Democratic Republic of Congo

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As Mystery Illness Kills Dozens, Locals Told to Not Touch Bodies

Flu-like sickness is being investigated in southwestern Congo

(Newser) - A flu-like disease that has killed dozens of people over two weeks is being investigated in southwestern Congo, local authorities said. The deaths were recorded between Nov. 10 and Nov. 25 in the Panzi health zone of the Kwango province. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, and anemia, provincial health minister...

First US Case of New Form of Mpox Surfaces in California

Patient is receiving treatment after returning from eastern Africa

(Newser) - Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first US case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo. The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California upon return, according to the state Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving,...

Congo: 3 Americans Among Those Arrested in Failed Coup
Congo Court Sentences
3 Americans to Death
UPDATED
Sep 13, 2024 2:49 PM CDT

Congo Court Sentences 3 Americans to Death

They're accused of taking part in failed coup earlier this year

(Newser) - Three Americans have been sentenced to death for taking part in a failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports CNN . Marcel Malanga, 21; Tyler Thompson Jr., 21; and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, received the sentences Friday along with 34 others arrested in May. Malanga is the son...

A Jarring Stat Emerges on Monkeypox Victims
A Jarring Stat Emerges
on Monkeypox Victims
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 31, 2024 4:20 PM CDT

A Jarring Stat Emerges on Monkeypox Victims

Health officials say 75% of cases seen in Congo are kids under 10

(Newser) - More than 450 people have died of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, and children seem to make up the lion's share of the cases there. Dr. Pierre Olivier Ngadjole of the charity Medair tells the BBC that 75% of those who've contracted the infectious...

Congo Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for 3 Americans

They're accused of taking part in coup attempt

(Newser) - Prosecutors on Tuesday called for 50 people, including three Americans, to face the death penalty for what the Congolese army says was a coup attempt earlier this year. Military prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Innocent Radjabu urged the judges to sentence to death all those on trial, except for one defendant who...

Mpox Sparks Another Global Health Emergency

WHO issues declaration over rapidly spreading form of virus

(Newser) - With mpox raging through Africa, and the possibility the virus will spread elsewhere, the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared a global health emergency. It's the second such declaration about the virus previously called monkeypox in three years, the CBC reports. The first one ended in mid-2003 when vaccination...

Congolese Army Says It Foiled a Coup

Says perpetrators, including several foreigners, are in custody

(Newser) - Congo's army says it has "foiled a coup" early Sunday and arrested the perpetrators, including several foreigners, following a shootout between armed men in military uniform and a top politician's guards that left three people dead in the capital, Kinshasa. The attempted coup d'état was "nipped in...

Belgium Steps Closer to Returning Colonial-Era Remains

Critics, however, say law draft didn't include input from countries of origin

(Newser) - More than 500 sets of human remains taken from ex-Belgian colonies are currently housed at the Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, including the skull of 19th-century Congolese leader Lusinga Iwa Ng'ombe, who was decapitated in a battle with Belgian troops in 1884. Now, draft legislation is vying to...

Scores Killed, 100 Missing in Congo Flash Floods
Flooding Kills Scores in Congo
May 6, 2023 12:15 PM CDT

Flooding Kills Scores in Congo

About 100 are reported to be missing

(Newser) - The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen to 176, with some 100 people still missing, according to a provisional assessment given by the governor and authorities in the country's South Kivu province. Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe...

IS Group Says It Killed 35 Christians in Village

US has offered $5M reward in hunt for leader in response to attacks in Congo

(Newser) - The Islamic State group has issued a statement claiming responsibility for killing more than 35 people and wounding dozens in eastern Congo. In the statement, posted Friday by Aamaq, the militants' news agency, it said it killed Christians with guns and knives and destroyed their property in Mukondi village in...

Women, Children in DRC Raped, Tortured in Droves: UN

New report details deteriorating situation as M23 rebels overrun eastern part of Congo

(Newser) - The accounts are haunting. Abductions, torture, rapes. Scores of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by M23 rebels in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, per a UN report. In addition, the rebels have forced children to be soldiers, according to the 21-page report by...

