UK Tories urged to return money to race row donor

Britain's ruling Conservatives on Wednesday faced growing pressure to return millions of pounds to a major donor accused of making racist comments about a high-profile black lawmaker. Businessman Frank Hester, 57, is alleged to have said that Diane Abbott -- Britain's longest-serving black MP -- made him "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot". After several Tory MPs refused to condemn the 2019 […]

March 13, 2024 15

World

The UN Security Council Is Struggling ‘Day by Day,’ Japan Says

Secretary-General António Guterres, left, and Kazuyuki Yamazaki, permanent representative of Japan and president of the Security Council for March, before a recent meeting on Sudan and South Sudan. Only three months in the UN post, Yamakazi leads the Council on a range of crises this month, from the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to conflicts in parts of Africa, as Japan also highlights its own two signature debates: building peace […]

March 13, 2024 14

Health / Medical

‘Tied to the bed’: Horrors of giving birth in Serbia

By Miodrag SOVILJ Biljana Cicic-Stanic still bristles when she remembers the pain, violence, and humiliation she endured while giving birth to her son in Serbia, an experience many women say is normal in the Balkan country's hospitals. Cicic-Stanic said medical staff tied her to the bed with restraints and nurses used their elbows to press against her stomach. "Everything was so violent," Cicic-Stanic told AFP, saying doctors […]

March 13, 2024 16

Africa

Economic reforms propel Ethiopia to world’s third fastest growing nation brand status

By Conrad Onyango, bird story agency Ongoing economic reforms that are also seeing Ethiopia opening up its traditionally closed sectors to private investment are helping to lift the country’s image, globally, according to a new report. UK-based Consultancy, Brand Finance in its Global Soft Power Index 2024 ranked Ethiopia the third fastest-growing nation brand in the world. In the ranking of the most valuable nations, Ethiopia’s brand […]

March 13, 2024 20

Africa

SAP Africa Partner Awards recognise excellence in supporting Africa’s digital transformation efforts

SAP has announced the winners of its latest SAP Africa Partner Awards. At a recent event held in the Cape Winelands, the SAP Africa Partner Awards recognised excellence within SAP’s partner ecosystem throughout Africa. According to Nazia Pillay, Head of Partner Ecosystem, SAP Middle East and Africa, says the role of partners has become more critical in the wake of changing customer demands and the impact of technologies […]

March 13, 2024 5

Africa

Colonial statues in Africa have been removed, returned and torn down again – why it’s such a complex history

By Sophia Labadi, University of Kent In 2020, the murder of George Floyd in the US served as a catalyst for the global Black Lives Matter movement. It sparked widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism. It also ignited debates about historical symbols of oppression, such as statues of figures associated with racial injustices. These debates presented colonial statues in Africa as having been contested and […]

March 13, 2024 30

World

World Day Against Cyber Censorship: RSF runs “one of the world’s biggest censorship circumvention operations”

To mark World Day Against Cyber Censorship, which Reporters Without Borders (RSF) initiated and which is celebrated on 12 March, RSF is pleased to announce that its Operation Collateral Freedom is currently enabling the websites of more than 100 media outlets in 32 countries to circumvent censorship – a 20% increase in one year. Launched by RSF in 2015, Operation Collateral Freedom enables media outlets throughout the world to circumvent […]

March 12, 2024 3

Environment

Impunity for Cambodia’s exotic pet owners as trade outpaces legislation

By Gerald Flynn On the outskirts of the western Cambodian city of Pursat, some 180 kilometers, or 110 miles, north of Phnom Penh, tourists and travelers stream out of minivans parked in the forecourt of a PTT gas station. The Cambodian subsidiary of Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, PTT stands out as one of the country’s more modern gas station chains, sporting retail outlets popular in […]

March 12, 2024 40

Africa

Lagos bans single-use plastics – why I think Nigeria should have taxed them instead

By Kehinde Allen-Taylor, Technical University Braunschweig Waste pollution is a huge problem in Nigeria, with serious impacts on the environment. In response, the Lagos state government has banned styrofoam (a type of plastic widely used as food containers) and other single-use products. Following a three-week moratorium for producers and sellers to mop up styrofoam containers, enforcement began on 4 March 2024. In 2019, Nigeria was estimated to […]

March 12, 2024 22

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