TalkAfrique News Flash, Author at TalkAfrique

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011

Mobiles ‘May Cause Brain Cancer’, WHO

The World Health Organization’s cancer research agency says mobile phones are “possibly carcinogenic”.

A review of evidence suggests an increased risk of a malignant type of brain cancer cannot be ruled out.

However, any link is not certain – they concluded that it was “not clearly established that it does cause cancer in humans”.

A cancer charity said the evidence was too weak to draw strong conclusions from.

A group of 31 experts has been meeting in Lyon, France, to review human evidence coming from epidemiological studies.

They said they looked at all relevant human studies of people using mobile phones and exposure to electromagnetic fields in their workplace.

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) can give mobile phones one of five scientific labels: carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, not classifiable or not carcinogenic.

It concluded that mobiles should be rated as “possibly carcinogenic” because of a possible link with a type of brain cancer – glioma.

Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: “The WHO’s verdict means that there is some evidence linking mobile phones to cancer but it is too weak to draw strong conclusions from.

What else is labelled possibly carcinogenic?

Car exhausts
Lead
Coffee
Dry cleaning

IARC classifications

“The vast majority of existing studies have not found a link between phones and cancer, and if such a link exists, it is unlikely to be a large one.

“The risk of brain cancer is similar in people who use mobile phones compared to those who don’t, and rates of this cancer have not gone up in recent years despite a dramatic rise in phone use during the 1980s.

“However, not enough is known to totally rule out a risk, and there has been very little research on the long-term effects of using phones.”

The WHO estimated that there are five billion mobile phone subscriptions globally.

Christopher Wild, director of the IARC, said: “Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings it is important that additional research be conducted into the long term, heavy use of mobile phones.

“Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands free devices or texting.”

By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News

May 31, 2011May 31, 2011

UN Calls for Better Grain Storage to Reduce Africa’s Post-harvest Losses

31 May 2011 – Large amounts of food in sub-Saharan Africa goes to waste as a result of inappropriate storage, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report unveiled today, which calls for investing in post-harvest technologies to reduce to the losses and boost the continent’s food security.

The joint FAO-World Bank report, entitled Missing Food: The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, estimates the value of grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa at around $4 billion a year.

“This lost food could meet the minimum annual food requirements of at least 48 million people,” said Maria Helena Semedo, the FAO Assistant Director-General. “If we agree that sustainable agricultural systems need to be developed to feed 9 billion people by 2050, addressing waste across the entire food chain must be a critical pillar of future national food strategies,” she said.

According to estimates provided by the African Postharvest Losses Information System, physical grain losses prior to processing can range from 10 to 20 per cent of African annual production, which is worth $27 billion.

Losses occur when grain decays or is infested by pests, fungi or microbes, and physical losses, but the waste can also be economic, resulting from low prices and lack of access to markets for poor quality or contaminated grain.

According to the report, food losses contribute to high food prices by removing part of the food supply from the market. They also have a negative environmental impact as land, water and resources such as fertilizer and energy are used to produce, process, handle and transport food that no one consumes.

“Reducing food losses is increasingly recognized as part of an integrated approach to realizing agriculture’s full potential, along with making effective use of today’s crops, improving productivity on existing farmland, and sustainably bringing additional acreage into production,” said Jamal Saghir, the Director of the Sustainable Development Department of the World Bank’s Africa Region.

A variety of practices and technologies are available for reducing post-harvest losses, including crop “protectants” and storage containers such as hermetically sealed bags and metallic silos, the report notes.

Those technologies have proved successful in Asia, but more research is needed to identify methods adapted to local environments in Africa. To succeed, interventions must be sensitive to local conditions and practices.

The report recommends that governments create enabling conditions for farmers by reducing market transaction costs through investing in infrastructure such as roads, electricity and water, and strengthening agricultural research and extension services.

May 26, 2011

French’s Sarkozy Offers Libya’s Gaddafi ‘Options’

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Libya’s Col Muammar Gaddafi to step down as “all options are open”.

“We are not saying that Gaddafi needs to be exiled. He must leave power and the quicker he does it, the greater his choice,” Mr Sarkozy told journalists.

He is hosting a meeting of leaders from the G8 group of wealthy nations in the northern French resort of Deauville.

The Arab uprisings, internet regulation and future of nuclear power are all being debated at the two-day summit.

The global economy and climate change are also being discussed at the gathering for the leaders of the US, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada.

Thousands of police have been deployed as part of a huge security operation and checkpoints have been erected on all roads leading to Deauville.

‘Plane ticket’

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, also at the G8 summit, has approved the deployment of Apache attack helicopters in Libya, the BBC has learned.

