|Pic: Shutterstock.comNorth India's cotton yarn market faces a ₹3 per kg decline due to weak demand and limited interest from foreign buyers at a Chinese yarn fair. Conversely, Delhi's market remains stable, considering a price increase in light of rising cotton costs. Panipat's market stays steady in recycled yarn but experiences a ₹3 per kg rise in cotton comber prices.
Benin’s President Patrice Talon has abolished entry visa for Chinese investors and tourists wishing to visit the West African country, his office has announced on September 3. The decision was made during the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). Both signed a package of bilateral cooperation documents on deepening cooperation on the Belt and Road, green development, digital economy, agriculture, food, and healthcare. Talon also announced that any Chinese company that chooses to invest in Benin will get a joint Chinese-Benin state investment. Trade volume between the two countries according to Talon hit $2 billion in 2022, an increase by more than 30 percent year-on-year.
Zimbabwe’s overseeing body for communications, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), has sounded the alarm about the unauthorized utilization of Starlink services. For Starlink to be operational in Zimbabwe, it must first obtain a direct license from POTRAZ. Despite Starlink’s announcement of its intent to commence services in Zimbabwe in the third quarter of 2023, they haven’t yet acquired the needed license. This move by Zimbabwe mirrors South Africa’s recent stringent measures concerning Starlink. Just two weeks prior, South Africa’s telecommunication authority prohibited the import, distribution, and use of Starlink services until the company, owned by Elon Musk, meets the necessary licensing criteria.
ShareOn Friday, the Kenyan administration disclosed its strategy to introduce electric motorbikes nationwide. President Ruto highlighted that approximately two million motorbikes, predominantly known as “boda bodas” or two-wheeler taxis, are currently operational in Kenya, a mode of transport prevalent throughout Africa. He cautioned about the rising usage of such vehicles across Africa, noting its potential detrimental impact on climate change and air purity. Their vision encompasses the potential deployment of over a million electric vehicles in Kenya. As per official statistics, electric vehicles (EVs) constitute less than 1% of the total 4.4 million registered vehicles in Kenya.
On October 4, 2022, Elon Musk expressed his intentions by stating, “Purchasing Twitter is a step towards developing X, the all-in-one app.” After nine months, this vision became more evident when he rebranded Twitter as X. Introducing financial transactions is the initial stage in Musk’s plan to evolve X into this multifunctional app. As per the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) — an organization overseeing US mortgage lending, X has been granted a money transmitting license in seven American states. Entities holding this license serve as a bridge for individuals or businesses aiming to transfer funds internationally. X’s Potential Use of the LicenseWhile X hasn’t explicitly mentioned its plans for the license, it now can facilitate money transfers in the seven states where it has been licensed.
Morocco’s trade deficit shrank 6.5% as the country’s energy imports dropped 20%, Morocco’s foreign exchange office said. Energy imports stood at 69 billion dirhams, offsetting a drop in phosphates and fertilizers exports by 40% to 40.8 billion dirhams, due to lower prices. State-owned phosphates and fertilizers producer said a few days ago its sales were still higher compared to 2021, prior to price hikes. Car industry exports rose 37% to 82 billion dirhams, signaling strong demand across all segments of the sector. Tourism receipt spiked 50% to 57 billion dirhams and remittances from Moroccan expatriates continue on their upward trend to 66 billion dirhams, up 10%.
A Michelin star can be a game changer for a chef, but it appears that black chefs are woefully underrepresented in the company’s star system. Despite the expansion of the company’s guides, it is the rare black chef that earns this recognition with all of 6 getting the nod. The chefs are Michael Caines, Charlie Mitchell, Marcel Ravin, Mory Sacko, Gerald Sombright and Georgiana Viou. Michelin publishes no guides for the Caribbean and Africa. The Michelin website lists more than 16,000 restaurants, including ones “recommended” by Michelin – places deemed notable but not worthy of a star.
