Though relatively short-lived, Germany's colonial presence has had a major impact on present-day Namibia. Here's a timeline of Germany's brutal colonial past in the African country.

Our guest is known for her classical paintings of beautiful Black women from another era. Not servants, or slaves, nor fetishized or exoticised, her opulent portraits are redefining the women of colour in art history. With her latest work, "Queenie, the godmother of Harlem", the French-born, New York-based artist Elizabeth Colomba continues to rediscover and represent Black people erased by history. The book retraces the life of Martinican Mafia boss Stéphanie St. Clair in 1930s Harlem.

Passion, talent, determination, and perseverance are attributes that make successful people. Sefi Atta, Kunle Afolayan, and Ijeoma Grace Agu have combined these four attributes to tell a story that keeps history alive.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Get a copy of tomorrow's issue of Guardian Life Magazine, an insert of The Guardian Nigeria as the three talk about preserving culture and history with "Swallow."⁣⁣

Yahya (not real name) who identifies as gay and a non-conforming person, left the relative safety of their Kabul home just three times in six weeks after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital. Yahya says. "If anyone identifies us, our lives will be under threat. We're just inside our rooms, praying nothing bad happens to us."

Valentina Alexandre is a history teacher and tour guide in the United States. The young woman was born in Haiti and traveled to Benin to learn more about her ancestry.

October 9th, 2021 was the 40th anniversary of France’s abolition of the death penalty. To mark the occasion, President Emmanuel Macron announced the organisation of a “high-level meeting” at the United Nations starting in early 2022. The meeting’s goal? To “convince” leaders of countries that still use the death penalty of the “urgency of abolishing it”. Robert Badinter, who served as France’s justice minister 40 years ago when the death penalty was abolished, continues to fight for the universal abolition of capital punishment. He speaks to FRANCE 24.

In Perspective, FRANCE 24 looks at the past and present of one pocket of Southern Africa: the country of Angola. Paula Cristina Roque, who spent much of her Covid-19 lockdown penning a new book on Angola called "Governing In The Shadows", joins us from Lisbon to talk about her work.

The winner was not a driver but an algorithm at Indianapolis's famous Motor Speedway, pushing its car to an average speed of 218 km/h and ushering autonomous vehicles into a new era. Nine university teams took part in the Indy Autonomous Challenge in the hopes of winning a million dollars and pushing forward the advent of self-driving cars.

In a big day for LGBT residents of Botswana, an attempt to overturn the decriminalisation of homosexuality has failed in court. Also, South Africa's government says it is being punished as it tries to get countries to walk back some of their Covid-19 travel restrictions. And the China-Africa summit kicks off in Dakar, where participants are discussing trade, conflict and the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawyer for two Tunisian men jailed for being gay hopes an appeal could set a legal precedent in the country; football fans will have to be fully vaccinated and test negative for Covid-19 in order to attend games at next month's Africa Cup of Nations; and Morocco's legendary horse performances are added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

While tensions in Kazakhstan continue to grow, the world is trying to understand what is behind the unrest. Under authoritarian rule, the former Soviet republic has escaped the global spotlight for decades.

It's the largest trial of organised crime to be held in Italy since that of the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra at the end of the 1980s. The Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta, one of the most powerful in the world, went on trial in the beginning of 2021. Some 70 convictions were handed down in November, with 355 defendants still to be judged. Our correspondent Louise Malnoy met the protagonists in this so-called "maxi-trial" in which many southern Italians are placing their hopes.