Billionaire Soon-Shiong launches 1 billion-dose vaccine plant in Cape Town

US biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday launched a plant that will produce a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses in Cape Town by 2025, fulfilling a longtime plan to help bring greater health equity to the country of his birth.
#soonshiong #caperown #covidvaccine

Kenya's top court reviews disputed bid to change Constitution ahead of crucial elections

Kenya's highest court began Tuesday weighing a legal bid to revive government plans to shake up the country's political system, just months ahead of crucial elections. The Supreme Court ruling on the proposed constitutional changes, expected after three days of hearings this week, may have major consequences for the 9 August presidential and parliamentary polls.
#kenya #supremecourt

Nigeria adds new charges as Biafran separatist leader Kanu's trial resumes

The lawyer of an outlawed Nigerian separatist leader, whose trial is due to resume on Tuesday, accused authorities of extending his client's time in custody by filing new charges against him. Nnamdi Kanu heads Indigenous People of Biafra (IPO, a group he founded in 2014 that is pressing for the secession of the Igbo ethnic group's homeland, which covers part of southeast Nigeria.
#nnamdikanu #ipob #southeastnigeria

Four French soldiers wounded in Burkina Faso bomb blast: army

Four French soldiers were wounded in an improvised explosive device blast in northern Burkina Faso, France's military. "(Their) off-road vehicle activated an IED as it left Ouahigouya airport," the army said in a statement, adding the unit was part of the Barkhane operation, Paris' deployment in the Sahel against a jihadist insurgency.
#frenchsoldiers #jihadistinsurgency

Germany one step closer to scrapping Nazi-era abortion law

Germany's justice ministry presented a draft law on Monday that would do away with a Nazi-era law forbidding doctors to provide information about abortions. Doctors in Germany are allowed to say they offer termination of pregnancies but are not allowed to provide any further information on such procedures. Critics have said the law makes it too difficult for women to access information about which procedures are available and who provides them.
#germany #nazi #abortion

French court fines far-right presidential candidate for hate speech and inciting racial hatred

A French court on Monday convicted the far-right French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour of inciting racial hatred and fined him for remarks he made in 2020, according to reports. During a September 2020 TV appearance, Zemmour had made racist comments about unaccompanied migrants.
#frenchcourt #ericzemmour #racism

Hong Kong to cull 2,000 hamsters and make owners hand over pets amid fears they could spread Covid

Hong Kong wants pet stores and hamster owners to hand over their pets for culling over fears that the rodents could pass Covid-19 to humans. 
#honkong #covid #humans #hamsters

Muslim girls wearing Hijab barred from attending classes in India

When A H Almas, 18, and two of her friends stepped into their classroom on a December morning, the teacher immediately yelled at them: "Get out." The Muslim girls were not allowed to sit in the classroom because they were wearing Hijab, or headscarf.
#muslimgirls #islam #india

North Koreans told to make 150kg of manure each from their own excrement

North Korea is asking its citizens to use their own faeces to make manure as the country faces widespread food shortages. The country has long sourced its agricultural manure from China, but that trade, along with a number of other goods, ceased after North Korea closed its borders at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
#covid #northkorea #foodshortage

Tony Blair defends knighthood after Iraq criticism

Former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Sunday his leadership should be remembered for more than the Iraq war as he rejected fierce criticism over his receipt of a knighthood. The Labour party's most successful leader, who won three successive general elections, was made Sir Tony in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's Honours list.
#tonyblair #knighthood #queenelizabeth #iraq