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Zimbabwe central bank officials plan to meet with retailers on Tuesday over price hikes, the Sunday Mail reported.
Abiy's government and the regional one run by the Tigray People's Liberation Front each consider the other illegitimate.
\t There was no immediate word from the three AU envoys, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano and former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe. AU spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo did not say whether they can meet with TPLF leaders, something Abiy's office has rejected.
\"``Not possible,'' senior Ethiopian official Redwan Hussein said in a message to the AP. ``\"Above all, TPLF leadership is still at large.'' He called reports that the TPLF had appointed an envoy to discuss an immediate cease-fire with the international community ``masquerading.''
\t Fighting reportedly remained well outside the Tigray capital of Mekele, a densely populated city of a half-million people who have been warned by the Ethiopian government that they will be shown ``no mercy'' if they don't distance themselves from the region's leaders.
\t Tigray has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since Nov. 4, when Abiy announced a military offensive in response to a TPLF attack on a federal army base.
That makes it difficult to verify claims about the fighting, but humanitarians have said at least hundreds of people have been killed.
\t The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, which has been described as the linchpin of the strategic Horn of Africa.
\t With transport links cut, food and other supplies are running out in Tigray, home to 6 million people, and the United Nations has asked for immediate and unimpeded access for aid.
AP
[New Zimbabwe] President Emmerson Mnangagwa says his party Zanu PF should draw inspiration from Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha mapinduzi's landslide victory to defeat the opposition in forthcoming by-elections and other future polls.
By SCOTT SMITH ASSOCIATED PRESS CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A U.S. oil executive jailed for three years in Venezuela said all he hopes for is a fair trial so that he can walk free with his name cleared and go home to his family in the United States. In a letter from prison provided exclusively to The Associated Press, Tomeu Vadell said it's especially painful to be separated during the Thanksgiving season from his wife, three adult children and a newborn grandson he's never held. 'Before living this tragedy, these celebrations were very special times for our family,' Vadell wrote, […]
The post AP Exclusive: Letter from Venezuelan jail: 'Give me freedom' appeared first on Black News Channel.
[Ghanaian Times] The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with four organisations to seal their collaboration on the \"NBSSI/Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works\" project.
VENDORS, teachers and retailers are pinning their hopes on today’s budget presentation by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube to address key issues affecting their constituencies that have been hard hit by the economic crisis. BY MOSES MATENGA The economic crisis, coupled with the COVID-19-induced lockdown, has severely affected vendors, teachers and retailers, among others. Without government intervention, they said 2021 looked to be gloomier. Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers Association president Denford Mutashu said Ncube’s budget should focus on poverty eradication and be pro-production. “The minister should focus on poverty eradication, stimulate demand and come up with a budget that is pro-production,” he said. “Import substitution balanced with a robust export strategy will save the country’s precious foreign currency, consolidate economic gains and reduce inflation towards a single digit figure.” Mutashu said there was also expectation for scrapping of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s directive to businesses to pay value-added tax on rice backdated to 2017 “yet the then Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa made a directive to the contrary”. Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou said: “We expect a budget that resonates with the Dakar Declaration of allocating more than 22% of total budget to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. “We, therefore, expect government investment in quality public education where teachers would be well paid, innovative and dynamic and contribute to a skills revolution in line with Agenda 2030. It is imperative to enhance government capacity to support teachers and create an enabling environment for effective learning and teaching in public schools.” Teachers have not been attending classes for weeks after declaring incapacitation and demanding a salary increase. “That budget must also resonate with Abuja Declaration of allocating 15% of total budget to the health sector and Maputo Declaration of allocating 10% of total budget to agriculture,” Zhou said. Vendors said the minister’s budget should be guided by the fact that most of the economic projects were being driven by the informal sector. “Our hope is that the minister in his statement tomorrow (today) will be guided by such statistics, as it is very much a fact that most of the economy resides in the informal sector,” Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation executive director Samuel Wadzai said. He said vendors had been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, hence the need for “cushioning and restocking”. “As local authorities reopen informal traders markets, it is our belief that the minister should allocate an amount that enables traders to restock, as most have exhausted business earnings over the shutdown period. “The cushioning fund that was announced at the beginning of the lockdown is yet to be received by the intended recipients,” Wadzai said. “The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates the exercising of hygienic prac
[UNFPA] JOINT STATEMENT
A newly charity Frontline Families Fund seeks to raise money to offset financial burdens incurred by families of felled health care workers during the pandemic.
Source
Messages from Hon. Mackie Holder, Consul General of Barbados at NY and Her Excellency H. Elizabeth Thompson on the occasion of the 54th Anniversary of Independence of Barbados.
Simply dangle up. Thats the recommendation from the Workplace of the Inspector Basic of the Social Safety Administration. (OIG picture) A Social Safety cellphone rip-off appears to have gotten a…
[Vanguard] Abuja -- The Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi(APC-Kebbi North), has said 350 million (or 70%) of the 500 million illegal arms in West Africa were in Nigeria.
[CAF] Following the recommendation of the Medical Committee, CAF Emergency Committee has decided that next month's session of CAF Ordinary General Assembly will be held via videoconference.
