Africa - Page 5

EU leaders have echoed pre-existing fears that the ongoing global food crisis could lead to the next European migrant crisis.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) co-hosted an event in Liberia on Tuesday with the Communist Party of China on the “right to development” – less than a week after the head of the office, Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, absolved China of years of accusations of genocide at home.

Heartwarming footage captured the moment an adopted boy from Sierra Leone, who now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, was brought to tears when he caught a glimpse of his first-ever birthday cake.

After discovering four positive cases of monkeypox, Belgian health authorities have placed those with confirmed cases of the virus into a 21-day quarantine. As of Sunday, Belgian authorities announced four confirmed cases of the virus and have called on anyone

Australian health officials on Friday reported their first confirmed case of monkeypox, diagnosed in a traveler who recently returned from Britain to Melbourne. A possible second case in a Sydney man who recently traveled to Europe is under observation.

Sweden and Italy are the latest countries to report cases of the so-called “Monkeypox”, with others already reported in Spain and the UK.

The first American case of the rare virus monkeypox has been discovered in Massachusetts and may have originated in Canada.

Africa’s first Chinese coronavirus vaccine plant, Aspen Pharmacare, is at risk of shutting down after failing to receive a single order for the plant’s Johnson & Johnson-made inoculation since opening in November 2021, Aspen Pharmacare senior director Stavros Nicolaou told Reuters in an interview published Monday.

The W.H.O. and UNICEF announced that a “perfect storm” of conditions could lead to a measles outbreak as vaccine campaigns have stalled.

While many Shanghai residents are scrambling to find food and dying from lack of medical care during the third week of the city’s harsh coronavirus lockdown, others are indulging in a craze for paying shirtless African dancers to record customized cheer-up videos.

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a London-based non-governmental organization, this week published a report on the destructive, largely unregulated, and often illegal operations of China’s immense deep-water fishing fleet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Yi spent much of Sunday discussing potential Chinese investments with his counterparts from Algeria, Tanzania, and Zambia, claiming that the war between Ukraine and Russia demands even more Chinese attention on the continent of Africa.

The Foreign Press Association, Africa – an organization for foreign reporters on the continent – issued an impassioned statement on Tuesday condemning global coverage of the Russian assault on Ukraine for being “racist” and showing a “lack of nuance and empathy” towards victims of war in Africa and other areas with majority non-white populations.

The U.S. State Department recently offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest of Joseph Kony, a Ugandan wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes of war and crimes of humanity, Uganda’s Nile Post News reported Monday.

The World Health Organization admitted on Tuesday that global coronavirus cases have dropped by 19 percent, with 98 percent of new cases taking the form of the less-lethal omicron variant.

China’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday celebrated Russian leader Vladimir Putin for leading a 500-member delegation from Russia to the Beijing Winter Olympics, the largest foreign delegation yet announced for the event.

World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus accused the government of Ethiopia of blocking humanitarian aid into the country’s Tigray region, where an ethnic civil war is currently underway, reports highlighted on Wednesday.

Scientists from IHU Mediterranee Infection, a leading French institute of infectious disease microbiology, published a research paper this week describing another new variant of the Wuhan coronavirus. 

35,000 illegal migrants landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2021, an all-time record for arrivals.

Provincial elections held by Zimbabwe’s ruling socialist Zanu-PF party dissolved into chaos on Tuesday with widespread allegations of vote-rigging, plus confusing election rules that reduced voters to helpless frustration.

African doctors and health officials on Tuesday denounced the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for recommending Pfizer and Moderna vaccines above Johnson & Johnson, after it reported the J&J vaccine carries a small risk of causing blood clots.

The Chinese government is racking up favors from Third World leaders by intervening in conflict zones to offer economic support and security assistance, buying itself positions everywhere from Africa to the Middle East.

Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, the last remaining African cardinal to head up a Vatican dicastery, announced Sunday he has tendered his resignation to Pope Francis.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government on Wednesday said it was donating 1 million coronavirus vaccines to the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

The South African government is being urged to apologize to Miss South Africa Lalela Mswane after she finished in the top three of the Miss Universe competition in Israel on Sunday night — after her own country withdrew its support for her efforts because she would not boycott the Jewish state.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Teodoro Locsin, Jr., denounced on Tuesday the “breathtaking stupidity” of travel bans imposed on African countries following the discovery of the Omicron variant of Chinese coronavirus in late November.

The presidents of Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire joined South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for engagements on Wednesday and Thursday in solidarity following the imposition of a travel ban on that country by President Joe Biden and leaders of European and Middle Eastern states this week.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday denounced President Joe Biden’s ban on travel from southern Africa, and similar measures hastily imposed by other nations after the Omicron coronavirus outbreak, as “travel apartheid” – in other words, racist mistreatment of Africans.

More African leaders on Monday joined South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera in condemning travel bans against their nations – imposed hurriedly by U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western and Asian governments after the discovery of the Omicron coronavirus variant – as unreasonable actions driven by virus panic and racist animosity towards Africans.

Chinese and Ugandan officials on Monday denied reports that China is preparing to take control of Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport after the Ugandan government defaults on Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loans.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned travel bans rapidly imposed in the past week on southern African countries in response to the discovery of a new Chinese coronavirus variant, stating on Monday that he was “deeply concerned” about policies such as that enacted by President Joe Biden.

China’s state-run Global Times dismissed the mRNA technology vaccines against Chinese coronavirus used in America as too “high-priced” and “complicated” for Africa on Monday, shortly before dictator Xi Jinping announced China would give the continent 1 billion doses of its low-quality alternatives.

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera on Sunday denounced bans on Africa travel imposed by the Biden administration and several other governments, in response to the Omicron coronavirus variant, as “Afrophobia.”

Cardinal Sarah called on Europe to develop Africa to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, warning Europe is on a path to “self-destruction.”  

President Joe Biden announced a travel ban on African countries on Friday in response to news of the newly named “Omicron” variant of the coronavirus.

The president remains on his extended Thanksgiving vacation on Nantucket island at a $30 million compound with his extended family, having no events on his public schedule.