Fake News! No, that’s not our President condemning the critical voices of media. That troubling phrase was deployed by Zambian President Edgar Lungu, complaining about local coverage of the plunder of valuable, increasingly scarce Mukula rosewood trees – and hence, the destruction of Zambia’s vulnerable forests. President Lungu was particularly incensed by a report naming…

By Khalil Abdullah Washington, D.C. (Ethnic Media Services) – Gilberto Amaya is a descendant of Africans of various tribes captured and transported in the 1700s to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. Though intended for the harsh yoke of servitude, they ran the ships aground, then escaped inland where they intermarried with the…

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia Zozibini Tunzi said she grew up in a world where a woman who looks like her, was never considered beautiful. On Sunday, December 8, the South Africa beauty queen was crowned Miss Universe. “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me,…

As the 25th United Nations climate conference moved into its second week, environmental activists from around the world denounced the influence of corporate power plainly visible at the Madrid summit and took to the streets in a massive climate protest led by indigenous leaders and youth. The summit — known as COP25, or conference of…

The Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ goes to five human rights activists this year. Among them is Aminatou Haidar of the Western Sahara. Ms. Haidar receives the Right Livelihood Award “for her steadfast nonviolent action, despite imprisonment and torture, in pursuit of justice and self-determination for the people of Western…

By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services Gilberto Amaya’s career in international development has taken him across more than 30 countries as he implemented renewable energy systems, agribusiness projects, and poverty alleviation initiatives. He witnessed post-independence struggles of sovereign states whose names are rarely heard on U.S. nightly newscasts — Burkina Faso, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe. A…

On the occasion of World Aids Day, South African health minister Zweli Mkhize announced the roll-out of a new state-of-the-art antiretroviral drug which, he said, should drastically reduce the number of people living with HIV. The roll-out could start as soon as this month. A modified three-in-one pill was hailed as a ‘game-changer’, much needed…

As world leaders gather in Madrid, Spain, for one of the largest global conferences on the environment, a new report from the U.S.-based Save the Children Fund warns that real world impacts of climate change are threatening tens of millions of people in East and Southern Africa with what it terms “climate shock.” Floods, landslides,…

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent @StacyBrownMedia While many deep-pocketed philanthropists and celebrities will write checks to support worthy causes, Tennis megastar Serena Williams routinely goes the extra mile. In a recently released video, Williams donned a pair of jeans, workboats, a hardhat and went to work on Salt Marsh Elementary School in…

A new study warns that a third of tropical African plants are on the path to extinction, with much of western Africa standing to lose more than 40 percent of plant diversity. Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the hardest hit regions, the researchers found. Species at risk…