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In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
Watch BET UK on Sky 173, Virgin 184 Freesat 140
Stopping the Exploitation of Prisoners and Their Families Requires More Comprehensive Solutions By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. 2020 brought renewed global focus to issues of social justice in America. From the racial disparities and inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic to the killings of George Floyd and so many other Black and Brown Americans … Continued
The post Stop the exploitation of prisoners and their families appeared first on The Michigan Chronicle.
[East African] One in every 50 detainees in Kenya's prisons is a migrant, largely from the East African region even though these countries have a joint deal on free movement of persons.
… make history as the first African-American to lead the country’s … Pentagon, and is the only African-American to have headed U.S … in the Army, especially among African-American officers and enlisted soldiers, as …
An Eco-Friendly Manufacturing Plant is Turning Plastic into Bricks
After Kenya imposed a ground-breaking law in 2017 on the use, manufacturing and import of plastic bags as part of global efforts to limit plastic waste, four engineers in Nairobi saw an opportunity in the estimated 500 tonnes of plastic waste the city generates daily and founded Gjenge Makers — a company that recycles plastic bottle tops and cooking oil containers into environmentally friendly bricks. Nzambi Matee, a co-founder of Gjenge Makers, explains how it came about.
\"So we started by collecting plastic waste and selling it to recyclers. That was in 2017, and then we realised three to six months later that we were collecting more waste than we could sell, than the recyclers could absorb. So that's when we decided what more we could do with the remaining plastic, as a value-added aspect, to see if we could put a product on the market using the plastic waste, and that's how we started making the paving stones\".
Grey pavers sell for around 8 euros per square meter, while coloured pavers sell for around 10 euros.
Matee describes the logic behind the ecologically-sound operation, \" Once the manufacturers package the soft drinks, or whatever product they are packaging, once the consumer finishes with that product, they have nowhere else to take it other than the litter box. And so, with that, we decided why don't we create a plug where instead of having the plastic to go the dumpsite, we intercept it on the way, and hence we started the making business.\"
The waste is then crushed into small pellets, sorted according to colour, mixed with sand and the desired colour pigment — before being taken onto the production line where they are moulded and put into a hydraulic press.
Ann Muthoni, the Programme Coordinator at Mukuru Slums Development Projects, shares some inside information, \"We had used the ballast before, but most of the trainees were complaining the ballast was damaging their shoes, so the Gjenge pavers, we find them very friendly. Walking on them feels like you are walking on rubber*
Gjenge Makers can currently produce up to 1,500 bricks a day with homeowners and schools as clients.
The West Dumping Plastic Waste in Africa
Although many African countries are making an effort to overcome the pressing issue of plastic waste, their efforts are often thwarted — as many countries in the Western world have used many nations in Africa as their plastic waste dumîng ground.
In April, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) - whose members include Shell, Exxon, Total, DuPont and Dow, companies already guilty of polluting many rivers in Africa via oil drilling and oil spills, proposed investments in recycling in Kenya with a catch.
The recycling investment deal is one only provided that the recipient country accepts US plastic waste i.e. Kenya would get about 500 million tonnes of plastic waste exports from the US per year.
Plastic But Not a Superficial Issue
According to a 2018 United Nations (UN) report, an esti
Just look at this exchange rate: The plucky South African Rand is now trading at pre-pandemic levels against the US Dollar - and the best is yet to come.
[Monitor] British and American diplomats have asked President Museveni to leverage on South Sudan leaders to hold election after the Ugandan leader proposed that only a vote can resolve the political and security impasse in Juba.
Fulton County to Host Community Conversation for Teens “Talk That Talk” to link teens with Behavioral Health professionals via Zoom The Fulton County Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities (BHDD) will host the next in a series of Community Conversations with young adults. The event, called “Talk That Talk: Community Conversations with Young Adults”, […]
The post Fulton County to Host 'Talk That Talk' to link teens with health professionals via Zoom appeared first on Atlanta Tribune.
