Obesity in women is revered, and girls in rural areas are sent to "fat farms" to fatten up. Some are questioning the health issues this presents. Older news story, I wonder if there are updates? picked by hypnotode 2 years ago

Until he was circumcised with a machete in front of a jeering mob and then dragged off to be beheaded, Robert Ochieng had been a symbol of modern, post-tribal harmony in Kenya.

We badly need some brighter people making decisions for our policies. picked by DerAlt1 6 months ago

The right engine of the Boeing 737 "separated from the wing. The aircraft continued to climb out," the airline said in a statement.

*well, I'm completely reassured about my fear of flying now.

Edit: Fixed your link picked by dollyllama 10 months ago

Off-beat story from newspaper in Africa, worth a read! picked by Featherlake 5 months ago

Tree pints three: The bar is hollowed into a 155ft wide Baobab's trunk on farmland in South Africa picked by wildminou 8 months ago

Who knew that Mother Nature began processing uranium long before man did? In the 1970's, French physicist Francis Perrin discovered that the uranium mined at the Oklo mine appeared to have already undergone fission. And there's something else amiss: the atomic weight of Oklo mine's samarium, its "nuclear signature," doesn't match the rest of the world's. This Wikipedia article goe... read full post picked by meggysue 1 week ago

Rising sea levels are already forcing salt water into aquifers beneath megadeltas that are home to tens of millions, and changing weather patterns are set to intensify droughts in large swathes of Africa, southern Europe and Asia picked by doggylives 5 months ago

Scientists exploring one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical forest in Western Africa discovered significant populations of new, rare and threatened species underscoring the area’s high biological diversity and value. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

"To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly."

Follow up to picked by proverb 10 months ago

Dave Tosh, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University, found the greater white-toothed shrew in Tipperary and Limerick while working with University College Cork and BirdWatch Ireland. Its natural range is in parts of Africa, France and Germany and before now the closest it has been spotted to Ireland is in the Channel Islands. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

As a tangential follow-up to an earlier post about mine safety here is another story from South Africa, illstrating that mining can be dangerous, but especially when miners themselves are doing things which are not safe (or even legal).
(This picture not related to the actual story.) picked by rambler 11 months ago

A team of water experts says the pattern of droughts and floods in South Africa shows our global warming was triggered by the variability of the sun’s irradiance rather than by human-emitted CO2. They say variations in South African rainfall patterns are keyed to periodic reversals of the sun’s magnetic field—and to the constantly changing distance between the sun and the earth a... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Even in South Africa, crime sometimes has a humourous aspect... picked by rambler 1 year ago

For ten years their home has been a 20ft cage but last week - for the first time in their lives - leopards Sirius and Pitou ran free across the plains of Africa.

(Now it's time to work on getting a few tigers out.) picked by tigertony 7 months ago

A recently passed law makes it illegal for teenagers to kiss, touch or rub up against each other in public. picked by suebe 8 months ago

Millions were watching and now even more are protesting that it was allowed to happen. It wasn't until after other house-mates pulled the rapist off of the unconscious woman that producers sent in help. picked by coldbladed 10 months ago

"The monkeys grab their breasts, and gesture at us while pointing at their private parts. We are afraid that they will sexually harass us." They also claim the monkeys make sexually explicit gestures at them. Those are some bad monkeys. picked by misswinkle 12 months ago

It's in South Africa & it rocks. picked by suckersklub 1 year ago

A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dar... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

I think keeping the peace anywhere is a laudable thing to do. But when I read stories like these, then I do despair a bit. Why do Europeans and others have to go through so many hoops to try and "keep the peace" (we need to make it first...) when Africans don't seem to care enough about it themselves? *sigh* picked by rambler 8 months ago