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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast but militant group al-Shabab has struck civilian and military targets before in a similar fashion
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
In June 1940, as fighting was winding down in France, the pace of operations quickened in the Mediterranean. The area was vital for Britain, which needed to maintain access to the Suez Canal in order to remain in close contact with the rest of its empire. Following Italys declaration of war on Britain and France, Italian troops quickly seized British Somaliland in the Horn of Africa and laid siege to the island of Malta.
They also began a series of probing attacks from Libya into British-held Egypt.
That fall, British forces went on the offensive against the Italians. On November 12, aircraft flying from HMS Illustrious struck the Italian naval base at Taranto, sinking a battleship and damaging two others. During the attack, the British only lost two aircraft. In North Africa, General Archibald Wavell launched a major attack in December, Operation Compass, which drove the Italians out of Egypt and captured over 100,000 prisoners. The following month, Wavell dispatched troops south and cleared the Italians from the Horn of Africa.
Concerned by Italian leader Benito Mussolinis lack of progress in Africa and the Balkans, Adolf Hitler authorized German troops to enter the region to assist their ally in February 1941. Despite a naval victory over the Italians at the Battle of Cape Matapan (March 27-29, 1941), the British position in the region was weakening.
With British troops sent north from Africa to aid Greece, Wavell was unable to stop a new German offensive in North Africa and was driven back out of Libya by General Erwin Rommel. By the end of May, both Greece and Crete had also fallen to German forces.
On June 15, Wavell sought to regain the momentum in North Africa and launched Operation Battleaxe.
Designed to push the German Afrika Korps out of Eastern Cyrenaica and relieve the besieged British troops at Tobruk, the operation was a total failure as Wavells attacks were broken on the German defenses. Angered by Wavells lack of success, Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed him and assigned General
Nearly a year after a Banksy mural was stolen from the Bataclan music venue in Paris in 2019, six people have been arrested and charged with swiping the work of art.
“Today we are deeply indignant,” the Bataclan wrote on Twitter after the mural was stolen.
Banksy tributed the mural to the tragic Paris attacks in 2015.
The mural is painted in black and white and features a veiled and mournful woman solemnly looking towards the ground.
“At first I thought I should just shut up and listen to black people about this issue.
By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press Shannon Dunn has to report to her job this week as a cafeteria manager at an elementary school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she has no idea what she will do when her daughter starts kindergarten with online-only instruction. With a new school year beginning this week in some states, Dunn, like many other working parents, is struggling to balance her job with her child's schoolwork as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause upheaval around the country. The death toll in the U.S. has reached about 155,000, and cases are rising in numerous states. Dunn's […]
The post Parents struggle as schools reopen amid coronavirus surge appeared first on Black News Channel.
U.S. Department of State Background Note
Algeria, the second-largest state in Africa, has a Mediterranean coastline of about 998 kilometers (620 mi.). The Tellian and Saharan Atlas mountain ranges cross the country from east to west, dividing it into three zones. Between the northern zone, Tellian Atlas, and the Mediterranean is a narrow, fertile coastal plain--the Tell (Arabic for hill)--with a moderate climate year round and rainfall adequate for agriculture. A high plateau region, averaging 914 meters (3,000 ft.) above sea level, with limited rainfall, great rocky plains, and desert, lies between the two mountain ranges. It is generally barren except for scattered clumps of trees and intermittent bush and pastureland. The third and largest zone, south of the Saharan Atlas mountain range, is mostly desert. About 80% of the country is desert, steppes, wasteland, and mountains. Algerias weather varies considerably from season to season and from one geographical location to another. In the north, the summers are usually hot with little rainfall. Winter rains begin in the north in October. Frost and snow are rare, except on the highest slopes of the Tellian Atlas Mountains. Dust and sandstorms occur most frequently between February and May.
Soil erosion--from overgrazing, other poor farming practices, and desertification--and the dumping of raw sewage, petroleum refining wastes, and other industrial effluents are leading to the pollution of rivers and coastal waters. The Mediterranean Sea, in particular, is becoming polluted from oil wastes, soil erosion, and fertilizer runoff. There are inadequate supplies of potable water.
Ninety-one percent of the Algerian population lives along the Mediterranean coast on 12% of the countrys total land mass. Forty-five percent of the population is urban, and urbanization continues, despite government efforts to discourage migration to the cities. About 1.5 million nomads and semi-settled Bedouin still live in the Saharan area.
