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LWL Archaeology for Westphalia/E. DaoodThe text in the notebook is written in Latin, and its still largely legible.For most people, a centuries-old latrine surely sounds like a disgusting site. But for archaeologists, it could be a treasure trove. And an excavation of a medieval latrine in Paderborn, Germany, recently turned up a true treasure in the form of a leather-bound notebook from the 13th or 14th century.While more work is needed to decipher the notebooks text, certain words are legible and the object itself is in surprisingly good condition. Archaeologists hope to discover more about what it contains, and about the person who used it and seemingly lost it centuries ago.The Medieval Notebook Found In The Ruins Of A German LatrineAccording to a statement from the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, the notebook was found during a preventative archaeology project ahead of the construction of a new city administration building in Paderborn, Germany. During the project, which began in 2024, archaeologists came across a set of five latrines. Sealed, airtight containers, the latrines extended down into the limestone soil of a former quarry from the 11th century.Denkmal3d, Heike TausendfreundThe medieval latrine where archaeologists found the notebook, as well as other objects from the Middle Ages.The notebook, spotted by conservator Susanne Bretzel, initially looked quite inconspicuous. It was packed in a wet clod of earth and archaeologists didnt realize it was a notebook until it had been cleaned (though it still had a rather unpleasant odor from its centuries in the latrine).But once they realized what it was, the archaeologists knew theyd made a truly incredible find. The wood notebook, contained in a small leather case, had been preserved by the airtight environment of the latrine for centuries. Despite spending more than 700 years underground, it was almost completely intact. Archaeologists could even make out some words.LWL/ S. BrentfhrerThe notebook was protected for centuries by the conditions within the ruins of the medieval latrine.I only had to clean the outside of the book, as the inner pages were so tightly bound that there was no dirt on them, Bretzel said. The wood also hadnt warped, so the wax is still intact and the writing itself is easily legible.So what does the notebook contain?What The Notebook Says About Medieval Life In GermanyThe notebook is small, measuring just three inches by four inches and containing just ten pages. Its held together with a leather binding embossed with rows of lilies, which suggests that the notebook was a prized object lilies signified purity, royal power, and divine favor in the Middle Ages.LWL/ S. BretzelThe leather binding of the notebook is embossed with lilies.The first and last pages have wax on one side, while the other pages are double-sided. The text is written in wax (likely with a stylus made of metal, bone, or ivory) in two directions, depending on how the book was held. However, the archaeologists believe it was used by a single person.The pages of the notebook are covered with cursive script written in Latin, which suggests that it dates to the 13th or 14th century, and that the its owner was likely upper-class, possibly a merchant.The Latin text in the notebook is still visible, but a professional transcriber will work on translating the text from Latin to German and identifying misspelled or corrupted words.But while some words are recognizable, the text itself needs further study. It will be transcribed, then translated into German. Whats more, the book was once considered reusable (its wax text could be smoothed and erased as needed), and modern technology could help unlock multiple layers of text.Archaeologists also found other objects in the latrine barrels, a knife, silk fragments that may have been used as toilet paper, and pottery but the notebook stands out. Theyre hoping to learn more about who once lived near the latrine, which could help in identifying the notebooks owner.As soon as this latrine can be assigned to a specific plot of land, archival research could be used to try to identify the residents of that plot, said city archaeologist Dr. Sveva Gai. Then, in the best-case scenario, it would be possible to link the wax tablet to the name of a specific person.After reading about the medieval notebook that was found in a medieval latrine in Germany, discover the surprising true story of the Erfurt Latrine Disaster, when 60 nobles died after falling into a latrine in Germany. Then, learn about foricae, the communal public toilets of ancient Rome.The post Archaeologists In Germany Just Found A Completely Intact Notebook From The Middle Ages Among The Ruins Of A Latrine appeared first on All That's Interesting.

