Geneva - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Singapore and Zurich world’s most expensive cities

SINGAPORE and Zurich tied for the world's most expensive city this year, followed by Geneva, New York and Hong Kong, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said as it cautioned that the global cost-of-living crisis was not yet over. On average, prices have risen by 7.4% year on year in local currency terms for over 200 commonly used goods and services, a drop from the record 8.1% increase last year but still "significantly higher than the trend in 2017-2021," it said in a report. Singapore regained the top of the rankings for the ninth time in the past eleven years due…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Libya talks in Geneva end without breakthrough

NEWS

LIBYAN legislative leaders quit talks in Geneva on a constitution and elections without reaching a deal, pausing diplomacy to resolve a standoff that has imperilled a two-year peace process. The talks between the House of Representatives and High State Council legislative bodies were aimed at agreeing on a constitutional basis and interim arrangements for elections that were originally scheduled for December 2021. Many Libyans fear that a failure to set a path to elections and resolve an existing dispute about control of an interim government will thrust the country back towards territorial division or conflict. Since the planned December election…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden to press Putin on respecting human rights in Geneva

WORLD

U.S. President Joe Biden yesterday said that he will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to respect human rights when the two leaders meet in June. During a speech honoring the U.S. holiday Memorial Day, Biden said, "I'm meeting with President Putin in a couple of weeks in Geneva making it clear we will not, we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights." The White House said on Friday it was planning to move ahead with the summit between the two leaders after Microsoft flagged a cyberattack on U.S. government agencies by Nobelium, the group behind last year's…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Steinmetz denies corruption in Guinea case; says he was not in charge

NEWS

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY ISRAEL businessman Beny Steinmetz has denied any role in corruption or forgery linked to mining rights his company secured in Guinea, describing himself as the owner and company ambassador but not the boss. Steinmetz was indicted in August 2019 by a Geneva prosecutor who accused him and two aides of paying, or having paid, $10 million in bribes to obtain exploration permits for some of the world's richest iron-ore deposits in the remote Simandou mountains of Guinea. Steinmetz and his aides deny the charges. If convicted he could face up to 10 years in prison. At his court…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Libya economic talks set for Geneva next week – U.N.

BUSINESS

THE U.N. acting envoy on Libya Stephanie Williams will host an economic working group from December 14-15 in Geneva, to discuss policy reforms, a U.N. spokeswoman has announced. The talks, co-chaired by Egypt, the European Union and the United States, will include representatives of the main Libyan institutions, U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva briefing, without elaborating. - Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO says COVID-19 by far its worst global health emergency

COVID-19

The new coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 16 million people is easily the worst global health emergency the World Health Organization (WHO) has faced, its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. Only with strict adherence to health measures, from wearing masks to avoiding crowds, would the world manage to beat it, Tedros added at a virtual news briefing in Geneva. "Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they are not, cases go up," he said, praising Canada, China, Germany and South Korea for controlling outbreaks. Resurgences of the coronavirus in various regions, including where nations…