HRW: Ghana urgent need to fix mental health system
“The UN expert on torture expressed serious concerns about the use of electro-shock therapy and prolonged shackling of people with mental disabilities. He sent a clear message: the Ghanaian government...
View ArticleSouth Africa to issue fracking permits next year
South Africa’s first shale exploration permits since the fracking moratorium will be issued in the first quarter of 2014, SA’s Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has said. Bloomberg reports that...
View ArticleOut of spotlight, humanitarian crisis continues in Mali
GAO/BAMAKO (IRIN) - Eleven months after French forces dislodged Islamist militants from northern Mali, the region’s humanitarian crisis is far from over. Hunger levels are higher this year than last,...
View ArticleDRC: Parliament votes to end power monopoly
The Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) voted to end the monopoly of state-owned Société Mationale d'Electricité (SNEL), a week after the lower chamber of parliament voted on the...
View ArticleDRC Inga mega hydropower plant implementation advances with AfDB support
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved US $68 million in financing for the multinational Inga Site Development and Electricity Access Support Project (PASEL). The...
View ArticleNew ONE Report: It's time to stop saying 'AIDS in Africa'
WASHINGTON – A new ONE report on the state of the global fight against HIV/AIDS has found widely divergent progress in efforts to control the disease, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa—so much so...
View ArticleDisease, hunger feared after cyclone hits Somalia
NAIROBI (IRIN) - Two weeks after a tropical cyclone struck the northeast coast of Somalia, killing more than 100 people and thousands of head of livestock, important infrastructure lies in ruins and...
View ArticleGlencore Xstrata lists on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Johannesburg - Glencore Xstrata (GLN), one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resources company, recently listed on the JSE’s Main Board. With a global market capitalisation of...
View ArticleDebate over GM food in Africa
KISUMU/KAMPALA (IRIN) - Even as food insecurity continues to afflict impoverished and disaster-affected populations around the continent, African policymakers and consumers remain deeply divided over...
View Article