World

Duduzane Zuma shuts down Thuli Phongolo dating rumours: ‘I don’t know her’
Asia-pacific

Duduzane Zuma shuts down Thuli Phongolo dating rumours: ‘I don’t know her’

Duduzane Zuma's love life has started to make \headlines. File photo. Image: ALON SKUY Duduzane Zuma, son of former president Jacob Zuma, has set the record straight about his relationship with DJ and former Generations: The Legacy actress, Thuli Phongolo, saying the pair had never met. Rumours flooded the streets that the pair were dating after Thuli apparently posted a now-deleted picture of a man whose face was not shown and who has the same tattoo as Duduzane. In a recent interview with Mac-G, Duduzane denied knowing Thuli, saying he is used to rumours being spread about him. “She's a beautiful young lady and I've only heard of her now. She's doing her thing and all the best for whatever it is that she's doing. I only wish her the best, but I do not know her, that's point num...
Nigeria leads on IFF recovery but Africa is still losing $89b a year
Asia-pacific, Lifestyle

Nigeria leads on IFF recovery but Africa is still losing $89b a year

  Anew report from UNCTAD, the United Nations agency on trade and development, finds that African nations are losing an estimated US$88.6 billion every year in illicit financial flows (IFFs) across borders. IFFs are movements of money and assets that are illegal in source, transfer or use. These losses approach the amount that African countries receive in annual development aid ($48 billion) plus foreign direct investment ($54 billion), based on averages from 2013 to 2015. Nigeria is the most active African nation in its efforts to recover stolen assets. President Muhammadu Buhari, whose anti-corruption efforts have included focus on IFFs, said the patterns of fund transfer are similar to that of migration, with countries of origin, a destination and transit locations in betwe...
ICRC: Nigeria’s food prices spike because of pandemic
Asia-pacific

ICRC: Nigeria’s food prices spike because of pandemic

Humanitarian aid workers in Nigeria say that food prices have soared because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cost is driving hunger in parts of the country that can ill afford yet another challenge. “Everywhere we work the food prices have gone up, in some places they doubled. It means that millions of people in the northeast of Nigeria do not have enough to eat,” said Ruth Mwakiuna Muriungi, an economic security programs coordinator for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC says severe malnutrition in children is up by 10 percent compared with the same time last year, while the number of children receiving aid overall is up 20 percent. “What we are seeing now is just the tip of an iceberg, and we are very concerned by the trend, especially in Maiduguri,” said Tho...
Former Tunisian President denounces Algeria’s hostility to Moroccan territorial integrity
World

Former Tunisian President denounces Algeria’s hostility to Moroccan territorial integrity

Moncef Marzouki, former Tunisian President, denounced Algeria’s hostility to Morocco’s territorial integrity and the obstacles posed by Algiers to the Maghreb edifice. “We can’t hold 100 million Maghreb citizens hostage because of some 100,000 Sahraoui separatists,” Marzouki said in an interview with the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi. The former Tunisian President commended Morocco’s autonomy initiative for the Sahara as the only feasible political solution to the Sahara issue and deplored the hostile Algerian position towards this issue. Marzouki was clear in denouncing Algeria’s support for separatism in southern Morocco and stressed the only feasible political solution to the conflict goes through the Moroccan-Proposed autonomy initiative.   Marzouki also pointed to the hostil...
Republic of kabylie wants an embassy in Laayoune or Rabat
World

Republic of kabylie wants an embassy in Laayoune or Rabat

Head of the republic of Kabylia, Ferhat Mhenni, reiterated his call on Moroccan authorities to open an embassy in Rabat or Laayoune and commended Morocco’s actions in the Sahara. In an interview with Moroccan magazine, L’observateur, Mhenni denounced what he described as a pitiless Algerian colonialism in the restive Kabylie region. He said the people of Kabylie has sent clear messages to the military regime by boycotting the presidential elections and the referendum on the constitution. Mhenni urged Morocco to support the Kabylie independence cause and expressed support for Morocco’s move to secure its southern borders with Mauritania. The Kabylie region has been historically opposed to the military autocracy in Algiers. Leaders of the Kabylie region such as Houceine Ait Ahmed and his...
Senior court official arrested and his vehicle seized in KZN
Asia-pacific

Senior court official arrested and his vehicle seized in KZN

Photo credit: Olga Ernst via Wikimedia Commons A senior court official at Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal in one of two people arrested in connection with stock theft in the Vryheid area on Friday. The official, together with a co-accused arrested at the same time, will now appear in familiar surroundings at the Vryheid Magistrate’s Court on Monday to face charges of stock theft, cruelty to animals, defeating the ends of justice and possession of a dangerous weapon. A vehicle belonging to the official has also been seized since it was allegedly being used in the commission of a crime. Police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbele, said members of the Stock Theft Task Team were alerted about illegal slaughtering of cows on a farm at Brakfontein and rushed to the area. CARCASSES OF FIVE COWS F...
Trump’s coronavirus treatment was based on fetal tissue research
World

Trump’s coronavirus treatment was based on fetal tissue research

  After falling ill from a coronavirus infection, US President Donald Trump received REGN-COV2, an experimental-antibody drug. The treatment proved surprisingly effective, with the US leader returning to his office within a matter of days. The president has since praised the drugs as "miracles coming down from God." The antibody-drug was developed — with or without divine assistance — by the US biotech company Regeneron, which has now asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant emergency use approval for REGN-COV2. REGN-COV2 comprises two monoclonal antibodies: REGN10933 and REGN10987. REGN-COV2 is designed to provide a passive immunization by using synthetic neutralizing antibodies. The drug was developed using a cell line derived from fetal tissue. Regeneron test...
Husband of Narges Mohammadi: ‘What does this have to do with Islamic benevolence?’
World

Husband of Narges Mohammadi: ‘What does this have to do with Islamic benevolence?’

Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi The Zanjan Provincial Prosecutor General stated: "The sentence for Ms. Mohammadi was reduced according to a recently passed law by court order and therefore she was released from custody.” He added that Mohammidi's prison sentence had been reduced from ten to eight and a half years: "This term expired last night, so she has been released.” This spring, the Iranian parliament had passed a law to reduce the discretionary imprisonment with the effect of reducing all such imprisonments by one level. For instance, life imprisonment was converted into so-called prison sentences of the first category. Taghi Rahmani said that early on Thursday morning, Mohammadi was taken to her parents' house without prior notice. He stressed that his wife's ...
Armenia, Azerbaijan begin Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks
World

Armenia, Azerbaijan begin Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks

  UPDATE: Early Saturday morning, Armenia and Azerbaijan said that they had agreed to a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting at noon Saturday, read the full story here. Previously, representatives of Baku and Yerevan met in the Russian capital Moscow on Friday a bid to resolveviolent clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced the start of the talks on Facebook, posting a picture of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan sitting at a round table. Russia, which announced the talks on Thursday, is acting as mediator in the discussions, which will seek to agree on a cessation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh and exchanges of bodies and prisoners of war. De jure, the contested region li...
Opinion: Nobel Prize for the WFP is an appeal for greater cooperation
World

Opinion: Nobel Prize for the WFP is an appeal for greater cooperation

  This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). A surprising choice, some might think, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. After all, the World Health Organization (WHO) was nominated — as were US President Donald Trump, the climate activist Greta Thunberg and some 300 other candidates. But the Nobel Committee was right to honor the work of the WFP and thus highlight the problem of global food shortages. Last year, more than 690 million people — the equivalent of almost 9% of the world's population — suffered from hunger. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the global food crisis. In spring this year, WFP director David Beasley warned that the world faced famines "of biblical proportions." In response to the situation, the ...