Nearly all Algerians are Muslim, of Arab,
South Africa has recorded 85 more Covid-19-related deaths, bringing the death toll to 18 741.
Eskom's operational culture has to change, but businesses also need to interact more ethically, says Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- COVID-19 has claimed the lives of two more people in Sousse governorate during the past 48 hours, pushing the death toll in the region to 331 since the outbreak of the pandemic.
All staff at the State department of Devolution were on Tuesday sent on compulsory isolation after a section of the workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
To recuse, or not to recuse? Raymond Zondo will consider his next move carefully, before making a decision on the fate of the State Capture Inquiry.
The United States on Sunday recorded 820 new coronavirus fatalities in the previous 24 hours, but the country's total death count neared 90,000, a Johns Hopkins University tracker reported.
The latest toll, marked at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Monday), was the lowest since 776 daily deaths were recorded on May 10, but the count ranged as high as 1,894 in subsequent days.
According to the real-time tracker by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins, the United States has 1,486,376 cases of novel coronavirus.
That figure and the death toll are by far the world's highest.
[Cameroon Tribune] 08 janv. 2021 12:54
by PublicSource Reporters Allegheny County health officials reported 114 COVID-19 infections Thursday, including one among a resident as young as 5 months old. Since mid-March, the county health department has … Continued
The post Allegheny County reports 114 COVID cases, 5 deaths; state officials warn of contact-tracing scams appeared first on New Pittsburgh Courier.
The two leading candidates in Ghana's presidential election said on Tuesday they are confident of victory based on their own tallies, as the schedule for the announcement of official results was delayed.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has highlighted that cases are currently increasing in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape - but this is not necessarily the start of a second wave of Covid-19.
Hlengiwe Msimango was buried in KwaZulu-Natal after her spouse, Mosa Ntsibande, allegedly shot and killed her at her Norkem Park home on 3 August.
South Africa has hit another grim milestone, with its COVID-19 death toll now at over 4 000.
Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Black Caucus released the following statement on President Trump's announcement to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO): 'The move to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the midst of a pandemic highlights this administration’s gross mismanagement of this global health emergency and a complete abdication of international responsibility []
By LAURIE KELLMAN and LISA MASCARO WASHINGTON (AP) — And then she tore up the speech. No sooner had President Donald Trump finished his State of the Union address than House Speaker Pelosi ripped the paper it was printed on in two. Right there, on camera, behind Trump’s back. As he stepped down, she ripped […]
[GroundUp] The Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit swooped on the offices of the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and Metrofile, a document storage company, early Tuesday morning after obtaining a search and seizure order from a Pretoria magistrate on Monday.
Kenya lies across the equator in east-central Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It is twice the size of Nevada. Kenya borders Somalia to the east, Ethiopia to the north, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. In the north, the land is arid; the southwest corner is in the fertile Lake Victoria Basin; and a length of the eastern depression of the Great Rift Valley separates western highlands from those that rise from the lowland coastal strip.
Republic.
Paleontologists believe people may first have inhabited Kenya about 2 million years ago. In the 700s, Arab seafarers established settlements along the coast, and the Portuguese took control of the area in the early 1500s. More than 40 ethnic groups reside in Kenya. Its largest group, the Kikuyu, migrated to the region at the beginning of the 18th century.
The land became a British protectorate in 1890 and a Crown colony in 1920, called British East Africa. Nationalist stirrings began in the 1940s, and in 1952 the Mau Mau movement, made up of Kikuyu militants, rebelled against the government. The fighting lasted until 1956.
On Dec. 12, 1963, Kenya achieved full independence. Jomo Kenyatta, a nationalist leader during the fight to win independence who had been jailed by the British, was its first president.
From 1964 to 1992, the country was ruled as a one-party state by the Kenya African National Union (KANU), first under Kenyatta, and then under Daniel arap Moi. Demonstrations and riots put pressure on Moi to allow multiparty elections in 1992.
The economy did not flourish under Mois rule. In the 1990s, Kenyas infrastructure began disintegrating and official graft was rampant, contributing to the withdrawal of much foreign aid. In early 1995, President Moi moved against the opposition and ordered the arrest of anyone who insulted him.
A series of disasters plagued Kenya in 1997 and 1998: severe flooding destroyed roads, bridges, and crops; epidemics of malaria and cholera overwhelmed the ineffectual health care system; and
Kenya on Thursday reported 21 new Covid-19 cases and two more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 758 and the death toll to 42.
