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American Jewish billionaire George Soros denied accusations by Prime Minister Netanyahu blaming him for financing protests against Israel's planned deportation of African migrants. On Sunday, Netanyahu alleged that Soros was behind the series of anti-deportation protests at a cabinet meeting. "George Soros is also funding the protests,” Netanyahu said, telling ministers that former US President Obama "deported two million infiltrators and they didn’t say anything". Netanyahu then shared a link to an article by the conservative Hebrew-language website Mida on his Facebook page which claimed that a Soros-linked organization has raised more than NIS 600,000 to stop the deportations. "This...

Poor farmers invoke land law to get their hands on South Africa's richest diamond mine Stephen Bevan in Taaibosch (Filed: 01/10/2006) Deep in the bushveld of South Africa's far north, 20 miles down a dirt track from the nearest road, the dusty township of Taaibosch is an unlikely place to find the owners of one of the country's most valuable pieces of real estate. Yet the residents of its rows of tiny brick huts, baking in the harsh sun, may soon be declared joint proprietors of South Africa's richest diamond mine. John Matlathi, 66, the village's head man, and other...

Soil health crisis threatens Africa's food supply 12:16 31 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Population pressures combined with limited access to fertilisers threaten the future of farming in Africa, a new study warns. The report highlights the continent’s “soil health crisis”, revealing that three-quarters of its farmlands are severely degraded. The politicians and researchers behind the report stress that urgent changes are necessary to improve food security in the continent, particularly in sub-Saharan countries. Agriculture is the main source of income for two-thirds of Africa’s population, according to the document from the International Center for Soil Fertility and...

Africa's hunger - a systemic crisis By Martin Plaut BBC Africa analyst The number of Africans needing food aid has doubled in a decade More than half of Africa is now in need of urgent food assistance. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is warning that 27 sub-Saharan countries now need help. But what appear as isolated disasters brought about by drought or conflict in countries like Somalia, Malawi, Niger, Kenya and Zimbabwe are - in reality - systemic problems. It is African agriculture itself that is in crisis, and according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, this...

Homeless victims of South Africa's great eviction (Filed: 29/09/2005) A million black workers have been thrown off white-owned farms since apartheid. David Blair reports on the threat of a Zimbabwe-style backlash Almost a million black workers have been evicted from South Africa's farms since the advent of the "rainbow" nation's new democracy, more than during the last decade of apartheid. A new survey has disclosed the huge scale of an enforced upheaval sweeping the country, with 942,303 farm workers and dependants evicted in the 10 years after the transition to black rule in 1994. In the previous decade, when apartheid...

Riots engulf South Africa's townships By Benjamin Joffe-Walt in Cape Town (Filed: 05/06/2005) Happy Valley does not remotely live up to its name. A shabby collection of makeshift homes that is half township, half rubbish dump, its crime-ridden alleys erupted into violence this week as part of a nationwide wave of rioting that threatens to engulf South Africa. Across Cape Town, township residents have been fighting with riot police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades in scenes that echo the anti-apartheid riots of the 1980s. This time, though, the focus of anger is the ruling African National...

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Africa's leaders 'stole $140bn' By Basildon Peta in Addis Ababa 14 June 2002 Corrupt African leaders have stolen at least $140bn (£95bn) from their people in the decades since independence, the Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, said yesterday. He accused European countries of "sitting" on much of the stolen money stashed in European banks. There was little action from Europe to try to bring back the money to Africa and improve living conditions. European countries and banks providing a safe haven for stolen African money had to share the guilt. He said Africa needed a watertight international convention to allow money...