Africa: Transparency in Extractives to Tame Graft Starts January

Twitter to wipe Trump’s followers before Biden handover

Twitter has confirmed that the official US presidential accounts will be wiped of their millions of followers before being transferred to the Biden administration.Mr Biden’s team “fought” the plan, but the social media giant said its decision was “unequivocal”.The move marks a reversal from the last transition.Twitter agreed to Donald Trump’s request in 2016 to […]

Mozambique: Sasol Pulling Out of Ressano Garcia Power Station

Maputo — The South African petrochemical giant Sasol has announced that it is selling its share of the gas-fired Ressano Garcia Thermal Power Station (CTRG), in the far south of Mozambique to the Nigerian company, Azura Power Limited, for 145 million US dollars. Sasol has a 49 per cent holding in CTRG. The other 51 […]

Africa: ‘African Leaders Are Not Thinking Right’ – Thomas Mapfumo

Zimbabwean music maestro Thomas Mapfumo channeled his revolutionary rasp and talked tough about Africa at the third edition of African Crossroads. The Chimurenga music legend was the headline performer and guest of honour at the event which was screened from seven hubs on December 10 and 11. His prerecorded set included liberation-era songs while his […]

Congress Again Taxes the Time of Benefit Recipients – BillMoyers.com

This article is adapted from Unsanitized: The COVID-19 Daily Report put out by The American Prospect. You can find the original publication here. First Response The eight-month impasse for additional COVID relief, unconscionable as it may have been, opportunistically gave time and space to those members of Congress most interested in policy. The 5,500-page, entire-session-of-Congress-in-a-bill that passed last […]

AFRICA/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES : How Abu Dhabi calmed African countries' protests over its visa freeze

As part of its preparations for the historic official visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahou, which is due to Source link

Africa: WFP Cuts Refugees’ Food Rations in Uganda As Funding Declines

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned it will have to further reduce monthly relief cash and food rations for 1.26 million refugees in Uganda due to a funding shortfall.  With effect from February 2021, refugees will have to make do with only 60 percent of a full ration. “COVID-19 must not be […]

66-year-old motorcyclist dies in fiery crash in Polk County

Henry Hogue, 66, of Cedartown was attempting to cross over Ga. 1 near the intersection of Mildred Drive when his Harley Davidson FLSTC entered the path of a 1996 Chevrolet GMT-400, which was traveling in the left lane of Ga. 1 northbound, around 3:30 p.m., according to Georgia State Patrol spokeswoman Franka Young.The GMT-400 struck […]

SOMALIA/KENYA/SOMALILAND : Kenyatta and Odinga play the Somaliland card to weaken Farmajo's 2021 election chances

The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland, Muse Bihi Abdi, who made an official visit to Nairobi last week, lunched discreetly with Somali presidential candidate Hussein Abdi Halane on Monday 14 December, just before boarding his plane back to Source link

South Africa: Vaccine Rollout – Here Is Where South Africa Stands

Johnson & Johnson is trying to get approval for a vaccine against Covid-19 that only requires one shot. Details of the vaccine’s trial are expected to be released in January. Only a massive global rollout of an effective vaccine can end the Covid-19 pandemic in the short term. The vaccine is being rolled out in […]

Pueblo of Laguna – BillMoyers.com

Indian court, Federal Building, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939 From an Indian painting on elkskin, Great Plains / / SiegriesDecember 19, 2020 “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters,” wrote Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci. Trump and the Republicans are fighting tooth […]

Africa: IGAD – Statement By the High Representative Josep Borrell On IGAD Summit

Statements by the HR/VP The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) leaders are meeting in Djibouti today at a time when the region has pulled together impressively to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and a desert locust invasion. And at a time, when the stability of the region is threatened by conflicts, ancient border disputes and a […]

GUINEA : Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée revives refinery project

Alumina production could begin in early 2025, according to Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), a joint venture between Australia’s Rio Tinto, the US firms Alcoa and Dadco, and the Conakry government. CBG plans by that date to have completed Source link

Biden Announces Climate Team, Including Gina McCarthy, Deb Haaland and Michael Regan

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. introduced key members of his climate change team on Saturday, declaring that his administration will connect the effort to reduce planet-warming emissions with restoring the economy and creating jobs.Mr. Biden, speaking at an event in Wilmington, Del., said the climate team will be “ready on day one, which […]

South Africa: Sad Year for Football

The following are some of the leading individuals who passed away – football people and those closely related and friends of the game: – Xolani BISHOTI Former Interim President and founder member of Buffalo City Region, Former Buffalo City FC and Aces United FC (also chairman) defender – Amr FAHMY Former CAF General Secretary – […]

