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☆ The man in charge of deporting Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' explains how he plans to fly 70 of them across the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Crystal Raypole | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Authorities plan to relocate 70 of the hippos living wild in Colombia, but it's not an easy task. Very carefully, according to David Echeverri López, head of Biodiversity Management, Protected Areas, and Ecosystem Services at Cornare in Colombia. So, authorities will continue pursuing other options, from sterilization to searching for other zoos and sanctuaries willing to take hippos. The thickness of a hippo's skin, and the density of their subcutaneous tissue, also makes it challenging to deliver enough anesthesia to keep them asleep for the right amount of time. Cornare has sterilized 13 hippos, López said, and relocated seven to zoos in Colombia.

☆ Explainer: International Women’s Day: date, history and this year’s theme
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Josie Kao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

March 6 (Reuters) - As the world gears up to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) on Wednesday, here is a look at what the global event stands for, this year's theme and the issues that activists are focusing on. WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY? WHAT IS THIS YEAR'S INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY THEME? The U.N.'s theme this year is "DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality." WHY IS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IMPORTANT?

☆ French court dismisses Uganda lawsuit against TotalEnergies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A French civil court ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit brought by campaigners against energy major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) over its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania was inadmissible. TotalEnergies in a statement to Reuters said the court had found it "formally established a vigilance plan comprising the five items required by the duty of vigilance law, in sufficient detail so as not to be considered purely summary". The court in its ruling, the first based on the 2017 law, said nothing prevented France from enacting laws that govern the overseas activities of companies present in France. TotalEnergies had argued a French court did not have jurisdiction over the overseas activities of its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Uganda. Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ French court to rule on landmark TotalEnergies Uganda case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A French court on Tuesday could order oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) to halt the development of an east Africa pipeline in a landmark case based on legislation that makes big companies liable for risks to the environment and human rights. TotalEnergies has argued that its vigilance, compensation and relocalisation plans are fair and legal, and that a French court does not have the power to control the overseas activities of its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Uganda. The non-governmental organisations behind the suit seek an emergency suspension of TotalEnergies' east Africa projects until financial compensation has been paid to those they say have been harmed as a result of those plans. In a statement to Reuters on Monday, TotalEnergies said its vigilance plan had been implemented effectively in the projects under scrutiny. Reporting by America Hernandez, Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw. South Korea Indonesia Israel Thailand Japan Saudi Arabia Philippines Afghanistan CambodiaBy contrast, Russia seemed isolated. Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus Syria Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus SyriaBut the West never won over as much of the world as it initially seemed. But like many other African countries, South Africa appears careful to balance its growing ties with Russia against maintaining a relationship with the West. Others that provided Ukraine with military support have declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

☆ Uganda, Other African Nations Push for Fossil-Fuel Projects
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | Photographs Badru Katumba For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK, Uganda—A herd of elephants stomped through savannah grasslands to the throbbing sounds of bulldozers preparing oil wells that will soon start feeding a 900-mile pipeline from this wildlife and nature reserve. The $10 billion project has become a flashpoint in the global battle against climate change, as some African governments with unexplored natural resources seek to resist a global push to limit investment in new fossil-fuel projects.

☆ Uganda says it will not renew mandate of U.N. human rights office
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KAMPALA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Uganda has said it will not renew the mandate of the United Nations' human rights office in the East African country, citing the development of its own sufficient capacity to monitor rights compliance. "The ministry wishes to convey the government's decision not to renew the mandate of the OHCHR Country office in Uganda beyond the current term," said the letter, which the ministry confirmed to Reuters as authentic. OHCHR Uganda country office spokesperson Bernard Amwine told Reuters he had no comment. President Yoweri Museveni's government has over the years been criticised by the opposition, human rights activists and Western countries for various rights violations including torture, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings of opponents and critics. The OHCHR Uganda office was established in 2006 and was initially allowed to focus only on human rights issues in conflict-plagued areas in Uganda's north and northeast, according to the Uganda government.

