The Hurdles Keep Climbing for the UN’s New Gaza-Aid Troubleshooter

The Hurdles Keep Climbing for the UN’s New Gaza-Aid Troubleshooter

Sigrid Kaag, a former Dutch politician, was named to the new post of senior humanitarian coordinator for Gaza late last year. Since arriving on the job on Jan. 8, the enormous hurdles to delivering food and other essentials into the Palestinian enclave have worsened as famine alarms are being sounded by UN officials. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO By Damilola Banjo via Passblue Sigrid Kaag, a Dutch diplomat and former politician appointed […]

February 29, 2024 9

Environment

Nile Basin farmers grow food forests to restore wetlands and bring back a turtle

By David Njagi via Mongabay In the 44 years Naomi Rita Sitati has lived in Bukirimo village in western Kenya, she has known only one system of farming, which her community has depended on for generations. Cultivating sugarcane as the only crop in large plots is a common practice in the region, which is part of the larger Nile Basin, and Sitati was happy with it. Apart from creating jobs for […]

February 29, 2024 24

Environment

By Anna Dulisse via Mongabay On an island chain in the middle of the Indian Ocean lies an invaluable treasure: “white gold.” While it may not be a gem to proposition a prospective fiancée with, it does protect the ocean’s most biodiverse ecosystem: coral reefs. Casey Benkwitt, a research fellow at Lancaster University in the U.K., says she couldn’t be more thrilled about it. “It’s exciting to learn and show something […]

February 29, 2024 14

Lifestyle

Say That Again: Using Hearing Aids Can Be Frustrating for Older Adults, but Necessary

By Judith Graham via KFF Health News It was an every-other-day routine, full of frustration. Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 when he died in 2022, he’d wait for his dad to find his hearing aids and put them in before they started talking. Even then, my father-in-law could barely hear what my husband was saying. “What?” he’d ask over and over. Then, there were the problems […]

February 29, 2024 23

Business / Economics

Budget Statement for the 2024/25 Financial Year

Introduction Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members of Parliament, Fellow Namibians, I have the distinct honour this afternoon to table before the National Assembly the budget proposals for the FY2024/25 and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for FY2024/25 – FY2026/27 under the theme “continuing the legacy of His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob by caring for the Namibian child”. Before I delve into the details of the budget, I would like to […]

February 28, 2024 142

Local

Capricorn Foundation brings about positive change in Education

The Capricorn Foundation believes that investing in education has a ripple effect on the overall economic growth of a country. The Capricorn Foundation, funded by Capricorn Group's subsidiaries Bank Windhoek, Capricorn Asset Management and Entrepo, dedicated almost N$1.8 million in the last three months to various education and training initiatives, addressing infrastructure, providing study materials, personnel training and addressing rural-urban education gaps in Namibia. "As a Connector of Positive Change, […]

February 28, 2024 16

Environment

Small-scale fishers could be allowed to catch new species

photo: Ashraf Hendricks By Liezl Human via GroundUp Small-scale fishers in the Western Cape could be allowed to catch new species, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has said. The Department is finalising policy for the small-scale sector in the Western Cape. Small-scale fishing cooperatives must be sustainable, Abongile Ngqongwa, deputy director of small-scale fisheries management, told Parliament on Tuesday. He said most resources had been declining and […]

February 28, 2024 20

Environment

We’re losing species faster than we can find them

De Winton’s Golden Mole, found in June 2021. Photo courtesy of JP Le Roux. By Liz Kimbrough via Mongabay “We did it!” Doka Nason shouted as he stared at the screen of a camera trap in Papua New Guinea. He and his team had just captured a long-sought image: that of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis insularis). Believed to be extinct, this rare ground-dwelling bird was photographed as part of […]

February 28, 2024 26

Environment

U.S. natural gas expansion would surrender world to fatal warming

Specially designed vessels are required to transport LNG, which needs to be cooled to minus 162 °F (minus 260° F) in order to liquify and compress the gas while in transit. At destination terminals, the LNG is returned to its gaseous state and carried via pipeline to distribution companies. Image by photozou.jp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.1 JP). By Shanna Hanbury via Mongabay As U.S. politicians, the oil industry and environmental […]

February 28, 2024 14