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By SAMY MAGDY Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — The death toll from tribal violence between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan's West Darfur province climbed to at least 83, including women and children, a doctor's union and aid worker said, as sporadic violence continued Sunday. The ruling sovereign council met Sunday and said security forces would be deployed to the area. The deadly clashes grew out of a fistfight Friday between two people in a camp for displaced people in Genena, the provincial capital. An Arab man was stabbed to death and his family, from the Arab Rizeigat tribe, attacked the […]
The post Death toll from violence in Sudan's West Darfur rises to 83 appeared first on Black News Channel.
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
All staff at the State department of Devolution were on Tuesday sent on compulsory isolation after a section of the workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
Noah, a teenager is determined to bring Belgium‘s controversial statue of King Leopold II crashing down.
“For me when you put a statue of Hitler in Berlin, for me, that is like putting up a statue of Leopold in Brussels,” Noah, who preferred to use just his first name due to the current political climate, said.
Reportedly, Noah’s parents are from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country which was owned by Leopold II in the late 19th century.
Responding to Noah’s petition, a spokesperson for Brussels Mayor Philippe Close told CNN he doesn’t have the authority to remove statues of Leopold II, which are national monuments, but he supports a national conversation on their fate.
As the King of the Belgians, Leopold II ruled from 1865 to 1909 and has been described as worse than Adolf Hitler for his genocide against the people of the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) who he considered as his personal property including their lands and minerals.
Opposition candidates in the Ivory Coast on Sunday called for a \"civil transition\" from incumbent President Alassane Ouattara's government, a day after the election.
Presidential hopefuls Pascal Affi N'Guessan and Henri Konan Bédié called for a boycott of the vote, saying it was \"unconstitutional\" for Ouattara to run for a third term.
N'Guessan said it was the \"end\" of Ouattara's mandate.
\"Opposition political parties and groups call for the opening of a civil transition to create the conditions for a fair, transparent, and inclusive presidential election,\" he said.
Deadly clashes erupted in Ivory Coast in August when Ouattara said a reform allowed him to reset a two-term presidential limit to run again, angering the opposition who called it an \"electoral coup\".
At least 30 people were killed in the pre-election violence, reviving fears of the 2010 vote which sparked a civil war that saw over 3,000 deaths.
Ouattara originally said he would step down and hand over the reins to the younger generation. But the sudden death of his chosen successor in July forced a change in his plans.
Votes are currently being counted from more than 20,000 polling stations and the result, by law, should be released in five days.
Numbers for voter turnout are yet to be released.
But Africanews' Yannick Djanhoun in Abidjan said some offices were not even able to open their doors to voters.
The second-highest daily case total over the span of the coronavirus pandemic was reported Friday in Maryland, according state health officials.
By TAMARA LUSH and EMILY SCHMALL, Associated Press
Arizona’s Republican governor shut down bars, movie theaters, gyms and water parks Monday and leaders in several states ordered residents to wear masks in public in a dramatic course reversal amid an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases nationwide.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that he’s postponing the restarting of indoor dining because people have not been wearing face masks or complying with recommendations for social distancing.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she will issue an executive order mandating the use of masks in stores and shops, restaurants, and in any situation where social distancing of 6 feet (2 meters) cannot be maintained, including outside.
In Texas, a group of bar owners sued on Monday to try to overturn Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order closing their businesses.
One of Cuomo’s Republican counterparts, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, on a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House coronavirus task force, also asked Pence and Trump to issue a national call to wear masks.
Nigerian traders are accusing local authorities in Ghana of discrimination after many had their shops closed in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic that sees a year-long trade war being waged between Ghanaian natives and foreign business owners over the control of the local retail trade in the capital city, Accra.
Chizoba Okechukwu, the owner of a shop closed by Ghanaian authorities, expressed his frustrations, \"We have family here, we pay our taxes here, we pay house rent, we take care of our family. Ok, now the shops are closed, how do you expect us to take care of our responsibilities? I don't know what is the problem, what have we done to them? The problem we have is that we are Nigerians, other foreigners are here doing their business success.\"
Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) laws prohibit foreigners from getting involved in the retail sector unless they invest at least 1 million USD — and the Ghana Union of Traders Association has been lobbying its implementation since 2019. Meanwhile, several hundred Nigerian-owned retail shops have already been shut down.