For almost the entirety of Russias 370 years of tsarist rule, the country was sparsely populated and yielded virtually no industrial output. Serfdom was only abolished in 1861. And near the end of the empire, revolutionary ferment could be felt in the streets all over the country. Enter Grigori Rasputin, who was born into this turbulent world in 1869.Though Rasputin was the son of rural peasants, he would ultimately rise to nearly the top of court society under the rule of Tsar Nicholas II. Transforming himself into a renegade monk and mystic, he used his mysterious charm and supposedly mesmerizing eyes to become one of the most important and infamous men in the country and wield a surprising amount of control over the royal family.Public DomainKnown as the Mad Monk, Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin grew to have such sway over the ruling Romanov family that he was eventually murdered by a group of jealous nobles in 1916.But despite Grigori Rasputins incredible rise, he fell just as dramatically when he was killed by assassins in 1916, shortly before the countrys whole system blew up in warfare and revolution. Apparently, it was Rasputins fate to play a role in the last years of the regime from the heart of the royal court.While many of us know the broad strokes of that tale, there are nevertheless a number of things that most dont know about the Mad Monk. This is the bizarre story of Grigori Rasputins life and his even stranger death.Grigori Rasputins Humble Beginnings In SiberiaWikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputins hometown of Pokrovskoe in Western Siberia.Before he was known as the Mad Monk, Grigori Rasputin came from perhaps the least promising background possible.Rasputin was born in the small Western Siberian farming town of Pokrovskoye, which was hundreds of miles away from anything that wasnt also a small rural town. He didnt make enough of an impression to leave many records of his early life. But around 1887, he married a local peasant girl named Praskovia, and they had several children together.Three of the children died young, which may have motivated Rasputin to make a pilgrimage to a monastery in Verkhoturye in 1892. While there, Rasputin reportedly went through the motions of work and prayer like the other pilgrims. But he also spent a lot of time outside the monastery with a hermit, who converted him to a fundamentalist version of orthodoxy that included vegetarianism and continuous penitence for sin.After his conversion, Rasputin wandered Russia as a hermit for several years, though he usually returned to his family in time to help out with the planting and harvest in the town. But while he was on the road, he developed a gift for charming people. He could talk just about anyone into putting him up in their home and giving him free food as he preached to them.Somewhere along the way, a rumor spread that he was a mystical healer. Never one to walk away from an opportunity like that, Grigori Rasputin decided to start treating injured and ill farmers with a mixture of faith healing, laying on of hands, scriptural teaching, and occasional common-sense advice about getting lots of rest and drinking plenty of fluids.But not everyone appreciated his services.Why He Was A Hard Man To Live WithWikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputin with his family, showing his humble roots in his home village.Grigori Rasputin didnt drop the act when he returned home, which over the years grew increasingly rare. Every time he came back to his familys house, he insisted on mandatory prayer and religious services that could last for hours. Every day was potentially an ordeal when Rasputin was home.He celebrated every holiday, saints day, birthday, anniversary, and special occasion by forcing everyone to fast and kneel in prayer all evening. He forbade any work on the Sabbath, and instead of doing any work on the farm himself, he often convened religious meetings in the village square.Meanwhile, his nonreligious activities were getting strange. At some point during his time as a hermit, Rasputin had developed a habit of talking to himself, though genuine religious hermits usually took vows of silence.Rasputin also had a number of disturbing facial and body tics that made people around him nervous. While distracted or talking, his arms would jerk and his hands fluttered wildly. Sometimes, his whole torso would seize momentarily while he made a particularly emphatic point.After the first few preaching sessions, the men of Pokrovskoye learned to live with his eccentricities for their own safety. When Grigori Rasputin felt he was being mocked, he had a reputation for plunging into the crowd and pummeling as many men as he could while screaming damnation at them.However, despite his alarming behavior, Rasputin managed to curry favor with some important people who would usher him into his next chapter.How The Mad Monk Made Powerful FriendsWikimedia CommonsA young Grigori Rasputin, pictured with his fellow monks. The one on the right, Iliodor, may have staged the first attempt on Rasputins life. After the revolution, he finished his life as a janitor in New York.Given the relative inactivity