July, 2020 - The African Mirror

Jul

2020

‘This can’t go on’: U.S. workers plan nationwide strike to protest racial injustice

NELLIE PEYTON FAST-FOOD, nursing home, airport and other frontline workers across the United States are planning a mass strike on Monday to protest systemic racism and inadequate protections for Black people against coronavirus. The Strike for Black Lives is expected to draw tens of thousands of workers in over 25 U.S. cities, according to a coalition of national labor unions and social justice groups that have organized it. Some workers will strike all day and others will walk off their jobs for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that a white police officer knelt on the neck…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian farmers slaughter thousands of chicks as COVID hits demand

COVID-19

KUMERRA GEMECHU ETHIOPIAN poultry farmers have destroyed hundreds of thousands of chicks, as the sector reels from a collapse in demand from the hotel sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethiopia's movement restrictions to try to contain the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has led hotels in Addis Ababa to reduce operations or even to close, removing a major source of demand for poultry products. Government data was not available but EthioChicken, one of the biggest suppliers of poultry products in Addis Ababa, said it had to kill nearly 650,000 chicks in five weeks over May and June and estimated…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya fishermen say they are squeezed by Ethiopian mega-dam

ENVIRONMENT

BAZ RATNER FISHERMEN on the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's biggest desert lake, have no doubt about what is to blame for their dwindling fish stocks: a giant hydroelectric dam built by Ethiopia on the River Omo, which feeds the lake. "We are now seeing Nile perch stocks drastically reduce," said fisherman Fitbo Lalukol. He says boats must sail much further out into the lake to get a good catch. Officials at Ethiopia's ministry of water, irrigation and energy did not respond immediately to a Reuters request for comment on the fishermen's claims. Complaints about the Omo dam…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Ugly face’: U.S. and China trade barbs in Myanmar as South China Sea rift deepens

WORLD

CHINA's embassy in Myanmar has accused the United States of "outrageously smearing" the country and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbours over the contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount between the superpowers. Responding to the U.S. claims Beijing was undermining the sovereignty of its neighbours, the Chinese embassy said U.S. agencies abroad were doing "disgusting things" to contain China and had shown a "selfish, hypocritical, contemptible, and ugly face". The United States last week hardened its position on the South China Sea, saying it would back countries in the region that challenge Beijing's claim…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Yemen starts forced transfers of Ethiopian migrants, IOM says

COVID-19

TENS of thousands of migrants, mostly Ethiopians, are stranded in Yemen and at least 14,500 have been rounded up and forcibly transferred internally amid fears migrants contribute to the spread of COVID-19, the U.N. migration agency said on Tuesday. Thousands of Saudi-bound Ethiopian workers cross Yemen each month but restrictions aimed at curbing the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the war-ravaged country have cut arrivals. But among those already there, thousands have been bussed or trucked to cities like Aden and Marib where they are now stuck, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. "It's a very dire situation when…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

COVID-19: the risk the pandemic poses to SA’s water supply

COVID-19

Household water supplies may fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic – if users can no longer pay their bills, and municipalities’ revenue streams dry up, experts have warned. “In the short term, there will still be water for people to wash their hands. However, the long term consequences could be devastating if municipalities are not able to fund their ongoing operations while funds for the President’s Infrastructure Investment initiative will also be affected,” says Mike Muller, Chair of the Technical Subcommittee for the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA). As the lockdown impacts individuals and companies across the spectrum, prompting…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Fashion from waste

BEAUTY AND FASHION

ELLEN WULFHORST UNLIKE some designers, Daniel Silverstein doesn't mind when others freely copy his style. In fact, the designer of fashion from scraps and fabric remnants welcomes imitators. "The more people that do this, the more we see a solution," the New York-based designer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "My job is to keep innovating and pushing forward and creating new things for people to rip off." Silverstein, whose fashion company is Zero Waste Daniel, creates clothing from bits and bolts of leftover cloth, with an eye to using, reusing and recycling all that he can. From a storefront studio…