NPR News -Africa

April 19, 20246:51 PM ET

Under the glare of the lights in New York’s Time Square, a Nigerian chess master makes his bid to break the world record for the longest continuous chess game to raise money for children back home.

April 19, 20243:33 PM ET
Surviving children of the Auschwitz concentration camp, one of the camps the Nazis had set up to exterminate Jews and kill millions of others. Research into the appropriate way to “re-feed” those who’ve experienced starvation was prompted by the deaths of camp survivors after liberation.

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Editor’s note: This story contains detailed descriptions of how starvation affects the body.
Famine has been a threat to humanity since ancient times.
But it wasn’t until the end of World War II that scientists began to investigate what starvation actually does to a person’s body.
Now aid advocates are calling for those lessons to be applied to today’s food emergencies including the crises in Sudan, Gaza and Haiti.
Lessons from World War IITo understand why, Alex de Waal, a social scientist at Tufts University who specializes in famines, says you need to go back to an episode that spark..

April 19, 20247:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageWhen the media covers scientific research, not all scientists are equally likely to be mentioned. A new study finds scientists with Asian or African names were 15% less likely to be named in a story.

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When the media covers scientific research, not all scientists are equally likely to be mentioned. A new study finds scientists with Asian or African names were 15% less likely to be named in a story.

shironosov/Getty Images

When one Chinese national recently petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become a permanent resident, he thought his chances were pretty good. As an accomplished biologist, he figured that news articles in top media outlets, including The New York Times, covering his research would demonstrate his “extraordinary ability” in the sciences, as called for by the EB-1A visa.
But when the immigration officers rejected his ..

April 19, 20245:10 AM ET

Meza Malonga, a restaurant in Rwanda’s capital Kigali, serves innovative Afro-fusion cuisine. Chef Dieuvel Malonga opened it in 2020, after years of working in high-end European restaurants.

April 18, 202411:55 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA young girl carries an empty container as she walks across the sands to fill it from a well in Barrah, a desert village in the Sahel belt of Chad.

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A young girl carries an empty container as she walks across the sands to fill it from a well in Barrah, a desert village in the Sahel belt of Chad.

Ben Curtis/AP

LAGOS, Nigeria — The lethal heatwave that hit West Africa earlier this month, overwhelming hospitals and mortuaries in parts of the region, would not have happened without human-caused climate change activity, according to a study by a network of international scientists. Extremely high temperatures of over 110 degrees Fahrenheit likely killed hundreds or thousands of people across multiple countries region.
The new analysis from the World Weather Attribution group found the soaring temperatures in the region during the five-day period of the heatwave would not h..

April 18, 202410:30 AM ET
Enlarge this image”Orphan crops” refers to plantings that have fallen out of favor but could offer advantages over staples like wheat and grain in a changing climate. Above: Lablab purpureus, also known as Indian bean and Egyptian kidney bean, is native to sub-Saharan Africa and India. It’s a warm-season annual or short-lived perennial with a thick stem that grows up to 3 feet and vines that can reach 25 feet long.

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“Orphan crops” refers to plantings that have fallen out of favor but could offer advantages over staples like wheat and grain in a changing climate. Above: Lablab purpureus, also known as Indian bean and Egyptian kidney bean, is native to sub-Saharan Africa and India. It’s a warm-season annual or short-lived perennial with a thick stem that grows up to 3 feet and vines that can reach 25 feet long.

Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Getty Images..

April 16, 20246:52 PM ET
Enlarge this imagePaul Rusesabagina in 2019.

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Paul Rusesabagina in 2019.

Nicolas Maeterlinck/AFP via Getty Images

You’re reading the Consider This newsletter, which unpacks one major news story each day. Subscribe hereto get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to more from the Consider This podcast.
1. Paul Rusesabagina was a hotelier during the Rwandan genocide. In 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Nearly one million people died as neighbors brutally killed their neighbors. Paul Rusesabagina is credited for keeping more than 1,200 people safe in his hotel through weeks of violence. His life and story inspired the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda.
In 2021, Rusesabagina says he was kidnapped, tried and imprisoned in Rwanda for two years and seven months over his ties to the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), a grou..

April 16, 20244:41 PM ET

More than 8 million people have been displaced in Sudan, according to the United Nations. A powerful paramilitary group has been fighting the Sudanese army for over a year. We hear from a Sudanese poet, who is trying to draw attention to the overlooked conflict in her country.

April 15, 20244:49 PM ET

A year of war has had a devastating impact on Sudan. The country is suffering the worlds largest displacement crisis and in the grips of a humanitarian disaster, with no sign of a resolution in sight.