Monthly Archives: March 2019

Ugandan farmers test big-data solution to climate challenges

KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Peter Alisengawa, a farmer in Namungwale village in eastern Uganda, was struggling to grow enough maize to support his family a few years ago. Despite getting regular advice through his local cooperative, he could not afford to act on it. “Without money, you can do nothing,” he said. “They were giving us all these trainings,… Read more »

Factbox: Cyclone Idai kills 686, displaces hundreds of thousands

BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people are in need of food, water and shelter after Cyclone Idai battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.Survivors of cyclone Idai cross a temporary bridge as they arrive at Coppa business centre to receive aid in Chipinge, Zimbabwe, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo As of Tuesday, at least 686 people had been reported… Read more »

Nearly 2 million Mozambicans in need after cyclone: U.N.

BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) – Cyclone Idai’s deadly hit has left some 1.85 million people in need of assistance in Mozambique, the U.N. humanitarian agency said on Tuesday, as relief workers assess the scale of the disaster and determine what help is most urgently needed. “Some will be in critical, life threatening situations,” Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, coordinator in the U.N. Office… Read more »

Journalists protest in Khartoum over crackdown on press freedoms

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Dozens of journalists marched in Khartoum on Monday to demand an end to a crackdown on press freedom amidst the most sustained challenge to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir since he took power in a 1989 coup.FILE PHOTO: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, February 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File… Read more »

Mali leader sacks generals, disbands vigilantes after massacre

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita sacked and replaced two generals and disbanded an anti-jihadi vigilante group on Sunday, a day after gunmen massacred 134 Fulani herders in the country’s troubled central region. The ethnic bloodshed took place less than a week after a deadly assault by jihadists on an army post killed at least 23 soldiers, also… Read more »

Analysis on “Niger has the world’s highest birth rate – and that may be a recipe for unrest”

This article discusses how fertility has declined everywhere in the world except for the fact that Niger’s is growing and it is the fastest growing birth rate in the world. In Niger, the average woman has 7.2 and the annual growth rate of the country is currently at 3.8%. This article discusses how larger and more youthful population normally can… Read more »

South Africa’s 2019 maize crop seen down 16 percent on drought conditions: Reuters poll

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa is likely to harvest 16 percent less maize in 2019 compared with the previous season after drought delayed plantings, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. The government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC), which will provide its second production forecast for the 2019 crop on Tuesday, is seen pegging the harvest at 10.482 million tonnes, down from… Read more »

Eskom price hike to cost South Africa 90,000 mining jobs: mines council

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s gold and platinum mines will shed around 90,000 jobs in the next three years as above-inflation electricity price increases by power utility Eskom add to already soaring operating costs, an industry body said on Monday.FILE PHOTO: Miner works deep underground at Sibanye Gold’s Masimthembe shaft in Westonaria, South Africa, April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo… Read more »

Congo Ebola epidemic exceeds 1,000 cases: health ministry

DAKAR (Reuters) – Congo’s Ebola epidemic has now exceeded 1,000 cases, the Health Ministry said on Monday, with a death toll of 629 in the world’s second worst ever outbreak. Health workers have been better prepared than ever for this latest epidemic of the hemorrhagic fever, which causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, and kills more than half those it… Read more »