According to Doctors Without Borders, which is known by its French name MSF, a “rapidly spreading” cholera outbreak that has sickened more than 1,500 people in Ethiopia’s Gambella region over the past month has claimed the lives of at least 31 people.
The international medical organization reported on Friday that people who are escaping violence in the neighboring South Sudan have become worse.
The outbreak in South Sudan is ongoing, putting thousands of lives at risk, according to MSF, and it is rapidly spreading across western Ethiopia.
Ethiopia, the second-largest nation in Africa, has a population of 120 million people, and Amhara, one of its second-largest regions, is one of the hardest hit by cholera outbreaks.
Acute intestinal infection caused by the vibrio cholerae bacterium, which is frequently faecal, is known as cholerae, which spreads through food and water.
South Sudan
In Akobo County in South Sudan, which is bordered by the Upper Nile, 1,300 cholera cases have been reported, according to MSF. The South Sudanese government’s recent clashes with armed groups “worsening the outbreak,” according to the article.
According to MSF, “tens of thousands are being displaced and have no access to safe water, sanitation, and healthcare.”
South Sudan, the youngest country in the world and one of the youngest still suffering from chronic insecurities and poverty, declared cholera epidemic in October of last year.
“We are treating patients, providing clean water, and raising awareness of the disease in Ethiopia. Lifesaving care is being provided in South Sudan, according to MSF.
To stop the spread of the disease, “a campaign is needed to urgently support health facilities, provide safe water, and promote cholera vaccination.”
a disease that can be prevented
In 2023, a “preventable and easily treatable disease” has claimed the lives of 4, 000 people, a 71 percent increase from the previous year, primarily in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
The growing hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which observers believe could lead to an armed conflict, further complicates the threat of cholera spread in Ethiopia.
After police shot a photojournalist in the head during a violent protest in the capital, a hardline security minister in Argentina is resigning. Emergency brain surgery was required for Pablo Grillo.
Due to an ankle injury that will make the defender sat on the sidelines for an extended period of time, Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the League Cup final against Newcastle.
Alexander-Arnold was hurt on Tuesday at Anfield during Liverpool’s Champions League last 16 penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Arne Slot, who is without a recognized right-back for Sunday’s showdown with Newcastle at Wembley, is in a very bad place because of the 26-year-old’s absence.
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Trent Alexander-Arnold, a top scorers’ English defender, injured himself in the final 16th leg of the UEFA Champions League football match between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at Anfield in Liverpool, north-west England, on March 11, 2025. (Photo by Oli SCARFF/AFP)
The usual replacements for Alexander-Arnold are Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley both recovering from injuries.
“Trent is not accessible. He won’t attend the final, Slot promised to tell reporters on Friday.
We anticipate him returning before the end of the season, but it will still need to be determined how long it will take.
Thomas Tuchel named Alexander-Arnold out of the England squad on Friday ahead of their World Cup qualifying matches in March.
When Liverpool take on Newcastle this weekend, slot-holder Liverpool will vying for the first trophy of Slot’s reign.
After extending their 15-point lead at the top of the Premier League, the Reds are also on track to win a 20th English title, which is on par with them.
South Africa is attempting to organize a new Grand Prix and restore the continent’s championship more than 30 years after Formula One engines last roared on African tarmac.
Two tracks vie for the top spot in the high-octane spectacle: the less picturesque but storied Kyalami race track outside of Johannesburg and the street circuit in Cape Town.
Al Jazeera examines the campaign to reintroduce motorsport’s top competition to Africa.
What is the decision-making process for the proposed track?
In the third quarter of the year, committee member Mlimandlela Ndamase has informed the AFP news agency that a committee headed by South African sports minister Gayton McKenzie will choose the winning bid.
McKenzie is confident in South Africa’s chances. No doubt about it, he declared in early February, “The Grand Prix is definitely coming in 2027.”
We don’t care if Cape Town or Joburg host the Grand Prix in South Africa, as long as it’s there.