Nation That Balked at Landmark COP15 Deal Changes Tune

Biodiverse Democratic Republic of Congo now says it's on board

(Newser) - A historic deal signed Monday at the UN's COP15 biodiversity summit had a lone objector: Eve Bazaiba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose objection was ignored by COP15 President Huang Runqiu, China's environmental minister. Now, Bazaiba is walking back her objection, easing fears of a legal challenge...

Charcoal: Essential for Survival, Devastating for Environment

The need for fuel is helping to destroy the world’s second-largest rainforest

(Newser) - The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of Africa's poorest and most populous nations, with nearly 90 million people, all of whom—like other humans—need to eat. But only 17% have access to electricity, and gas-burning stoves are a luxury. That leaves charcoal as the staple fuel for...

Remains of Independence Hero Finally Return to Congo
A Hero's Tooth Is
Laid to Rest in Congo
UPDATED
Jun 30, 2022 1:57 PM CDT

A Hero's Tooth Is Laid to Rest in Congo

Independence hero Patrice Lumumba's body was dissolved in acid after 1961 murder

(Newser) - Update: Patrice Lumumba's gold-crowned tooth—all that remained of Congo's independence leader after his body was dissolved in acid more than 60 years ago—finished its tour of the country and was on Thursday entombed in the capital, Kinshasa. The BBC reports it is being kept in a...

Ongoing Issue Leads Pope to Nix Africa Trip

Vatican said it was canceled on doctors' orders

(Newser) - Pope Francis canceled a planned July trip to Africa on doctors' orders because of ongoing knee problems, the Vatican said Friday, dashing hopes of the faithful there and raising further questions about the health and mobility problems of the 85-year-old pontiff. The Vatican said the July 2-7 trip to Congo...

Protesters Denounce Beating Death of Refugee
Protesters Denounce
Beating Death of Refugee
photos
Feb 5, 2022 1:10 PM CST

Protesters Denounce Beating Death of Refugee

24-year-old's family had moved to Brazil to escape fighting in Congo

(Newser) - Demonstrators gathered on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and other Brazilian cities to protest the killing of a 24-year-old Congolese refugee who was beaten to death on Jan. 24. The killing sparked outrage and revulsion across the nation, the AP reports. In Rio, they gathered outside the beach...

Do We Have a 'Moral Obligation' to Mine for Cobalt in Idaho?

One of the country's largest stores of cobalt is there

(Newser) - As the planet's need for lithium—or, more specifically, lithium-ion batteries—continues to swell, so too does the need for metals needed to make those batteries. Cobalt is one of them. As Michael Holtz explains in a lengthy piece for the Atlantic , a White House report issued in June...

Lava Flow Sends Thousands Fleeing
Lava Flow Sends
Thousands Fleeing
photos
May 23, 2021 11:10 AM CDT

Lava Flow Sends Thousands Fleeing

Eruption panics residents but largely spares Congo city devastated in 2002

(Newser) - A volcano eruption in eastern Congo triggered evacuations, with about 8,000 people fleeing to Rwanda, as lava flows neared the major city of Goma. The flows slowed overnight, stopping just before reaching the city of 2 million, officials reported, and the Rwandan emergency agency said the evacuees were going...

Attack on UN Convoy Kills Italian Ambassador

Luca Attanasio, who had been ambassador to the country since 2017, was killed in Congo

(Newser) - The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, an Italian carabinieri police officer, and their Congolese driver were killed Monday in an attack on a UN convoy, per Italy's Foreign Ministry and locals. The ambush occurred as the convoy was traveling from Goma, Congo's eastern regional capital,...

6 Rangers Killed in Gorilla Park Ambush

A dozen of their colleagues were massacred in April

(Newser) - The mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are endangered, as are the rangers tasked with protecting them. At least six rangers were killed in an ambush Sunday, less than nine months after a dozen rangers and five civilians were massacred, the New York ...

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