☆ Facebook co-founder Moskovitz funds research into cooling the Earth with sunlight reflection
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

(It's sometimes called solar radiation modification or solar geoengineering.) But it's potentially important, it could be very, very helpful, it could be disastrous," Stone told CNBC. And so it goes for solar geoengineering," Stone said. Everyone perceives it to be controversial," Camilloni told CNBC. "This is no one's Plan A for how you deal with climate risk, and whatever happens, we have to cut our emissions," Stone told CNBC.

☆ East African regional leaders demand ceasefire in eastern Congo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Clement Manirabarusha | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUJUMBURA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - East African regional leaders on Saturday renewed their call for an immediate ceasefire by all sides in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that pits the country's military against a rebel group it has accused Rwanda of supporting. At a summit in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, the leaders of the regional East African Community (EAC) bloc called for an "immediate ceasefire by all parties," according to a communique issued at the end of the meeting. The conflict has inflamed regional tensions with Congo accusing neighbour Rwanda of backing and sponsoring the Tutsi-led rebellion. United Nations experts and Western powers have also accused Rwanda of backing the M23, although Rwanda has denied any involvement. Saturday's summit was attended by heads of state from Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi and senior officials from the region.

☆ Davos 2023: 'Keep it in the ground' Greta Thunberg tells protest at end of WEF
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Maha El Dahan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Climate activist Greta Thunberg takes part in a protest on the last day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Greta Thunberg and around 30 other activists braved sub-zero temperatures on Friday in a protest calling for climate justice as the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting wound up in Davos. Now" and "Fossil fuels have got to go", while Thunberg held up a sign saying "Keep it in the ground". The 20-year-old Swedish activist stuck to her stance against all new oil, gas and coal developments during the fringe event, that was not part of the official conference agenda. In 2019, the then 16-year-old Thunberg took part in the main WEF meeting, famously telling leaders that "our house is on fire".

☆ Protesters target BNP in Paris over loan to oil company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Sarah MeyssonnierPARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Protesters from ecological movement Extinction Rebellion rallied outside a BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) building in Paris on Friday to oppose the French bank's loan to an oil major leading in an East African oil pipeline project. EACOP is the acronym for the $3.5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a project run by France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) whose construction licence was approved by Ugandan authorities on Thursday. BNP Paribas decided not to finance the EACOP project in 2021, but last year participated in a one-year liquidity loan of $8 billion to TotalEnergies as one of a dozen banks. One protester, referring to the loan, said "this blank check allows TotalEnergies to finance absolutely anything it wants, so yes BNP Paribas may not directly underwrite the project but it still remains the second-largest financial partner." The bank has a goal to finance 30 billion euros ($32.5 billion) of renewable energy projects by 2025.

☆ Davos 2023: Greta Thunberg accuses energy firms of throwing people 'under the bus'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Maha El Dahan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The world's most powerful activist confronted the man in charge of regulating global energy in Davos on Thursday, demanding an end to fossil fuel investments. Greta Thunberg urged IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol to stop the global energy industry and the financiers who support them from fuelling carbon investments. "As long as they can get away with it they will continue to invest in fossil fuels, they will continue to throw people under the bus," Thunberg warned. He also said he was less pessimistic than the climate activists about the shift to clean energy. Asked why she did not want to advocate for change from the inside, Thunberg said there were already activists doing that.

☆ UN chief slams fossil fuel industry expansion in Davos speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Guterres pointed blame squarely at the fossil fuel industry when addressing the Davos crowd, composed of billionaires, politicians and business leaders, including dozes of high level executives from the world’s biggest oil and gas companies. And like the tobacco industry, those responsible must be held to account,” Guterres told the conference. A new report published on Tuesday by the campaign group Reclaim Finance revealed that dozens of banks and financial institutions with net zero pledges are still pouring money into fossil fuels. Since signing, however, it found members have invested hundreds of billions into fossil fuels. Guterres called on companies to “put forward credible and transparent transition plans on how to achieve net zero,” by the end of 2023.