of Western Siberia, Grigori Rasputin started attracting crowds. Lacking a local church, Rasputin started holding religious services in his own house, complete with healings and miracles.By 1902, the crowds at these events had gotten too large to fit into his home, so Rasputin took his show on the road again, this time for good. He set off on an overland journey to a monastery in Kiev, more than 1,800 miles away.When he finished a year of religious instruction there partly as a student and partly as a teacher he again crossed the Russian steppe to Kazan, where he started meeting with bishops and aristocrats. There, Rasputin displayed the bluff confidence that he hadd honed living by his wits as a hermit. And he ended up taking over religious instruction at the seminary.He must have impressed somebody important, because within a year he was on his way, with letters of introduction, to the capital at St. Petersburg, where he would rub elbows with the rulers of the Russian Empire.Wikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputin, pictured in 1910.Rasputin arrived in St. Petersburg at one of the most dangerous moments in its 200-year history. In 1904, Russia was badly losing a vicious war with Japan. Men across the country were being drafted and estates were being taxed to support a Far East conflict that seemed to be the tsars pet project.When the Russian fleet was destroyed at Tsushima, riots erupted in the streets. Active revolutionaries in the crowds turned food riots and a labor disturbance into a full-blown revolt against the monarchy, which was swiftly put down with volleys of rifle fire from returning troops.And once the violence finally ended, Vladimir Lenin and the other leading Bolsheviks had to go into exile.How Rasputin Made Powerful EnemiesNational Portrait GalleryPrince Felix Yusupov (left), with fellow royal Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark. Yusupov would later become one of the conspirators responsible for Grigori Rasputins death.Its possible that Grigori Rasputin barely noticed these upheavals. After all, during this time period, he was quite busy ingratiating himself with the local aristocrats and members of the royal family.Or at least, he was trying to ingratiate himself. The Russian courtiers seemed to have had a low opinion of the peasant whose name loosely translates to muddy one. Rasputins life as a hermit and his low-born mannerisms not to mention his tics irritated St. Petersburgs nobles. Meanwhile, his obvious efforts to schmooze with the Romanovs especially daughters Maria, Tatiana, and Anastasia further alienated the nobility.Even more controversial, Rasputin was adored by a cult-like group of women he called his little ladies. They would fight over his dinner scraps, kiss his fingers just after hed licked them, and regularly sleep with him despite the fact that hed proudly go months without bathing.But despite all the unappealing details about Rasputin, he still managed to charm his way into the court of Nicholas II. Crucially, he won over the then-pregnant Tsarina Alexandra with several flattering prophecies about her unborn child. Because of this, the latent dislike of Rasputin in aristocratic circles flared up into open hatred.The tension only grew more serious after the birth of heir apparent Alexei Romanov, when his mother, Alexandra, turned to Rasputin for treatment and advice on managing the young princes hemophilia.Rasputins advice to stop giving the baby aspirin helped alleviate some of Alexeis symptoms and cemented his mothers faith in the monk.By 1907, he was a regular caller at the palace and felt confident enough to advise the tsar on matters of state. While its unclear exactly how much influence he had in this arena, he had enough to make nobles feel threatened.This provoked several powerful rivals to get Rasputin prosecuted within the church. Rasputins interpretation of the Bible had always been unusual, but now the Spiritual Consistory of Tobolsk was demanding a trial for heresy.Wikimedia CommonsEmpress Alexandra Feodorovna with Rasputin, her children, and a governess in 1908.Specifically, he was accused of holding beliefs similar to a suppressed Orthodox cult from Siberia, which if true would have seen him defrocked and possibly imprisoned. When he beat the rap in 1908, Grigori Rasputins prestige only grew. Even when he was accused of rape, he was still not even close to being removed from power. And by 1911, most of his enemies had either fallen out of favor with the Romanovs or had been exiled.By 1912, the odd, sometimes violent monk from Siberia was arguably the main power broker in Russia. But his power wouldnt last forever.The First Attempt On The Mad Monks LifeWikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputin, pictured shortly before his death in 1916.Anytime a peasant manages to position himself as close to an absolute monarch as Grigori Rasputin did, his enemies will start wishing he was dead. And some of them will go the extra mile and try to do the job themselves.The first known attempt on Rasputins life, or at least the first one anybody noticed, came in the summer of 1914, on a day in July when Alexandra summoned him to the palace