By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The coronavirus is spreading fast beyond its China borders, with cases now rising in parts of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Some 90,000 people have been infected in over 65 countries and 3,000 worldwide have died of Covid-19. As soon as the virus emerged, […]
Women In Malawi In Day of Action for ‘She Decides Day’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — It’s a day of action and global solidarity. SheDecides Day takes place annually on March 2 as feminist activism is on the rise in Malawi and around the world. This year, wearing red t-shirts, some 90 young women took to the streets in a silent […]
South Africa Cancels Promised Wage Increase, Angering Unions
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Promises promises. I’m all through with promises promises. That’s the Diane Warwick tune South African public servants will be singing bitterly if a three-year wage deal signed in 2018 is headed for the recycling bin. The promised wage hike was due to start next month, […]
UN Supports Sustainable Development of Kenya’s ‘Last Frontier’
Viewpoint by Mohammed Simba Guleid The writer is the CEO of the Frontier Counties of Kenya and the former Deputy Governor of Isiolo County. NAIROBI (IDN) – The United Nations estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa loses 40 billion hours per year collecting water. In most of Kenya’s water-scarce regions, this invariably involves an already poorly-nourished mother […]
Africa Is Joining the Burgeoning World of Digital Economies
By Yun Shi SAN DIEGO, CA, USA (IDN | Africa Renewal) — Catherine Oshotse, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from Lagos, Nigeria, has the internet to thank for her growing business. Selling hair extensions and women’s handbags online to customers across Africa and abroad has grown her client base from 10 in 2015 to more than 1,000 […]
Trump’s Trade Deal Poses New Dangers to Southeast Asia
Viewpoint by Calvin Cheng* KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) — After two years of alternating between tense escalation and fleeting periods of calm, the United States and China reached a preliminary phase one trade deal in December 2019. Government spokespersons in both countries promptly cheered the signing of the agreement — but observers around the world remain […]
Ugandan Court Frees Radical Advocate for Girls’ Health
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — She’s one medical anthropologist, activist and poet you don’t want to wrestle with. Dr. Stella Nyanzi is apt to say exactly what’s on her mind – even if the object of her verbal dart is the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, or his wife Janet, […]
Murder Charge Against Lesotho Prime Minister to Be Reviewed
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Murder charges against the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Thomas Thabane, will be reconsidered in light of a novel appeal for immunity to be heard by the country’s High Court. If his appeal is rejected, Mr. Thabane would be the first African leader to face domestic […]
Kenya Makes Risky Bet on Pesticides to Eliminate Locust Swarm
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Desperate East African governments are weighing their options as farmers beg for the most deadly agro-chemicals in a last ditch effort against swarms of desert locusts which have already begun to eat into thousands of acres of pasture and farmland. “This is the best time […]
Drying Lake Chad Basin Triggers Humanitarian Crisis
By Leon Usigbe; Africa Renewal LAGOS (IDN) — Twenty-year-old Phoebe Musa remembers the day Boko Haram militants stormed her village of Gwoza in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, five years ago. They came in on horseback, motorbikes and screeching military vehicles and attacked everyone in sight. Amid bursts of gunshots, they set fire to dozens of […]