☆ Uganda Declares End of Deadly Ebola Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is over, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday, capping a nearly four-month struggle to contain a rare strain of the highly contagious virus for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. Uganda’s Health Ministry said 42 days had passed since the last known patient diagnosed with the Sudan strain of Ebola was discharged from a hospital, taking the country beyond twice the virus’s maximum incubation period. Fifty-five people are confirmed to have died from the virus since September in the second-deadliest known Ebola outbreak in Uganda’s history, while at least 142 were infected. The ministry said another 22 people are believed to have died from the virus as far back as early August, but were never tested.

☆ Uganda’s latest Ebola outbreak is over, WHO and officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: 1 min

Uganda’s latest outbreak of the Ebola virus is over. Uganda’s government and the World Health Organization made the announcement Wednesday. The Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, unlike the Zaire strain that has caused outbreaks in neighboring Congo in recent years, has no proven vaccine. This outbreak was the first in a decade of the less common Sudan strain. Ebola, which can sometimes manifest as a hemorrhagic fever, spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.

☆ Uganda declares over Ebola outbreak that killed 55
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Elias Biryabarema | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Motorists and cyclists are seen at a traffic light intersection in Kabuusu area of the Lubaga division amid the Ebola outbreak in Kampala, Uganda November 16, 2022. "We have successfully controlled the spread of Ebola in Uganda," Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said during a ceremony to mark the outbreak's end. The outbreak killed 55 of the 143 people infected since September, according to health ministry figures. Unlike the more common strain of the virus, Ebola Zaire, which has been behind several recent epidemics in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, the strain behind Uganda's outbreak, Ebola Sudan, has no proven vaccine. Even so, experts said Uganda's experience battling previous outbreaks of Ebola and its viral cousin Marburg helped its response.

☆ Uganda declares itself Ebola-free after swiftly turning tide on outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Elias Biryabarema | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Motorists and cyclists are seen at a traffic light intersection in Kabuusu area of the Lubaga division amid the Ebola outbreak in Kampala, Uganda November 16, 2022. "We have successfully controlled the spread of Ebola in Uganda," Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said during a ceremony to mark the outbreak's end. Aceng said this was Uganda's eighth Ebola outbreak since 2000, when the country recorded its first and most deadly one that killed more than half of the 425 people it infected. In the early weeks of the outbreak, cases spread beyond the epicentre of Mubende, 150 km (90 miles) west of the capital Kampala, to several other districts, including Kampala. Unlike the more common strain of the virus, Ebola Zaire, which has been behind several recent epidemics in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, the strain behind Uganda's outbreak, Ebola Sudan, has no proven vaccine.

☆ WhatsApp's new feature could help Iranians bypass censors and coordinate protests during government-imposed internet blackouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Messaging platform WhatsApp will help users bypass repressive restrictions using proxy servers. This follows a string of internet shutdowns in Iran, imposed amid ongoing anti-government protests. The move follows a string of internet shutdowns by Iranian authorities in an attempt to quash dissent and clamp down on anti-government protests. WhatsApp's new feature will allow users to go online using proxy servers, which can help mask their location and bypass government-imposed controls and restrictions. This will enable people to keep using WhatsApp even if their connection is blocked or disrupted — and maintain contact with family, friends, or fellow protesters.

☆ Fact Check-No reports of an Ebola virus outbreak at GW Hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

There is no evidence of a patient testing positive for the Ebola virus at The George Washington (GW) University Hospital in Washington, D.C., health officials told Reuters. Users online are sharing a claim that the hospital is no longer accepting patients out of concern over a possible Ebola outbreak. Examples of users sharing images of a tweet that reads, “BREAKING NEWS: GW HOSPITAL isn’t accepting no patients due to a possible EBOLA OUTBREAK. Also Washington Hospital Center has no bed space with a line out the door” can be seen on Facebook (here) and (here). There has not been a reported case of a patient who tested positive for the Ebola virus at GW Hospital, health officials told Reuters.

