South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Honking and drumming, thousands of people protested Saturday in the capital of Mauritius over the government’s handling of an oil spill from a grounded Japanese ship and the alarming discovery of dozens of dead dolphins in recent days.

The protesters waved the country’s flag and held up signs with messages such as “You have no shame” and “I’ve seen better Cabinets at IKEA.”

CAPE TOWN, Aug 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A South African court ruled that a Kuwaiti firm could ship thousands of sheep to the Middle East, dealing a blow to animal welfare activists seeking to ban such exports on concerns that extreme heat could kill the animals en route.

In the high court case, South Africa’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) sought an interim injunction to prevent Kuwaiti livestock exporter Al Mawashi from sailing a vessel loaded with sheep out of South Africa’s East London port.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Winter is ending in the Southern Hemisphere and country after country -- South Africa, Australia, Argentina -- had a surprise: Their steps against COVID-19 also apparently blocked the flu.

But there’s no guarantee the Northern Hemisphere will avoid twin epidemics as its own flu season looms while the coronavirus still rages.

PRETORIA, August 20. /TASS/: Mali’s military leaders who seized power have called on citizens to stop "the acts of vandalism" in the country and asked state officials to return to work, Nigerian newspaper Vanguard reported on Thursday.

"We are inviting all staff of state agencies to come to work and start working," a representative of the self-proclaimed National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) Col. Ismael Wague told the national television.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Anxious residents of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves Saturday to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tons of fuel leaking from a grounded ship put endangered wildlife in further peril.

The government has declared an environmental emergency and France said it was sending help from its nearby Reunion island. Satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near wetlands that the government called “very sensitive.”

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius declared a “state of environmental emergency” late Friday after a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground offshore days ago began spilling tons of fuel.

Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced the development as satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near environmental areas that the government called “very sensitive.”

Mauritius has said the ship was carrying nearly 4,000 tons of fuel and cracks have appeared in its hull.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa on Saturday surpassed 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, representing more than 50% of all reported coronavirus infections in Africa’s 54 countries.

Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced 10,107 new cases Saturday night, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 503,290, including 8,153 deaths.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s COVID-19 response is marred by corruption allegations around its historic $26 billion economic relief package, as the country with the world’s fifth highest number of COVID-19 cases braces for more.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a wide-ranging investigation into claims that unscrupulous officials and private companies are looting efforts to protect the country’s 57 million people.

“More so than at any other time, corruption puts our lives at risk,” he said in a national address Thursday night.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A new snapshot of the frantic global response to the coronavirus pandemic shows some of the world’s largest government donors of humanitarian aid are buckling under the strain: Funding commitments, for the virus and otherwise, have dropped by a third from the same period last year.

The analysis by the U.K.-based Development Initiatives, obtained in advance by The Associated Press, offers a rare real-time look at the notoriously difficult to track world of aid.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Countries from the U.S. to South Africa to India were struggling to hold down rising rates of the coronavirus, as global deaths from COVID-19 surged past 600,000 in a sign of how far off the world remains from a return to normalcy.

While the U.S. leads global infections, South Africa now ranks as the fifth worst-hit country in the pandemic with 350,879 cases — roughly half of all those confirmed on the African continent. Its struggles are a sign of trouble to come for nations with even fewer health care resources.