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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – More than a year has passed since the death of U.S. Green Beret Logan Melgar in Bamako, Mali. Investigators now believe they have men of interest – two Navy SEALS and two Marine Raiders. The four face charges that include felony murder in the strangulation death of Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar.
A preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled for December 4.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – "I love you, that's why I beat you." So ends a poem by the Ghanaian writer Mariska Araba Taylor-Darko about a violent spouse and an abused woman who lays the blame of the daily beating on herself.
The poem, A Beating for Love, takes special significance, particularly as this year's UN theme for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (November 25-December 10) – “Orange the World: #HearMeToo” – aims to support women and girls around the world.
By Rita Joshi
BERLIN | BONN (IDN) – More than 30 countries hosting African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion have agreed on establishing a work programme to guide their conservation actions over the next coming years. The move known as the African Carnivore Initiative, emerged from a meeting from November 5 to 8, 2018 in Bonn, the capital of former West Germany.
The initiative constitutes the first Africa-wide commitment towards saving African Wild Dog, Cheetah, Leopard and Lion, says a media release by the Bonn-based Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as CMS or the “Bonn Convention”).
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – At a gathering of world leaders in the French capital of Paris, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo reprised an hypnotic work of ethereal beauty by a youthful West African singer. With a repertoire of just 17 songs, the diva, Bella Bellow, had won the hearts of presidents, accomplished artists and worldwide fans.
Kidjo’s choice of Blewu (“Patience”) “celebrated Peace and the memory of the fallen African soldiers of World War One in front of the leaders of this World under the Arc de Triomphe.” It was also the long-awaited encore for the “Togolese songbird” – Bella Bellow.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | KINSHASA (IDN) – As election day nears in the troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo, the seven leaders of the opposition seemed settled on one person to challenge the handpicked candidate of President Joseph Kabila – but differences unexpectedly arose.
The agreement to back Congolese lawmaker Martin Fayulu Madidi, facilitated by the Kofi Annan Foundation after three days of negotiations in Geneva, fell apart, with a major opposition leader going his own way. Felix Tshisekedi, head of the largest opposition party, said he was abandoning a day-old agreement to field a joint candidate in the December crucial presidential polls.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Depositors may want to steer clear of banking in Ghana while over a dozen bank officers and shareholders face claims they lent themselves millions of dollars but failed to repay.
Business Ghana, a local news outlet, reported that 13 shareholders and directors of the defunct Capital Bank Ghana Limited and UT Bank engaged in acts that led to the collapse of the two banks.
By their alleged actions, the defendants “have breached their fiduciary duties under the Companies Code and have caused serious financial loss to the banks,” say receivers for the defunct banks.
By Kwame Buist
LUSAKA, Zambia (IDN) – Billions of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses are exposed to risks which can result in catastrophic losses, delegates to the 14th International Microinsurance Conference (IMC) on ‘Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets’ in Lusaka were told.
Despite encouraging signs of increased insurance cover uptake in some markets, climate change and extreme weather events are exposing the poorest and most vulnerable to risk as never before.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) - Cash money makes things happen. That’s an expression taken from the Urban Dictionary but it may also be the hope of Atiku Abubakar, candidate for President of Nigeria with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which just hired Donald Trump’s lobbying firm at an astronomical price.
Abubakar was Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007 and a former ally of current president Muhammadu Buhari.
Viewpoint by Ben Good*
The author is CEO of Energy 4 Impact, a London-based non-profit organisation working with local businesses to extend access to energy in Africa, particularly East and West Africa.
LONDON (IDN) – Digital technologies are helping sub-Saharan African countries tap new sources of capital as they seek ways to close the energy access gap.
Last year, the Tanzania-based social enterprise Simusolar raised 50,000 dollars to finance its work selling solar powered systems to farmers and fishermen in rural areas traditionally excluded from mainstream energy provision.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Balloons and fireworks will have to wait as the longtime President of Gabon has been hospitalized at the King Faisal hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, suffering from severe fatigue.
The party of President Ali Bongo Ondimba had just “coasted to victory” in a second round of legislative elections in October 2018 when the President fell ill. A medical and a diplomatic source both told the Reuters news agency that the president had suffered a stroke, but government officials disputed the story.