In the 2005 Grand Prix Masters race at the Kyalami circuit near Johannesburg, former world champion Nigel Mansell of the United Kingdom leads Brazil’s Emerson Fittipaldi [Juda Ngwenya/Reuters]
The notoriously difficult Kyalami circuit, which zigzags about 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside of Johannesburg and has a huge, colorful South African flag on the track, once hosted hordes of famous drivers and racers.
When was the last F1 race in Africa?
The last Grand Prix held on African soil was in 1993, one year before apartheid’s first democratic elections. Frenchman Alain Prost won it as a Williams.
What has the media said about South Africa’s F1 bid?
Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who has long supported an African Grand Prix, can rely on South Africa’s bid to host F1 to win.
According to Hamilton in August, “We can’t be adding races to other locations and keeping Africa out.”
The sport wants to “go to every continent,” according to University of Munster in Germany expert Samuel Tickell, who is under the leadership of US conglomerate Liberty Media, which purchased the Formula One Group in 2017.
He told AFP that returning to South Africa would be “something very important for Formula One, which hasn’t competed there since the end of the apartheid era.”
In October 2024, former Formula One driver David Coulthard takes the Red Bull RB7 through the Sandton CBD as part of the Red Bull Showrun in Johannesburg, South Africa.
What is the F1 legacy of South Africa?
According to Tickell, the sport had some “historical moments” in the nation, such as the 1982 threat of a “super licence” restricting drivers’ contractual rights.
Ferrari’s Jody Scheckter, who won the continent’s only world championship in 1979, is also present in South Africa.
A South African F1 race: do they exist?
Given that the F1 calendar is constantly expanding, creating a race on the continent would not require excluding other locations. For instance, there are seven more Grands Prix in the upcoming season than there were in 2009.
Sky-high operating costs and hosting costs would not be a hindrance, according to Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economics at the Paris-based Skema Business School.
He claimed that because it’s a strategic payoff, even if races are not commercially viable, some of the countries and their supporters won’t care.
For instance, he claimed that China has “long been providing African nations with access to their natural resources” by creating sports infrastructure.
The Kyalami race track in Johannesburg has been graded to the same level as an F1 race, which would require some extra effort to hold an event.
Cape Town, which was recently voted the “best city in the world” by Time Out magazine, would host an alternative circuit competing for the title.
Nick Cassidy of Envision Racing and Sacha Fenestraz of Nissan Formula E Team competing in the Cape Town ePrix 2023 race [Nic Bothma/Reuters]
The route has already hosted a Formula E race in 2023 and was constructed around the stadium for the 2010 men’s football world cup, which was built in the shadow of the iconic Lion’s Head mountain overlooking the ocean.
Is there a continental rival to South Africa?
Igshaan Amlay, the CEO of Cape Town Grand Prix, predicted that a city-wide F1 street circuit would “outclass Monaco.”
However, according to Chadwick, the real conflict may be between Rwanda and its rival cities, whose president, Paul Kagame, met with the FIA and F1 owners Liberty Media at the Singapore Grand Prix in September.
The nation is an NBA partner and has sponsorship from Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
Chadwick remarked, “Rwanda is in the lead.”
Morocco has long wanted to host an F1 race.
Nothing prevents the South African sports minister from requesting a “why is it that when it comes to Africa, we are treated like we can only get one” question.
The “bromance” between United States President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk was on full display on Tuesday when the White House South Lawn was transformed into a miniature Tesla showroom.
Musk lined up Tesla cars to showcase the electric car producer’s latest innovations while Trump promised to brand anyone vandalising a Tesla car a “domestic terrorist” following reports of a spate of vandalism and arson attacks on Tesla cars across the country.
Trump, known for his strong stance on domestic manufacturing and business leadership, has given Musk a prominent role in his new administration as leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which claims to have uncovered “billions and billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse” in the US federal government – claims for which Musk and Trump have yet to show significant evidence.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares, which are listed on the NASDAQ, are floundering. On Monday this week, they plummeted by 15 percent to end the day at $215 – the worst day for the stock since 2020 and its lowest level since Trump won the presidential election in November. The shares bounced back a little after Tuesday’s presidential plug for Tesla cars to $231.83 in the morning, before levelling out at about $235 by the end of the day. On Friday, the shares were were due to open at around $240.
