tag > Africa
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1880-85, Algeria: Wonderful view of the river at El Cantara (Now El Kantara, "the bridge")
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Africa's drought crisis: Zimbabwe seeks solutions, Madagascar edges toward famine
Multi-year drought in Madagascar is pushing 1.35m to famine -with those suffering from hunger up 85% on last year. Similar story unfolding in Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia. “We haven't harvested anything for almost 2 years”
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Aït-Ben-Haddou (ⴰⵢⵜ ⴱⴻⵏⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ; آيت بن حدّو) - Historic Kasbah in Morocco
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Swiss strike carbon offset deal with Ghanaian govt
Some of Switzerland's carbon dioxide emissions are to be offset through projects in Ghana, the Swiss government announced, after concluding a similar deal last month with Peru.
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Plastic Politics: Kenya is not a dumping ground for US plastic
In April, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), members of which include Shell, Exxon, Total, DuPont and Dow, proposed investments in recycling in Kenya, provided that the recipient country accepts US plastic waste. Kenya would get about 500 million tonnes of plastic waste exports from the US per year.
Until January 2018, most of the world’s plastic waste was sent to China. Beijing decided that the environmental risks were not worth it and refused to continue. That led to plastic exports to Africa quadrupling in 2019.
But lack of infrastructure and rapid urbanisation mean Africa faces challenges just in managing its own solid waste. Researchers led by Jenna Jambeck have estimated that Africa’s total mismanaged plastic waste may more than double from 4.4 million metric tons in 2010 to 10.5 million metric tons in 2025.
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Tourists stay away as Egypt reopens oldest pyramid (al-monitor)
A guide sits on a stone as he looks at the Djoser's step pyramid, in Saqqara, Egypt, March 5, 2011. No tourists are in sight near Giza's pyramids as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on the country’s tourism industry, casting a shadow over the reopening of Egypt’s oldest pyramid after the completion of a major restoration project. Egypt has reopened its oldest pyramid, Djoser in Saqqara, south of Cairo, after a major restoration project that lasted 14 years. Djoser, a 4,700-year-old pyramid located in Memphis, the first Egyptian capital, is the oldest standing pyramid in Egypt.
According to official figures, tourism revenues in Egypt jumped by more than 28% to record about $12.6 billion in the fiscal year 2018-2019 ending last June 30, compared to $9.8 billion during the fiscal year 2017-2018.
Tourism has become the country’s third-largest source of national income after remittances from Egyptians abroad.
Egypt's Pyramids, Sphinx shine in red to mark Chinese New Year (2020, Xinhua)
A pyramid is illuminated in red in Giza, Egypt, on Jan. 23, 2020. The Great Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza near the Egyptian capital Cairo have been shining in red in a ceremonial sound and light show on Thursday evening as part of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year. "Today, the Pyramids Plateau is distinguished by wonderful lights as the Chinese red lanterns integrate with the beautiful Egyptian pyramids, marking a meeting between the two old civilizations of China and Egypt," Shi Yuewen, cultural counselor of the Chinese embassy in Egypt and CCC chief, told the attendees.
Egypt sees surging number of Chinese tourists (2019)
Cultural counselor to Egypt, Shi Yuewen, says tourist visitations could exceed 500,000 in 2019
Egypt cancels Chinese flights amid coronavirus outbreak (egyptindependent)
An official statement published by the Association of Egyptian Travel Agencies announced that Egypt has suspended all flights from or to China amid an eruption of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Trips for approximately 30,000 Chinese tourists expected to visit Egypt in the winter season were cancelled.
Coronavirus: Is Egypt suppressing the true outbreak figures? (March 2020, DW)
Cairo has severely underreported the number of positive cases in the country, according to researchers. But authorities have taken it a step further by arresting people circulating figures higher than the official tally.
China, Egypt inspect, seal smuggled ancient Chinese coins (Dec, 2019)
A delegation of Chinese officials from Chinese embassy in Egypt and officials from Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities inspected and sealed dozens of smuggled ancient Chinese coins in Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria, a Chinese official said on Monday. Egyptian customs in Alexandria seized in 2018 more than 30 ancient Chinese coins and most of them were from China's Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), while most ancient ones dating back to the fourth century B.C., said Chinese Cultural Counselor to Egypt Shi Yuewen, who was a member of the delegation. More than 20 of these coins were identified as national cultural relics by experts from the Chinese State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Egypt will officially return the coins to China in the near future, according to Shi Yuewen.
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South Sudan Is Building Its Electric Grid Virtually From Scratch (IEEE Spectrum)
Jacob M. Deng, in a khaki suit, talks with utility workers during the commissioning of a substation in Juba, South Sudan. The government could instead partner with private investors to “lay decentralized grid networks” and provide incentives for “a mix of solar, small hydro and thermal power” that’s generated by independent producers, households, and institutions, the Sudd Institute, an independent research organization, wrote in a 2018 report. That way, should the country’s fragile peace unfurl, people would still have access to electricity to meet their basic needs.
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Situated on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo along the banks of Osun River, the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is a dense forest famous for being the home of the goddess of fertility in Yoruba land. The forest houses shrines, sculpture, art works and the sacred river. There is a festival celebrated in the month of August every year. (See this overview video)
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Music of the week: Anything by King Sunny Adé
Chief Sunday Adeniyi Adegeye MFR (born 1946), is a Nigerian jùjú singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is regarded as one of the first African pop musicians to gain international success, and has been called one of the most influential musicians of all time.
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Marian Chertow Talks About Industrial Ecology and Symbiosis in the Developing World
Marian Chertow, Professor of Industrial Environmental Management, talks about industrial ecology and symbiosis in the developing world. Professor Chertow’s research and teaching focus on industrial ecology, circular economy, waste management, and urban sustainability. Her work has championed the study of industrial symbiosis involving geographically based exchanges of materials, energy, water, and wastes within networks of businesses globally. She also has carried out many studies of industrial ecology in China, India, and other emerging market countries as a way to value environmental benefits alongside economic ones.
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Susanne Wenger from Austria came to Nigeria in 1950. She dedicated her life to Nigeria's Yoruba culture and kept working till she passed away in 2009.
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Music of the Month: Haruna Ishola (1919–1983)
Haruna Ishola Bello M.O.N. (Member of the Order of the Niger) was a Nigerian musician, and one of the most popular artists in the apala genre. In the decades leading up to Nigerian independence in 1960, apala music developed when amateur musicians would play to arouse the faithful after the long fast of Ramadan.
Much like Cuban Santeria and Haitian vodoun, the music of Nigeria's Yoruba tribe is believed to have mythical powers, either to heal or to curse. Chief Haruna Ishola's brand of Apala music is treated with the same reverence typically reserved for the Orishas - the Yoruba pantheon of deities - and it was believed that his singing was so powerful it could kill its intended recipient if not properly restrained. (source)
