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The UN Security Council voted Wednesday to renew for a year the sanctions regime that has hit Sudan since 2005 and the Darfur conflict, but Russia and China abstained.
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged border closures between countries, some people still swapped South Africa for Australia in 2020.
KOLKATA, India — Major crop damage due to climatic conditions has forced the the world’s largest rice producer — China — to import rice from India for the first time in decades. “This year China [...]
Mourners Come Together for Ex-Archbishop
Dozens of priests and religious members gathered at Our Lady of Africa Basilica in Algiers Tuesday for the funeral mass of former Archbishop Henri Teissier, who died last week at 91 in Lyon France, where he was born. Jose Maria Cantal Rivas, Rector of Our Lady of Africa Basilica, shares his memories of the deceased, \"He did not perceive his life outside of Algeria. He repeated the sentence that one of us had said at the time when referring to the disastrous state of Algeria at that time, he said: 'You don't abandon a friend when he is suffering, even if you can't cure him, you stay by his side, you take his hand and suffer with him, even if you have no solutions'. And for him, it was inconceivable to leave Algeria.\"
John O'Rourke, European Union ambassador in Algeria, remembers the former archbishop fondly, \"He was a charming person full of depth, wisdom, kindness. I think, even at his advanced age when I met him, he radiated something peaceful and at the same time very lively. So I have very fond memories of him.\"
An additional service — respecting coronavirus-prevention guidelines will see his body buried at the same religious site in the capital city on Wednesday,
ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange-listed property firm Mashonaland Holdings says it has deferred the reconfiguration of the iconic Charter House building in Harare into a hotel to the first quarter of 2021. BY FIDELITY MHLANGA In a statement accompanying the company’s financial results for the year ended September 30, 2020 board chairperson, Grace Bema said the Charter House plan was part of several projects whose implementation had been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The multi-storey Charter House, which towers above a sea of mostly empty high-end properties in central Harare, is one of the oldest real estate gems in Harare. But it has not been spared by an exodus of businesses from the central business district due to congestion and an influx of informal businesses. Many other buildings within this zone have also been earmarked for reconfiguration into other uses, such as residential properties. “The Charter House reconfiguration to a boutique hotel was equally delayed by the pandemic with on-site works now targeted to begin in Q1 2021 (first quarter of 2021),” Bema said. “However, the Bluff Hill cluster housing project is set to commence following the conclusion of the tender process. Construction of a model house for this project is scheduled for completion in Q1 2021. All the bricks required to complete the development have been procured and delivered on site,” she said. “Overall the COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges to the property market, notably the tourism sector which has been left on its knees due to the global travel restrictions as the world grappled to contain the spread of COVID-19. However, the effect on other property market sub-sectors was not as dire as initially anticipated as reflected by the resilient occupancy and collection levels. However, the scaled down business operations due to the pandemic meant that most could not absorb upward rent reviews in a hyperinflation environment, especially when their businesses had been closed for an extended period due to the national lockdown,” she said. Bema said a key challenge for property developers was that construction costs remained high, while property market values were falling, rendering new developments inviable. “At the same time, building maintenance costs have risen sharply as contractors are indexing costs to the United States dollar based on the parallel market. The limited number of projects has also resulted in higher contractor charges in the absence of economies of scale. Resultantly, property owners have deferred non-critical building maintenance works which will likely have an impact on future values,” she said. Inflation adjusted revenue for the period increased by 30% from $133 million to $173 million, mainly attributed to rent reviews implemented during the year. The growth in occupancy levels from 77% to 79,2% also contributed towards revenue growth. Operating expenses to revenue ratio marginally improved from 50,3% to 50,1% as management exploited cost saving opportunities to protect profits. Operating profit to rev
[CAJ News] Luanda -- ANGOLAN police and the military have allegedly killed ten people as authorities implement coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions and quash anti-government protests.
Press Release - Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced, a group of campaigning organisations warned today.
Dr. Anthony Fauci sat with Dr. Wayne Frederick, president of Howard University, and Ambrose Lane Jr. on behalf of the... View Article
The post Fauci: Time for Black community 'to put skepticism aside' about vaccine appeared first on TheGrio.
