A young member of the Maitibolo Cultural Troupe, who ca […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Nelson Mandela’s last will and testament reads like a journey through the former South African president’s remarkable life. Much of his estate, worth an estimated $4.1 million, was bequeathed to his large and fractious family. But Mandela’s will — released Monday, two months after his death — also touchingly
A dangerous cocktail of heroin and anti-HIV drugs lets some of South Africa’s poorest get high for just $3 a hit.
BOKSBURG, South Africa — Mpho was a bored teenager growing up in the bleak sprawl of big city Johannesburg, with few opportunities and little to do for fun. When a friend offered her “nyaope,” she didn’t say no. “I wanted to feel happy,” she said, recounting her first experience smoking the cocktail drug. “And I felt so happy and so
Madagascar has fallen into an economic ‘abyss.’ Can elections put the country back on track?
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — With swarms of hungry locusts destroying crops, and rats spreading bubonic plague, the crisis in Madagascar is becoming almost biblical in its devastation. In the nearly five years since 34-year-old former disc jockey Andry Rajoelina took power in a coup d’etat, the collapsing state and slumping economy
A major step taken towards efforts to fight a disease that kills numbers of people, many of them children, each year.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — In what could be a game changer for one of the world’s deadliest diseases, scientists say a vaccine against malaria may finally be within reach. So far, a malaria jab has proved elusive. But an experimental vaccine has shown promise in protecting children against the deadly malaria parasite. The company that makes
Actor Idris Elba goes ‘extra mile’ to play Mandela role, even spending a night in the activist’s former jail cell.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — A few blocks from Nelson Mandela’s house, the producer of a new biopic about South Africa’s first black president recalls getting the official blessing for his film, many years ago. Anant Singh started working on “Long Walk to Freedom” — based on Mandela’s autobiography — more than two decades ago, before the
Obama’s tour comes just three months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a splash by visiting Africa on his first overseas trip.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — As U.S. President Barack Obama heads from South Africa to Tanzania for the last stretch of his most ambitious African tour, he is following a path well trodden by China’s globe-trotting leaders. Obama’s tour of Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania comes just three months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made a splash
The president’s visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania will be his first to the continent in years. Things have changed since last time.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Welcome back to Africa, Barack Obama. The colorful banners are up and the local people are excited — but, um, maybe not so much as the last time. When the U.S. president lands in Senegal late Wednesday on his first visit to the continent in four years, he will come laden with the weight of surveillance scandals at
