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Newsbrief by Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) — More than 120,000 smallholder households in Uganda's northern and north-eastern regions engaged in the production and marketing of oil seeds (groundnuts, sunflower, sesame and soy) are expected to benefit from US$30 million loan agreement the OPEC Fund for International Development has signed with Uganda.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA (IDN) — The Industrial Development Board of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has recommended Gerd Müller of Germany to be the Organization’s next Director-General. He is currently Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany.
The Board’s recommendation will be forwarded for approval to the UNIDO General Conference—the Organization’s highest policymaking organ—at its nineteenth session, which will take place from November 29 to December 3, 2021.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — At a state visit to Switzerland last year, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo put his cards on the table. The second-largest cocoa producer would no longer ship the raw material to Switzerland if by doing so, it would trap the country in poverty for the next century.
Ghana and the Ivory Coast supply 70% of the cocoa beans, but most of the value in a chocolate bar is generated in Europe and North America. The global chocolate industry is worth over US$150 billion. West African economies receive less than US$6 billion.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — “Time for everything—time to come here for prayer and time to return home after the service.”
With those words, Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, one of Africa's most influential televangelists, ended his final sermon on Emmanuel TV, the broadcast arm of his megachurch. His death was marked by over 300,000 followers on Facebook within 24 hours of his passing on June 5. He was 57.
By Antonio Sampaio
The writer is the bureau chief of Lusa News Agency in Dili, the capital and largest city of East Timor. This report first appeared on the website of Lusa News Agency and was carried by our partner on May 27, 2021. It is being republished with permission.
DILL (IDN | APR) — The Timor-Leste government may apply disciplinary action to public officials doing face-to-face work who refuse to take the vaccine while maintaining that vaccination against covid-19 is not mandatory.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — While thousands in Congo flee to Rwanda because of an erupting volcano, anti-jihadist military brass have died in a Nigerian plane crash, and Ladi Ladebo, early film collaborator with Ossie Davis, has passed away.
An erupting mountain of fiery red flames from one of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes shook residents of the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, sparking a panicked exodus by thousands to neighbouring Rwanda.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A number of African activists were listening in at President Joe Biden’s major climate summit on April 22 at which 40 world leaders were invited. Among the listeners was Kumi Naidoo, special adviser for the Green Economy Coalition’s Social Contract Initiative and Dipti Bhatnagar of Friends of the Earth International.
Naidoo, former head of Amnesty International and Greenpeace, claimed that foot dragging, particularly on the part of the United States, not only with Trump but with previous administrations, has left the world basically at one minute to midnight in terms of the climate crisis.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN | UN News) — The UN-backed COVAX scheme aims to get two billion vaccine doses into the arms of around a quarter of the population of poorer countries by the end of 2021. Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the United States decision to lift sanctions and visa restrictions against officials with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Furthermore. he has strongly condemned a deadly attack on April 2 against peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) — Earth Hour, India's donation of 200,000 vaccines to protect UN blue helmets against the coronavirus, and the UN is scaling up its efforts to help Nepal, which faces numerous natural threats, are some of the notable events in the last days.
On March 27, the world began to ripple to darkness as countries globally dimmed their lights at 8:30 pm local time for Earth Hour—an event that, according to the UN, encourages individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The sight of refugees clinging to leaking boats, barely floating in frigid waters, or worse, washing up lifelessly on sandy shores, almost fails to shock after these images repeat over and over, year after year.
But consciences were re-awakened when a two-year toddler from Mali was seen lifted from a sinking vessel packed with refugees. A team of Red Cross nurses worked frantically to resuscitate the girl who had suffered cardiac arrest. They hoped for a miracle. It never came.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.