Dr Mercy Mwangangi, Health Chief Administrative Secretary, said in a briefing that three coronavirus patients left hospitals in the past 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries in the country to 284.
All the 21 patients who tested positive are Kenyans and the youngest is seven-years-old, Dr Mwangangi said.
Twelve of the new Covid-19 patients are from Mombasa, one from Uasin Gishu and the others are from Kajiado and Nairobi, four each.
Dr Mwangangi said eight foreign truck drivers were sent back to Tanzania at the Namanga border point after they tested positive.
Before the coronavirus reached Tanzania, things were arguably going according to plan for President John Magufuli.
COVID-19 arrives
After Tanzania confirmed its first case in mid-March, Magufuli went silent for about two weeks.
On 13 May, Zambia closed the Tunduma-Nakonde border with Tanzania after the Zambian district of Nakonde recorded 76 new COVID-19 cases in one day; it has since re-opened with added restrictions.
On 16 May, Kenya shut its borders with Tanzania, after many of its new recorded cases were of truck drivers from across the border.
If Zanzibar feels it has to follow Tanzania's neighbours in imposing tighter border controls from the mainland, this could provide another source of pressure on Magufuli's current approach.
On May 16, 2003, terrorists believed to be associated with al-Qaeda killed 33 people in several simultaneous attacks. Four bombs targeted Jewish, Spanish, and Belgian buildings in Casablanca. In the 2004 terrorist bombings in Madrid, Spain, numerous Moroccans were implicated.
A wave of suicide bombings struck Casablanca in March and April 2007. Authorities were not certain if the attacks were related
Early in 2011, tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered in various cities, calling for a shift to a constitutional monarchy in what was termed the February 20th movement. King Mohammed VI answered with promises of reform, which took the shape of a constitutional referendum in July. February 20th supporters called for a boycott of the referendum, calling the included reforms inadequate and taking offense at its intent to bolster the kings position as supreme arbiter of political and institutional life.
See also Encyclopedia: Morocco .
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Morocco
An American pilot died when her plane malfunctioned while she was on her way to deliver Covid-19 rapid test kits to a remote Indonesian village, officials said.
Joyce Lin, 40, had just taken off Tuesday morning, leaving the airport in Sentani, in Papua province, in a Kodiak aircraft.
She’d been with the MAF for about three years, according to the organization
Tuesday, Lin was attempting to fly to Mamit, in the Papua highlands, in an effort to bring test kits to the local clinic.
The aircraft fell into Lake Sentani, and divers confirmed she did not survive, according to the MAF .
Source: American woman dies in plane crash trying to deliver Covid-19 tests to Indonesian village
Galmudug and Puntland Security forces have joined hands wit the highly trained Somali national army Danab have to weed out Alshabab militants in the city of Galkayo of Mudug region.
The operation was mainly conducted in the northern area Galkayo and raided houses curb insecurity in the region.
The operation was led by Galmudug and Puntland officials the main aim of the operation was to heighten security in the city of Galkayo.
According to the officials, the joint operation of the two regions will continue to combat Alshabab militant.
The two regions have vowed to work jointly after a suicide bomb explosion killed the governor of Puntland administrations Mudug region Ahmed Muse Nur in the city of Galkayo in mid-march.
“We now have really clear evidence that wearing masks works — it’s probably a 50% protection against transmission,” Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, or IHME, at the University of Washington, told CNN late Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has foregone face coverings in public while his presumptive rival Joe Biden has worn one, staking their ground in the partisan debate over whether masks are a paranoid restriction or a necessary precaution.
Illinois appears to be entering a “downward trend,” with the week ending May 16 being the first with a lower number of coronavirus deaths than the week before, Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said at a news conference.
New York, the hardest-hit state for the virus, reported Monday that 73 residents died in a single day, the lowest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic in the US, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
The state has reported 99,810 cases and 3,826 deaths, but hospitalizations have been declining slightly over the past two weeks, and the number of those in ICU beds remains stable, the governor said.
After scandals and allegations of insider trading, Sen. Kelly Loeffler has lost her attempt at winning her appointed seat in the U.S. Senate. According to the Cook Political Report and NBC News called Rev. Raphael Warnock the projected winner, defeating Loeffler after midnight on Wednesday morning. ...