to discuss a threat of war from Austria.Though he always rushed to the tsarinas side when she called, this day Rasputin stopped in the street to give money to a person whom he thought was an old beggar woman. But the beggar was a disguised ex-follower of a fellow monk named Iliodor. While Rasputin was fishing through his pockets, the woman produced a dagger and struck him just above the navel.But instead of falling down or going into shock from the pain, Rasputin ran to a nearby growth of trees and grabbed a stick, which he used to beat the fleeing woman. Iliodor then immediately went into hiding, and Rasputin spent the next few weeks recovering from his injuries.The next few years were an absolute nightmare for Russia. War with Germany and Austria ground up entire armies and popular opinion at home quickly turned toward peace at any price.Wikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputin surrounded by some of his many followers and admirers in 1914.But through it all, the aristocracy was deep in denial. The Romanovs and their courtiers firmly believed that the war could be won, and talk of surrender was grounds for banishment from the court.Rasputin, who obviously came from a different background, saw things differently. By 1916, he was secretly conspiring with some of the more realistic members of the court to force the tsar into negotiations. But one of the conspirators meetings was abruptly broken up when a relative of the tsar, Prince Felix Yusupov, walked in on them unannounced.Later, Yusupov would write that he and Rasputin had spent long evenings together talking about politics and that the former peasant had tried to talk him into supporting peace on the grounds that it was the only way to save the monarchy and avoid a civil war. But as far as the prince was concerned, this was treason and he resolved to do something about it.The Brutal Death Of Grigori RasputinWikimedia CommonsGrigori Rasputins death shocked Russias royal family who would soon be killed as well when the Bolshevik Revolution ended their rule.Felix Yusupov was quite a character. Born into a line of increasingly mad aristocrats his father had a fetish for eating dinner in different rooms every night, his aunt bred silkworms that filled every room of her estate, and his grandfather arranged marriages among his peasants to selectively breed girls for their beauty the prince and his friends had spent their youth drinking and gambling, as well as occasionally dressing up as women.Yusupov was married to the tsars niece, and they were actually visiting Germany together when the war first broke out. The Germans initially detained them, but by pulling a lot of strings, Yusupov had managed to get his family back to Russia just a few months into the hostilities.Though they often met for talks, Yusupov despised Rasputin. As Yusupov later wrote: with his caftan, baggy breeches, and great top-boots he looked exactly what he was a peasant. He had a low, common face. Of the meeting Yusupov broke up, he said he saw Rasputin in the group:[S]urrounded by seven shady-looking men. Four of them were of a distinctly Jewish type, the other three were fair and curiously alike in appearance [Felix took them to be German agents]They looked like a group of conspirators.If Yusupov was right and they were indeed conspirators, then they were Russias last hope. If Rasputin had actually managed to negotiate peace with Germany in the winter of 1916, the Kerensky Coup and later Bolshevik Revolution would probably not have happened. There would have been no civil war, no Great Purge, no Joseph Stalin, and maybe even no World War II.That wouldnt do for Yusupov. With an uncharacteristic decisiveness, he planned Rasputins death and the end of any talk of peace with Germany.On the night of December 29, 1916, a group of nobles who feared Grigori Rasputins influence on Russias royal family including Yusupov conspired to assassinate him. But even though the assassins poisoned him, shot him, and violently beat him multiple times, he simply refused to die until they threw him into a freezing river.As Yusupov recalled, This devil who was dying of poison, who had a bullet in his heart, must have been raised from the dead by the powers of evil. There was something appalling and monstrous in his diabolical refusal to die.Wikimedia CommonsRussian mystic and holy man Grigori Rasputin gained so much influence over Russias royal family that he was killed in 1916.While Grigori Rasputins death did eventually come, he is still thought to have been one of the hardest men to kill in all of history. And considering the plans he was making to secure peace in his country before he died, one has to wonder what may have happened if he had lived and succeeded.By killing Grigori Rasputin, his assassins not only eliminated their enemy but may have also unwittingly altered world history forever.After reading about Grigori Rasputins bizarre life and death, explore the bizarre story of Rasputins infamous penis. Then, learn what happened to the Mad Monks daughter, Maria Rasputin, after her fathers death.The post Grigori Rasputins Mystical Rise And Brutal Death In Tsarist Russia appeared first on All That's Interesting.