There had been speculation about the move after France said it would be deploying French Tiger helicopters.

Mr Sarkozy defended Nato’s intervention in Libya when he spoke to journalists on Thursday evening, saying “had we not stepped in [the rebel stronghold of] Benghazi would have been wiped off the map”.

He thanked Russia for not blocking the UN resolution authorising force despite Moscow’s misgivings, and said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev understood that “the blame lies with Col Gaddafi” and he had said so “frankly and unambiguously”.

He said the later Col Gaddafi stood down, “the shorter the list of his possible destinations”.

If Col Gaddafi stepped down and withdrew his forces quickly, President Sarkozy said, “all options are open”.

“Then we’ll look at what the name should be on the plane ticket and even what class he should travel,” he joked.

In other remarks, Mr Sarkozy said:

The violence used to crush pro-democracy protests in Syria was unacceptable and would be the subject of further talks at the summit
New rules on trade and the environment were needed to recognise emerging nations. Mr Sarkozy insisted France had supported a drive to give developing nations a greater voice in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite Paris’s backing for another European to go at its helm
There should be a new push for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and Europe and Russia should play a critical role along with the US in forging it

Mr Cameron has also talked about “turning up the pressure” on Col Gaddafi but the Apache helicopters will probably go into operation “within days” rather than overnight, says BBC political editor Nick Robinson.

Correspondents say recent events such as uprisings in the Arab world and Japan’s nuclear crisis have given the G8 a new sense of purpose.

Interim prime ministers from Tunisia and Egypt – where long-time leaders were overthrown this year – and the head of the Arab League will also be at Deauville for talks on a massive aid plan to help their transition to democracy.

Range of discussions

As the summit opened, the French and Russian leaders met to agree the sale of four French-built Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia at a cost of at least 400m euros each (£350m; $565m).

Leaders debated ways of improving global nuclear safety after the breakdown of Japan’s Fukushima power plant following March’s earthquake and tsunami, with Mr Sarkozy insisting that “when it comes to nuclear matters, safety must prevail over cost – that we all agreed on”.

His wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who is hosting the leaders’ spouses, greeted them in a white dress that showed off her pregnancy.

US President Barack Obama, who headed to the meeting after a state visit to the UK, is holding a series of one-on-one meetings with leaders including President Sarkozy and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

He has already met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for discussions over the two countries’ long-running row over US plans to create a missile defence shield in central and eastern Europe.

President Obama told reporters that the two men were committed to finding an approach that met the security needs of both countries, while Mr Medvedev said the two could work together towards a resolution, but it was unlikely to come in the near future.

Points of friction

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall, in Deauville, says that despite President Obama’s appeal in London on Wednesday for democratic unity and leadership, there may well be friction at the summit.

She adds that Russia’s president has opposed air strikes on Libya from the start, though he may offer to mediate in that conflict.

Africa will also be represented at the summit, as it has been since 2003. Newly elected leaders from Ivory Coast, Niger and Guinea are expected to participate in sessions about promoting democracy.

A shift in global influence to emerging powers such as India and China, who are not in the G8, has led to the bloc’s relevance being questioned.

But speaking in London on Wednesday, President Obama rejected arguments that the rise of superpowers like China and India spelled the demise of American and European influence in the world.

After the summit ends on Friday afternoon, President Obama is scheduled to travel to Poland, the last stop on a four-country tour of Europe that began on Monday in Ireland.

May 25, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Ex-IMF Boss Changes Housing

The former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been moved to a new, more permanent location in New York City where he will await trial on sex assault charges.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was reportedly moved from lower Manhattan to a townhouse about one mile (1.6km) away.

A lawyer for Mr Strauss-Kahn said on Wednesday his client was “very bored” under house arrest.

Mr Strauss-Kahn has denied charges of attempting to rape a hotel maid.

‘Plush’ townhouse

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last week as the head of the IMF, was seen smiling as he left the high-rise building where he had been staying, which is owned by the security company managing his home detention.

The French presidential contender, who is free on $1m (£618,000) bail, moved from New York’s financial district into a plush, four-bedroom townhouse in the city’s Tribeca neighbourhood, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing an unnamed source.

Mr Strauss-Kahn is under 24-hour guard and wears a monitoring bracelet.

His wife attempted to put him in a luxury building in another area of Manhattan last week, but those efforts were squashed when residents of the building complained.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who has no prior criminal record, spent several days in jail on Rikers Island following his arrest on 14 May.

He is charged with seven counts including four felony charges – two of criminal sexual acts, one of attempted rape and one of sexual abuse – plus three misdemeanour offences, including unlawful imprisonment.