[New Era] Moses Magadza
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s largest mobile network operator, Econet Wireless, has revised its voice, data and SMS bundle prices upwards, by an average 20 percent increment, in an effort to recover value eroded due to currency devaluation and other rising costs of key network inputs. The new tariffs are effective 10 December 2020. The mobile operator incurred exchange losses of ZW$10,3 billion in the half-year to August 2020 as a result of exposure in foreign currency denominated obligations. “The business continuously reviews its pricing in line with changes in the operating environment to ensure it remains viable, while retaining good quality of service and offering affordable products,” Econet said. The listed telecommunications company earlier said it was transforming itself into a digital service provider, and remained “committed to innovative approaches to deliver these (digital) services and ensure our customers get the best quality voice, data and SMS-based products”. Econet last adjusted its voice and data tariffs in September, but since that time, the price of many goods and services that constitute critical costs to the business, have skyrocketed, putting pressure on the company’s bottom line. In particular, the price of electricity has doubled (gone up 100%) while diesel has gone up by 32% since September. Econet and other telecommunication companies rely on electricity and diesel-generated power to keep their network services up and running. According to the latest schedule, Econet has reviewed its Bundle of Joy voice bundles from ZW$4,04 to ZW$4,25 per two minutes, while a 20 megabyte (MB) daily data bundle now costs ZW$17, up from ZW$13. A monthly 100MB data bundle has been reviewed upwards from ZW$67 to ZW$84, while the 8GB Private Wifi bundle has been adjusted from ZW$960 to ZW$1 500. At the same time, subscribers are now be required to pay ZW$0.36 to send an SMS, up from ZW$0.32. Although Econet service delivery has been affected by electricity load shedding like many Zimbabwean companies, stimming its revenue generation capacity, the group has however devised methods of continuing to provide quality services to its subscribers. “We maintained quality of service despite the numerous challenges facing businesses in Zimbabwe. In particular, limited foreign currency and disruptions in power supply continue to put a significant strain on our ability to provide uninterrupted excellent service,” said the company Chairman James Myers in a statement accompanying Econet’s half-year results to August 2020. “Our mitigation strategies, which include moving to remote monitoring and operation of our network, as well as reducing our reliance on power from the grid through DPA, were critical to our success,” he said, adding that the company expected at least an additional 18 MW of power to be availed by DPA (an Econet group Solar power company) by the end of the financial year.
JAMAICA and the rest of the Caribbean will just have to wait to see how the Administration of United States (US) President-elect Joe Biden will engage the region.US officials yesterday told journalists at the round-table discussion at its Kingston embassy that they would not speculate on the possible posture of the incoming Administration.
Travel regulations have been revised to make flying less cumbersome over the December holidays.
President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration plans to support legislation offered by District of Columbia Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton that would ensure federal agencies advertise with minority-owned businesses, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). “From the racial equity plan – at the direction of the President-Elect, the Director of Minority Business Development Agency will coordinate […]
The post Biden-Harris commit to govt spending with Black media appeared first on DefenderNetwork.com.
[Nation] Budget experts have warned that the government is likely to breach the Sh9 trillion debt ceiling by early 2022 if the rate at which it is borrowing to support its budget and finance ambitious capital projects is anything to go by.
There has never been a second round in Ghanaian elections and the two parties have handed over power peacefully seven times since the return of democracy more than 30 years ago.
\"I'm feeling fine, happy that the process is going well and peacefully,\" the 76-year-old Akufo-Addo said.
Mahama, 62, of the National Democratic Congress party (NDC) was less gushing.
\"It’s too early to make an assessment, but I understand there have been a few hitches,\" Mahama said.
A few polling stations opened late and isolated cases of ballot tampering were reported by the electoral commission but there were no major incidents across the country's 38,000 polling stations.
-Symbolic peace pact -
The stability in Ghana contrasts with that of other countries in the region, with deadly unrest this year in Guinea and Ivory Coast.
