Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Three quarters of freshwater species endemic to East Africa’s Lake Victoria basin face the threat of extinction, conservationists said Monday, warning the biodiversity there was being “decimated”. A fresh report backed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed the extinction risk of …
Read More »Long battle to stop firms bribing Africa for contracts
Paris, France | AFP | A spectacular probe into French tycoon Vincent Bollore over suspected graft in Africa marks a rare exception among corporate titans doing business south of the Sahara. Bollore — charged on Wednesday over contracts to operate ports in Guinea and Togo — is by far the …
Read More »World Malaria Day: Can Africa get out of the disease trap?
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda and other African countries are being urged to raise local resources towards the fight against malaria. The call, contained in the African Development Bank’s report, comes as Africa joins the recent of the world to commemorate World Malaria Day 2018. The global Malaria day …
Read More »Africa football boss wants Europe to back Morocco World Cup bid
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | The head of African football, Ahmad Ahmad, has urged Europe to back Morocco’s drive to host the 2026 World Cup, in return for African support for a future European bid. In an exclusive interview with AFP, Ahmad Ahmad, the Confederation of African Football president, appealed …
Read More »World Bank: African Economic growth at 3.1% in 2018
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Bank projects Sub-Saharan Africa to garner an economic growth of 3.1 percent in 2018, and increase of over one percent from 2017. Recent data in the Africa Economic Update released Wednesday afternoon point to a moderate strengthening of economic growth in early 2018. …
Read More »Novartis to inject $100 mn into malaria drug research
Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Tuesday announced $100 million of funding over the next five years for research into new treatments for malaria, a mosquito-borne disease with a devastating impact that killed 445,000 people in 2016. There were some 216 million cases of malaria worldwide in …
Read More »US, Nigeria hold military summit in Abuja
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Military top brass from across Africa on Monday kicked off a conference co-hosted by the United States aimed at boosting cooperation between countries fighting extremist groups. The African Land Forces Summit brings together “land force chiefs from across Africa for candid dialogue” to improve security, …
Read More »Israel freeing 207 African migrants from prison
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israel on Sunday began freeing 207 African migrants from prison following a supreme court ruling after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu controversially reversed a deal with the UN refugee agency on the detainees’ fate. By early evening, a spokeswoman for the immigration authority told AFP, about …
Read More »On Africa’s big dreams
THE LAST WORD: Why our continent needs to rethink her overenthusiastic attitude towards foreign direct investment THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | Last month, Rwanda hosted the African Union’s summit on the Continent Free Trade Area (CFTA). The discussions were as inspiring as they were frustrating. Leaders from government …
Read More »Researchers warn ‘Ebola for plants’ hitting Africa’s cassava crop
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | A new disease infecting cassava — dubbed “Ebola for plants” — could spell a looming food crisis for Africa, researchers have warned, fearful that the emerging blight could decimate one of the continent’s most vital food crops. Africa is the world’s largest producer of …
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