ASMARA | Edumund Blair | Feb 29, 2016 | REUTERS Europe's migration crisis and the conflict in Yemen have created opportunities for Eritrea to draw closer to the European Union and Gulf Arab states, offering the poor Horn of Africa nation the chance to end isolation it blames on U.N. sanctions. In Reuters interviews in the capital Asmara, Eritrean government ministers … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2016
Head in the cloud
Sophie McBain | 23 February 2016 | NEW STATESMAN As we download ever more of our lives on to electronic devices, are we destroying our own internal memory? I do not remember my husband’s telephone number, or my best friend’s address. I have forgotten my cousin’s birthday, my seven times table, the date my grandfather died. When I write, I keep at least a … [Read more...]
The Surprising History Behind Leap Year
Brian Handwerk | February 26, 2016 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC The ancient Egyptians did it, and so do we. Here's how a leap day—which occurs February 29—helps keep our calendars and societies in sync. It's that time again: This Monday, February 29, is a leap day, the calendar oddity that occurs (almost) every four years. For centuries, trying to … [Read more...]
The Unaccountable Death of Boris Nemtsov
Joshua Yaffa | February 26, 2016 | THE NEW YORKER On Saturday afternoon, friends and colleagues of Boris Nemtsov, joined by thousands of others, will march in Moscow, marking a year since the day Nemtsov was assassinated. Late in the evening on February 27th, 2015, Nemtsov was walking home across a bridge that spans the Moscow River, not far from the Kremlin and the bulbous … [Read more...]
African Farmers Struggle to Feed Continent’s Booming Population
Michael Cohen and Eric Ombok | February 16, 2016 | BLOOMBERG Josephine Mbinya bends from the waist to pluck beans from the black soil on her smallholding south of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. She throws them in a heap on the side of the field. “We depend on the farm for all our needs,” said Mbinya, 52, a widow who also farms tomatoes, corn and livestock to support her … [Read more...]
More cooperation on the dam
Doaa El-Bey | 25 February, 2016 | AL-AHRAM Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to boost cooperation at a summit meeting held this week, but failed to take tangible steps on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, writes Doaa El-Bey Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters at a summit meeting held between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan this week that the issue of … [Read more...]
Donald Trump Is Winning Because White America Is Dying
Matt Ferner National Reporter | 02/25/2016 THE HUFFINGTON POST Noam Chomsky says Trump's rise is partly due to deeply rooted -- and potentially fatal -- feelings of fear and anger. Noam Chomsky, the renowned scholar and MIT professor emeritus, says that the rise of Donald Trump in American politics is, in part, fueled by deeply rooted fear and hopelessness that may … [Read more...]
Eritrea looks to build mining sector to kick-start economy
ASMARA | Edmund Blair | Fri Feb 26, 2016 | REUTERS Eritrea expects to have four mines in operation by 2018 producing gold, copper, zinc and potash as one of Africa's poorest nations looks to build an industry that can kick-start its economy, a top mining official told Reuters. Eritrea's artisanal miners have long scratched for gold nuggets on deposits that stretch … [Read more...]
Calais Jungle clearance: French court approves demolition of part of migrant camp
John Lichfield Paris | 25 February 2016 | THE INDEPENDENT Migrants will be offered places in transit camps in other parts of France where they can start the procedure for seeking asylum if they wish A French court has approved plans to clear part of the Jungle refugee camp near Calais but ordered the French government to spare the makeshift huts used as schools, a cinema, … [Read more...]
Democrats v autocrats in Africa: is there a winning formula? – podcast
Presented by Hugh Muir and produced by Simon Barnard | THE GUARDIAN As the dust settles on the elections in Uganda, where Yoweri Museveni has prolonged a presidential reign of longer than 30 years, Hugh Muir looks at the trade-offs between progress and freedom. Last week, Ugandans voted in presidential elections and, amid allegations of intimidation and vote-rigging, the … [Read more...]