EU's chief observer Javier Nart told AFP that in Ghana \"it's not the Kalashnikov that commands, it is the ballot box.\"
The two major parties have always pursued their grievances through the courts.
To ensure its continued tradition of peaceful polls, Akufo-Addo and Mahama on Friday signed a symbolic peace pact.
\"The one thing we think is worth laying emphasis on is the overall message by the major contesters that peace matters,\" former South African president and current head of the African Union observer mission, Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe told AFP.
\"There are lessons to be picked up, good practices to be shared with other African Union members.\"
The coronavirus pandemic has posed a challenge in this year's election, with 10,000 more polling stations than usual set up for the nation's 17 million registered voters.
Hand sanitisers were made available for voters, who underwent temperature checks before being let into polling stations.
[Monitor] The Ministry of Health has revealed that they are spending between Shs 7 million and Shs 20 million to treat a Covid-19 patient in Intensive Care Unit at Mulago national referral hospital.
African American cowgirls do exist. Each year hundreds of Black women travel across the United States to compete in ladies steer wrestling, breakaway roping, bull riding, barrel racing, and other rodeo competitions — many while holding down full-time jobs. The rise of Black women in the rodeo circuit is largely due to the Bill Pickett … Continued
The post Female CEO 'steers' Black rodeo movement appeared first on New Pittsburgh Courier.
[Monitor] By Rajab Mukombozi
By ROBERT BURNS, MICHAEL BALSAMO, JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon. Biden selected […]
The post Biden picks Lloyd Austin as secretary of defense appeared first on Afro.
Ever since the start of the global pandemic, the world has been eagerly awaiting the development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines. Not only will these save lives, but kick start the economy and pave the way to a return to normality. Americans have welcomed recent news, with cautious optimism, that two vaccines (by Pfizer and […]
Fulton County to Host Community Conversation for Teens “Talk That Talk” to link teens with Behavioral Health professionals via Zoom The Fulton County Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities (BHDD) will host the next in a series of Community Conversations with young adults. The event, called “Talk That Talk: Community Conversations with Young Adults”, … Continued
The post Fulton County to Host 'Talk That Talk' to link teens with health professionals via Zoom appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to have retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III to be secretary of defense, according to three officials in the know with the decision. If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black Pentagon chief, according to a Washington Post story. Austin, 67, grew to become a four-star general in the Army and … Continued
The post Biden to Name Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary appeared first on The Michigan Chronicle.
[Monitor] The images of Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake being carried to the Mityana Chief Magistrate's Court to take plea while prostrate after allegedly being tortured in police custody back in April were as distressing as they could be.
PYRENEES, Spain — The search for British hiker Esther Dingley, who went missing while hiking in the Pyrenees, has been canceled due to snowstorms. Search parties in both France and Spain have looked for Dingley, [...]
51 years ago Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Mark Clark, Black Panther Leaders Defense Captain from Peoria, IL died at the hands of Chicago Police. Killed by Chicago police in an early morning raid, the police said the killing was in self-defense and ruled justified homicides. Each … Continued
The post Remembering, Black Panthers, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark 51 Years Later appeared first on Chicago Defender.
A 90-year-old woman in the United Kingdom on Tuesday became the first person in the world to receive a coronavirus vaccination outside of clinical trials, marking a watershed moment in the fight against the crippling worldwide pandemic.
The post Stop the exploitation of prisoners and their families appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.
By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON (AP) — A retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country's COVID-19 vaccination program Tuesday, the start of an unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that has killed 1.5 million. Margaret Keenan, who turns 91 next week, got the shot at 6:31 a.m. on what public health officials have dubbed 'V-Day.' She was first in line at University Hospital Coventry, one of several hospitals around the country that are handling the initial phase of the United Kingdom's program. As luck would have it, the […]
The post 'Route out' of pandemic: UK gives 1st COVID-19 vaccine doses appeared first on Black News Channel.