I have read with great consternation and utter dismay that the Government is giving serious consideration to the abolition of August 1st as Emancipation Day and August 6th as our Independence Day.
CHIREDZI residents have rejected a $208 million proposed 2021 budget by the Chiredzi Town Council, arguing that the local authority intended to use it to purchase vehicles for its top management. BY GARIKAI MAFIRAKUREVA In an explosive budget consultative meeting that was held in the council board room last week, residents proposed that council should come up with a policy that protects council property, especially vehicles. This was after Francis Moyo the former council chairperson went away with a three-year-old Toyota D4D vehicle when his term ended. The vehicle was allegedly sold to him at book value after a contentious council resolution. Moyo, who was ward four councillor decided not to stand for a second term and opted for a parliamentary seat, but he was defeated by the incumbent Chiredzi West MP Farai Musikavanhu in the 2018 Zanu PF primaries. The council is expected to gobble over $20 million of the 2021 budget in purchasing vehicles. A section of the budget which was contested was the one that dealt with the proposed construction of two public toilets in ward three using devolution money at a cost of $8 million, which translates to US$98 000 using the current auction rate. The residents argued that the figures were overstated and could result in a distorted budget. United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (UCHIRRA) advocacy officer, Bernard Dachi, handed out two letters written to the town secretary Charles Muchatukwa in 2018 and 2019, demanding that council should come up with a policy that protects council vehicles from abuse. “In 2018 and 2019, we wrote to you demanding that you come up with a policy that protects our vehicles after we lost one of our vehicles, but you chose to ignore the suggestion. So as residents we are saying unless we have such a policy, we are rejecting your proposed budget,” Dachi said. The Chiredzi RDC was also accused of wanting to buy a refuse compactor using devolution funds from government. Follow us on Twitter@NewsDayZimbabwe
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden made two key domestic policy picks, selecting Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration, according to five people familiar with the decisions. The picks on Tuesday highlighted Biden’s delicate balancing act as […]
APPROXIMATELY 450,000 Jamaicans are to be immunised against the novel coronavirus next year, when the first batch of vaccines are expected to be shipped to the island, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has reported.The disclosure was made in the Lower House yesterday, where members were told that the vaccine will be administered to 16 per cent of the population, with health officials and seniors being identified as priority.
By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers U.S. stocks are are slipping Wednesday and pulling back from their recent record highs as virus cases surge and coronavirus vaccines move closer to distribution. A vaccine from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, which is already in use in the U.K., is on track for a positive review and potential approval in the U.S. within the next week. The Food and Drug Administration will also consider a vaccine developed by Moderna later this month. The prospect for a vaccine is giving Wall Street hope that the economy is nearing a […]
The post US stocks slip on Wall Street; S&P 500 backs off record appeared first on Black News Channel.
MOBILE telecoms giant, Econet Wireless yesterday announced a 20% hike in voice, data and SMS bundle prices, saying this was important to sustain operations. BY BUSINESS REPORTER “The business continuously reviews its pricing in line with changes in the operating environment to ensure it remains viable, while retaining good quality of service and offering affordable products,” Econet said. The listed telecommunications company earlier said it was transforming itself into a digital service provider and remained “committed to innovative approaches to deliver these (digital) services and ensure our customers get the best quality voice, data and SMS-based products”. Econet last adjusted its voice and data tariffs in September, but since that time, the price of many goods and services that constitute critical costs to business have skyrocketed, putting pressure on the company’s bottom line. In particular, the price of electricity has doubled (gone up 100%) while diesel has gone up by 32% since September. Econet and other telecommunication companies rely on electricity and diesel-generated power to keep their network services up and running. According to the latest schedule, Econet has reviewed its bundle of joy voice bundles from $4,04 to $4,25 per two minutes, while a 20 megabyte (MB) daily data bundle now costs $17, up from $13. A monthly 100MB data bundle has been reviewed upwards from $67 to $84, while the 8GB private Wi-fi bundle has been adjusted from $960 to $1 500. At the same time, subscribers are now be required to pay $0,36 to send an SMS, up from $0,32. Although Econet’s service delivery has been affected by load-shedding like many Zimbabwean companies, streamlining its revenue generation capacity, the group has, however, devised methods of continuing to provide quality service to its subscribers. “We maintained quality of service despite the numerous challenges facing businesses in Zimbabwe. In particular, limited foreign currency and disruptions in power supply continue to put a significant strain on our ability to provide uninterrupted excellent service,” said the company chairman James Myers in a statement accompanying Econet’s half-year results to August 2020. “Our mitigation strategies, which include moving to remote monitoring and operation of our network, as well as reducing our reliance on power from the grid through DPA, were critical to our success,” he said, adding that the company expected at least an additional 18MW of power to be availed by DPA (an Econet group Solar power company) by the end of the financial year.