“We need some reassurances,” Gabon’s business leaders said the day after the coup d’état. After receiving more than 200 Gabonese business leaders on the afternoon of 31 August, the coup leaders issued a statement saying that it was business as usual in the West African state. There's more to this story Get unlimited access to our exclusive journalism and features today. Our award-winning team of correspondents and editors report from over 54 African countries, from Cape Town to Cairo, from Abidjan to Abuja to Addis Ababa. Subscribe Now cancel anytime Already a a subscriber Sign In
This follows a report published by UNICEF on Friday indicating that children in the continent face extraordinarily high climate change-related hazards and risks. The report's publication came in the runup to the Africa Climate Summit, due to open in Nairobi on Monday. Despite the risks, the report said, children are neglected in climate financing that could help them adapt to, survive and respond to the climate crisis. The report, "Time to Act: African Children in the Climate Change Spotlight", said children in 48 out of 49 African countries assessed are categorized as at high or extremely high risk of the impacts of climate change. Kitka Goyol, a UNICEF climate, water and sanitation expert, said children and communities in northern Africa tend to be exposed to higher risks related to water scarcity and air pollution.
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"The implementation of Huawei cloud is not just about us, but is a bridge that will bring other Chinese companies to Saudi Arabia," said Steven Yi, the company's regional president. The step would contribute to the development of the country's digital economy, he said, adding that Huawei opened its regional headquarters in the Saudi capital this year. Saudi Arabia has previously said it would not sign contracts with foreign companies that did not have regional headquarters in the kingdom after this year. Huawei ranked fifth in the global cloud services market in the first quarter, with a market share of 2.4%, although it was the second-largest vendor in mainland China, according to research consultancy Canalys. In February Huawei said it would invest $400 million in the Saudi Arabia cloud region over the next five years.
As South Africa grapples with an unprecedented energy crisis, attention is given to Steenbras as a viable solution and factors exacerbating the loadshedding problem. Several breakdowns, amounting to 16,572MW of generating capacity being offline and an additional 6,287MW out for planned maintenance, compound the situation. Several generating units at various power stations have been taken offline for repairs, with delays in returning certain units causing further capacity constraints. In the same period, a generating unit at Arnot, Camden and Grootvlei power stations were returned to service. As the nation navigates this energy predicament, municipalities’ collaboration with Eskom, infrastructures like Steenbras, and the collective effort of citizens will be crucial.
Severe flash flooding swept through areas of northwester Algeria after heavy rainfall from 02 to 03 September 2023. Several people were reported missing in Tlemcen and El Bayadh Provinces. Civil Protection teams using sniffer dogs and special equipment were deployed to the area and carried out extensive searches. As of late 03 September, Civil Protection confirmed that 4 people died inside a vehicle swept away by the flooding Wadi Dalia in Bab Al-Assa municipality in Tlemcen Province. Civil Protection later said that the child had been mistakenly reported missing and was not in the vehicle at the time of the incident.
More than $83 billion in climate financing was given to poorer countries in 2020, a 4% increase from the previous year but still short of the goal set in 2009. But to unlock it, Africa needs funding from countries that have got rich off our suffering,” Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa said ahead of the summit. As Kenya’s president spoke, hundreds of people joined a “people’s march” on climate in Nairobi holding signs demanding the targeting of fossil fuels. One project being protested is the TotalEnergies-funded 897-mile (1,443-kilometer) East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania. Other challenges for the African continent include simply being able to forecast and monitor the weather in order to avert thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damages that, like climate change itself, have effects far beyond the continent.
Without a pass from the apartheid government to work there, people were “denied a place” in Johannesburg, the inscription reads. It’s what is known in Johannesburg as a “hijacked building.” There are hundreds of them in the crumbling city center. What appeared to anger South Africans in the aftermath of the nightime fire that killed entire families was the admission by city officials that it was a city-owned building. People keep coming to the “city of gold.”What they find now is the surrounding Gauteng province’s unemployment rate of 36% — even higher than South Africa’s national figure of 33%, itself the worst in the world. Johannesburg still has more millionaires than any other city on the continent, according to this year’s World’s Wealthiest Cities Report.
