba. “After years of fragile peace, South Sudan is once again on the brink of civil war,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock posted on social media.

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Sudan’s army recaptures presidential palace in Khartoum

March 21, 20257:38 AM ET
Sudanese army members film themselves inside the presidential palace, as the Sudanese army says they have taken control of the building, in Khartoum, Sudan, March 21, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.

Social Media/Reuters

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Social Media/Reuters

Sudan’s army recaptured the presidential palace on Friday, marking a significant turning point in a brutal two-year civil war, which has killed as many as 150,000 people and displaced 12 million.
Footage released by the Sudanese army showed triumphant soldiers brandishing their rifles in the air and cheering in the battered grounds of the palace after days of intense fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who had occupied Sudan’s seat of power since the war erupted in April 2023.
Through a megaphone in the complex, soldiers announced “The republican palace has now returned to the arms of the homeland” in footage posted on local Sudanese media. ..

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Zimbabwean millennial Kirsty Coventry gets Olympic top job

March 20, 20259:52 PM ET
Kirsty Coventry reacts after she was announced as the new IOC President at the International Olympic Committee 144th session in Costa Navarino, western Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025.

Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

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Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Zimbabwean Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry has had an eventful career, from the pool, to parliament.
The country’s former dictator, Robert Mugabe, called her “a golden girl,” while the man who deposed him in a coup — Emmerson “the Crocodile” Mnangagwa – appointed her his minister of sports.
Now the 41-year-old is taking on a whole new role, after beingvoted in on Thursday as the first female — and first African — president of the International Olympic Committee [IOC]. She’s also the youngest.
“The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment,” she said after winning a majority 49 of 97 votes, and ..

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The Sniper’s Nest

Exploring an image of Sgt. Maj. Ismail Hassan of the Sudanese Army at a sniper position in a luxury apartment block across the Blue Nile from Sudan’s presidential palace.

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‘You can now die’: The human cost of America’s foreign aid cuts in Africa

A refugee mother and child from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to receive basic medical attention from an understaffed clinic run by the Sudanese Ministry of Health with assistance from Doctors Without Borders located in the east Sudanese border village of Hamdayet on Dec. 6, 2020.

Byron Smith/Getty Images

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Byron Smith/Getty Images

The Trump administration has moved aggressively to cut U.S. foreign aid, canceling 83% of aid contracts on March 10, a decision that has already halted critical health programs in Africa and beyond.
On Feb. 3, President Trump said that USAID was run by ‘radical left lunatics’ and accused the agency of “tremendous fraud,” though he did not provide any details.” Trump also accused the aid agency of stealing “BILLIONS OF DOLLARS” in a post on Truth Social.
Now, the White House is pushing to rescind the$58.4 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year, with many of these cuts being fought in court. A federal judge ru..

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Trump Administration say South Africa’s Ambassador to U.S. ‘persona non grata’

March 15, 20252:11 PM ET
South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013.

Cliff Owen/FR170079 AP

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Cliff Owen/FR170079 AP

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s kicking out the new Ambassador from South Africa — accusing him of hating America and hating Donald Trump.
It’s the latest salvo against South Africa, which has been in the administration’s crosshairs since Trump took office in January.
In afiery post on X on Friday, Secretary Rubio called Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool a “race baiting politician” and said he was considered “a persona non grata.”
Rubio’s ire came after Rasool said in an online seminar hosted by a South African think tank that the MAGA movement was partially in response to worries about demographic change and a future when white Americans would no longer be the majority.

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What Cuts to U.S. Aid Mean in Africa

March 13, 20254:08 PM ET

President Trump has derided aid the U.S. provides overseas as rife with fraud. His administration has moved aggressively to eliminate such funding including cancelling contracts already in progress. This is all being challenged in court but the effects are being felt acutely by those providing the aid on the ground in foreign countries. We hear from three providers in Africa.

