The runner-up in Zimbabwe's presidential election, Nelson Chamisa, has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of carrying out an electoral coup. Former Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria chairperson Attahiru Muhammadu Jega is leading the Carter Center's observer mission to Zimbabwe. He talks about his role as electoral observer.
It has been more than a month since the military in Niger overthrew former President Bazoum. Burkina Faso and Mali have also been living under military governments that came to power through coups. In today's episode of Focus on Africa we ask have the juntas there delivered on their promises and what has life been like for the ordinary citizens ?
We speak with Ghanaian actor Majid Michel about how he coped with losing his voice after a car accident in 2015 and the secret to his longevity in the industry.
For hundreds of millions of years insects controlled the skies. Before birds, bats and pterodactyls, insects were the only creatures that had evolved the ability to fly: a miracle of physics and physiology requiring their bodies to act in coordinated ballet.
This week three separate CrowdScience listeners have been asking questions about the flight of butterflies and moths. How do they move so erratically, yet land so precisely? What makes such tiny insects such accurate flyers?
Presenter Anand Jagatia -- not the biggest fan of either butterflies or moths -- visits Butterfly Paradise at London Zoo to meet keeper Mark Tansley. Anand tries to get over his aversion by immersing himself in fluttering creatures.
He then meets insect flight expert Sanjay Sane to learn the hidden mechanics behind their aeronautical skills: the vortexes of air generated by their wings and the complex muscle architecture inside their torsos. Next, aerospace engineer Amy Lang explains how the scales on their wings reduce air resistance by clever manipulation of the air and how this function trades off against other uses of the scales: for colour, for keeping dry, and much more.
All of these abilities are put to the test during the incredible global migrations that some butterflies undertake. Gerard Talavera tells Anand how he turned previous thinking about butterfly migration across Africa on its head.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Phil Sansom
Voiceover: Kitty O’Sullivan
Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris
Editor: Richard Collings
(Photo: Crowdscience presenter Anand Jagatia crouches next to a butterfly. Credit: Phil Sansom)
The BRICS bloc of developing nations agreed this week s to admit six new countries. The countries Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - are set to join in January. Can this counter Western dominance?
As thousands of UN troops speed up their pull out of Mali, despite a deteriorating security situation. We talk to BBC Arabic’s Feras Kilani the first journalist to travel to Northern Mali since French forces ended their military operation there two years ago
Plus why are more airlines adopting the use of sustainable aviation fuel? We hear from an expert based in Kenya
Advances in brain-computer interfaces have allowed patients with paralysis to communicate faster, more accurately and more expressively with direct brain to speech translation. Co-author of an exciting new paper in the field, bioengineer Alex Silva, tells Science in Action about his team’s work with patient Ann.
The world has been following the Indian and Russian race to land on the lunar south pole. Producer Ella Hubber gives a timeline of the events leading up to that historic landing.
Also this week, a new prediction model allows us to better prepare for future extreme weather events. But is this worst-case scenario model scaremongering? Roland talks to author Erich Fischer about the projections.
And virologist Connor Bamford talks detecting bird flu in wastewater for betting monitoring.
Image Credit: Noah Berger
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Ella Hubber
Editor: Richard Collings
Wagner boss Prigozhin is presumed dead after Russia plane crash. In his last address, he said the Wagner group is making Africa "more free". His presumed death received little media attention or official reactions in Mali and the Central African Republic where thousands of mercenaries are active. So in today's episode, we ask what would be the impact of Prigozhin’s presumed death on Wagner in Africa.
Also, in Tunisia dozens of environment activists are appealing harsh prison sentences handed down after protesting against a dangerous landfill site.
And how is climate change affecting livestock? More than one billion cows around the world could experience heat stress by the end of the century.
This week, we start off by digging into conspiracy theories. What’s behind their enduring allure? And have they always been around? Marnie and the panel investigate.
Many conspiracy theories are based off of misinformation… but what’s actually going on in our brains when we lie? We look into the case of the man who was physically unable of spreading tall tales.
Sometimes, the truth is there, but is difficult to uncover. Delving for this deeper meaning is something particle physicists like Dr Harry Cliff have been doing for decades. Harry tells us where we are in the ongoing quest to understand our Universe.
Also, we hear the ingenious way Costa Rican scientists are dealing with pineapple waste, and we answer a South African listener’s question about evolution.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Sophie Ormiston, with Margaret Sessa Hawkins and Alex Mansfield
Haiti has been rocked by deadly violence since the assassination of the country’s President Jovenel Moïse two years ago. A Kenyan delegation has held meetings with Haitian police officials, weeks after the Kenyan government offered to lead a multinational team in tackling the country’s extreme gang violence. We hear from a local businessman on what life is like for ordinary citizens.
In the aftermath of the coup in Niger, false claims and misinformation are being shared online, adding to the tensions over the country's future. We look into some of the widely shared claims.
How can an entire nation's history be conserved? An ambitious initiative in Nigeria is currently in progress, involving the digitisation of all newspapers published since the country's independence in 1960.
Saudi border guards are accused of the mass killing of migrants along the Yemeni border in a new report by Human Rights Watch. The report says hundreds of people, many of them Ethiopians who cross war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, have been shot dead.
We delve into the intricacies of coup attempts, as David Otto, Director for Geneva Centre for Africa Security & Strategic Studies shares insight on the crucial factors that determine their success or failure.
Plus we speak to Nigerian music producer and artist Eclipse Nkasi about the ethical way of using AI to produce music.
The podcast that finds out how the richest people on the planet made their billions, and then judges them for it. Are they good, bad, or just another billionaire?
Each episode BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist and podcaster Zing Tsjeng pick a billionaire and uncover their journey to the top. They learn how they made their money and what makes them tick, to find out what they tell us about our society. Millionaires are ten a penny these days, but billionaires have probably changed the world. From Rihanna to Jeff Bezos to Kim Kardashian to Bill Gates, we ask if billionaires are all relentless egomaniacs destined to end civilisation, or if they are geniuses, gods of our time to be worshipped? Or are they like everyone else, just with a bit more luck?
South Africa to host Brics summit but Russia’s President Putin will only join by video link. On the agenda global economic and security matters and the creation of new financial institutions.
More than 1,400 people starve to death in Ethiopia's northern Tigray since food aid was suspended because of theft
And Ghanaian immunologist Yaw Bediako on how to expand research and keep African scientists on the continent.
