How Kenyan farmers’ demand for fast, reliable insurance positioned blockchain as next big thing in financial world
People stand in front of the Blockchain Hub Davos 2023 at the Promenade road during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, on January 18, 2023. Credit: Reuters
Raging mpox denies sex workers in Congo of income as government insists it’s their duty to protect themselves
Kamituga Mayor Alexandre Bundya M’pila says the government is creating awareness campaigns but lacks money to reach everyone. He also said sex workers should look for other jobs, without providing examples of what might be available.
One of greatest African basketballers to ever feature in NBA, Dikembe Mutombo, dies at 58
Dikembe Mutombo last played during the 2008-09 season, devoting his time after retirement to charitable and humanitarian causes. He spoke nine languages and founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997, concentrating on improving health, education and quality of life for the people in the Congo.
Fade out: Country music songwriter, singer and actor Kris Kristofferson goes silent forever at 88
Kris Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters along with such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.
Catholic Holy See expels bishop, priests and laypeople from Peru movement over ‘sadistic’ abuses
According to the statement, the Vatican investigators uncovered physical abuses “including with sadism and violence,” sect-like abuses of conscience, spiritual abuse, abuses of authority, economic abuses in administering church money and the “abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism.”
Argentinian court orders arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro and his right-hand man in tit-for-tat legal tussle
The order comes hours after Venezuela’s Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Argentina’s President Javier Milei amid a controversy between the two countries over the detention in Argentine territory – and delivery to the United States – of a cargo plane that Washington says was sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a Venezuelan state-owned company.
Haiti constitutes elections council consisting of religious groups, journalists, farmers and unions representatives
In Haiti, executive power is meant to be split between the president and the prime minister. The interim government in May tapped Garry Conille as prime minister. However, both councils face an uphill battle in bringing stability back to Haiti.
Week after sealing pact with Kenya, Germany seeks similar deal with Colombia for skilled labour
Germany has already struck such agreements with India, Georgia, Kenya, Uzbekistan and Morocco, which among other things seek to speed up the deportation of unsuccessful asylum seekers from those places.
Tree of life: Why African baobab is a ‘superfood’ consumers in US and Europe are jostling for
The global market for baobab products has spiked, turning rural African areas with an abundance of the trees into source markets. The trees, known for surviving even under severe conditions like drought or fire, need more than 20 years to start producing fruit and aren’t cultivated but foraged.
Microsoft founder, philanthropist Bill Gates calls for debt relief for burdened African countries
Progress towards reducing the number of children whose growth and potential are irrevocably harmed by malnutrition is not fast enough, nor is it happening equally around the world and within communities, said Habtamu Fekadu, managing director for nutrition for the nonprofit Save the Children. He said prevention efforts at scale are needed, and the most cost-effective intervention is to encourage mothers to exclusively breastfeed their children in the first six months of their lives.
