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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Pride parades, gay friendly diners, movies, books and fashion.
The gay life style is coming to town but the welcome mat is still far from ubiquitous.
Ethiopia, home to Abiy Ahmed, the “hugging president”, has yet to come to terms with LGBT or Q. In fact, some Ethiopian bloggers have been openly unfriendly to say the least.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Strike! That’s the sound of the world's top two producers of cocoa who say they are suspending their sales for better prices.
The governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana are trying this time-honored strategy to address the imbalance between farmers’ income and money made by foreign commodity markets who scoop up most of the profit.
If the strategy sounds familiar, it’s the same one described in the Greek play Lysistrata where the women withheld affection from their husbands in order to secure peace and end the Peloponnesian War.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than twenty African and international organizations have signed a letter which slates the European Union and its member states for externalizing migration policy through direct and indirect cooperation with regimes and militia forces that are utterly unaccountable for their actions, and violating its constitutional values and international obligations, including the responsibility to protect.
The letter to the European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, and High Representative of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, appeals for "an EU external policy framework based on European values".
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – As Russia and Mali prepare to mark their 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year, Moscow has reaffirmed its unreserved preparedness to strengthen economic cooperation and provide support in bringing political stability to Mali and other African countries threatened by or gripped in conflicts.
"Over these decades, we have gained extensive positive experience, which we have agreed to actively use to promote cooperation in various areas on a mutually beneficial basis in the modern era," Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov said, welcoming Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali, Tiébilé Dramé, to a diplomatic meeting in Moscow.
By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM (ACP-IDN) – A poster bearing a message “Graduate with A’s not with AIDS” at the University of Dar es Salaam, tells a grim story of female students who offer sex to obtain higher grades.
“My teacher wanted to date me. When I refused his sexual advances, he retaliated by giving me poor grades,” says Helena (not her real name).
The 23-year-old law student, who has since experienced dismal performance in her studies, is increasingly worried about her academic future.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | YAOUNDE (IDN) – Facing a growing pro-democracy movement, Cameroon is resorting to an old formula – namely unleashing government power in the form of threats, arrests and excessive force.
Hundreds of supporters of Maurice Kamto, leader of the opposition Cameroon Resistance Movement, have been filling the streets, demanding his release from detention but were detained themselves by security forces on June 8, 2019. According to his lawyer, Kamto could be charged with: insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, rebellion, group rebellion, and inciting insurrection.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – In this day and age of “Me Too” shaking up outdated gender relationships around the world, it was somewhat unsettling to hear Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo demean his country’s working women as insufficiently activist and dynamic enough to obtain better leadership jobs.
Did he really say this at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference from June 3-6 at Vancouver attended by gender activists from around the world? Really?
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | MONROVIA (IDN) – Liberian President George Weah is having a few bad days. And more may be on their way. A citizen action group – the Council of Patriots (COP) – has a long list of demands covering governance, human rights and the rule of law, national peace and reconciliation, integrity and accountability, among others. The group has called on President Weah to part ways with some of his closed lieutenants they believe are not up to the task and may cause him more harm politically.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-19) that brought together thousands of foreign delegates, including those from Africa, prioritized "sustainable development" as the key theme. It offered an opportunity to discuss in-depth the significance, challenges and prospects of sustainable development, and cooperation among state institutions and businesses as well as between countries in achieving the global development goals endorsed by world leaders in September 2015 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
By Giles Kirkland
An automotive expert and blogger, Giles Kirkland says he has a passion for new technologies.
LONDON (IDN) – In 2016, a businessman called Francis Romano imported an electric car Nissan Leaf to Nairobi, Kenya. However, the car was held up at the Customs for an intriguing reason: they had never seen an electric vehicle before! Fast-forward to today and Romano claims that the use of electric vehicles (EVs) has saved him a staggering 70 percent of fuel costs in his business.