Tesla stock has been in freefall since its heady highs of more than $435 in mid-December, 2024. So why is the car manufacturer doing so poorly when its owner appears to be flying high at the White House?
(Al Jazeera)
Why is Tesla’s share price falling?
Despite performing well following the November presidential election in the US, Tesla’s stock was volatile during 2024 overall and has declined sharply since the start of this year. Robert Scott, a specialist in international economics and trade policy at the US-based Economic Policy Institute, said a fall in the share price was inevitable due to its “extreme overvaluation”.
“Tesla’s stock was highly overvalued, with one of the highest price-to-earnings ratios ever recorded,” Scott told Al Jazeera. This means the price of the stock was very high compared with the profits the company was generating. “This indicates that the stock price was inflated relative to market fundamentals.”
William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, said the fall in the share price has come about as a result of delays to the launch of new Tesla products.
“The new refresh for the Tesla Model Y continues to be delayed, and more importantly, no new models have been introduced,” Lee said.
What has happened to sales of Tesla vehicles?
There has been a marked decrease in sales in Europe and elsewhere. According to data from Business Insider, the business trade news outlet, in February, sales were 76 percent lower in Germany than they were the previous year even though overall sales of electric vehicles were 31 percent higher. Sales in Germany also fell in January following Musk’s endorsement of the far-right AfD party. In Norway, Denmark and Sweden, sales fell 40 percent year on year in February and dropped by 26 percent in France. The company has also been suffering from organised boycott campaigns in the United Kingdom and Portugal.
Further east, Tesla sales plummeted by nearly 50 percent, year on year, in China in February and by a massive 71 percent in Australia.
The main reason for these falls in sales is increased competition from traditional automakers as well as new, up-and-coming electric vehicle companies, particularly in China, where automaker BYD reported a 90 percent rise in sales in February.
China is Tesla’s second-largest market but government policies there are increasingly favouring domestic manufacturers.
Tesla has repeatedly cut vehicle prices in a bid to maintain demand in countries including the US and China. While this strategy has helped to boost short-term sales, experts say, it has also reduced overall earnings, raising concerns among investors about long-term profitability.
According to Lee, another major issue weighing on investors’ minds is Tesla’s failure to deliver innovations in self-driving technology and other key areas such as robotics.
“Investors are looking for progress on self-driving, which keeps getting put off, and other disappointments in robotics weigh on investor sentiment,” he said.
Without new models or major technological advancements, Tesla is struggling to maintain its reputation as an industry leader, which has further contributed to its stock decline, he added.
How will Musk be personally affected by all this?
Elon Musk also owns several other companies and ventures across various industries, including X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he bought for $44bn in 2022.
However, his personal wealth is closely tied to Tesla’s stock price.
The acquisition of Twitter has become a financial burden, especially as advertisers pull back from it following Musk’s endorsement of various right-wing parties in Europe and his use of X to broadcast his pro-Trump stance. The billionaire was a major financial supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign last year, spending more than $250m while making personal appearances on Trump’s behalf.
His political activities have caused anger among some in the US, culminating in protests and arson attacks at Tesla dealerships, factories and charging stations. There has been a spate of attacks on Tesla vehicles around Europe as well, including in Germany where many vehicles have had their tyres slashed.
Musk’s activities at DOGE could make him a target for more ire, experts say.
DOGE’s moves to scale back the federal government budget and cut thousands of jobs will likely “push the economy closer to a recession,” according to Scott. “A recession will hit highly leveraged stocks like Tesla particularly hard.”
Musk’s political activities have prompted concerns among investors, too, Lee said.
“Musk’s active participation in the US government is viewed as a distraction from his ability to drive his companies to produce the innovations that he has promised on time,” he said.
How will Trump’s trade policies affect Tesla?
While President Trump does not have a direct role in Tesla’s current struggles, his policies, ongoing economic decisions and perceived influence over Musk could have significant implications for the company, experts say.
For instance, Trump has historically opposed subsidies for electric vehicle producers and emissions regulations which ultimately benefit companies like Tesla.
