October, 2020 - The African Mirror

Oct

2020

Prince Harry and Meghan tell Britain: end ‘structural racism’

MICHAEL HOLDEN BRITAIN’S Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have called for an end to "structural racism", saying it holds back young people of colour, in their latest foray into politically sensitive issues usually avoided by the British royal family. In an interview for The Evening Standard newspaper, Harry said Britain could be a better place if white people understood more about those "of a different coloured skin" "For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of colour who do not start their lives with the same equality of opportunity as their white peers,"…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Brazil’s public sector hit with lawsuits for COVID-19 labor abuses

WORLD

FABIO TEIXEIRA and ALFREDO MERGULHAO DOZENS of local authorities and state-owned companies in Brazil are facing lawsuits accused of failing to protect workers including doctors and nurses from COVID-19, data obtained exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation has revealed. Labor prosecutors filed 69 lawsuits against city governments and state-controlled firms such as Banco do Brasil SA in the first half of the year for reported coronavirus labor abuses such as not providing workers with protective equipment. Local governments and other public sector bodies were the target of 30% of the 230 labor lawsuits related to the pandemic - more than…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s pioneering gas flaring plan risks going down in flames

ENVIRONMENT

LIBBY GEORGE JONAH Gbemre often has no electricity, but he says his home is permanently lit at night by the flames of waste gas being "flared" near his home town in Nigeria's Delta State. Like Gbemre, nearly half of Nigerians have no stable power supply, yet government attempts to harness gas belching from its oil fields to generate urgently-needed electricity or revenue have stalled. And experts say that without progress towards its 2030 target of virtually eliminating flaring, which releases carbon dioxide along with polluting methane and soot, Nigeria cannot meet its pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Rugby saves school girls from child marriage in rural Zimbabwe

HUMAN RIGHTS

FARAI SHAWN MATIASHE WHEN the girls at Sahumani Secondary School in eastern Zimbabwe started playing rugby, they had to make do with the soccer pitch and the oversized football shirts used by the boys. Five years on, several have represented their country in the sport, and many more credit it with saving them from becoming child brides in a nation where early marriage remains common despite being outlawed in 2016. "I used to hate rugby. At the time I believed the sport was only for the elite and for men, not girls like me," said Catherine Muranganwa, 20, who has…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa ends foreign travel ban, but airports deserted amid selective curbs

COVID-19

PROMIT MUKHERJEE and TUMELO MODIBA TRAFFIC through South Africa's main airport was minimal despite international flights resuming after a six-month ban, with last-minute government curbs leaving many would-be tourists unable to enter the country. The government announced on Wednesday it would not allow visitors from countries with currently higher coronavirus infection and death rates than South Africa. That announcement, coming 12 days after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country would re-open its borders, effectively cut out most of the tourist traffic that underpins its struggling economy. The government also said it would revise the list of banned countries every two…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Neanderthal genes linked to severe COVID-19; Mosquitoes cannot transmit the coronavirus

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

NANCY LAPID THE following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Neanderthal genes linked with severe COVID-19 A group of genes passed down from extinct human cousins is linked with a higher risk for severe COVID-19, researchers say. When they compared the genetic profiles of about 3,200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and nearly 900,000 people from the general population, they found that a cluster of genes on chromosome 3 inherited from Neanderthals who lived more than 50,000 years ago…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Rwanda genocide survivors want speedy trial for Kabuga, but court faces delays

NEWS

CLEMENT UWIRIGIYAMANA A special U.N. tribunal in Tanzania should quickly try elderly tycoon Felicien Kabuga on charges of financing the 1994 Rwandan genocide, survivors said on Thursday, after France's top civil court ruled he could be handed over for prosecution. "The case of Kabuga should be speedy," Naphtal Ahishakiye, the executive secretary of genocide survivor organization Ibuka told Reuters by phone. He lost his parents and three brothers in the genocide. "He is elderly, I think a quick trial would enable the victims to get justice." But the tribunal in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha faces both legal challenges and…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria makes its presence known in mixed martial arts

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO IF you were asked to think of the most famous athletes from Nigeria, the options would effortlessly roll off your tongue. The memories would come flooding back of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and the nostalgic glory of Nigeria’s football team would make you smile. Now? Now it’s Nigeria’s dominance in mixed martial arts, a sport that is captivating millions around the globe, with four Nigerian fighters at the centre of that conversation. Israel Adesanya. Picture: Supplied One would only have to look at the recent Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 253 event between current middleweight world champion Israel…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Berlin Patient’ Timothy Ray Brown was an HIV hero

WORLD

ASH KOTAK The “Berlin Patient” Timothy Ray Brown, the first person known to have been cured of HIV, has died at the age of 54 from a recurrence of the cancer that prompted his historic treatment. In 1995 Brown, an American, was diagnosed with HIV. Ten years later he was found to separately have acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Dr Gero Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin, believed that a bone marrow transplant was Brown’s best chance of beating the leukaemia. He also had a theoretical hunch that it may eradicate HIV too. It proved to be…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Arrest of politician sparks “who’s next’ panic in the ANC

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE arrest of a top ANC politician on allegations of fraud and corruption related to the capture of the state by corrupt elements has triggered panic with the ANC ranks. In separate operations, Vincent Smith, the former chair of Parliament’s Committee on Correctional Services and seven other people, including a businessman who gave millions to the ANC, were arrested in joint operation by the Haws and the Special Investigations Unit. A number of senior ANC politicians, including two former premiers and a sitting cabinet minister, have been named in testimonies heard by the Zondo Commission of Inquiry…