Gil Scott-HeronObituaryGil Scott-Heron obituaryPoet, jazz musician and rap pioneer who used mordant lyrics to express his views on politics and cultureIn 1970, the American poet and jazz musician Gil Scott-Heron, who has died aged 62 after returning from a trip to Europe, recorded a track that has come to be seen as a crucial forerunner of rap. To many it made him the "godfather" of the medium, though he was keener to view his song-like poetry as just another strand in the diverse world of black music. Read More...
When Sudan’s second largest city, Wad Madani, fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on December 18, Afnan Hind and her family fled to a nearby town to stay with relatives. But the paramilitary group came there too and prevented residents from leaving.
Hind and her family were trapped by a group that kills civilians, rapes women and girls, and loots citizens of their wealth. Days later, she said, RSF fighters stormed their apartment to steal a car parked outside. Read More...
The Panjshir Valley, surrounded by the high peaks of the Hindu Kush 125km (78 miles) north of Kabul, is living up to its history as a bastion of resistance as two Tajik leaders – Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh – send out their call of anti-Taliban resistance from there.
Saleh, 48, is defiant, declaring himself the acting president of the country after President Ashraf Ghani fled the Taliban’s dramatic entry to Kabul. Read More...