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Tag: Africa

Don’t leave Global South out of green tech growth, UN warns
Technology

Don’t leave Global South out of green tech growth, UN warns

The majority of developing nations are set to miss out on the economic benefits of booming green technologies, slowing progress toward their climate goals and widening the inequality gap between rich and poor countries, a United Nations report warned Thursday.The U.N.’s agency for trade and development, or UNCTAD, said that unless the international community and national governments actively tend to green tech industries in developing countries, the benefits associated with lower-emission technologies will be near inaccessible for many poorer nations particularly in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa.“We are at the beginning of a technological revolution based on green technologies,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan. “Developing countries must capture more ...
Debt-Laden African Countries Charged ‘Extortionate’ Rates, U.N. Chief Says
News

Debt-Laden African Countries Charged ‘Extortionate’ Rates, U.N. Chief Says

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Heavily indebted African countries are getting a raw deal from the international financial system which charges them "extortionate" interest rates, the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on SaturdayThe United Nations chief wants far-reaching reforms to the structure of international finance to serve the needs of developing countries more efficiently, he told the opening ceremony of the annual African Union summit in Ethiopia."We need a new debt architecture that provides debt relief and restructuring to vulnerable countries," he said."The global financial system routinely denies (developing countries) debt relief and concessional financing while charging extortionate interest rates."Political Cartoons on World Leaders The coronavirus pandemic pushed man...
Fitness

Kenya: Usafricom to Conduct Largest East African Military Exercise in Kenya

Nairobi — The United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) is set to conduct the largest East African military exercise next month in Kenya. According to the US Embassy in Kenya, the Justified Accord 23 exercise will take place in Isiolo from February 9 to February 24, 2023. The multi-national exercise, led by the US Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), brings together more than 20 countries from three continents to increase partner readiness for peacekeeping missions, crisis response, and humanitarian assistance. A key component is the ability to incorporate multidimensional entities, such as civilian, police, and military, into training activities that seek to build partner networks between joint forces, U.S. interagency, and international, and multinational organizatio...
Polls Open in Tunisian Election With Turnout Under Scrutiny
News

Polls Open in Tunisian Election With Turnout Under Scrutiny

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia opened polls on Sunday for run-offs in a parliamentary election that drew only 11% turnout in the first round last month, a result that critics of the president said undermined his claims of public support for sweeping political change.With political parties boycotting the vote, most candidates are independents and attention is likely to focus on whether there will be higher participation than there was in December."I'm not interested in elections that do not concern me," said Nejib Sahli, 40, passing an empty polling station in the Hay Ettahrir district of Tunis shortly before voting was due to begin.Polls are open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. (0700 GMT-1700 GMT).Political Cartoons on World Leaders President Kais Saied has decreed the new, mostly powerless, parlia...
Africa Startups Defy Funding Slump as Debt Financing Fuels Growth
Technology

Africa Startups Defy Funding Slump as Debt Financing Fuels Growth

African startups more than doubled the amount of debt they raised last year, a surge that may continue as an economic slowdown makes equity funding more expensive and unsustainable over the long term.Companies on the continent raised $1.55 billion in 71 debt deals in 2022, suggesting it’s become a solid alternative source of capital for African technology startups, venture capital firm Partech Partners said in a report. Source link
Is globalisation breaking down or transforming? | Business and Economy
Business

Is globalisation breaking down or transforming? | Business and Economy

From: Counting the CostCrisis upon crisis threatens to fracture the global economy after decades of economic integration.The end of the Cold War, free trade and technological advances have helped create a global system that is sensitive to what is happening on the other side of the world. Globalisation has been credited for developing economies, increasing incomes and lifting millions of people out of poverty. But the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have exposed the fragility of that economic interdependence. At the same time, globalisation has also been criticised for increasing inequality, and international charity Oxfam says the world’s richest 1 percent pocketed nearly twice as much wealth as everyone else over the last two years. Source link
Somalia Claims Al-Shabab Extremists Seek Talks for 1st Time
Politics

Somalia Claims Al-Shabab Extremists Seek Talks for 1st Time

Mogadishu, Somalia (AP) -- Somalia’s government claimed Saturday that the al-Shabab extremist group has for the first time asked to open negotiations, amid a military offensive the government has described as “total war.”There was no immediate statement by al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-affiliate that for well over a decade has carried out high-profile bombings in Somalia’s capital and controlled parts of the country’s central and southern regions, complicating efforts to rebuild the once-failed state after decades of conflict. Source link
U.S. Safety Experts Dispute Aspects of Ethiopia 737-MAX Air Crash Findings
News

U.S. Safety Experts Dispute Aspects of Ethiopia 737-MAX Air Crash Findings

NAIROBI (Reuters) - U.S. air safety experts say Ethiopian inspectors investigating the cause of an Ethiopian Airlines' crash that killed nearly 160 people in 2019 did not pay enough attention to crew training and emergency procedures in their report.The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in dissenting comments included in the Ethiopian report, disagreed with at least two key findings of the investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737-MAX flight.The accident led to the grounding of similar jets. The NTSB is involved as Boeing is a U.S. company.Fight 302 crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa in March 2019, killing all 157 people on board.Ethiopia's Aircraft Investigation Bureau released its long-delayed report last Friday. It blamed the accident on "unco...
South Africa’s ANC Gathers to Vote on New Leader
News

South Africa’s ANC Gathers to Vote on New Leader

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Delegates of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) gathered on Sunday to choose a new party leader, pitting President Cyril Ramaphosa against former health minister Zweli Mkhize.The winner, who will run for president under the ANC banner in elections in 2024, has been more or less guaranteed to become president in the three decades since Nelson Mandela ended white minority rule in the country.But this is no longer a certainty as the ANC's popularity has waned over that period and the party faces the possibility of losing its majority for the first time.More than 4,400 delegates at the ANC's five-day conference in Johannesburg must decide which of the two candidates is best placed to revive its fortunes. They will vote on Sunday after the ANC nomi...
Report: Afghanistan, African Countries Are Most at Risk of Humanitarian Crises in 2023 | Best Countries
News

Report: Afghanistan, African Countries Are Most at Risk of Humanitarian Crises in 2023 | Best Countries

Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and 17 other countries will face the greatest risk of new or worsening humanitarian emergencies in 2023, according to a report released Wednesday that sounds the alarm about global crises such as climate change, food insecurity and the forced displacement of people.The findings from the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement organization, come after the United Nations recently announced that a record 339 million people will be in humanitarian need next year – an increase of 65 million year-over-year. The IRC estimates that the 20 countries on its annual “watchlist” represent about 90% of the people in need of assistance.“The scale of that crisis calls for preparation as never before by the humanitarian community,” David Miliband, the commit...