On July 22, 1934, federal agents surrounded Chicagos Biograph Theater and waited for their target. Inside the theater was a man dubbed Public Enemy No.1, a notorious bank robber whose gang had been rampaging around the Midwest for almost a year. John Dillingers death, the agents hoped, would finally end the groups reign of terror.Over the course of 10 months, Dillinger and his gang had killed 10 men, wounded seven others, staged three jailbreaks, and made off with over $500,000 (about $7 million in todays currency).Now, in Chicago, the federal agents finally had the infamous gangster within reach.FBIJohn Dillingers death in July 1934 put an end to one of the bloodiest crime sprees in American history.Their moment came around 10:30 p.m., when Dillinger emerged from the Biograph with two female companions on either side. They passed by a window where federal agent Melvin Purvis stood waiting and Purvis lit his cigar, signaling to the other agents that it was time to move in.Dillinger tried to get away, but didnt make it. He was shot three times and fell face down on the pavement.Twenty minutes later, a doctor at the Alexian Brothers Hospital pronounced John Dillinger dead.John Dillingers Early Life And Petty CrimesJohn Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He grew up in the Oak Hill neighborhood, a middle class town where his father worked as a grocer. As PBS notes, Dillingers father was alternatively severe and indulgent with his son, sometimes beating him or locking him in the house, and sometimes giving him candy and permission to roam freely.Dillingers mother died when he was just three years old, and he never cared much for his stepmother, who his father married when Dillinger was around the age of nine. Indeed, Dillinger seemed to spend as much time away from home as possible. He spent his childhood leading a neighborhood gang called the Dirty Dozen and stealing coal from railroad freight cars.Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesJohn Dillinger as a young boy in Indiana.According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dillinger eventually dropped out of school and started working at a machine shop in Indianapolis.His father, fearing that working in the city was corrupting his teenage son, eventually moved the family to a more rural setting:a farm near Mooresville, Indiana. The move did little to correct his sons behavior, though. Dillinger used his motorcycle to commute to work, and he spent late nights in Indianapolis drinking, fighting, and visiting sex workers.After getting into trouble for auto theft, Dillinger decided to join the Navy. But his rule-breaking behavior continued, and Dillinger deserted his post after just five months. Back in Mooresville, the 21-year-old Dillinger married a 16-year-old named Beryl Ethel Hovious.The simple life didnt suit Dillinger, however, and he struggled to find work. Thats when he got in contact with his friend, an ex-convict named Ed Singleton, and the two made a plan to rob a local grocer together. Dillinger beat the man, but he and Singleton were quickly apprehended.Singleton pleaded not guilty, but Dillinger, on his fathers advice, confessed. Shockingly, Singleton went to trial and received a sentence of two years in prison; Dillinger received joint sentences of two to 14 years and 10 to 20 years. His father attempted to plead for a less harsh sentence, to no avail.John Dillinger began serving his time in 1924. He would emerge eight-and-a-half years later as a hardened criminal with plenty of lawbreaking friends.The Infamous Crime Spree Of Public Enemy No.1On May 10, 1933, John Dillinger was released from prison. A little more than a month later, he robbed his first bank, the New Carlisle National Bank in Ohio, and stole $10,000 from the banks vault. Dillinger and several of his accomplices went on to rob four banks, two grocery stores, and a drug store, absconding with more than $40,000 in just four months.Boston Public LibraryA wanted poster calling for John Dillingers arrest.Though Dillinger was arrested in Dayton, Ohio, that September, several members of the Dillinger Gang were able to break him out of prison in October. Masquerading as Indiana State Police officers, they claimed they had been given orders to extradite Dillinger to Indiana. The sheriff called their bluff and demanded to see their badges but then one of the Dillinger gang shot him and beat him unconscious.Over the course of several months, the Dillinger Gang would rob more than a dozen banks in addition to looting police arsenals in both Auburn and Peru, Indiana, according to the FBI. They equipped themselves with machine guns, rifles, revolvers, a stockpile of ammunition, and bulletproof vests and put these items to use as they tore through the Midwest.Public DomainJohn Dillinger put himself on