Good morning, it’s Caleb in Kampala, Uganda, where the government has just lifted the ban on social media, nearly a month since the internet shutdown on the heels of elections in the country.

This morning, I am telling you about a call to dialogue for protesting Indian farmers, the discovery that air quality in Sub Saharan Africa is improving, and Pierre Maudet in Geneva, wondering how many people still support him.

photo journaliste

Caleb Okereke à Kampala
11.02.2021

Play Podle

Reminder of the information that matters

India’s Prime Minister invites protesting farmers for talks. Tens of thousands of farmers who have been protesting in New Delhi over new agricultural laws they say will profit private buyers at their expense have now been invited to dialogue by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dozens of farmers have died during the protests which have lasted for over two months.

Reuters (EN)

Russia detains Jehovah’s Witnesses in new investigation into the group. A number of Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in Russia for organizing and taking part in the activities of a banned religious group. In 2017, Russia’s supreme court named Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist group and ordered for its dissolution. Hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been detained following that ruling and dozens have been convicted on charges of extremism.

Reuters (EN)

Ghana shuts down parliament over Covid-19 outbreak. 17 members of parliament in Ghana and 151 staff and ancillary workers have been infected with Covid-19, leading to a decision to close the parliament for three weeks. The parliament had already put in restrictions including only allowing one-third of members to sit in the chamber at any one time and suggested testing members each month, even though some members declined.

CNN (EN)

Il est temps de raconter le monde

Photo article

Heidimanche, la newsletter du week-end. Découvrez Heidimanche, la newsletter qui fait le point sur les infos incontournables du week-end et annonce les grands événements de la semaine à venir. Inscrivez-vous, c’est gratuit!

Je m'inscris

On the radar today

US to execute Black man notwithstanding evidence of intellectual disability. Willie Smith, a 51-year-old Black man who was sentenced to death in 1992 for killing a white woman during a robbery in Jefferson county is to be executed today by lethal injection in the state of Alabama. Smith’s attorneys argued that he has significant intellectual deficits, with IQ tests revealing he has the functional independence of an 11-year-old child.

Montgomery Advertiser (EN)

Europe’s oldest known person turns 117. Sister André who has lived through the 1918 flu, seen two world wars, and recently survived being infected with the coronavirus, making the French nun the oldest person to have survived the virus, turns 117 today. She is the world’s second known oldest person.

Le Temps (FR)

Some schools in Chicago are reopening today. Despite warnings from union leadership that in-person learning would put teachers the most at risk, some pre-school and special needs students will return to school in Chicago today. Families of nearly 70,000 students have opted for a gradual return of in-person learning over the next few months.

Block Club Chicago (EN)
Photo article

Valentina Piccinni/Positive News

A reason to hope

The women mechanics of Burkina Faso fixing cars and stereotypes. In the hot and dusty outskirts of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, women and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds are taking on jobs as car mechanics, a field that is perceived to be solely for men, and fixing such stereotypes while at it. According to UNESCO, more than 4 out of 10 girls of lower secondary school age are not in school in Burkina Faso.

Positive News (EN)

In the African Lab

Financial App, Djamo is Ivory Coast’s first Y-Combinator backed start-up. With plans to bring consumers in Francophone Africa up to speed in terms of financial services, as their Anglophone counterparts, Djamo has received backing from Y Combinator, a first for Ivory Coast. The company says it has around 90,000 registered users and processes over 50,000 transactions monthly, a worthy feat in Francophone Africa where less than 25% of adults have bank accounts.

Tech Crunch (EN)

Air quality in Sub-Saharan Africa is improving. A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has revealed that the air in Sub Saharan Africa, contrary to what was previously believed, is becoming less polluted. The study found that levels of dangerous nitrogen oxide in the northern part of sub-Saharan Africa have declined sharply as wealth and population in the area have increased.

New York Times (EN)

Facebook marketplace is now open to Nigerians. Although it was created in 2016, Facebook Marketplace had not been available to buyers and sellers in Nigeria until last week. The feature was already available in Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia even though Nigeria has more Facebook users than those three countries. In September last year, Facebook also announced it’s opening an office in Nigeria.

Tech Cabal (EN)

On Heidi.news today

Photo article

Pierre Maudet en 2016. Keystone.

Pierre Maudet, combien de divisions? Il est temps de se pencher sur les irréductibles, sur ses soutiens. Où sont-ils? Combien sont-ils? Heidi.news a tenté de compter ses troupes. La surprise est qu’il compte des partisans à gauche. La difficulté est que personne ne veut être nommé. D’où la question, inspirée de la blague de Staline sur le pape.

Heidi.news (FR)

EXCLUSIF – L’étonnante histoire d’une transplantée genevoise racontée par son chirurgien. Il y a des patients qui marquent à jamais ceux qui les soignent. Raphael Meier, chirurgien en transplantation, se souvient d’une Genevoise qui a développé un cancer très agressif, après une transplantation, et qui a déjoué la mort de justesse.

Heidi.news (FR)

Comment la Suisse entend-elle surveiller les effets indésirables des vaccins? Les campagnes de vaccination Covid-19 ont commencé depuis un mois et demi et la question de la sécurité des vaccins continue d’agiter le débat public. C’est Swissmedic qui est en charge de surveiller les effets indésirables. Nous avons demandé à Christophe Grühn, chef de la division sécurité des médicaments, de nous expliquer comment l’agence s’acquittait de cette tâche.

Heidi.news (FR)

It might surprise you

German police seized $60 million worth of bitcoin but… The fraudster from whom authorities in Germany confiscated $60 million worth of bitcoin will not give them the password, even after serving his two-year jail term. The police have equally made repeated failed efforts to crack the code to access the wallet.

Reuters (EN)

Sell or swap your Covid-19 vaccine? South Africa is considering this. After a new study showed a minimal effect of the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine on young people, South Africa is looking to sell or swap the 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine the country bought in Janaury, opting instead for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

BBC (EN)

Vous avez aimé? Partagez:

Facebook Twitter Linkedin Instagram
b696e884-f624-429e-91a6-1af20f5cf9e3.png

Avenue du Bouchet 2
1209 Genève
Suisse