From the article:

Situated 150 kilometres (94 miles) south of Kolkata, media has dubbed Ghoramara the ‘sinking island’. It has lost nearly half of its area to soil erosion in the last two decades and could completely disappear within a few decades more if a solution is not found. In the decade to 2020, the population has fallen to around 4,000 from 7,000.

“We want the banks reinforced with stone boulders or rehabilitation in other places. Probably rehabilitation is the only answer,” said Patra, who once had acres of land that have now been lost to the sea.

Patra said his house was once a kilometre from the river’s edge but now stands just 150 metres away.

Way of life

Researchers say as climate change has forced a rise in sea surface temperatures, seasonal, cyclonic storms barrelling in from the Bay of Bengal have become more fierce and frequent, particularly in the last decade.

The island’s inhabitants were once predominantly dependent on agriculture, with most families farming rice and betel leaves. But cyclones in 2020 and 2021 flooded the fields with water high in saline, leaving the soil barren.

As people have migrated away from the island, especially youths, transport links with the mainland have fallen to just five ferries a day.

Patra lives alone. His wife works as a nursemaid in Kolkata, his two daughters, who are married, and his teacher son live on the mainland.

“It’s encouraging to see people in this rural area prioritising this issue (environment). It’s unfortunate that no one is listening to them,” said Sugata Hazra, the former head of the school of oceanographic studies at Jadavpur University in Kolkata.

“Cities across India are already facing drinking water scarcity. They (urban dwellers) should be more conscious of (the) environment and make it a primary issue alongside the economy and jobs.”

Some Ghoramara residents have planted mangrove saplings to try to reduce waterfront erosion, while the local administration displays notices across the island banning single-use plastic and polystyrene. A solid waste management system has been put in place.

From the article:

The ANC has won national elections held every five years since the landmark 1994 election, which marked the end of apartheid and the ascent of Nelson Mandela as president.

But since those heady days the ANC's support has declined because of disillusionment over issues such as high unemployment and crime, frequent power blackouts and corruption.

In the previous election in 2019, the ANC won 57.5% of the vote, with 20.8% for the DA and 10.8% for the EFF, on a turnout of 66% of registered voters, which the commission has already said is likely to be higher this time.

At provincial level, the early results showed the ANC on 35.7%, the DA on 29.6%% and the EFF on 10.8% in the key province of Gauteng, which includes the country's business capital Johannesburg and the sprawling townships of Soweto and Alexandra.

In KwaZulu-Natal, a populous eastern province where the major city of Durban is located, Zuma's MK was performing strongly, with 43.2% of the vote versus 21.7% for the ANC. KwaZulu-Natal is his home province and he is popular there.

Zuma was forced to quit as president in 2018 after a string of scandals and has since fallen out with the ANC leadership, leading him to throw his weight behind MK. The party, named after the ANC's armed wing from the apartheid era, appeared to be costing both the ANC and the EFF votes.

"MK is going to be a real player. That it tracks close to the EFF is significant because they are going after the same voters," said Dooms.

By law, the electoral commission has seven days to declare full results, but in practice it is usually faster than that. In the last election, in 2019, voting took place on a Wednesday like this year and final results came on the Saturday.

The new parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared and its first act must be to elect the nation's president.

This means that if the ANC is confirmed to have lost its majority there could be two weeks of intense and complex negotiations to agree on how

From the article:

"Instruments we used to deal with conflicts and security among ourselves are no longer working,” argued Obasanjo. “The government that comes in unconstitutional ways are not thinking of going away in three or four years not even ten years, they are thinking of staying for a generations; should we find new ways of sanctions?” asked Obasanjo.

Drawing on his experience with conflict in the Great Lakes region, President Kikwete explained that most conflicts in Africa result from leadership failures. “A lot of issues that Africa is dealing with stem from a deficit of governance,” he said.

President Ndayizeye, referencing the Burundi conflict, emphasized the importance of communication. He explained that he and the late President Pierre Buyoya began their talks as sworn enemies. They had to build trust and committed to meeting three times a day, which eventually matured into daily phone calls. Ndayizeye noted that although they started with mutual hatred, they ended up becoming friends.

The issue of terrorism was also addressed. Mozambique’s Interior Minister, Pascoal Pedro João Ronda, highlighted the situation in Mozambique and the impending departure of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) in July, emphasizing the need for increased cooperation among the states.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, highlighted the challenges faced by the council, including stringent budgeting and a lack of adequate mechanisms to implement its mandate.

He said: “The modesty of the Council’s means of intervention cannot be underestimated. I do not wish to dwell on the size of the budget allocated to the Council. They suffer the same fate as all the Union’s bodies.I would rather emphasize the Council’s lack of any means of coercion or of imposing its decisions.”

“This congenital weakness makes the operational function of Council a complete pipe dream. Where is the African Army? Where is the Standby Force? Where is the Rapid Intervention Brigade? All these ambitious projects, whose implementation would have enhanced the PSC’s intervention capabilities, if only to act as a deterrent, have been left to rest in drawers,” he emphasized.

From the article:

The South East Asian nation is at a crossroads - after decades of military rule and brutal repression, ethnic groups, along with a new army of young insurgents, have brought the dictatorship to crisis point.

In the past seven months, somewhere between half and two-thirds of the country has fallen to the resistance. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, including many children, since the military seized power in a coup in 2021. Some 2.5 million have been displaced, and the military facing an unprecedented challenge to its rule and in an attempt to thwart the growing resistance regularly bombs civilians, schools and churches from its warplanes (the resistance has none).

Before Nay Myo Zin’s sound equipment is switched on, the army opens fire on his position.

Undeterred, with a flick of the switch and microphone in hand, he bellows: “Everyone, cease fire! Cease fire, please. Just listen for five minutes, 10 minutes.” Somewhat surprisingly, the barrage stops.

He tells them of the 4,000 soldiers who surrendered to the opposition in northern Shan State, and the recent insurgent drone attacks on military buildings in the country’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. The message is, we are winning, your regime is falling, it is time to give up.

Here in Hpasang and across Karenni state, across much of the country, battles and stalemates have taken hold as a great rolling rebellion threatens the rule of the military junta. The military coup in 2021 brought an end to the elected civilian government, and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, along with other political leaders.

Yet this is an under-reported conflict - with much of the world’s attention on Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict. There is no press freedom, foreign journalists are rarely allowed to enter officially and when they do are heavily monitored. There is no way to hear the resistance side of this story through government approved visits.

We travelled into Myanmar and spent a month in the east of the country living alongside resistance groups fighting across Karenni State, which borders Thailand, and Shan state, which borders China...

@protist note this article is about the Republic of the Congo also known as ROC and Congo-Brazzaville, not about the Democratic Republic of Congo also known as DRC and Congo-Kinshassa.

The reason it made headlines is due to Congolese feelings around Rwanda's hostility to DRC and sponsoring of M23 rebels who have invaded it.

It's a bit like how Ukraininans would feel if a neighbouring country was giving territory to Russia.