Study by scientists at Chinese university finds widely used insecticide harms maize soil health
Locomotion behaviour, due to basic nervous system functions, for nematodes is assessed through three actions, body bends, head thrashes and pharyngeal pumping. After 24 hours of exposure to imidacloprid, the researchers noted that the frequencies of all three behaviours were suppressed, confirming neurotoxicity to nematode species.
Fierce fighting intensifies between national army and rebels in eastern Congo ahead of peace talks
M23 is one of about 200 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.
Police in Brazil turn to forensic technology aids to crack down on illicit Amazon gold trade
Once dominated by prospectors with gold pans, artisanal mining in Brazil has become an industrial-scale activity with heavy excavating machinery and million-dollar river dredgers. Criminal organisations fly people, equipment and gold into and out of the region with helicopters and planes that land at clandestine airstrips.
Outgoing Ghanaian President Mahama on poll loss: No amount of vote buying could stand the irresistible hurricane of change that shook our nation
“While (President Jerry) Rawlings appointed the likes of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas as deputy ministers, I made the mistake of giving that respectable position to the likes of John Oti Bless. I have now realised, rather too late, that if I had kept the likes of Ben Dotsei Malor and Dr Raymond Atuguba around me…”
Missing American Austin Tice still can’t be traced among thousands of prisoners freed by Syrian rebels
When Ausitn Tice escaped, he was spotted by people living in the Mazzeh neighbourhood, wandering the street. He entered the house of a well-known Syrian family, the name of which is being withheld for security reasons, a person familiar with the escape said. Tice was recaptured soon after his escape, one current and one former US official said.
Israeli war crimes: Neutrality principle espoused by aid agencies is deathly complicity in rights abuse
International aid groups must do what their Palestinian colleagues have been doing for a long time, and speak out – in plain language – about Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. If not, history will judge this as moral cowardice or, worse still, complicity.
South Korea parliament impeaches President Yoon over martial law bid, constitutional court to decide his fate
President Yoon shocked the nation late on December 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.
Africa deserves three permanent UN Security Council seats, say African Union chair candidates
Despite the continent’s young population of 1.4 billion that is set to double by 2050, regional trade has faced challenges that were addressed in the Friday debate.
Coming to Africa: Benin grants citizenship to slave descendants againt backdrop of indigenous religions revival
Benin is not the first country to grant citizenship to descendants of slaves. Earlier this month, Ghana naturalised 524 African Americans after the West African country’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, invited them to “come home” in 2019, as part of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in North America in 1619.
UN Security Council concerned Taliban’s ‘Islamic vision’ is eroding freedoms in Afghanistan
The Taliban de facto authority’s enforcement of the so called “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law amplified the erosion of basic freedoms, Ms Otunbayeva said, noting that monitoring by “inspectors” extended into public spaces, NGO offices, mosques, bazars and even weddings.