His accuser is a 32-year-old originally from Guinea in west Africa who reportedly told authorities that Mr Strauss-Kahn had accosted her after she entered his hotel room to clean it at the Sofitel near Manhattan’s Times Square neighbourhood.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, denies the allegations and on 6 June is set to enter a formal plea.

May 25, 2011

Africa’s Young People vital to Sustainable Development, Says UN Chief

25 May 2011 –One of Africa’s greatest untapped resources is its young people, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed today, urging the continent to take advantage of the skills and talents of its youth to promote sustainable development.

Mr. Ban spent Africa Day today in Ethiopia, the final leg of a three-country, five-day visit to the continent that has also taken the United Nations chief to Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

In a statement marking the Day, whose theme this year is “Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development,” Mr. Ban warned that “despite advances in education and economic growth, progress remains fragile, inequalities are widespread and young Africans face major difficulties in finding decent jobs and participating in decision-making.”

He noted that in North Africa this year, where protests led to the downfall of long-term regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and open conflict in Libya, a lack of basic freedoms “was among the factors that led young people to take to the streets demanding change and fulfilment of their legitimate aspirations for better lives.

“Empowering youth is essential for sustainable economic growth and sustainable management of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; the clear challenge for many countries now is to pay just as much attention to sustainable political progress.

“As Africans strive to overcome threats to peace and development, the continent will continue to need strong and dedicated support from all its partners. On Africa Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to work in partnership with Africans of all ages to realize their potential by building an environment conducive to prosperity, democracy and peace.”

He underlined the need for Africans “to realize their right to choose their own leaders and ensure that elections are a route to peace, not violence.”

Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organization of African Unity (the predecessor of today’s African Union) on 25 May 1963. During his current visit to the continent, Mr. Ban has been trying to mobilize “global support for reducing child and maternal mortality rates.

“Progress in this area has been slower than it is on all the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” he said, “despite proven policies, practices and technologies.”

Meanwhile, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today presented its new Africa Water Atlas that details the state of the continent’s water resources.

The 326-page atlas uses more than 100 satellite images, 225 maps, 500 graphics and 250 ground photographs and provides a brief profile of the water situation and progress towards the MDGs in every country.

“The publication makes a major contribution to the state of knowledge about water in Africa by synthesizing water issues by looking at them from the perspective of challenges and opportunities,” UNEP said in a statement.

For its part the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is holding events throughout the week, including screenings, art exhibitions and thematic debates. Special attention will be paid to the themes of the role of women and youth in the African Renaissance and the construction of peace.

May 25, 2011May 25, 2011

In Africa, UN Chief Spotlights Progress in Improving Women’s and Children’s Health

25 May 2011 –Visiting with health workers in Ethiopia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today spotlighted the progress made in improving the health of women and children, while also stressing the need to do more to avoid needless deaths.

“We have seen so many women and children dying needlessly from preventable diseases,” Mr. Ban told reporters at the Ambo Mesk health post in Bahir Dar, in Ethiopia’s northern state of Amhara.

“Training good health workers [and] training good midwives can save a lot of women’s and also children’s lives.”

The Horn of Africa nation knows all too well the challenges associated with ensuring maternal and child health. Every 25 minutes, another Ethiopian woman dies from complications related to child birth. Most are in rural areas, far from any clinic.

At the health post, Mr. Ban met with the staff providing essential services to communities previously living without ready access to such care.

He also visited a larger health centre, a few kilometres away, which supports the health post by providing it with supplies and on-the-job training. There he spoke with doctors and nurses about their work, as well as with some patients.

“I hope that the Government will try to expend these posts, clinics and centres and also hospitals,” said the Secretary-General.

At a major UN development summit in New York last September, participants adopted the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, committing $40 billion in resources to a global effort to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.

The Strategy identifies the finance and policy changes needed, along with vital interventions to help improve health and save lives. It is expected to prevent, between 2011 and 2015, the deaths of more than 15 million children under five, as well as 33 million unwanted pregnancies and the deaths of 740,000 women from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

Mr. Ban commended Ethiopia on its commitment to improve maternal and child health, including its goal of quadrupling the number of midwives. The country is a good example of how a little investment can go a long way in saving many lives, he added.

The UN chief is now in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he is attending an Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on the State of Peace and Security in Africa.