☆ Several children die in stampede in Uganda at New Year's Eve celebration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A stampede occurred at a New Years concert and fireworks display in Uganda. Witnesses say the event occurred when people rushed down stairs to get off a platform. Nine people died during a stampede at a concert and fireworks celebration Saturday in Kampala, the country's largest city, the BBC reported. Sylvia Nakalema, a witness who got caught in the stampede, told The Guardian, that the fireworks show turned deadly when viewers descended stairs from a platform where they had been watching. One in Seoul, South Korea, during a Halloween celebration in the city left 150 dead.

☆ Nine suffocate to death in Ugandan New Year firework crush, police say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - At least nine people including a 10-year-old boy suffocated to death as crowds rushing to see a New Year's firework display got stuck in a narrow corridor in a shopping mall near Uganda's capital, police said. People started pushing through a passage in the Freedom City Mall just after clocks struck midnight, the force said. In doing so, many people suffocated to death. People had been celebrating the New Year at the mall which is on a highway linking Kampala to Entebbe airport. Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Andrew HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Battery swapping spurs Kenya's electric motorbike drive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ayenat Mersie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Workers at ARC Ride assemble an electric motorcycle at the company's warehouse in Industrial Area, Nairobi, Kenya November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Monicah MwangiSummary Electric motorbike startups making inroads in KenyaSay battery swapping saves drivers time, moneyPlanning to expand model to Tanzania, UgandaNAIROBI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Over recent months, sets of sturdy, brightly-branded battery swapping stations have cropped up around Kenya's capital Nairobi, allowing electric motorcyclists to exchange their low battery for a fully-charged one. "It doesn't make a lot of economic and business sense for them to acquire a battery...which would almost double the cost of the bike," said Steve Juma, the co-founder of electric bike company Ecobodaa. EXPANSION PLANSEcobodaa is just one of several Nairobi-based electric motorcycle startups working to prove themselves in Kenya before eventually expanding in East Africa. "We're putting over 200 swapping stations in Nairobi and expanding to Dar es Salaam and Kampala," said Hurst-Croft.

☆ American couple charged with child trafficking in Uganda in foster child case
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

KAMPALA, Uganda — A Ugandan court has charged an American couple with child trafficking in a case that might see them serve life in prison if convicted. The prosecution told the court the couple had been staying with three foster children, including the boy. The case has an element of child trafficking because the couple was allegedly keeping and using the children to solicit money from donors, said Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesman Patrick Onyango. It’s not clear what the couple was doing in Uganda because they didn’t have work permits, he said. The law allows foreigners in Uganda to have foster children, Onyango said.

☆ A map shows the most popular Christmas dishes around the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Monica Pitrelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

To see who's eating what this weekend, the culinary website Chef's Pencil created a map showing what it says are the most popular Christmas dishes around the world. Those headed to parts of South America can too — the map shows turkey is a top Christmas food in Brazil, Chile and Peru. Source: Chef's PencilItalians traditionally eat veal, while Rwandans grill both beef and goat for Christmas, the map shows. Carp, a freshwater fish, is popular in Central and Eastern Europe, while saltwater cod tops holiday menus in Italy and Portugal, the map shows. In a post about Christmas in Portugal, the travel website Portuguese for a Day states, "Christmas is not Christmas without codfish on the table!"

☆ U.S. couple detained in Uganda gets fresh charge that carries death penalty
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Abubaker LubowaKAMPALA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. couple detained in Uganda on charges of aggravated torture of a 10-year-old boy face an additional charge of aggravated child trafficking which carries the death penalty if they are convicted, the state prosecutor said on Wednesday. The new charge sheet seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed the couple have additionally been charged with "aggravated trafficking in children". Attempts by Reuters to reach a lawyer for them via the court and the prosecutors' office were not immediately successful. Prosecutors accuse the couple of having recruited, transported and kept the child through "abuse of position of vulnerability for purposes of exploitation", according to the charge sheet. The first charge, aggravated torture of a child, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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