February 24, 2020

coronavirus

Fifth Coronavirus Death In Italy As Infections Mount

February 24, 2020 4:57 pm

Italy reported Monday its fifth death from the new coronavirus, as the number of people contracting the disease continued to mount and officials called for calm.

The death of an 88-year-old man was the fourth in the northern Lombardy region, where villages have been put under lockdown and security measures enforced in a bid to stem the spread of the disease.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said that residents could face weeks in lockdown in an effort to sit out the virus.

Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s civil protection agency, said 219 people had now tested positive in …

Praise, Cheering Crowds For Trump In India Love Fest

February 24, 2020 4:56 pm

Emerging in a stadium to the appropriate strains of the Village People’s “Macho Man” as 100,000 people cheered on, US President Donald Trump looked like he was at a campaign rally in America’s Midwest.

But the US leader was thousands of miles away, sweltering under India’s scorching heat as he kicked off his first official visit to the nation with a lavish extravaganza at the world’s largest cricket stadium.

Five months after being feted by 50,000 people at a mass rally in Houston, Trump revelled in pomp and pageantry once more as Prime Minister Narendra Modi went all-out to …

Oil pRices

Stocks, Oil Prices Tumble As Gold Soars On Virus Fears

February 24, 2020 4:56 pm

World stock markets and oil prices were hammered Monday by fears of a coronavirus pandemic, while gold hit a seven-year peak on safe-haven buying, dealers said.

One of the hardest hit European markets was in Milan, which gave up 5.4 percent following reports of a fifth death in Italy amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

In northern Italy, villages have been sealed off and security measures enforced to stem the spread of the disease.

Traders’ screens flashed red across Europe meanwhile, with Frankfurt and Madrid falling by 4.0 percent, Paris shedding 3.9 percent and London losing 3.3 percent.

In midday New York …

EU Envoys Agree Mandate For UK Negotiations

February 24, 2020 4:55 pm

EU envoys on Monday finalised a mandate for chief negotiator Michel Barnier to lead what promise to be stormy talks with Britain on its future relations with the bloc starting next week.

The text, setting out the European Union’s demands and red lines, is to be formally adopted Tuesday at a meeting of the bloc’s ministers.

Britain is working on its own negotiating mandate, which it is expected to be published on Thursday.

Britain ceased to be part of the EU at the end of last month under the terms of a Brexit deal that ushered in a transition period …

Trump’s War On Journalists Behind Assange Extradition Bid

February 24, 2020 4:55 pm

A lawyer for Julian Assange on Monday claimed the United States’ bid to extradite him is part of President Donald Trump’s “war on leakers and journalists”, as the WikiLeaks founder’s full extradition hearing opened in Britain.

Assange faces charges under the US Espionage Act for the 2010 release by his anti-secrecy website of a trove of files detailing the realities of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He spent much of the past decade holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid separate legal proceedings in Sweden, but Washington is now seeking his transfer to stand trial.

His lawyer …

Congo: WHO Warns It is Running Out of Money For Ebola

February 24, 2020 2:57 pm

 

The World Health Organization is urgently appealing for $40 million to salvage its operation to bring the Ebola epidemic to an end in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Ebola operation in eastern DR Congo’s conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces is on financial life-support.  The World Health Organization reports its coffers will be empty at the end of this month.  It is urging donors to step up immediately and contribute the money needed to tackle this virulent disease.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says failure to support this operation would be tragic as good progress is being made in

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Algeria: One Year On, Activists Languish in Jail

February 24, 2020 2:57 pm

Beirut — Dozens of protesters and activists remain in jail a year after pro-democracy protests began in Algeria, Human Rights Watch said today. Many are facing trial hearings in February and March 2020. Following presidential elections in December 2019, the authorities released many jailed activists but prominent leaders of the movement who had been imprisoned since September or October remain behind bars.

According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, created on August 26 by activists and lawyers who monitor the trials, at least 173 protesters are currently on trial on charges stemming from their peaceful participation in …

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Line Between Child Smuggling And Trafficking

February 24, 2020 2:57 pm

 

Elton Ndumiso*, a bus-conductor who works the route from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, to neighbouring South Africa, sees it all the time: Zimbabwean women travelling with three or four children, who are clearly not their own kids, and taking them across the border.

It’s a crime that most bus drivers or conductors either turn a blind eye to, or become accomplices in by assisting the women.

Ndumiso told IPS that in many cases some bus drivers and conductors go as far as “talking to” or even bribing border officials, to allow them to let the children and women enter neighbouring

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Uganda: Kampala Traffic Gets Big Change

February 24, 2020 2:56 pm

Kampala, Uganda — Luwum Street has been one of the busiest motorized sections of Kampala city for years. Located just a block off the city’s main access; Kampala-Jinja Road, and connecting to the city’s main international gateway; Entebbe Road, Luwum often has bumper to bumper traffic from morning into late night.

Everyone appears to be in a hurry although everybody moves really slowly as the roads are jammed with cars, bodaboda taxi motorbikes, and human mules carrying heavy loads from one section to the other. Up to 90 percent of people in this area walk, yet the roads appear to

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Tanzania: People Do Not Eat GDP – Lumumba To Mining Forum

February 24, 2020 2:55 pm

 

Dar es Salaam — Kenya law professor, Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba wants Africa to have a common perspective when it comes to negotiating with investors in the mining sector.

All of the continent’s 54 countries must have conditions that are similar when it comes to negotiating with investors in the mining sector, Prof Lumumba, who once served as the director of the anti-corruption commission in Kenya, said at a meeting in Dar es Salaam on Sunday.

He told participants to an international forum on investment in minerals that Africa needs conditions that will prevent investors from regarding certain

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Togo President Gnassingbé Wins Re-Election

February 24, 2020 2:55 pm

Togo President Faure Gnassingbé was declared victor in the country’s presidential elections early on Monday, clinching his fourth term as leader of the impoverished West African nation.

Provisional results from the national electoral commission (Ceni) showed the incumbent had received 72% of votes.

Going into the race, Gnassingbé, who has ruled Togo as president since 2005, was widely expected to win, extending over half a century of dynastic rule by his family.

Conflicting claims and accusations of fraud

Gnassingbé and challenger Agbeyome Kodjo, who was shown with 18% of the vote, had both previously claimed victory.

“Victory is assured but

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Rice Production Hits All Time High In Kano – Ganduje

February 24, 2020 12:53 pm

Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has disclosed that his administration boosts local rice production to 3 million tonnes a year to meet the people’s demands on rice consumption.

Dr. Ganduje was speaking during the indigenous rice value-chain promotion programme organised by the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in partnership with R CONNECT, held at Africa House, Kano.

He attributed this progress to the Agricultural policies being introduced by his government, which he said had created significant impacts on farmers’ production capacity especially on local rice production.

” Today, I am proud to state that because of the

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𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤, is a nonpartisan online news portal founded on the truth to provide you with weekly, insightful articles written with precision and current updates on current events from Africa in particular and the rest of the world in general. All of our reports undergo extensive fact-checking to ensure their veracity, and we adhere strictly to the facts, no matter whose ox is gored.

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