Chukwuemeka Nnaji, President of the Nigeria Union of Traders Association in Ghana, shared a few words, \"It's a shame to Africa, fighting among ourselves, it's quite a shame. How can people from other regions take us seriously when we have rules we cannot obey, when we have protocols we can't follow. How can we relate with people outside this block? They will not take us seriously.\"
The imposed 1 million USD investment requirement mandated by the GIPC law in Ghana does not apply to non-citizens who are nationals of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Louis Afful, a business analyst, gives some expert insight into the situation, \"So even between a regional block, you have countries having trade disputes or treaty misunderstandings, barriers and issues. Then, of course, there is, as I said earlier, you need to work on every minor issue because the free trade is about volumes of exports and so if at the end of the day, Nigeria is not a member state yet, it has to ratify it (the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement). They have to take into consideration every one of these small issues before they ratify it (the agreement).\"
This ongoing trade war, that some may view as an insignificant issue, could affect the future of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), which Nigeria has yet to ratify.
As it battles mounting cases of coronavirus, Sudan is grappling with acute medicine shortages at a time of economic woes largely blamed on the policies of ousted president Omar al-Bashir.
Healthcare providers have reported shortages of basic medications in pharmacies and hospitals, while patients suffering from critical diseases struggle to find drugs.
\"I've been looking for my medicine for three days, and I still can't find it,\" Abdul Aziz Adam, who has asthma, told AFP outside a Khartoum pharmacy.
\"Sudan needs to import medicine at (a rate of) $55 million a month,\" said Jalal Mohammed Ahmed, who runs a pharmaceuticals import company.
In a March report, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sudan's imports of medicines were already 20 percent lower in 2019 compared to 2017.
INDICATIONS that Zimbabwe is lagging behind in terms of its COVID-19 response are quite worrisome, particularly at a time when the country has opened up various economic sectors and examination centres for students to write public examinations. NewsDay Comment With the acting deputy director of mental health in the Health and Child Care ministry, Sacrifice Chirisa, recently admitting that the opening of the economic sphere brought with it challenges that have seen a rise in cases of COVID-19, we may need to rethink our strategy as a country. The fact that our death toll has risen from the initial four to the current nine, 734 active cases, we need to find ways of ensuring that the cases do not continue to shoot up. The frontline health workers in the war against COVID-19 should be the first port of call given that many of them are at risk in light of inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE). The irony is that while they are fighting to help flatten the curve, they themselves become exposed, and, as has already happened in some cases, become infected. Government, therefore, needs to do more in terms of resource mobilisation to ensure that frontline workers are protected so that they can effectively discharge their duties without themselves being at risk. It is indeed worrisome when major hospitals run out of PPE, as that means they will not be able to attend to new cases. The fact that 13 staff members at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo tested positive to COVID-19 is a clear demonstration of the risks that our healthcare workers face in the campaign against this virulent disease that has killed tens of thousands of people across the world. Government is duty-bound to abide by the High Court ruling made in April to ensure the provision of PPE to all healthcare workers serving at public health facilities and those deployed in the field to trace contacts made by individuals who tested positive for COVID-19. This is a critical step in ensuring that the spread of the disease is minimised, otherwise all our efforts in this campaign will go to waste. In many ways, one could argue that the relaxation of some of the lockdown measures is directly connected to the spike in deaths and cases as a lot of people have since adopted a casual approach in terms of using face masks and sanitisers as well as ensuring that social distancing is maintained. Quite clearly, the fear of COVID-19 has gone down. In fact, this has actually created a false sense of security, with some people even claiming COVID-19 is a myth in Zimbabwe in light of the relatively low number of deaths and confirmed cases compared to other countries. But we need to remain alert, and government needs to scale up and tighten its intervention and preventive measures.
Toa55/iStockBY: WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC NEWS (DENVER) - A couple married for 68 years who wanted to stay with their dream home adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park died this week…
Since the discovery of the Ebola virus disease in 1976 in South Sudan (then Sudan) and Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), there have been recurrent outbreaks.
Just days ago, news reports have it that the Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded 17 new Ebola cases in the western province of Equateur.
U.N. health officials report there is no link between the Ebola outbreak declared June 1 in Mbandaka, Equateur Province, and the epidemic, which broke out nearly two years ago in DR Congo’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
The United Nations has released $40 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help tackle the new outbreak of Ebola and other health crises in the DRC.
“We have a lot of experience in tackling these outbreaks,” stated Eteni Longondo, the DRC’s health minister.
Ghanzi — The Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, says Botswana wishes that SADC member states could make it mandatory to test truck drivers at points of entry.
Addressing Ghanzi COVID-19 teams and local authorities on Friday, Mr Tsogwane said President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was in touch with his SADC counterparts to discuss the issue.
He said Botswana had employed various ways of curbing coronavirus spread such as testing of truck drivers upon entry at all borders.
