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South African authorities say “extreme poverty and a severe lack of affordable housing” were major factors in a deadly Johannesburg building fire two years ago. In August 2023, 77 people died and many more were injured after a fire gutted the Usindiso building in Marshalltown, where many poor people were living. The tragedy shocked the […]
In the wake of his abduction on a highway in Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam, social media activist Edgar Mwakabela, better known as Sativa, says he came close to death. He describes in an interview with the BBC how, after kidnapping him on 23 June last year, his captors interrogated him and then ferried […]
An aid worker supporting rescue efforts after the devastating Sudan landslide which reportedly killed hundreds of people has told the BBC that it had caused a “mountain to collapse”, leaving just one known survivor so far. “We have so far managed to recover nine bodies,” said Abdul Hafeez Ali, head of the Coordinating Council of […]
Although Africa is home to a huge proportion of the world’s languages – well over a quarter according to some estimates – many are missing when it comes to the development of AI. This is both an issue of a lack of investment and readily available data. Most AI tools, such as Chat GPT, used […]
A woman has been burnt to death by a mob in northern Nigeria’s Niger state after she was accused of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad, police have said. Police condemned the killing of the woman – identified in local media as a food vendor named Amaye – as “jungle justice”, saying that an investigation was under […]
A computer scientist at a university in the north of England is studying an image of a corpse – attempting to solve a mystery that has gripped the Middle East for nearly 50 years. “This is what he looks like now?” asks Bradford University’s Prof Hassan Ugail doubtfully. The digitised photo is of a decomposed […]
A landslide has killed at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, according to the armed group the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, which left just one survivor and “levelled” much of the village of Tarasin, the group said in a statement. The movement […]
Carolyne Odour has told the BBC she desperately fears for fate of her two young sons who went missing two months ago with their father – a follower of the teachings of a notorious starvation cult leader. Ms Odour says that amid an ongoing investigation into more deaths linked to the cult she has identified […]
A head-on collision in Namibia involving vehicles belonging to the security services has killed 16 people. The accident took place 270km (167 miles) south of the capital, Windhoek, outside the town of Mariental on Saturday. “No words can truly capture the depth of this loss,” President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah wrote on social media, praising “the souls […]
The people of Malawi are set to vote for their next leader, following a turbulent five years involving economic turmoil, natural disasters and the shock death of the nation’s vice-president. Current President Lazarus Chakwera is vying for a second term, his main rival being Peter Mutharika, an octogenarian who has also held office in the […]