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Starmer: ‘Sooner or later’ Russia must yield to peace

Starmer: ‘Sooner or later’ Russia must yield to peace

In this photo taken from video on March 15, 2025, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer participates from London in a virtual meeting with a group of European, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian leaders. They discussed the proposed ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

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Native American news roundup, March 9-14, 2025

WASHINGTON — Tribes and students sue feds over staff cuts at BIE schools
Three Tribal Nations, along with five Native students, are suing the U.S. Interior Department and the Office of Indian Affairs over mass firings at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and its federally operated schools — Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico.
The layoffs stem from President Donald Trump’s February 11 executive order calling for broad cuts to federal staffing. Haskell lost more than a quarter of its staff, leaving courses without instructors, delaying financial aid and forcing students to clean dorms and restrooms. At SIPI, staff cuts led to 13-hour power outages, undrinkable tap water, and canceled midterm exams due to a shortage of faculty.
The lawsuit by the Native American Rights Fund representing the Pueblo of Isleta, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes argues that the layoffs violate ..

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Drought-stricken Algeria plans to import 1 million sheep ahead of Islam’s Eid Al-Adha

March 11, 20252:17 AM ET
Sheep are for sale in a northern district of Algiers on June 8, 2024, ahead of the Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” when Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son.

Anis Belghoul/AP

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Anis Belghoul/AP

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s president has announced plans to import a staggering 1 million sheep ahead of this year’s Eid al-Adha, the holiday during which Muslims worldwide purchase livestock for sacrifice.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday instructed his ministers to launch plans for the massive livestock import effort to stabilize costs and meet soaring demand.
The plan is the latest in a series of measures designed to ease public frustration over rising costs and the military-backed government’s uncompromising grip on power.
It builds on previous efforts to flood markets with food staples throughout Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Yet its scale..

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Playwright Athol Fugard, who chronicled apartheid and its aftermath, dies at 92

March 10, 202512:10 AM ET
Enlarge this imageIn 2012, playwright Athol Fugard, who was then 80, said, “I have a greater sense of adventure at this moment in my life than I ever had in the past.” Fugard is pictured above in February 1985.

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John Minihan/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 2012, playwright Athol Fugard, who was then 80, said, “I have a greater sense of adventure at this moment in my life than I ever had in the past.” Fugard is pictured above in February 1985.

John Minihan/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

When apartheid ended, and Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, Athol Fugard thought his life as a playwright was over, he told NPR in 2015.
“I sincerely believe that I was going to be South Africa’s first literary redundancy,” Fugard said. “But as it is, South Africa caught me by surprise again and just said, ‘no, you got to keep writing, man. There are still ..

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Russia’s gains in Kursk threaten Kyiv’s leverage

Russia’s gains in Kursk threaten Kyiv’s leverage

FILE – A woman walks past a building damaged by Ukrainian strikes in Kursk following Ukraine’s offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region, Aug. 16, 2024. Since Kyiv launched its cross-border assault into the Kursk region in August 2024, Moscow has been pushing back hard.

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A Lagos community, destroyed in one day

March 7, 20255:23 PM ET
A woman gestures in front of her demolished house in Otodo-Gbame waterfront in Lagos, Nigeria. Saturday, March 18, 2017. Slums and shantytowns are often targeted in rampant demolitions across Africa’s most populous country

Sunday Alamba/AP

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Sunday Alamba/AP

LAGOS, Nigeria—A century old riverside community of more than 9,000 people located in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, was demolished on Friday and residents were forcefully evicted.
Dozens of Lagos state officials, as well as police and young men known locally as “area boys” armed with machetes and clubs entered the community of Ilaje-Otumara in the early hours of Friday, forcing thousands to flee with their belongings, as bulldozers rolled through homes, businesses and places of worship.
NPR witnessed state government officials and police watching on as residents were beaten and attacked and forced to leave without their possessions. Reporters covering the demolitio..

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The Dangerous Popularity of Skin Whitening Products in Nigeria

March 7, 20254:45 PM ET

In many parts of the world skin whitening is a major industry, but women in Nigeria have a particular fondness for creams and lotions that promise to lighten their skin. By one estimate, over 77% of women in the country have used such products. We go to Nigeria and learn that the effects of skin whiteners can be severe and many people who use them are unable to stop.

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