Blog - The African Mirror

Jun

12

2021

G7 to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries

KATE HOLTON BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson expects the Group of Seven to agree to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries during its summit starting on Friday, and help inoculate the world by the end of next year. Just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to supercharge the battle against the coronavirus with a donation of 500 million Pfizer shots, Johnson said Britain would give at least 100 million surplus vaccines to the poorest nations. Johnson has already called on G7 leaders to commit to vaccinate the entire world by the end of 2022 and the…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Tech solutions come to the rescue after Cape Town university fire

NEWS

KIM HARRISBERG WHEN South African tech entrepreneur Lisa Adams passed hundreds of students stranded on the roadside with suitcases after fire tore through their campus in Cape Town this week, she raced home to her laptop to help. Within hours, she had compiled a Google Maps list containing the names of the dozens of hotels, restaurants, counselling services and places of worship that had opened their doors to the 4,000 students affected by the wildfire. "I had to act fast and use low-tech for high impact with the skills I have because it was getting dark and I wanted students…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Ending HIV in children is way off target: where to focus action now

HEALTH

WORLD leaders have recently, under the auspices of the United Nations, renewed their commitment to ending AIDS. The new phase offers much-needed hope for the future, provided the commitments made are fulfilled. KAYMARLIN GOVENDER, Research Director at The Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division (HEARD), University of KwaZulu-Natal LINDA-GAIL BEKKER, Professor of medicine and deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town The adopted political declaration and its recommendations offer strategies for ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric AIDS. They also address inequalities faced…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Cameroonian film festival returns

NEWS

BLAISE YONG and JOSIANE KOUAGHEU FILMMAKERS and actors gathered in the western Cameroon town of Buea for a film festival this week, as the region tries to regain a measure of normalcy despite an ongoing secessionist conflict. The Cameroon International Film Festival was cancelled in 2019 and 2020 because of the conflict between state forces and English-speaking rebels, as well as the coronavirus pandemic. The festival has returned this year and features two Cameroonian films that have been bought by U.S. streaming service Netflix. One is the 2020 drama Fisherman's Diary about a young Cameroonian girl determined to go to…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

INSIGHT-With military victory elusive, W.African nations quietly back talks with Islamists

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIAM NDIAGA and AARON ROSS TWO years after local emir Djibril Diallo fled his home in northern Burkina Faso following death threats from Islamist militants, he received an unexpected request: to return and take part in peace talks with the same people who wanted him dead. Adama Ouedraogo, deputy mayor of Diallo's hometown of Thiou, called him in January to help negotiate an end to years of attacks by jihadists against local militias and civilians that forced thousands of people to flee the area. "I told them that if everyone was sincere, I could return," said Diallo, a traditional chief…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt and Russia agree to resume all flights

NEWS

EGYPT and Russia have agreed to resume all flights between the two countries in a call between their presidents, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Vladimir Putin, Egypt's presidency said in a statement. Flights to resort destinations Sharm al-Sheikh and Hurghada were suspended after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai in October 2015, killing 224 people. The Egyptian statement did not specify a timeline for the resumption of flights, but Russia's Interfax news agency reported this week that flights could resume in the second half of May. An Airbus A321, operated by Metrojet, had been taking Russian holiday makers home from…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Tems, Wizkid and more nominated for BET Awards

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

MPHO RANTAO NIGERIAN starlet Tems has bagged her first British Entertainment Television (BET) Award nomination. The singer, real name Temilade Openiyi, has been nominated alongside six other artists for BET”s Best New International Act: Viewers Choice, which is usually awarded during the pre-show airing of the BET Awards. Previous winners of this award include South Africa’s Sho Madjozi, Zimbabwe’s Shasha and Wizkid, who has had the most wins in the Best International Act category as an African artist. Tems rose to the top of the music charts with her debut EP, For Broken Ears, but is popularly known for her…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. names special envoy for Horn of Africa

NEWS

SIMON LEWIS and MICHELLE NICHOLS VETERAN U.S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman was named a special envoy for the Horn of Africa on Friday, as Washington looks to step up diplomatic efforts in a region hit by the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray and other crises. Feltman also will lead international efforts to address tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan and around the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Fighting in Tigray, between rebels and government forces from both Ethiopia and its neighbor Eritrea, has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands more from their…

Jun

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Subaru Southern Africa welcomes Ntsiki Biyela as new brand ambassador

MOTORING

ASLINA Wines founder and South Africa’s first black female winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela has joined the Subaru Southern Africa family as a brand ambassador. Renowned for her award-winning wines, Ntsiki Biyela has forged an inspiring path. Aslina Wines is a producer of world-class wines that are exported as far and wide as Japan, Europe, USA, Korea and closer to home in Ghana, Eswatini, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Aslina Wines was a dream realised in 2016 by Ntsiki, who had a passion, a vision and ambition to establish and become one of the most acclaimed wine brands in the premium wine…

Apr

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Indian hospitals turn away patients in COVID-19 ‘tsunami’

WORLD

SANJEEV MIGLANI and MANOJ KUMAR OVERWHELMED hospitals in India begged for oxygen supplies on Saturday as the country's coronavirus infections soared again overnight in a "tsunami" of disease, setting a new world record for cases for the third consecutive day. Max Healthcare, which runs a network of hospitals in north India, tweeted that it had less than two hours of oxygen left while Fortis Healthcare, another big chain, said it was suspending new admissions in Delhi. "We are running on backup, waiting for supplies since morning," Fortis said. India is in the grip of a rampaging second wave of the…