A wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is growing across Africa, driven by political opportunism and rising anti-Western sentiment and fueled by American far-right groups. Several African countries, most recently Senegal, have introduced or intensified anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

What’s the background?
In 2023, the first African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty was hosted by Uganda. And many argue this forum has “influenced anti-LGBTQ+ laws” across Africa, said The Guardian. 

Later that year, Uganda introduced “one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws,” said Africa News with Agence France-Presse. It imposes life imprisonment for same-sex intercourse and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which includes same-sex intercourse with minors or while HIV-positive. Uganda “set the tone,” and other countries “followed suit.”

Since then, three neighboring former French colonies — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — have tightened restrictions on same-sex relations. Today, 33 of Africa’s 54 countries criminalize LGBTQ+ people in “some form” — more than any other continental region, said the Human Dignity Trust.

What’s the latest?
Senegal has passed a new law to increase jail terms and penalties for what it calls “acts against nature.” The legislation reflects the “views of Senegalese people,” said the government, dismissing international criticism. Last week, 71 men were arrested and charged with “unnatural acts.” 

In June, Ghana’s parliament voted to pass “one ‌of Africa’s most draconian anti-LGBTQ+ bills,” said openDemocracy. Same-sex relations were already criminalized, but this bill sets prison terms for “promoting” them. If signed into law, it will make identifying as LGBTQ+ “punishable by up to three years in prison.”

What’s driving the shift?
The stricter laws are “encouraged by conservative figures” in the U.S. and Europe, said Reuters. LGBTQ+ people are “scapegoats” used to “deflect attention from thorny subjects” or rising discontent, said one activist to Africa News. 

The shift is also linked to rising anti-Western sentiment across former colonies, particularly where military juntas have seized power. “Proponents of so-called African ‘family values’ have long portrayed the issue as a religious and moral concern,” said openDemocracy. But now they are “increasingly recasting it as part of Africa’s fight against neo-colonialism.”

Many in the artificial intelligence industry say the most influential person at AI powerhouse Anthropic may not be its CEO, Dario Amodei, but his wife, Camilla “Cami” Clark. Despite Clark having no official job with the company, recent reports indicate she plays an outsize role as an adviser. She also has previous ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

‘Scant details’
Born in 1979, she was an “entrepreneur and often interacted with the rich and powerful, as well as up-and-comers in Silicon Valley,” said The Wall Street Journal. But despite her apparently significant role within Anthropic, there are “scant details” about her online, and “efforts have been made to remove references to her.”

In the early 2010s, Clark started a number of her own businesses, including a “self-described ‘free luxury porn’ company that catered to women,” said Forbes. It was via this porn company, Eddice, that she first interacted with Epstein to get him to invest in the business. There’s “no indication in the Epstein files that the financier made any investment.” But Clark’s “ties to Epstein will be heavily scrutinized as Anthropic heads toward a potentially multitrillion-dollar IPO,” said Futurism.

‘Consummate networker’
Clark married Amodei in 2022 and has quickly become a “key behind-the-scenes player at Anthropic as the company has shot to prominence over the past year,” said The Information. Several people who know the couple describe her as Amodei’s “emotional ballast, someone he has sought counsel from during the turbulence of Anthropic’s growth and clashes with Washington over the future of AI.”

While Amodei is more introverted, Clark is a “consummate networker” who has become friends with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump “even as Amodei and Anthropic have at times faced an existential struggle with her father’s administration,” said The Information. Their friendship means Clark may have been used as an intermediary, said the Journal, when Anthropic “drew the ire of the Trump administration earlier this year after Amodei refused to drop restrictions on how Claude could be used by the Pentagon.”

A rescuer pauses during a search through the rubble of the Torres del Limonar building in Cali, Colombia, following last week’s magnitude 7.4 earthquake. Official data “reveals vast destruction of homes, schools and hospitals,” said Al Jazeera. And as the “chances of finding life have dropped,” the “response teams’ priorities are shifting.”
Mario Baos / EPA / Shutterstock

Detroit pizza hits all the right notes — a thick crunchy crust, caramelized brick-cheese edge called the frico and rich red sauce spooned over the toppings. Find the real deal at these seven Motor City institutions, including the spot where the glory began.

Buddy’s 
This is the birthplace of Detroit-style pizza, so it’s “no surprise its pies rank among the best,” said Detroit Metro Times. The dough at Buddy’s (pictured above) is “light and airy,” and the “gooey, flavorful” cheese “caramelizes into crispy perfection,” said Detroit Metro Times. 

Grandma Bob’s
The “creative” flavors bring traditional Detroit-style pizza into a “new age,” said Bon Appétit. Take the Lobster Roll Pizza. It’s a classic, crispy square pizza topped with lobster, “herbaceous” crème fraîche, crushed kettle chips and chives, with drawn butter and lemon on the side for your “dipping and drizzling pleasure.” Vegans can also get in on the fun combinations. The Big Mack is loaded with Impossible Burger, vegan mozzarella and Thousand Island dressing.

Loui’s 
This “iconic” pizzeria “stands in a league of its own,” said the Detroit Metro Times. Loui’s pies start with crusts that are the “ideal mix of crunch and fluff” and only get better as a “bold and tangy” sauce is “generously ladled” over an “abundance of cheese.” The atmosphere inside the restaurant is “just as inviting as its pizza,” with wine bottles hanging over the tables covered in checkered cloths.