On 17-21 November, Cyclone Gati formed in the Indian Ocean and made landfall on the 22nd near Xaafuun and the northern tip of northeast Somalia. It is the strongest storm on record in Somalia. Twice the annual average of rainfall was expected to fall in two days. Bosaso reported 128 mm in 24 hours and extensive damage was reported in Bari region. In the past two days, Gati has moved in a westerly direction along the coast of northern Somalia towards Berbera and weakened as it headed into the Gulf of Aden.
Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, the horn of Africa is now faced with locust infestation.
Owing to the poor security state, economic decline and the devastating pandemic, the World Food program WFP and Food and Agriculture Organization FAO have warned that this might drive the country into acute levels of hunger and famine.
The UN agencies further warned that the new wave risks spreading to other regions in the vast Eastern Africa that includes Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
The recent cyclone and floods experienced in Somalia are expected to allow widespread breeding.
Earlier in the year, billions of the insects destroyed crops across the region – with the UN warning a second generation would be even more destructive.
Tens of thousands of hectares of cropland and pasture were damaged across the Horn and East Africa during the first wave.
In Ethiopia between January and April, locusts destroyed 1.3 million hectares of grazing land and nearly 200,000 hectares of crops, resulting in the loss of 350,000 tonnes of cereals
[This Day] Politicians hardly waited for the counting of votes in the last year presidential election before putting the 2023 presidential election squarely on the national agenda.
President-elect Joe Biden is considering Roger Ferguson, a former Federal Reserve vice chair, and Brian Deese, an executive at BlackRock, to be his top White House economic adviser, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has disclosed she had a miscarriage in July while she and her husband Harry were living in Los Angeles. In a moving article for the New York Times, the Duchess wrote that she 'felt a sharp cramp' while changing the diaper of her first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. 'I...
The post Meghan Markle reveals she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage in July appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
According to reports, Black Friday 2020 has been something of a phenomenon this year. Here’s how things are looking so far.
Press Release - Over the last 30 years, more and more tea, coffee and cocoa farmers have embraced towards climate-smart and sustainable practices by adopting \"certification standards\" that help to maintain soil quality, increase productivity and reduce costs. The standards also assure buyers of agricultural commodities that the products in their supply chains are environmentally sustainable.
Banks and financial institutions are increasingly being confronted for their lack of diversity on every level.
Music producerHitmakalearned that even if a drunken mind does speak sober thoughts, it's probably always best to stay quiet. Recently the former 'Love and Hip […]
At least 40 informal miners in Zimbabwe have been trapped underground after a shaft in a disused gold mine collapsed, the country's miners' federation said Thursday.
Despite their recent back-to-back victories over Sao Tome and Principe, Bafana Bafana’s FIFA ranking has remained unchanged.
THERE has been some reasonable stability in prices in the last few months owing to the tight grip on money supply following the introduction of the forex auction system. editorial comment But, there are high expectations to improve the health, education and agriculture sectors which have been grounded owing to incapacitation and remuneration issues. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has a huge responsibility to convince Zimbabweans that 2021 will be a better year with great prospects. Obviously and naturally, Ncube is likely to sing from the familiar sanctions hymn book or blame the country’s misfortunes on the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic. The ongoing crisis in the education sector cannot be ignored and requires decisive resolution, as teachers at most government schools are on unofficial sabbatical owing to poor remuneration. With rising cases of COVID-19, funds are needed to provide teachers with personal protective equipment, testing kits and training. Virtually all sectors of Zimbabwe’s economy are grounded. Because of drought, the budget should address agricultural mechanisation issues as well as set aside funds for grain imports. The health sector needs a huge injection. A country with a healthy people is a productive one. It is an indicator of economic growth. Sadly, for Zimbabwe, nurses countrywide have been dragging their feet demanding improved remuneration and coronavirus protective gear. Zimbabwe still falls far below the per capita spending on health according to the World Health Organisation threshold of US$86. The United Nations says the country remains food insecure, with many getting humanitarian assistance from aid oeganisations. This has been mainly due to prolonged drought and economic deterioration. This has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic so injecting significant resources into agricultural mechanisation is vital. Local authorities in the country, most notably Harare and Bulawayo, have problems with water and sanitation. The situation is especially critical in the southern parts of the country, and resources for a long-term solution to Bulawayo’s perennial water shortages need to be availed. A resolution of Zimbabwe’s debt situation is required. Zimbabwe’s total debt at the end of 2019 was estimated at $143 billion, which translates to about 80,8% of the country’s gross domestic product. Thus, Ncube should come up with a practical debt management system that is not based on increased taxation. There has been slow progress in infrastructure development, with the Harare-Masvingo Highway project proceeding at a snail’s pace. With falling incomes and purchasing power, Ncube needs to increase tax-free bands to help raise the moral of workers going into the festive season.
[Vanguard] Nearly every investment instrument in the world has some level of risk associated with it - some are less risky than others like mutual funds, while some instruments like derivatives carry very high-risk elements - which make them only suitable for experienced investors or speculators.
\"We spend more on homelessness than we realise,\" Jonathan Hopkins, acting director at U-turn, said during the virtual launch of a study on the cost of homelessness in Cape Town.
