Amazon - The African Mirror

Oct

2023

Home countries of major rainforests agree to work together to save them

COUNTRIES that are home to the world's three major rainforests agreed to cooperate to overcome deforestation and safeguard biodiversity but fell short of a concrete alliance to protect the vital carbon sinks. The announcement came on the final day of the Congo Republic-hosted Three Basins summit, which brought together presidents, NGOs, technical experts, and finance sector officials to strengthen governance and preservation of the Amazon, the Congo basin, and forests in Southeast Asia. The countries recognised the importance of cooperation and agreed to develop ways to protect the forests in a seven-point plan. "We've realised that joining forces is an…

Oct

2023

By NQOBILE DLUDLA

Amazon to launch online shopping service in South Africa in 2024

NEWS

AMAZON said that it would launch its online shopping service in South Africa next year, making it only the second African country after Egypt where the U.S. e-commerce giant has set up a locally dedicated website. South Africa will be Amazon's 21st country with a local domain name-based website, challenging a slew of online retailers dominated mainly by Naspers' Takealot.com. "The launch of Amazon.co.za in 2024 will provide independent sellers throughout the country an opportunity to rapidly launch, grow, and scale their businesses," Amazon said in a statement. Africa's most advanced economy is usually seen as a beachhead for companies to expand…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Heritage dispute on Amazon’s new African HQ

NEWS

WENDELL ROELF For the Khoi and San - South Africa's first inhabitants - a verdant patch of land in Cape Town embodies victory and tragedy. The two communities drove back cattle-raiding Portuguese soldiers there in 1510. But, a century and a half later, it was where Dutch settlers launched a campaign of land dispossession. Today it is again the scene of another conflict, this time over a development where construction is due to begin this month and which will eventually be home to a new 70,000-square metre Africa headquarters for U.S. retail giant Amazon. "This is where land was first…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

In Brazil’s Amazon a COVID-19 resurgence dashes herd immunity hopes

WORLD

ANTHONY BOADLE THE largest city in Brazil's Amazon has closed bars and river beaches to contain a fresh surge of coronavirus cases, a trend that may dash theories that Manaus was one of the world's first places to reach collective, or herd, immunity. When a large portion of a community becomes immune to a disease, its spread becomes unlikely. University of Sao Paulo researchers suggested that a drastic fall in COVID-19 deaths in Manaus pointed to collective immunity at work, but they also believe that antibodies to the disease after infection may not last more than a few months. Local…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Greta Thunberg plans to donate 1 million-euro prize to green causes

WORLD

THIN LEI WIN SWEDISH teen activist Greta Thunberg plans to donate 1 million euros ($1.14 million) from a new prize she has won to groups tackling climate change and defending nature. The first projects to benefit from Thunberg receiving the inaugural Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity are medical aid for indigenous communities in the Amazon battling the coronavirus pandemic and a push to make "ecocide" an international crime. The 17-year-old said in a video posted on Instagram that the award was "more money than I can even begin to imagine" and she hoped it would help her "do more good in…