Furthermore, the Vice President said compliance to COVID-19 protocols should not be compromised, hence the need to intensify public education at community level.
Ghanzi District commissioner, Mr Mooketsi Lesetedi said the area had received overwhelming support from donors, particularly farmers.
The White church—that had blessed slavery, segregation, and apartheid in South Africa—was silent.
The Klan, embraced by and often made up of the White gentry of the South, often gathered at their churches to organize the public lynchings.
White authorities, White churches, and White society turned its head and sometimes applauded in approval.
This reality is sustained by the silence of White elites, the silence of the White church, the silence of the evangelicals, and the silence of the best-intentioned citizens.
He suggested that the “great stumbling block” for African Americans seeking their freedom was not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the White moderate “who is more devoted to order than to justice.”
AN EXTRADITION request by United States (US) authorities for a mentally ill Jamaican man wanted for murder in the state of New York was lodged at the Ministry of Justice for over a decade with no action, officials have confirmed.
This information, the source explained, will be used to help the Jamaican Government decide whether to give the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has the authority to proceed with the extradition request.
“Before anything can be done, the [justice] minister has to give the authority to proceed,” explained Llewellyn, who was not yet appointed DPP at the time the extradition request was sent to the ODPP.
US authorities renewed their request for his extradition in 2001 using another provisional arrest warrant.
By September the following year, sources claim, Jamaican prosecutors prepared a draft authority to proceed that was reportedly sent to the justice ministry, during the tenure of then minister Dorothy Lightbourne, for her signature.
Corona deaths rise to 148 after three months of lockdown
Wednesday, July 1, 2020 0:01
By ANNIE NJANJA
Ministry of Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman.
Ministry of Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Aman said 26 patients were discharged from the health facilities raising the number of recoveries to 2,039.
Dr Aman disclosed that Kenya had only 28 Covid-19 laboratories spread across the country, highlighting the testing challenge that has persisted since the viral infection was first confirmed in March.
Dr Aman reported the growing numbers Tuesday when he also launched two policy documents that will increase prevention measures, coverage and inform the roll-out of affordable non-injectable treatment regimen.
Some comorbidities such as TB, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and HIV have been part of the overall health promotions strategy of the ministry,” said Dr Aman.
Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, Jr., in 1948 became the Presidential nominee of the Progressive Party. Wallace ran a spirited campaign which unlike almost any before, took on the question of racial discrimination and segregation against African Americans in the South. What follows is his September 13, 1948 radio address at NBC in which he describes in detail his calls for the end of both discrimination and segregation in the South and the rest of the nation.
I have been in the South so many times and every time I have found many new things. But never were my eyes opened so widely as on my last trip. It is a strange experience to stand on the main street of an American town and to ask only for the right to speak—and to be denied that right. It is a strange experience to look into faces blinded by unreasoning hate, to see people who will not let you speak, when the words concern the improvement of the lives of the very people before you.
Yes I have seen the South many times: the thousands of unpainted shacks, the families living in houses with no doors in the door frames and no windows in the window frames; where a man and his family sleep in one room, all of them sleeping in one bed in cold weather, the children sleeping on the floor in warm weather. The people of the South are fine people: our aspirations are their aspirations. They are a patriotic people, a religious people.
And it is this that struck me on my recent trip: that the basic human need of the South is simply a reconciling of our daily action with what we are taught in the church and what we are taught in school. The foundation of patriotism and religion is the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. The Brotherhood of Man sets forth no limitation of color. The Constitution of the United States sets forth very specifically that the rights of citizens to vote shall not be denied on account of race or color. I came out of the South utterly convinced that these denials of God and man are evils which can
Sudan's transitional government and the United States (US) are poised to reach an agreement for Khartoum to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to victims of a 1998 al-Qaeda attack.
Delisting would relieve Sudan from a long list of damaging sanctions, including: bans on buying US arms and on US economic aid; a US veto of loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank; and a prohibition on US citizens engaging in financial transactions with Sudan.
Recall that the reason the victims of the 1998 bombings were granted the right to seek compensation from Sudan was because 'Sudan had knowingly served as a safe haven near the two United States embassies and allowed al-Qaeda to plan and train for the attacks,' as US District Court Judge John Bates found in 2011.
Now, with last year's ousting of Omar al-Bashir - the president who gave Al-Qaeda the springboard to attack the US embassies - Sudan seems poised to become an important regional ally of the greatest enemy of the radical Islamists.
Judd Devermont, Africa Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says even if the US lifts its block on Sudan's access to such loans, Sudan will have to pay its arrears before they'll lend it new money.
