Reminder of the information that matters

Keystone

Trump sues his niece and the New York Times. The former US president has filed a $100m lawsuit against his niece Mary Trump and the New York Times on grounds that they engaged in “an insidious plot” to obtain his tax returns for the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of his finances. The lawsuit also accuses them of being ‘motivated by a personal vendetta’.

Germany is ending quarantine pay for unvaccinated workers. The rule which will come into effect from the 16th of October was announced by Germany’s Health Minister on Wednesday who said that it was unfair for ‘taxpayers to subsidize those who refuse to get inoculated’. Germany has fully vaccinated 74% of its adults, greater than the 72.3% average across the European Union.

R.Kelly says he will not testify at his sex trafficking trial. This means that the R&B singer will avoid the risk of a potentially brutal cross-examination in a case where he has been accused of sexually abusing women, girls, and boys. R.Kelly pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges, but he’s also charged with multiple violations of the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport anyone across state lines ‘for any immoral purpose’.

Il est temps de raconter le monde

📲 Nouveau: suivez-nous sur WhatsApp! Ne manquez plus une histoire importante! Soyez parmi les premiers à être informés des dernières enquêtes, des événements marquants et des sujets incontournables qui façonnent le monde, où que vous soyez. A vous de décider le meilleur moment pour les lire.

C’est gratuit, sans création de compte et géré par nos journalistes. Pour tout savoir sur le fonctionnement, consultez la page explicative sur notre site.

On the radar today

Kamala Harris to meet Indian PM Narendra Modi. The US Vice President is set to have a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister in Washington today, a day ahead of the scheduled meeting between Modi and US President Joe Biden. Harris is the first person of Indian origin to be elected as the Vice-President of the US.

UK employees to gain right to work from home from day one. A new government plan that will allow UK workers to request flexible hours from the onset of a job is set to be proposed today in a consultation document. The plan put forward by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (Beis), would also require employers to respond speedily to such requests and explain their reasons if requests are refused.

U.S. Senate panel to vote on ‘venue’ bill today. The bill if passed would allow state attorneys general to decide on which court they bring antitrust cases, a move that some senior US attorneys believe would tighten antitrust laws targeted at Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google.

Keystone

Religious rehab centres fill gap as Nigeria grapples with soaring drug use. Nigeria’s latest World Drug Report noted an increase in the country’s rate of abuse from 5.6% in 2016 to 14.4% in 2018, with cannabis being the most commonly used drug. 22% of 15- to 65-year-olds are estimated to have been using drugs in the past year. With poverty deepening, state services are failing to manage the growing rates of addiction and now religious centers are stepping in to provide rehabilitation.

In the African lab

Nigerian agritech startup Releaf secures $4.2M to grow its food processing technology. The startup received $2.7M in a seed round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa, and Consonance Investment Managers as well as $1.5 million in grants. Releaf was founded in 2017 with a goal to design hardware and software solutions to make smallholder farmers and food factories more efficient and profitable.

How well do we understand pandemic preparedness in Africa? Not so much. According to a new study from the University of Edinburgh that challenges how resilience and pandemic preparedness in Africa is measured. The study revealed that countries in Africa assessed as being least vulnerable to an epidemic were the worst affected by Covid-19, with mortality rates and levels of restrictions lowest in countries thought to be more susceptible.

Netflix launches free plan in Kenya. The global streaming giant announced this week that it was offering a free mobile plan to users in Kenya that will give them access, not to all but to certain content. It is a move the company hopes will lead to more conversions in the country where it already offers a $3 subscription plan.

Sur Heidi.news aujourd’hui

Keystone

Minors will no longer be able to buy cigarettes in Switzerland. Following years of negotiation, the Swiss Parliament finalized on Wednesday 22 September the new law on tobacco products which will prohibit the sale of tobacco to minors, as well as banning tobacco advertising from newspapers, on websites for minors, in cinemas, and in public spaces. If it does not generate opposition, the law will enter into force in mid-2023.

Towards a label for 100% Swiss bread. The National Council accepted a vote for bread made in Switzerland and with flour produced in the country to be labelled. A motion proposing such an emphasis received 107 votes against 74 which disagreed. It is not the first time a motion like this has been raised. In 2019, Carlo Sommaruga proposed a similar idea that was rejected by The Federal Council.

Who are the students of the Education Without Certificate movement and what do they want? On Tuesday, nearly 2,000 people gathered in Lausanne to challenge the introduction of the Covid certificate in universities. Their demands are the same. In the field of education, ‘the health pass does not pass’. At the origin of the movement is the group Education Without Certificate (ESC), recently created, and whose hardcore is made up of ten students. But who are these students and what do they want?

It may surprise you

Keystone

El Salvador’s president says he is the world’s ‘coolest dictator’. On Tuesday, President Nayib Bukele updated his Twitter bio to read “the coolest dictator in the world”. Bukele became president in 2019 and has come under fire recently regarding accusations of anti-democratic tendencies which includes a supreme court vote that allows him to seek re-election.

Can goats prevent wildfires? The answer is yes. In Colorado which experienced worsening wildfires last year, state and local agencies that want to remove excess weeds to prevent their occurrence are now relying on goats. These agencies that previously used herbicides, machinery, and prescribed burns are now hoping that goats can eat enough vegetation to prevent wildfires in the coming years.

A New Jersey court ruling means you have less privacy rights than your dog. The ruling declared dog owner names and addresses can be made public but that the names of their dogs can’t be giving reason that many people use their pet names as passwords and as answers to security questions. It followed a lawsuit filed against a New Jersey city for refusing to turn over dog license data to a business owner for marketing.