Trump has also imposed sweeping tariffs on countries including China – which Tesla still heavily relies on for exports. The continuing trade war with China could disrupt Tesla’s supply chain and reduce its competitiveness in a crucial market.
“Trump’s tariffs are causing other countries to impose countervailing tariffs on US exports. This will hurt Tesla sales abroad,” Scott said.
Trump’s efforts to reverse clean energy policies from the Biden administration could also further weaken demand for electric vehicles, including Teslas, Scott added.
What else is holding Tesla back?
Beyond Tesla’s financial challenges, Musk’s expanding portfolio of businesses has raised concerns with investors about his ability to effectively lead the company.
Scott also pointed to Musk’s involvement in Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency project, something he has no prior experience with before he first tweeted about it in 2020, triggering a 20 percent rise in the value of the cryptocoin created by software engineers in 2013. In April 2021, Musk tweeted about Dogecoin again, causing a 100 percent jump in its value. Then in December that year, Musk announced that he would accept Dogecoin as payment for Tesla merchandise. Since then, Musk has been facing a $258bn lawsuit filed in New York in 2022 alleging he artificially inflated the price of Dogecoin through his social media influence.
“Musk’s increased demands on his attention, as he attempts to run both DOGE and his other businesses, means that some of them may suffer simply from lack of his attention,” Scott said.
Musk’s increasingly right-wing political stance may also have affected Tesla’s brand perception. Many of the vehicle’s owners tend to be environmentally conscious consumers who support sustainable energy initiatives and are not natural Trump supporters, experts say.
According to Lee, Musk appears to be making a deliberate choice to engage in US government affairs at the expense of Tesla’s performance.
Hannah Walters and Stephen Graham’s relationship with each other started slowly.
Before Stephen revealed his true feelings for her, the 51-year-old Adolescent star had a long friendship with her. In the 1990s, the two met at a drama school, and soon after, Hannah helped Stephen through a difficult time in his life.
However, when Stephen realized that she might be missing, things changed. After a while living in Spain, Hannah returned to the UK and had made plans to relocate permanently. Stephen confessed his love for her in a scene appropriate for a movie despite the possibility of losing her forever.
The couple became close friends after meeting at drama school (Dave Benett/Getty Images for #Me).
during a 2019 Desert Island Discs episode. Stephen reflected on how, as a young twentysomething in love, he hadn’t fully realized what he wanted, but Hannah’s upcoming move to Spain made him realize this. She left Spain for a short while, according to Stephen, and I was unable to see her. We hadn’t been on a date in these five, six years, and we were just talking frequently when she returned. And I said, “Could I go on a date with you?”
She left, “what?” And when I said, “Please don’t go to Spain,” we went to Greenwich to eat, and we had a bite to eat while we were there. “She asked ‘ why? ‘ and I responded, “Well, I love you.” She claimed that she had been waiting for me to say that for five years. And we both moved in the following day. And we’ve been friends ever since.
In the same interview, Stephen, who lives in Leicestershire, went on to explain how Hannah had been there for him during a difficult time for him and his family. I had a breakdown, Stephen said. traveling to that large city of London to do it alone. I then returned home. My parents were attempting to understand what was happening to me. I’ll never forget how much they both shed tears.
They are parents to two children (Getty Images)
Then I attempted to hang myself the following day. It was incredibly calculated. My Nana’s voice was audible as I kicked the chair. I assumed I had left when she yelled “Stephen.” The rope had just snapped as I approached, opened my eyes, and left. Thankfully. Hannah entered my life in this manner, sort of. She was aware of what had occurred. She kept in touch with my mother without end.
The close friends and partners, who have two children named Grace and Alfie, tied the knot in June 2008. They’ve also appeared in the television series This is England, Pirates of the Caribbean, Boiling Point, and Time, a BBC prison drama.
The Samaritans have a free helpline that is available 24/7, accessible at 116 123, for those who are struggling and need to talk. You can also contact Jo at jo@samaritans.org or visit their website to find your neighborhood branch.
Do you have a tale to tell? Contact us at julia@gmail.com. banim@reachplc.com
