Ethiopian paper bag firm employs 18 deaf workers who use sign language to persuade clients to choose greener alternative
What do you say to a business owner who has heard it all before? Answer: Don’t speak, use sign language.
At least that’s the novel approach taken by Teki Paper bags, an Ethiopian enterprise developed by deaf women.
Continue reading...With Covid-19 yet to spread widely, business closures are already causing hardship for people dependent on casual work
From 6pm to 6am, the security services enforce the curfew. Like most other countries in the world, Tunisia remains in lockdown.
At all other times, tight restrictions on public movement are in place to limit the spread of coronavirus. Across the country, many businesses are shuttered up, with employees preparing themselves for the long and potentially economically devastating wait until something like normal life returns to the country.
Continue reading...Violent unrest at Ethiopia’s universities has been quelled by police, but the root causes will prove harder to tackle
On a December morning last year, students at Ambo University in Ethiopia’s Oromia region awoke to find threatening notices pinned to the walls of their dormitories. The message was simple: boycott classes. Anyone failing to do so would face punishment.
Written by Oromo student activists calling themselves the Qeerroo, the notices demanded solidarity with fellow Oromos at universities in the neighbouring region of Amhara, after a spate of deadly ethnic clashes there. Similar boycotts had been called in universities across Oromia, the country’s largest region.
Continue reading...For millions of young people, coronavirus restrictions have made access to food, water and shelter even more precarious
Timothy, a teenager on the streets of Mombasa, wonders how he will eat. “Rich people can stay home … because they have a store well stocked with food,” he says. “For a survivor on the street your store is your stomach.”
However, says another, if the rumours are true and street children are arrested in the city during the Covid-19 crisis, he’d be happy to go to Shimo women’s prison, because there “you are sure to get free food, shelter and medical services”.
Continue reading...In densely populated townships and cities, the army and police have been patrolling the streets to enforce strict measures to curb the spread of coronavirus
All photographs by Jérôme Delay for AP
Continue reading...Gilberto ‘Fuminho’ Aparecido dos Santos caught after more than 20 years on the run
One of Brazil’s most wanted people, an alleged drug baron accused of running international cocaine operations for the country’s biggest gang, has been arrested in Mozambique.
Gilberto “Fuminho” Aparecido dos Santos, believed to be the leader of the First Capital Command (PCC), was arrested in an international sting that included agents from Brazil, Mozambique and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Mozambican police confirmed the arrest on Tuesday.
Continue reading...World Food Programme announce 30% relief reduction, as farms and businesses shut in Covid-19 lockdown, fuelling hunger fears
Food rations have been cut to more than 1.4 million vulnerable refugees in Uganda by the World Food Programme (WFP) because of insufficient funds.
Announcing a 30% reduction to the relief food it distributes to refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from neighbouring South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, the WFP in Uganda warned that further cuts could follow.
Continue reading...Spain records another drop in daily death toll; Singapore sees biggest daily jump in infections; China reports highest daily cases in over five weeks. This blog is now closed
We’ve launched a new global coronavirus liveblog at the link below where I’ll be bringing you rolling coverage throughout the day:
Related: Coronavirus live news: cases worldwide near 2 million as Trump repeats WHO funding threat
Dr. Fauci opens by saying he does not claim to know anything about economics. “But the one thing we do know as health experts is... some people think it will be like a light switch on and off. But it won’t be.”
Each state is different, he says. There will be a “rolling re-entry,” says Dr. Fauci. “It’s not one size fits all.”
Continue reading...UN warns of ‘alarming and unprecedented threat’ to food security and livelihoods in the region
A second wave of desert locusts is threatening east Africa with estimates that it will be 20 times worse then the plague that descended two months ago.
The locusts present “an extremely alarming and unprecedented threat” to food security and livelihoods, according to the UN. A swarm of just more than a third of a square mile can eat the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.
Continue reading...Politicians urge government to act as EU states are accused of abandoning boats in distress
Italian parliamentarians have urged the government to rescue people at sea amid fears that many migrants may have drowned over the weekend as they tried to make their way to Europe from Libya.
EU member states have been accused of abandoning people at sea after failing to respond to information provided by NGOs that four boats, carrying 258 migrants between them, were in distress.
Continue reading...Homegrown efforts are boosting preparedness, but they need to be strengthened before the pandemic gathers force
When Covid-19 hits Africa, will we be ready? This was a distant thought just one month ago. Now, as cases climb, we are braced for impact.
As the crisis deepens in the world’s largest economies, taking up most of the media bandwidth, Africa hardly makes the headlines. In international news outlets, the idea of crisis in Africa is met with resignation, not outrage. It is almost as if the media perceives crisis as the status quo in Africa, something expected. Unavoidable.
Continue reading...For more than two years the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that sub-Saharan Africa stands on the verge of a debt crisis. Ever since commodity prices began to fall in 2015, the public finances of nations stretching from Nigeria to Kenya and Chad to South Africa have deteriorated.
If China is the manufacturing centre of the world, Africa is its chief supplier of essential materials, from oil and copper to the rare-earth minerals used in mobile phones. As China’s manufacturing waned in the middle of the last decade, so did the crucial foreign earnings that keep African nations afloat.
