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Lesotho News

  • Routes Africa forum aims to improve African air connectivity

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/15  An event dedicated to the development of the African aviation industry will take place next month in Tenerife (26-28 June) to encourage the launch of new air services to, from and within the African continent. Routes Africa 2016 will help to improve African connectivity by bringing together airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss next air services. Around 250 route development professionals are expected to attend the forum which was founded ten years ago to stimulate increase in the industry.
  • Economic integration is helping boost trade and investment in Africa

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/13 The collapse of virtual borders is one of the majority remarkable things to have happened in our lifetimes. In the world of cyberspace, time and distance have become almost peripheral considerations at the same time as it comes to doing business. Services from software development to accounting can be delivered across the world in the blink of an eye. Next business leaders will struggle to imagine an era at the same time as communication was neither immediate nor virtually free.
  • Africa’s economic growth is likely to be slower in the intervening years

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/12 Africa’s economic increase is likely to be slower in the intervening years than in the before decade, according to the new rating by Ernst & Young using a barometer to gauge the level of appeal and success.“The baseline projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2016 is presently reduced to 3%, while it was estimated at 6.1% in April 2015″, Ernst & Young points out in its rating.
  • Beyond Commodities: How African Multinationals Are Transforming

    BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11 Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
  • Africa,Protect Refugees With Mobile Banking

    BOTSWANA, 2016/02/08 "Mean spirited", "inhumane" and desecrating the spirit of the Refugee Convention are some of the milder criticisms levelled at Denmark's harsh new asylum laws, passed last week. Part new measures is a decision to strip new arrivals of any cash and valuables worth additional than 10,000 kroner (US$1,450), purportedly to pay for their upkeep. Switzerland and some southern German states have introduced similar policies. It's a move that reflects the fragmenting world of European migration policy, lacking in solidarity, empathy and basic human decency. But what of the financial implications for asylum seekers?
  • African Union merges science and education bodies

    BOTSWANA, 2016/01/13 The Africa Union has merged its science and education bodies in a move designed to improve sectoral relationships, effectiveness and efficiency. The African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology and the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union will presently operate as one entity. “The decision of the heads of states was as well motivated by the need to streamline ministerial conferences, limit their number and confer the power to convene them to the African Union Commission and save costs,” Dr Mahama Ouedraogo, the African Union’s chief of human resources, science and technology, told University World News.
  • Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde

    AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02 World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
  • Working Together For Migratory Birds And People Across Africa And Eurasia

    BOTSWANA, 2015/11/17 One lesson that has been well and truly learned in nature conservation is that for policies to be really effective nations have to collaborate to address common problems. Within the UN system it is as well recognized that this applies to the different Programmes, Conventions and Agreements set up over the years. That each of these bodies has a distinct niche and a clear role does not justify a bunker mentality. By synergizing, cooperating and collaborating they can find common cause with natural allies and seek compromises with those whose agendas do not necessarily match their own. AEWA, the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, is a prime example of an organization that embodies this approach.
  • Global wildlife agency hails Sino-U.S. deal to save elephants

    CHINA, 2015/09/29 A world wildlife conservation organization on Monday lauded agreement reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama committing to take swift action to protect elephants. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) CEO Azzedine Downes said the agreement reached on Friday would play a key role in ending the poaching crisis across the globe. "President Xi has delivered a tremendous victory in the battle to save elephants. China has slammed the door in the face of all those who are profiting from the slaughter of elephants," Downes said in a statement released in Nairobi.
  • Global Malaria Target Met Amid Sharp Drop in Cases

    BOTSWANA, 2015/09/22 Malaria death rates have plunged by 60 % since 2000, but the ancient killer remains an acute public health problem with 15 nations mainly in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for some 80 % of cases and deaths globally, according to a new United Nations statement released today. “World malaria control is one of the great public health success stories of the completed 15 years,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO). “It’s a sign that our strategies are on target, and that we can beat this ancient killer, which still claims hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly children, each year.”