the FBIs radar when he drove a stolen car across state lines.Despite their robberies, neither Dillinger nor his gang had actually committed any federal offenses. But on March 3, 1934, Dillinger stole the sheriffs car while escaping from jail in Crown Point, Indiana, and drove back to Chicago.According to PBS, J. Edgar Hoover then leading the Department of Investigations, the precursor to the FBI was thrilled. Dillinger had broken the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act by driving across state lines.With that, the federal government had a reason to go after Public Enemy No.1. They quickly launched a plan that would lead to John Dillingers death.The Final Tip That Led To John Dillingers DeathFollowing a near miss in Wisconsin, federal agents received a tip that changed everything. According to the FBI, the Romanian-born madam of a brothel named Anna Sage (real name Ana Cumpanas) contacted agents on July 21, 1934, claiming to have information about John Dillinger. She told them that she was planning to attend a movie with Dillinger the next day, alongside another woman named Polly Hamilton.In hopes of preventing her deportation from the United States, Sage promised to tell the agents which theater she and the others attended, and notified them that she would be wearing an orange dress.FBIThe Biograph Theater in Chicago, where the FBI shot and killed John Dillinger on July 22, 1934.By the next day, July 22, 1934, Sage still didnt know which theater Dillinger would be at, so federal agents lay in wait at the Biograph Theater and the Marbro Theater, both in Chicago. At 8:30 p.m., agents observed Dillinger, Hamilton, and Sage her orange dress taking on a red hue in the evening lights entering the Biograph to see Manhattan Melodrama. They decided to wait outside instead of risking a shoot-out in the theater.Two hours later, Dillinger and the two women emerged. Sixteen federal agents and Chicago police officers were waiting, and agent Melvin Purvis lit his cigar to give the others a signal. Just as Dillingers two female companions fell behind him, Dillinger sensing something amiss turned and appeared to reach for a .380 automatic pistol he had in his pocket.Three of the agents quickly opened fire and struck Dillinger. Two of their bullets missed, but three found their mark. Fatally wounded, Dillinger collapsed onto the ground. In the 2009 film Public Enemies, Dillinger muttered bye, bye, blackbird, as he died.Though the FBI claimed that the gangster said nothing, its been rumored that John Dillingers last words were actually, You got me.Public DomainA crowd of people stood outside the Biograph Theater after John Dillingers death.John Dillinger died at the scene, and was pronounced dead twenty minutes later. Im glad its all over, Purvis remarked, according to the Chicago Times.The Aftermath Of John Dillingers DeathBy the time John Dillinger died in July 1934, he was both beloved and reviled in the United States. Some saw him as a good-for-nothing criminal, but others considered him something of a Depression-era folk hero.Why should the law have wanted John Dillinger? one man wrote to a newspaper in Indianapolis, according to The New York Times. He wasnt any worse than the bankers and politicians who took poor peoples money. Dillinger did not rob poor people. He robbed those who became rich by robbing the poor. I am for JohnnieBoston Public LibraryCoroners transporting John Dillingers body.Loved or hated, Dillinger was certainly famous.Crowds thronged the scene of his death, dipping their handkerchiefs into puddles of his blood, and more than 5,000 people showed up for his funeral, despite efforts to keep the date of his burial a secret.In the end, Dillinger and his gang had robbed at least a dozen banks, made off with $500,000, and executed a number of risky jail breaks. His crimes and the federal governments aggressive response to take him down also helped legitimize the Department of Investigation, which became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935.But John Dillinger seemed to always know how things would end for him. Im traveling a one-way road, and Im not fooling myself as to what the end will be, he once remarked according to PBS. If I surrender, I know it means the electric chair. If I go on, its just a question of how much time I have left.After reading about John Dillingers death, discover the story of another Public Enemy No.1: Baby Face Nelson. Or, learn the story of Pretty Boy Floyd, another gangster gunned down by the federal agents in 1934.The post John Dillingers Death: How Public Enemy No. 1 Was Killed In A Hail Of Bullets appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Anthony Bourdain's legacy lives on through this TikToker, who's so convincing, he'll have you believing he's tapped into the late celeb's soul.

