April, 2021 - The African Mirror

Apr

01

2021

Data withheld from WHO team

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and JOHN MILLER DATA was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. The United States, the European Union and other Western countries immediately called for China to give "full access" to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019. In its final report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

WTO hikes 2021 trade growth forecast, but COVID-19 risks linger

BUSINESS

THE World Trade Organization slightly raised its growth forecast for global goods trade this year, but said the outlook was clouded by risks from the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines and the possible emergence of vaccine-resistant strains. WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a news conference on yesterday that vaccines had given the world a chance of stopping the disease and jump-starting the economy. "But this opportunity could be squandered if large numbers of countries and people do not have equal access to vaccines," she told a news conference. The WTO is forecasting merchandise trade will grow this year by 8.0% after…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi ‘looks healthy’, lawyer says, as U.S. orders non-essential staff to leave

WORLD

MYANMAR's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in good health in a video meeting yesterday, one of her lawyers said, as the United States ordered its non-essential embassy staff to leave after "horrifying" violence against opponents of a coup. The detained Nobel laureate, who has been held in custody since the military seized power on February: 1, had wanted to meet lawyers in person and did not agree to a wide discussion by video in the presence of police, lawyer Min Min Soe told Reuters by telephone. "Amay looks healthy, her complexion is good," Min Min Soe said, using…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden proposal: $174 billion for EVs, new funds for renewable power

WORLD

DAVID SHEPARDSON and NICHOLA GROOM 0606President Joe Biden's vast infrastructure plan includes $174 billion to boost the markets for electric vehicles and billions more for renewable power - both provisions aimed at weaning the U.S. off of fossil fuels and combating climate change. The $2 trillion plan, which also seeks to invest in traditional projects like roads and bridges, is a centerpiece of the administration's ambitious agenda to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050 and restore the nation's leadership in addressing global warming. It also vows to spend $165 billion on public transit, Amtrak and other rail projects - moves…

Apr

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Twitter’s new office in Ghana seen as a snub to LGBT+ people

LGBT+

NITA BHALLA TWITTER Inc's decision to open its first African office in Ghana, citing it as a champion of democracy, is "a slap in the face" for sexual minorities in the country who suffer abuse and persecution, LGBT+ rights campaigners said on Wednesday. The social media giant announced earlier this month that the West African nation was selected because it was a supporter of free speech, online freedom and the Open Internet - values which Twitter said it also advocated for. But LGBT+ rights groups criticised the move, accusing the company of disregarding the plight of LGBT+ people in Ghana, where persecution…

Apr

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Cameroonian LGBT activist champions imprisoned transgender women

LGBT+

CHRISTOPHE VAN DER PERRE and JOSIANE KOUAGHEU COMING from Cameroon where letting it be known that she was a lesbian could lead to prison time, activist and social media influencer Bandy Kiki struggled to adjust to her newfound safety after emigrating to Britain a decade ago. Homosexuality is a criminal offence in Cameroon, punishable by up to five years in prison. "I kept thinking, 'Aren't the police going to show up and arrest everybody?'" she said about gatherings she would attend with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Manchester. "My friends kept saying, 'Kiki, it's…

Apr

23

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa ‘are under siege’

LGBT+

CHRIS MAKHAYE UNTIL recently, Simphiwe Mkhize, 18, was dreaming of a career as a social worker. But that dream has now been shattered after he was forced to quit grade 9 at his school in Tongaat, about 40km north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. Mkhize says he often found himself in fights with fellow pupils who were insulting him and calling him names because he is gay. “I couldn’t take it anymore. They often picked on me. Some of the insults I let go, but others I returned and this led to fights,” he said. The abuse from his community in…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

LGBT persecution on the rise in Cameroon, Human Rights Watch says

LGBT+

CAMEROON security forces have arrested, threatened or assaulted at least 24 people since February in a ramped-up crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) people, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday. The rights group said recent documented accounts of abuse, including that of a 17-year old boy, point to an overall rise of police action against LGBT+ people in Cameroon, where same-sex relations are criminalised. Cameroon authorities did not respond to Reuters requests for comments. HRW said it shared its report with Cameroon's justice, and defence ministries, and the head of police. It received no response to a March…

Apr

09

2021

By The African Mirror

Lessons from the past: protecting women and girls from violence during COVID-19

HUMAN RIGHTS

COVID-19 has impacted women and girls around the globe in adverse ways. However, little attention has been paid to women and girls in humanitarian settings, those whose safety has already been reduced due to conflict, natural disaster or displacement. For these women and girls, COVID-19 has made them particularly vulnerable to increases in gender-based violence. LINDSAY STARK, Associate Professor of Social Work and Public Health, Washington University in St Louis LUISSA VAHEDI, PhD candidate, Washington University in St Louis This is not the first time we have seen an infectious disease event lead to higher levels of gender-based violence. A…

Apr

07

2021

By The African Mirror

World powers, Iran, U.S. begin indirect talks to revive nuclear deal

WORLD

FRANCOIS MURPHY, PARISA HAFEZI and JOHN IRISH EUROPEAN intermediaries began shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials in Vienna yesterday as they sought to bring both countries back into full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that Washington abandoned three years ago. Iran has steadily overstepped the accord's limits on its nuclear programme in response to Washington's withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and its reimposition of sanctions that have crippled the Islamic Republic's economy. While Tehran has repeatedly rebuffed "direct and indirect negotiations" with its old foe, Washington said on Monday it expected the talks to be difficult. Neither side…