Africa: Continent Nears 60,000 Covid-19 Deaths

Cape Town — As of December 19, confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries reached 2,469,099 . Reported deaths in Africa reached 58,311 and 2,081,060 people have recovered. South Africa has the most reported cases – 901,538 , and 24,285  people died. Other most-affected countries are Morocco ( 412,393 ), Egypt ( 124,280 ), […]

No autopsy. No soul-searching. The GOP embraces its status as party of racist misogynist fascists

“The Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself,” read the document. “We have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue. Instead of driving around in circles […]

AFRICA : Leading wealth manager Maitland promotes offshore trusts in face of wobbly rand

Offshore trusts as the bulwark against the risks of the rand: this is the solution being touted by the leading Source link

Mozambique: Fighting Displaces Over 500,000 in Northern Mozambique, Reports UN Refugee Agency

Attacks by armed groups and worsening insecurity in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Niassa provinces have displaced more than 530,000 people, many of whom have been forced to move multiple times, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday. According to the agency, majority of the affected families have sought refuge in the safer […]

Trump remains silent on massive Russian cyberattack — and almost everything else except his own election

President Trump has tweeted or retweeted 96 messages so far this week. The vast majority of them were attacks on the election, with baseless allegations of voter fraud and false claims that he won. Interspersed were a few updates on the U.S. coronavirus vaccine rollout, an analysis of Fox News ratings, a complaint about the […]

Africa: Glimmer of Hope – Africa CDC Launches Guidelines to Make Covid-19 Tests More Affordable and Accessible

The new guidelines on the use of rapid diagnostic testing offers new hope for more equitable, accessible and affordable testing. On 14 December 2020 the Western Cape health department restricted access to Covid-19 testing for the second time in the year, excluding most of those under 45 and all of those without symptoms from access […]

Zimbabwe: Funds for Emergency Food Assistance Run Dry As Millions Face Hunger Season

Harare — With millions of Zimbabweans devastated by a year of drought, rising hyperinflation and COVID-19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for an additional US$204 million to support over four million of the most food insecure people over the next six months. The appeal comes ahead of the ‘lean’ season, which […]

Africa: We All Deserve Protection From Covid-19

When I contracted Ebola virus disease in August 2014 while working as a medical doctor in a well-known private hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, I was denied access to a potential cure. For 15 days, I battled for my life in a debilitated isolation ward, not knowing if I would survive. But American aid workers who […]

WEST AFRICA : Insurance giant Prudential's African path points towards Orabank

After the Ivorian civil servants’ pension fund took a share in the pan-African banking roup Orabank, British insurance giant Prudential may follow suit. Source link

Zimbabwe: Harare Mayor Charged With Contempt of Court

Harare mayor Jacob Mafume today appeared in court on obstruction of course of justice or alternatively contempt of court for allegedly interfering with a key witness, Edgar Dzehonye, in another matter where he is facing criminal abuse of office. The State led by Mrs Constance Ngombengombe and Mrs Kudzai Chigwedere opposed granting of his bail […]

Africa: Hailing a Great Feminist and African Nationalist

As advisor to a number of African leaders during their struggles for independence, the freedom fighter and champion for women’s rights Andreé Blouin cannot be relegated to the footnotes of history. Andreé Blouin is best known as the powerful advisor to Patrice Lumumba, but much of the focus on the activist has been on only […]

GOP House Leader Runs And Hides When Asked If Joe Biden Is President-Elect

Even though GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted Tuesday that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn as the next president and vice president, not all Republicans are willing to accept reality. When asked if he acknowledged Biden as the president-elect, Republican House Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy ran and hid from reporters. “Just […]

South Africa: Concourt Warns Against Unfounded Personal Cost Orders Against Public Protector

The Constitutional Court has considered four personal cost orders against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and upheld only one. On Tuesday, the court warned that awarding such orders without merit would weaken Mkhwebane’s office and damage democracy. In the ruling, the court also dismissed her appeal to subpoena tax records. The Constitutional Court has warned the […]

Africa: Broken Societies Put People and Planet On Collision Course, Says UNDP

An experimental global index offers a new measurement of human progress that illustrates the challenge of tackling poverty and inequality while easing planetary pressure The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis facing the world, but unless humans release their grip on nature, it won’t be the last, according to a new report by the United […]

As Electoral College confirms Biden’s victory, Republicans still work to support Trump’s fantasies

The New York Times notes that some Republicans “warily” acknowledged the outcome of the Electoral College vote. That acknowledgement came in the form of statements like those of Lindsey Graham who declared that there was now “a very, very narrow path” for Trump to keep his feet on the Resolute Desk. And that’s pretty much it. […]

NIGERIA/UNITED STATES : Washington to take over Madueke clan's $20m villa after judge rejects Sarbonne Estate's claim

US Judge Keith Ellison decided late November that Sarbonne Estate cannot block the Department of Justice’s seizure of Nigerian national Kola Aluko’s villa. Source link