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OnlyFans backpedals on plan to ban sexually explicit content. The company announced that it had secured ‘assurances’ that would continue to allow it to be a home for all creators, a step back from an earlier planned move that would have seen creators of sexually explicit content banned from the platform by October 1st.

Gunman kills four in attack near French embassy in Tanzania. Three police officers and a private security guard were killed in the Wednesday attack through a diplomatic quarter of Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam. The gunman whose motive has not yet been ascertained was eventually shot dead while holed up in a guardhouse at the French embassy’s gate.

Nearly 200 people fall ill with salmonella poisoning linked to UK pork scratching factory. Mr Porky snacks made by Tayto Group at its factory in Bolton, Greater Manchester, have been linked to the outbreak, which has left 176 people suffered vomiting, diarrhoea, and fevers with around 12 of them hospitalized. The snacks have now been recalled and withdrawn from sale by several supermarkets and the company itself that has equally paused production.

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7ème Festival Alternatiba Léman - Transition Climat. Retrouvez les stands des plus de 180 organisations de la Transition au parc des Bastions, le samedi 4 septembre, ainsi qu’un cycle de conférences et projections de films du 30.08 au 4.09.2021. L’événement est gratuit et ouvert à toutes et à tous, avec des stands de restauration et buvette.

On the radar today

Israeli Prime Minister to visit White House. Naftali Bennett will meet with US President Joe Biden today, his first state visit since taking office in June. Naftali is expected to engage Biden around US relations ‘reset’ with Israel as well as reach common ground on Iran, a visit that is geared towards mending ties with Biden whose relationship with Israel was strained under Naftali’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Extradition hearing for exiled Catalan Minister Clara Ponsatí to take place in Edinburgh. The court will during the hearing today examine whether the extradition process goes on in Scotland even though Ponsatí’s defence informed the court that she now lives in Belgium. Ponsatí has been in exile from Spain since 2017 for her role in the Catalan independence movement.

France likely to end evacuations from Afghanistan. French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune has said that it is ‘very probable’ that operations to evacuate its citizens and partners from Afghanistan will end on Thursday, a date that aligns with the August 31st deadline set by the United States as well.

South African women are reclaiming their voices in the media. Over half of South Africa’s population is women, and despite making up 55 percent of registered voters, four out of five people mentioned in election articles by three of the country’s biggest news websites were men, an organization called ‘Quote This Woman’ is changing that and making sure journalists listen to women.

In the African lab

Softbanks $2 billion valuation makes Opay Africas new unicorn. The most recent valuation comes after Opay, the financial services company, raised $400 million from a round led by SoftBank, with Sequoia Capital China, and five other large firms participating. Opay which started in Nigeria in 2018 says it processes $3 billion in transactions every month with reportedly over 300,000 agents across the country.

South Africa has the highest number of Covid-19 orphans on the continent. A new study by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Cape Town puts the number of children who have lost parents and guardians in the past year to Covid-19 at 94, 625. The study examined children younger than 18 who had either lost a primary caregiver, including at least one parent or custodial grandparent, between March last year and April this year.

Sur Heidi.news aujourd’hui

A protester takes part in an antivax and anti COVID-19 health pass demonstration in France. Credit: Keystone

A study affirms it, convincing the ‘antivax’ is not easy thing. It’s difficult to convince people who refuse to be vaccinated and a study carried out by the CSS has confirmed this. Nearly 60% of those questioned claim that the pandemic has not had an influence on their general disposition to be vaccinated or not, as the ‘gap’ between vaccinated and unvaccinated widens.

Switzerland is preparing for a third dose for all. While the debate on the need for a booster dose for Covid-19 vaccines is not settled, Switzerland is quite obviously preparing for it. The Federal Council announced on Wednesday that it had signed a contract with Pfizer for 14 million additional doses in 2022 and 2023.

Historic breakthrough for nuclear fusion … but there is a catch. On August 18, researchers from the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced a historic breakthrough towards nuclear fusion. The American experience is nonetheless very far from opening the era of fusion for the production of electricity.

It may surprise you

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Eat a lot? Buying more than five chapatis in this northern Ugandan district could get you arrested. The police in Moroto district are arresting and interrogating anyone found buying more than five chapatis, amid an ongoing disarmament exercise of cattle rustlers in the district. They say intelligence revealed that some people buy more than five chapatis and take them to cattle rustlers hiding in the bush.

Construction company in Poland creates flower-scented asphalt. The firm Budimex, as well as the refiner Lotos, have created a floral-scented asphalt aimed at improving the working conditions for road builders. Even though inhalation of regular asphalt is not harmful to humans, the new bitumen contains a mixture of natural and synthetic essential oils.

What do you do with an old WW2 bunker? In France, change it to a guesthouse. In Saint-Pabu, on the Breton coast, a concrete bunker has been turned into a rental for up to eight people, complete with a bar and living room. The bunker which was built by German troops during World War Two is still carrying fortifications left by the German army.