Continue reading...Peacekeeping and aid operations face disruption as outsiders are scapegoated in one of Africa’s most vulnerable countries
A backlash against foreigners in Central African Republic threatens to disrupt peacekeeping and aid supplies in one of Africa’s most fragile countries.
Since an Italian missionary was identified as CAR’s first coronavirus case last month, xenophobia has been on the rise. Unfounded stories widely published in the country’s newspapers and on social media have portrayed foreigners as unwelcome importers of a disease that could further impoverish the country.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson leaves intensive care; cases worldwide top 1.6m; UN chief says virus threatens global security
Oman’s capital, Muscat, went under full lockdown this morning as number of confirmed coronavirus cases reach 484 in the sultanate with 27 recorded in last 24 hours, writes Akhtar Mohammad Makoii.
The government announced that the isolation procedure will be implemented until April 22. The plan started 10 am this morning by “activating control and checkpoints”.
The Decision to Lockdown Muscat Governorate
comes into effect.#عمان_تواجه_كورونا pic.twitter.com/F6evI3u2Zv
Singapore has suspended the use of video-conferencing tool Zoom by teachers, its education ministry said on Friday, after “very serious incidents” occurred in the first week of a coronavirus lockdown that has seen schools move to home-based learning, Reuters reports.
One of the incidents involved obscene images appearing on screens and strange men making lewd comments during the streaming of a geography lesson with teenage girls, according to local media reports.
These are very serious incidents. MOE (Ministry of Education) is currently investigating both breaches and will lodge a police report if warranted. As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out.
Continue reading...Italy extends lockdown; death rate in Spain begins falling again; cases worldwide top 1.6m
Here’s a summary of the most recent news:
The US has approved 661,000 loans to small businesses totalling $168bn (£134bn) under a programme to address the pandemic’s fallout, the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says.
A $2.3tn economic stimulus enacted last month allocated $349bn to loans to small businesses hurt by the crisis that can be turned into grants if they meet certain conditions.
Continue reading...Official announcement greeted with cautious optimism but World Bank comes under fire over $500m education loan
Tanzania has pledged to improve access to education for pregnant girls after receiving a controversial $500m (£402m) World Bank loan, but has stopped short of readmitting them to mainstream classrooms.
The World Bank has been accused of undermining human rights and has faced criticism from local and international civil society groups over the Tanzania secondary education quality improvement programme loan. Campaigners say approval should not have been given without first securing a commitment from the government to reverse its discrimination towards pregnant girls and end compulsory pregnancy tests.
Continue reading...Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has released a video of his home workout routine in a bid to encourage Ugandans to stay indoors during the country's coronavirus lockdown. The 75-year-old is shown jogging barefoot around his office before completing 30 press-ups. Museveni banned public exercise on Wednesday to limit the spread of the virus
Continue reading...President condemns mob justice and says fears of a cult are baseless rumours designed to sow fear and panic
Vigilante groups have killed at least eight people in northern Malawi claiming to be protecting communities from “bloodsuckers”, a local official has said.
The latest victims were from Mozambique and were attacked on Monday while travelling to Tanzania through Malawi’s northern region.
Continue reading...Italy’s curve flattening but deaths rise by 610; UK’s PM improves in hospital; virus could push 500m people into poverty
The UK’s housing secretary Robert Jenrick has responded on Twitter to The Guardian’s story about him visiting his parents.
For clarity - my parents asked me to deliver some essentials - including medicines.
They are both self-isolating due to age and my father's medical condition and I respected social distancing rules.https://t.co/XlRujT8S5Y
Egypt reported 139 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its total since the start of the outbreak to 1,699, according to a health ministry statement.
The Arab world’s most populous country also recorded 15 new deaths, raising the total number to 118.
Continue reading...Scientists predict UK will be worst-hit country in Europe; Trump threatens to stop WHO funding; Global cases pass 1.4 million
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Kenya has reported seven new confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The country’s ministry of health has provided all the information about the latest developments on Twitter.
In the last 24 hours, we have tested a total of 305 samples, out of which seven people have tested positive for the Coronavirus disease. All the seven are Kenyans.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/nUQJY8nOND
Four of confirmed cases have a history of travel; (1) from Congo, (1) UK and (2) USA.
Five are from Nairobi county, one Mombasa and one Uasin Gishu.#KomeshaCorona
✅With regard to contacts tracing, a total of 2,004 persons have been monitored. Out of these, 1,426 have been discharged and 578 are currently on follow up. To date, we have managed to test 5,278 samples from individuals. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/eoRg1wHdeP
✅In terms of severity breakdown of the 179 cases, 1 case is under critical care, while the rest- 178- are moderate & mild cases. A patient who was in critical care is moving to the ward today. 2 additional cases have been discharged in the last 24 hours. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/cLEtYIgCa7
✅Of the 7 people have tested positive for the #COVID-19. All the 7 are Kenyans. 4 of them have a history of travel; 1 from Congo, UK 1 & USA 2. In terms of distribution per their counties of residence, Nairobi has 5, Mombasa 1 & Uasin Gishu 1.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/FnLrZn3c8Q
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