On the sidelines of that meeting, he met with the Vice President of South Africa, the President of Equatorial Guinea, the President of Senegal and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

UN News Center

May 24, 2011May 24, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Friends Trying To Pay Off Accuser’s Family In Africa

With friends like these, maybe sexual assault allegation can disappear! The Post reports that the friends of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn are contacting the overseas relatives of his accuser, “offering them money to make the case go away since they can’t reach her in protective custody… The woman, who says she was sexually assaulted by the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, has an extended family in the former French colony of Guinea in West Africa.” A French businesswoman who knows Strauss-Kahn and his family says the friends “already talked with her family. For sure, it’s going to end up on a quiet note.”

Strauss-Kahn is accused of forcing the maid to perform oral sex on him in his Sofitel hotel suite on May 14. While the Manhattan DA’s office has apparently warned the accuser’s family not to accept calls from his connections, Cyrus Vance’s reach only goes so far. The source continued, “He’ll get out of it and will fly back to France. He won’t spend time in jail. The woman will get a lot of money”—possibly a seven-figure payout.

Fox News reported on the alleged exchange between the 32-year-old maid and Strauss-Kahn, which—allegedly—included him grabbing her breasts and bloody sheets:

The 32-year-old African immigrant repeatedly told her alleged attacker, “Please, please stop. No!” The sources said she had no idea who was staying in the $3,000-a-night junior presidential suite until after the alleged attack, which lasted approximately thirty minutes…The maid said she tried a variety of tactics to get herself out of the room and away from Strauss-Kahn. She said, “my manager is in the hallway,” which he wasn’t — but the former IMF chief wasn’t scared off. The single mother allegedly told the Frenchman that the job was important to her and any conflict with a hotel guest would result in her losing her job.

“Please stop. I need my job, I can’t lose my job, don’t do this. I will lose my job. Please, please stop! Please stop!” she told Strauss-Kahn, according to law enforcement sources.

Strauss-Kahn allegedly responded: “No, baby. Don’t worry, you’re not going to lose your job. Please, baby, don’t worry,” Strauss-Kahn responded, according to investigators. “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know who I am?”

Strauss-Kahn’s DNA was allegedly found on the maid’s clothing. His defense has suggested the encounter was consensual.

Strauss-Kahn, a leading French politician whose libido was apparently legendary in France, has been indicted on numerous charges and is out on $6 million ($1 million cash, $5 million bond) bail. He’s living at 71 Broadway, which has turned into a media circus, while his very wealthy wife is looking for other housing. But real estate brokers tell the Post that no one wants to work with him. At any rate, Strauss-Kahn has proclaimed his innocence.

May 24, 2011May 24, 2011

Judgement Day Posponed to October 21

Rapture: Harold Camping issues new apocalypse date

The evangelical broadcaster who left followers crestfallen by his failed prediction that last Saturday would be Judgement Day says he miscalculated.

Harold Camping said it had “dawned” on him that God would spare humanity “hell on Earth for five months” and the apocalypse would happen on 21 October.

Mr Camping said he felt “terrible” about his mistake.

But he said he could not give financial advice to those who spent their life savings in the belief the end was nigh.

Mr Camping had predicted that on 21 May, true believers would be swept up to heaven while a giant earthquake would bring destruction for those left behind.

His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions of dollars on broadcasts, billboards and campaign vehicles to publicise the prediction.

Some followers donated their life savings or simply gave away their worldly possessions as the day approached.

Many expressed bewilderment and shock as the day came and went with no sign of the global cataclysm.

“I’ve been mocked and scoffed and cursed at,” said Jeff Hopkins, a retired TV producer in New York state who spent some of his savings customising his car to showcase Mr Camping’s warning.

“It’s like getting slapped in the face.”

‘Not accurate’

Mr Camping had not been seen since Saturday until he appeared on a show on his Open Forum radio show, broadcast from Oakland, California, on Monday to give a 90-minute sometimes rambling presentation that included a question-and-answer session with reporters.

He said that when his prediction had failed to materialise he felt so terrible that he took refuge in a motel with his wife.

He said sorry for not having the dates “worked out as accurately as I could have”.

Over the weekend, he said, he had returned to the scripture and it had “dawned” on him that a “merciful and compassionate God” would spare humanity by compressing the apocalyptic destruction into a shorter time frame.

But he insisted 21 October had always been the end-point of his own chronology – or at least his own latest chronology, as a previous prophecy that the apocalypse would strike in 1994 also failed to come to pass.

Asked if he had any advice to offer those who had given away their material wealth in the belief the world was about to end, Mr Camping said they would cope.

“We just had a great recession. There’s lots of people who lost their jobs, lots of people who lost their houses… and somehow they all survived,” he said.

“We’re not in the business of giving any financial advice,” he added.

“We’re in the business of telling people maybe there is someone you can talk to, and that’s God.”