NAIROBI, Kenya — Thousands of mostly young people demonstrated Thursday in Kenya’s capital and across the country against new tax proposals by the administration of President William Ruto in its annual budget legislation.
Today, the Africa CEO Forum took place in Kigali, hosting 75 presidents and ministers, 1,000 CEOs, and hundreds of media representatives. The “Made in Africa” narrative was a central focus of the forum, emphasizing the urgent need for Africa to industrialize and capitalize on its abundant resources for sustainable development. Political leaders across the continent are increasingly advocating for local transformation of raw materials rather than their export. This strategic shift aims to ensure product accessibility for local populations while simultaneously generating jobs and strengthening local value chains.
Liberian President George Weah conceded defeat late Friday after provisional results from this week’s runoff vote showed challenger Joseph Boakai beating him by just over a percentage point.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya is marking on Monday (Nov. 06) his 41 year-rule over the central African nation.
Another Caribbean country is considering removing Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state.
Thursday, Global tech giant Google has announced that Google Translate, its multilingual neural machine translation service, has begun offering the possibility of translation into 24 more languages. Ten of the new additions are African languages.
Burkina Faso’s exiled former president, Blaise Compaore, was convicted of the murder of Thomas Sankara, the iconic African leader killed in a coup more than three decades ago.
A South African court has suspended construction work on a huge new business park that will house Amazon’s Africa headquarters in Cape Town after a challenge by Indigenous group.
After one year of a judicial battle between indigenous people of South Africa and the US-based technology company Amazon regarding the construction of the company’s facility in Cape Town, the country’s court announced that the building of Amazon’s Africa Headquarters is halted in South Africa. This ruling was a win for indigenous groups who have claimed this land is sacred.
According to South Africa’s court “the fundamental right to culture and heritage of indigenous groups, particularly the Khoi and San First Nations peoples, is threatened in the absence of proper consultation”. The announcement was only made public on Sunday.
The court has blocked the work on the building of Amazon’s Africa Headquarters, which was previously being used as a golf course, until there is engagement and consultation with the affected indigenous communities, according to Reuters.
The decision recognizes that some indigenous groups supported the Amazon project in exchange for the construction of a media, culture and heritage center on the site to be operated by them. However, the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council of Goringhaicona and a neighborhood association petitioned the High Court to halt the project.
Many people in those communities complain that they still suffer from huge social inequalities and lack of economic opportunity, and say their history continues to be ignored.
The Khoi and San peoples were the first reported inhabitants of South Africa. According to Reuters, the San roamed as hunters and gatherers for tens of thousands of years, while the Khoi joined them as herders more than 2,000 years ago.
Some of the descendants are opposed to the development of the River Club, where Amazon has plans for a hotel, offices and residences, as the complex would be at the confluence of two rivers considered sacred, the Negro and the Liesbeek.
The construction of the complex is worth roughly $ 255 million and Amazon already employs thousands of people in data hubs in Cape Town to work in the facility. The construction of the complex was seen by South Africa’s government as an opportunity to increase jobs through encouraging foreign investment in the country. According to official data, more than a third of South Africans are out of work.
Ghana is now requiring visitors to prove they’re fully vaccinated, officials recently announced.
As of Dec. 12, travelers 18 years and older will have to provide proof of being fully vaccinated from Ghana’s approved list, which includes AstraZeneca’s, Sputnik V, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna.
This comes after health officials noticed a more than 40 percent increase in cases when comparing the numbers from November 2020 to November 2021. Data shows that a majority of new cases in Ghana are from the unvaccinated, who are three times more likely to test positive for COVID-19, health officials stated.
Ghana is cracking down as it gears up for a busy and festive season as the world simultaneously deals with the new Omicron variant, which scientists believe to be more transmissible.
“The new variant, Omicron, which is said to be more transmissible has been detected at our airport,” a statement from Ghana’s Health Service, reads. “Of the 34 cases detected, 75% of them were unvaccinated. Over the last weeks, cases from the airport account for about 60% of the total cases recorded in the country.”
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