Trump’s trade wars with China already on the cards before he even assumes office

Trump’s trade wars with China already on the cards before he even assumes office

The transition team calls for clawing back whatever funds remain from Biden’s $7.5 billion plan to build charging stations and shifting the money to battery-minerals processing and the “national defence supply chain and critical infrastructure.”

Read more
Fish farmers in Kakamega in western Kenya brace for hefty earnings from blue economy as fish ‘migrate’ from lakes and rivers to farms

Fish farmers in Kakamega in western Kenya brace for hefty earnings from blue economy as fish ‘migrate’ from lakes and rivers to farms

Rising pollution in Lake Victoria waters, coupled with colonisation of the Kenya side of the lake by the water hyacinth and the longstanding dispute between Kenya and Uganda over maritime boundary, have adversely affected fish supply. The shortage makes fish farming lucrative and a more vital source of protein for more than 10 million residents in the lacustrine region.

Read more
Adani extradition: US case against Adani Group top brass is strong but it’s doubtful India will let its credibility to be soiled

Adani extradition: US case against Adani Group top brass is strong but it’s doubtful India will let its credibility to be soiled

The US fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani appears to be backed by documents that will help prosecutors make a strong case, legal experts said, but the tycoon is unlikely to be extradited to stand trial anytime soon. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last month unsealed an indictment accusing Adani...

Read more
Police in Brazil turn to forensic technology aids to crack down on illicit Amazon gold trade

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.

Read more
President-elect Trump’s pick for US health and human services is openly anti-Big Pharma, but will he rein in drugmakers?

President-elect Trump’s pick for US health and human services is openly anti-Big Pharma, but will he rein in drugmakers?

After endorsing Trump, Robrt F. Kennedy Jr launched the Make America Healthy Again campaign, which focuses on combatting chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and laid out a handful of policy ideas to do that in a September Wall Street Journal editorial. Some of those policy proposals take direct aim at the pharmaceutical industry, including reforming the Prescription Drug User Fee Act or PDUFA, and reviewing direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ad guidelines.

Read more
Trump transition recommends scrapping car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Tesla

Trump transition recommends scrapping car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Tesla

In one example, NHTSA fined Cruise, the self-driving startup owned by General Motors $1.5 million in September for failing to report a 2023 incident in which a vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian who had been struck by another car. GM this week said Cruise will stop development of self-driving technology.

Read more
Niger junta suspends BBC accusing it of ‘spreading false news’ in coverage of attack

Niger junta suspends BBC accusing it of ‘spreading false news’ in coverage of attack

The British broadcaster had reported on its website in Hausa on Wednesday that gunmen had killed more than 90 Nigerien soldiers and more than 40 civilians in two villages near the border with Burkina Faso.

Read more
Designer babies: While fertility businesses are selling better chance of domestic bliss, families are feeling cheated

Designer babies: While fertility businesses are selling better chance of domestic bliss, families are feeling cheated

I’ve counselled a number of those families in the past 10 to 15 years. People who have children this way often place too much importance on genes while ignoring the environment. It’s like, “This is what our family is going to look like. We’re going to pick a kid, and this is how we’re going to put it together. Mom’s going to be in charge of the whole thing.” It’s like a project or building a company. People don’t always realize they are creating a human being and not a piece of furniture.

Read more
Depletion of flora and fauna in Congo Forest worries greens as Chinese gold mining threatens protected UN heritage site

Depletion of flora and fauna in Congo Forest worries greens as Chinese gold mining threatens protected UN heritage site

Spanning more than 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 square miles), the Okapi Wildlife Reserve became a protected site in 1996, due to its unique biodiversity and large number of threatened species, including its namesake, the okapi, a forest giraffe, of which it holds some 15 per cent of the world’s remaining 30,000. It’s part of the Congo Basin rainforest – the world’s second-biggest – and a vital carbon sink that helps mitigate climate change. It also has vast mineral wealth such as gold and diamonds.

Read more
World Bank cuts Kenya’s 2024 growth estimate to 4.7 per cent on fiscal challenges

World Bank cuts Kenya’s 2024 growth estimate to 4.7 per cent on fiscal challenges

Although the growth estimate for this year is lower than last year’s rate of 5.6 per cent, it will still be higher than the sub-Saharan Africa average of 3.0 per cent, the bank said.

Read more