Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
guardian reporterlatest news & developments
Refugees: More than a million people may have been forced to leave their homes in northern Nigeria by the insurgency of Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Boko Haram exports reign of terror

The militant group is said to have invaded Cameroonian towns, sparking fears that it is expanding into neighbouring countries.

Earth compared to 55 Cancri e.

Hunt for habitable planets hots up

The discovery of 55 Cancri e means ground-based telescopes could be used to find new "super-Earths".

Beyoncé took the number one spot on the top 10 most-mentioned entertainers on Facebook in the United States.

Beyonce new album rumours get quashed

Following rumours that Beyonce would release a second surprise album, her representative says the US singer will release a boxset of her 2013 album.

Meriam Ibrahim and her family have successfully arrived in Italy in their second attempt to leave Sudan.

Sudanese woman spared death sentence for apostasy arrives in Italy

Meriam Ibrahim, whose death sentence was overturned after international outcry, has arrived with her husband and two children in Italy.

Bobby Womack was born in Cleveland

Great soul: Bobby Womack dies at 70

The soul artist who worked with musicians such as Sam Cooke, Damon Albarn and Gorillaz has died after a career spanning nearly six decades.

Another vagina in art

US student rescued from giant vagina sculpture in Germany

A young American in Tübingen had to be rescued by 22 firefighters after getting trapped inside a giant sculpture of a vagina.

Afghan election commission workers carry ballot boxes to be taken to a counting centre at a warehouse in Kabul.

Abdullah and Ghani on course for runoff vote in Afghanistan polls

The first snapshot of the Afghanistan elections puts the pair of ex-ministers in the lead. But two minority candidates could decide the final result.

The quino checkerspot

Butterflies save themselves from extinction

The Quino checkerspot butterfly has saved itself from extinction by shifting to a higher altitude and picking a new species of plant for laying eggs.

Cast members Adrien Brody

The Grand Budapest Hotel: A deeply pleasurable immersion

Wes Anderson’s staggeringly realised hotel of secret passion is an exhilarating and intelligent drama.

Beatrix Miller understood that all magazines work on two scales

Vogue’s longtime editor Beatrix Miller dies at 90

Beatrix Miller, the imperturbable editor of British "Vogue" who chronicled the swinging 1960s with wit and a sense of adventure, has died.

Hazem al-Beblawy

Egypt’s prime minister, Cabinet resign

After weeks of mounting criticism, Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy has announced the resignation of Egypt’s interim Cabinet.

Shameful legacy: Land dispossession, the destruction of indigenous food systems, the criminalisation of informal trade and the concentration of
food production and distribution were deliberate, legal acts, the effects of which endure today. Photo: Madelene Cronje

Poor still losing out in African boom

Inequality on the continent has grown in the past decade as tax systems have failed to redistribute wealth, says Christian Aid.

David Bowie.

Glitter king Bowie becomes oldest Brit Awards recipient

The old guard outshone new kids on the block as veteran star David Bowie used his Brit awards appearance to plead with Scotland not to leave the UK.

The Sudanese government has been criticised for the mistreatment and marginalisation of foreign nationals

Sudan: Pregnant teenager alleging gang-rape charged with adultery

An Ethiopian teenager who says she was raped by seven men last August, now faces a possible sentence of death by stoning.

Traffickers demand ransom money to halt the torture of Eritrean refugees

Hundreds of Eritreans enslaved in torture camps in Sudan, Egypt

A report says state authorities have either turned a blind eye or colluded with perpetrators in the kidnapping and abuse of Eritrean refugees.

Crime writer Henning Mankell.

‘Wallander’ author Mankell to document cancer battle

Crime write Henning Mankell has revealed that he has cancer in an advanced stage. He intends to write a newspaper column about fighting it.

Liliane Bettencourt

The 85 richest people in the world are still mostly men

Women need only seven seats, mostly on the bottom deck, on the £1-trillion double-decker bus revealed by Oxfam this week.

Canadian singer Bryan Adams.

Bryan Adams rocks the boat in Zimbabwe

Soft-rock singer Bryan Adams, who will perform at a sold-out concert in Zimbabwe on Friday, faces criticism for lending credibility to Mugabe’s rule.

Author and Binyavanga Wainaina.

Wainaina declares: ‘I am gay, and quite happy’

Binyavanga Wainaina, one of Africa’s leading literary figures, has outed himself in response to a wave of homophobic laws across the continent.

Solange Knowles at The Great Gatsby premiere in Cannes.

Friendvertising: When your Facebook friends become unpaid marketers

"Friendvertising" is the latest trick by marketers who want you to sell their brand.