April 28, 20245:26 PM ET
This weekend marks 30 years since Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, officially ending the country’s era of apartheid. NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with journalist Redi Thlabi.
April 28, 20244:38 PM ET
Enlarge this imageBodyguards keep close watch as Nelson Mandela celebrates his victory in the South African presidential elections of 1994. As the head of the African National Congress, he helped to build the country’s new multiracial government and to establish the free elections in which he won his presidency.
David Turnley/Corbis/VCG
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David Turnley/Corbis/VCG
Bodyguards keep close watch as Nelson Mandela celebrates his victory in the South African presidential elections of 1994. As the head of the African National Congress, he helped to build the country’s new multiracial government and to establish the free elections in which he won his presidency.
David Turnley/Corbis/VCG
Three decades ago, South Africa held its first democratic election, closing the door on the apartheid era.
And Nelson Mandela was elected its first Black president.
Today, the country is still led by Mandela’s political party – the African Nation..
April 28, 20248:04 AM ET
A cult leader in Kenya was charged with murder after the discovery last year of more than 400 bodies in a remote forest. NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks to journalist Carey Baraka about the case.
April 27, 20248:12 AM ET
Three decades since the first democratic election in South Africa, will the generation that has never known apartheid turn out to vote, or has politics left many of them too disillusioned?
April 27, 20248:00 AM ET
Enlarge this imageA photo of Ajmal Khan on his way to Western Europe to find work, taken by a travel companion and sent by Khan to his family in Afghanistan via WhatsApp. The 17-year-old drowned when crossing the Drina River near the city of Bijeljina in Bosnia-Herzegovina — part of a common route for migrants as they head toward wealthier European countries.
Courtesy of the family
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A photo of Ajmal Khan on his way to Western Europe to find work, taken by a travel companion and sent by Khan to his family in Afghanistan via WhatsApp. The 17-year-old drowned when crossing the Drina River near the city of Bijeljina in Bosnia-Herzegovina — part of a common route for migrants as they head toward wealthier European countries.
Courtesy of the family
Thousands of migrants have died or gone missing in Europe — many of them in the Western Balkans. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, dozens..
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.
Ben Curtis/AP
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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..