Zambia has formally requested a financing arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with its debt crisis, the Fund said in a statement on Tuesday. The IMF is “currently assessing this request,” it said. The administration of President Edgar Lungu released a photo showing him in a meeting with officials of the IMF...
The post Zambia requests for cash from IMF to help navigate debt crisis appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
Ben Stokes' father Ged Stokes, a New Zealand rugby league international, has died after a battle with brain cancer.
[Nation] Dr Stephen Mogusu continued to serve patients under the most horrible conditions - working long hours and without a salary for several months - dreaming, like thousands of fellow frontline workers across the country, of a better day.
Artist Guy Stanley Philoche had just had an amazing sold-out show and was getting ready to reward himself with a beautiful Rolex watch worth $20,000 when coronavirus struck. Soon, New York City, where he lived, became a COVID-19 epicenter. With many families unable to afford basic necessities like food, Philoche realized that spending that huge...
The post This artist spent over $60k buying art to help his fellow artists affected by the pandemic appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES: Tommy Ross, Communications Director T: (850) 404-4091 tross@blacknewschannel.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Black News Channel is Now Available to Even More Comcast Cable Viewers Tallahassee, Florida – December 8, 2020 – The Black News Channel (BNC), the nation's only culturally specific news network that reflects the Black community's diverse viewpoints, announced today that its informative, enlightening, and empowering programming is now available to millions more viewers of Xfinity TV on Channel 1116. After a successful launch on its internet streaming service, having an assigned channel will make it even easier for Xfinity TV viewers across the country to […]
The post Black News Channel is Now Available to Even More Comcast Cable Viewers appeared first on Black News Channel.
Marcia Fudge will be nominated as the next Housing and Urban Development Secretary.
Many Remember Their British Pop Star
Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the death of John Lennon — a quarter of the internationally celebrated English band The Beatles, who was fatally shot outside his New York City apartment building on the evening of December 8, 1980, at coincidentally just 40 years old. His former bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, his surviving widow Yoko — as well as other family members, took to social media to post messages in remembrance of the singer-songwriter.
Four friends from Liverpool, England, formed a music group that would become a worldwide phenomenon in the early 1960s, The Beatles.
The Black-American Influenced Beatles
The rock and roll musical style they adopted had its roots in Black American music and Lennon, in particular, was outspoken on the impact black artists had on the group’s sound and songs. Music stars like Elvis Presley were never known to publicly admit to the imitation and — in several occasions, the alleged outright stealing of musical styles and songs from black American artists who typically did not have access to the same platforms and production technology. A symptom of a structurally and historically racist and segregated society at the time in the USA.
The Beatles, however, were more open and honest about the musical and artistic influences on their songs — even naming highly innovative and legendary black American talents such as Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander, and Barrett Strong.
Following the band’s breakup, Lennon sent a handwritten response to a piece published by the New York Times entitled 'So in the End, the Beatles Have Proved False Prophets,' accusing the band, among other things, of making off with black music for their own benefit.
Lennon’s reply read, \"We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough. The one thing we always did was to make it known that there were black originals, we loved the music and wanted to spread it in any way we could.”
A sentiment apparently shared by bandmate McCartney who has also admitted, “We were the biggest nickers in town. Plagiarists extraordinaires.”
Nevertheless, both The Beatles and John Lennon were beloved worldwide by many of their fans, who continue to remember him on the anniversary of his passing.
WESTERN BUREAU: Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton all but declared the parish of Westmoreland Jamaica’s new COVID-19 epicentre, telling the nation’s Parliament on Tuesday that with more than 100 new confirmed cases, including 12 deaths in the...
