Headlines
Refugees in Turkey seeking new lives by crossing the eastern Mediterranean to Greece are increasingly subject to being robbed, beaten or even abandoned at sea. Encouraged to make the trip by Turkey, refugees – many from Syria – report they are being expelled by Greek authorities after they reach Greek territory
Tanzania is heading toward October elections after five years under President John Magufuli. Magufuli has initiated major infrastructure projects and fought against official corruption. But critics call him “The Bulldozer” for ignoring criticism of the projects and cracking down on opponents and freedom of the press
Amid an escalation of tensions between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas government, Palestinians have launched hundreds of incendiary devices carried by balloons over the border into Israel. Now, Israel has developed a laser defense system – the first of its kind in the world – to shoot them down
Germany’s top diplomat urged China to allow a UN mission to investigate the internment camps holding Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and called for the withdrawal of the national security law in Hong Kong that has led to the arrests of top pro-democracy figures, German media reported
A Tehran city council member says more than 10,000 people have died so far in the Iranian capital from COVID-19. That amounts to about half of some 21,000 deaths officially recorded nationally. Shopkeepers in the capital have revealed the impact it is having on their personal health and their businesses
COVID-19 has created a new normal for school children learning by video applications and broadcast channels, including in Uganda. But while many embrace the new normal, not all families are able to afford paying for data or even electricity for the television
With the coronavirus outbreak, people worldwide have become preoccupied with a threat so physically small that it can’t be seen. The invisible world of viruses has long fascinated multi-media artist Laura Splan, who is artist in residence at a biotech lab researching Covid-19
Cobalt has emerged as one of the hottest commodities in the new energy revolution because it is widely used in electric vehicles as well as computer and consumer electronics. But unlike graphite, which China has significant natural reserves, the country’s cobalt reserves accounts for only about 1% of the world’s total. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) produces more than 60% of the world’s mined cobalt.
Botswana’s neighbor, Zimbabwe, recorded its first mysterious deaths last week, with the loss of at least 11 elephants. Wildlife authorities there say the cause appears to be a bacterial infection
The Afghan government said it has taken the necessary measures to curb the use of drugs by its police forces amid a report published last week by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which said Afghan agencies found that half of the police forces in the southern provinces used drugs