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Advertisement Civil Society Groups Push for Transparency at Africa Forward Summit 2026Leaders Gather as Civil Society Raises ConcernsThe recently concluded Africa Forward Summit 2026 brought together Heads of State, investors, policymakers, and business leaders to discuss AfricaFrance partnerships for innovation and growth.However, several civil society representatives said the summit failed to include key voices from across the continent.Dr. Wafa Misrar from Climate Action Network Africa in Morocco said organizers involved civil society groups too late in the process.We can engage civil society at an early stage. Unfortunately, for this summit, civil society was not engaged at all, she said.Misrar explained that many organizations wanted to build partnerships with African governments and stakeholders attending the summit. They also hoped to develop a common position on issues affecting the continent.However, organizers released the agenda late and restricted access to some meeting rooms. Misrar said this prevented civil society groups from planning effectively.As civil society, we wanted to work together and have one common voice, but we could not do that because we did not have the agenda in advance, she said.She urged organizers to involve civil society earlier in future editions of the summit.If there is another edition in the future, please let us know in advance so we can plan together and make peoples voices heard, she added.Calls Grow for Openness and AccountabilityGillian Hamilton from The Green Connection in South Africa also criticized the limited access to discussions during the summit.We are concerned about the lack of transparency and the lack of access to the rooms, Hamilton said.She argued that discussions about Africas financial systems and economic partnerships affect millions of Africans. For that reason, she said leaders should hold such conversations openly.These are topics that impact all Africans and should have been discussed more openly, she noted.Hamilton also questioned some of the partnerships discussed during the summit. She warned African governments to remain cautious when negotiating deals involving natural resources and critical minerals.The resource curse is very real in Africa, she said. We need governments to show good governance and make public the deals being signed on behalf of citizens.She added that more civil society organizations should have participated in the discussions.What would have meant a lot more is if more civil society organizations could have contributed toward the discussions taking place, she said.Leaders Gather as Civil Society Raises ConcernsClimate Action Remains Central to DevelopmentMisrar also stressed the need to place climate action at the center of Africas development agenda. She argued that African countries cannot achieve sustainable growth without addressing climate change.When we speak about climate, some people think climate is not part of development. But if you are not tackling climate, you are not going to be developing, she said.She called for more climate financing and stronger investment in clean energy solutions across the continent.Misrar also highlighted the impact of fossil fuels on African women, especially those who cook daily using unsafe energy sources.In Africa, women are mainly affected by fossil fuels used for cooking every single day. This affects health and livelihoods, she explained.She emphasized that civil society groups represent communities whose voices often remain unheard in major policy discussions.When I speak of civil society, I speak on behalf of women, youth, farmers, and people with disabilities. Together we can be stronger, she said.Questions Emerge Over AfricaFrance PartnershipsAnthony Ombara of Resilient Action Network Africa described the summit as timely and necessary. However, he questioned Frances renewed engagement with Anglophone African countries.Our fear is: what is in this conversation, and why this new alliance with Anglophone countries? he asked.Ombara referred to ongoing instability in parts of West Africa, including conflicts in the Sahel region and recent coups. He said these developments make transparency even more important.He also questioned why Kenya had become a key entry point for the discussions.We do not know what deals were being sealed and what commitments governments are making on behalf of citizens, he said.According to Ombara, organizers excluded civil society groups from important business and policy discussions. He said this weakened trust in the summit.The deliberate exclusion of civil society organizations who could have questioned some of these engagements puts the partnership on a bad note, he said.Despite the criticism, the summit highlighted Africas growing importance in global economic and political discussions. Still, civil society groups insisted that future forums must prioritize inclusivity, openness, and accountability.For many organizations attending the summit, one message stood out clearly: Africas future should not be shaped behind closed doors.Read More onThe post Civil Society Groups Push for Transparency at Africa Forward Summit appeared first on Africa Business News.

Citing shocking jury interference by the Clerk of Court in his 2023 trial, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled 5-0 to overturn attorney Alex Murdaugh's double-murder conviction. The state's top

[View Article at Source]This fact explains why the absolute majority of Muslim countries are dysfunctional dictatorships, suffering from extreme corruption, a backward educational system, and catastrophic

[View Article at Source]Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now in China despite being sanctioned by the CPP back in 2020 over the Hong Kong protests. Now, we already know that President Trump asked China