“A Cassimy Kinda Christmas” Available Everywhere Now After the year that we’ve all been through it’s safe to say the holidays can’t come soon enough. That was the inspiration behind TV News Anchor, Evrod Cassimy’s new Christmas EP. “It’s been a hard year for everyone. From racial unrest to my own personal battle with the … Continued
The post Evrod Cassimy Releases New Christmas EP appeared first on The Michigan Chronicle.
1. Civil Rights Leaders Call on Biden to Make Good Promise of Diversity What You Need To Know: During an almost two hour virtual meeting with President-elect Biden, leaders of seven Civil Rights organizations, pressed for wider diversity in the new administration. 2. Black 'Firsts': News Executive Rashida Jones and Army General Lloyd J. Austin […]
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Happy Safe Harbor Day, America. Other than Wisconsin, every state appears to have met a deadline in federal law that essentially means Congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the Capitol for counting on Jan. 6. Those votes will elect Joe Biden as the country's next president. It's called a safe harbor provision because it's a kind of insurance policy by which a state can lock in its electoral votes by finishing up certification of the results and any state court legal challenges […]
The post Safe harbor law locks Congress into accepting Biden's win appeared first on Black News Channel.
NEW Delhi - With a million pre-registrations in 24 hours, multiplayer action game FAU-G (Fearless and United: Guards) is set for a big entry into the Indian gaming market. Developed by Bengaluru-basednCore Games, FAU-G was launched by Bollywood star Akshay Kumar two days after the governmentbannedPUBG (Player Unknown's Battleground) and 117 other Chinese apps on Sept. 2. In introducing the […]
The post PUBG’s India Rival FAU-G Gets Big Response first appeared on The Florida Star | The Georgia Star.
The coronavirus COVID-19 is surging in the U.S., which has reported more than 15 million cases and 286,000 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. President-elect Joe Biden has said the incoming administration will ensure the country will have 100 million doses available during his first […]
Press Release International Anti-Corruption Day Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) and the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zimbabwe Chapter join the rest of the world in commemorating the 2020 International Anti-Corruption Day, under the theme United Against Corruption. The Global commemorations are coming against a backdrop of social and economic impacts of corruption in Zimbabwe. The Commemorations are therefore aimed at raising public awareness about these socio-economic effects of corruption and encourage participation of stakeholders in the fight against the scourge of corruption. Additionally, it is a reflective moment for all stakeholders to take stock of the progress made towards the anti-corruption agenda globally and Zimbabwe in particular. Corruption continues to be one of the governance challenges in Zimbabwe. This is despite the existence of robust legal, policy and institutional frameworks including Prevention of Corruption Act [Chapter 9:16] and the recently launched National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2020-2024. Evidently, corruption is entrenched in the political and socio-economic spheres, and it is increasingly becoming a cultural attribute in public and private sectors. COVID-19 brought to light the rot in the public sector especially in the health sector, a case in point being that of the DRAX Scandal. Consequently, government’s failure to curb corruption results in skewed service delivery and exclusion of vulnerable and minority groups in development processes. TIZ and APNAC, Zimbabwe Chapter underscore the fact that corruption tears down the social fabric and negates any progressive efforts in realising development initiatives such as Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, all stakeholders, public and private, should collectively respond to the call for collective action against corruption in Zimbabwe. Transparency and accountability remain key principles of good governance and both TI Z and APNAC Zimbabwe have been making clarion calls for government to uphold these two key pillars of good governance. However, we would like to acknowledge the development and implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy which places emphasis on strong institutions to promote good governance. Citizens remain key stakeholders in the fight against corruption. Nevertheless, for them to play an active role, they require protection both at law and in practice. To this end, the government must guarantee the protection of whistle-blowers through the enactment of a Whistle-blower Protection Legislation consistent with Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) on protection of reporting persons which Zimbabwe is a signatory to. We therefore implore all law enforcement agencies to cooperate in the fight against corruption. This enjoins law enforcement agencies to effectively handle corruption cases to enable the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and courts of law to act upon the cases in a timely and effective manner. Responsible anti-co
Tyga Launches His Own Lifestyle and OnlyFans Management Company, Too Raww