South Africa arrests over xenophobic attacks in Durban

    

South African police have arrested 17 people and opened murder cases after attacks on foreign nationals in Durban.

The violence comes in the wake of alleged comments by the Zulu king telling migrants to go home - although the he says he was mistranslated.
But Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has called on traditional leaders to stop making remarks that "could result in a loss of life".
At least 62 people died in xenophobic attacks that swept the country in 2008.

Nigerian refugees: U.N. appeals for $174M for victims of Boko Haram

The United Nations is appealing for $174 million to help Nigerian refugees who've fled to neighboring nations following militant attacks.

Boko Haram has killed thousands in the nation's northeast by attacking villages, schools, churches and mosques.

It has also kidnapped students, including more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April last year. A majority of them remain missing.

The militants have attacked relentlessly for six years, sending 192,000 people seeking shelter in Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

"Displaced people in northeastern Nigeria and across borders are in a very dramatic situation, they fear for their lives and are at this point unable to return to their homes," said Liz Ahua, who's coordinating Nigerian refugee efforts for the U.N.

Aid agencies are scrambling to provide the refugees with clean water, shelter, food and access to education.

"In the refugee camps, thousands of school-age refugee children cannot attend school because of lack of classrooms and teachers," Ahua said.

Mental health needs are crucial to help the survivors of physical attacks and those who've witnessed violence, according to the U.N. Some children are separated from their parents amid the trauma.

"The conflict has had a devastating impact on children, including many who were forcibly recruited by the insurgents in Nigeria," Ahua said.

The appeal encompasses the needs of 23 agencies and nongovernmental organizations helping the refugees.

"Adequate funding is crucial to make sure aid agencies can improve the living conditions for refugees in asylum countries and respond to their protection needs," Ahua said. "We relocate refugees away from the conflict border areas, and establish additional refugee camps where needed."

The Islamist group has said its aim is to impose a stricter form of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

An additional 1.2 million people are displaced within Nigeria as a result of the insurgency.

Entertainment Live: 10 April 2015 This page automatically updates

After Garissa attack, grief and questions in Kenya

  

I watched mothers, fathers, other relatives and friends break down in tears at Chiromo mortuary in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, as coffins of their young sons and daughters were handed over.

There could not have been a more poignant moment to witness the deep pain and grief suffered by families of those who perished in the Garissa University College attack last week.
They are taking their children home to the hills and valleys of this beautiful land for burial.
Everyone has been touched by the gruesome attack.
While I was at the mortuary, I saw Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed break down in tears at the scale of personal loss all around usThe question that comes to mind is - why? Why were those young people targets for the Somali-based al-Shabab militants?
And why Kenya? The simplistic answer is that Kenyan troops are serving in the African Union mission in neighbouring Somalia and the insurgents are striking back.

WHO: Ebola survivors at risk of eye and joint problems

Many Ebola survivors are likely to face further health issues including eye and joint problems, the World Health Organization has warned.

And a recent case may have caught Ebola through sexual contact with someone who had recovered, experts said.
The WHO has decided the crisis still constitutes as a public health emergency of international concern.
But said there had been "real, substantive progress" in the drive to end the outbreak in the last few weeks.

Health aftermath

Officials announced they are attempting to set up clinics in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to monitor the health consequences Ebola survivors face.
Patients have reported problems with their vision, joints and on-going fatigue.
But Dr Bruce Aylward, assistant director general of the WHO, admitted not much was known about the long-term implications of the virus.
He said the information gathered at these clinics would help the mental and physical health needs of people recovering from the disease.
Experts from the organisation also said a recent Ebola patient was "likely to have been infected following sexual contact involving a survivor some months after his recovery".
Meanwhile reports suggest Liberian medics have been investigating whether a patient may have contracted the disease in this way.
WHO scientists are now considering whether it would be feasible to offer screening to check if the virus is still present in semen 90 days after male survivors have been declared Ebola free.
Current WHO advice says survivors should practice safe sex for three months following recovery as the virus can linger in these bodily fluids.

Vatican silent over French gay ambassador

The Vatican has declined to comment on reports that it has not accepted a new French ambassador because he is gay.

The French government proposed the senior diplomat Laurent Stefanini for the post in January.
It normally takes about a month for an appointment to be approved, but three months on the Vatican has kept a diplomatic silence.
Media reports in France say the French government is refusing to back down over the appointment.
In 2007, France proposed an openly gay diplomat to be its ambassador at the Vatican but was forced to choose another after months of silence.
The French Catholic newspaper La Croix reports that the Vatican has indicated the posting is unacceptable.
Mr Stefanini is openly gay and was posted to France's Rome embassy between 2001 and 2005.

Morocco bus crash: Children among 33 dead in collision

Schoolchildren returning from a sports competition were among at least 33 people killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a gas tanker in southern Morocco, officials say.

The bus burst into flames after the crash on Friday morning near the city of Tan-Tan in the district of Chbika.
Nine people were injured and taken to hospital but two later died.
Local media said the children had been taking part in an athletics competition and were travelling with their coaches One survivor said, "We were sleeping, most of us were sleeping. We heard the explosion, followed by the burning."
Some reports said they were travelling from the capital, Rabat, to Laayoune, which is in the Western Sahara.
"A majority of the victims are children aged eight to 14," an official from the regional sports and youth ministry told the AFP news agency.
Hassan Issengar, a well-known athlete, was travelling with the children and is among the dead, reports said.
King Mohamed VI has sent a message of condolences to the families and said he would pay for the burials as well the hospital fees for the injured.
Road accidents have been on the rise in Morocco as car ownership has nearly doubled over the past 15 years, according to Reuters news agency.
An average of 10 people are estimated to die every day in road accidents.