SOUTH AFRICA
PRETORIA - South Africa's new health minister Barbara Hogan vows to make HIV/Aids a top priority after years of controversy over her predecessor's support for unconventional treatments. Although the country faces one of the world's heaviest HIV caseloads, Aids activists accuse the government of dragging its feet while the disease ravages millions of South Africans. Hogan, whose appointment is welcomed by Aids activists, says she will push to get anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to as many people as possible. While acknowledging that she has little experience of healthcare matters, Hogan says that she will be willing to engage expert opinion on HIV/Aids.
AFRICA & WORLD
CONAKRY – Guinea celebrates 50 years of independence from France. Away from the celebrations, the West African country faces threats ranging from Latin American drug gangs to global food price hikes. In addition, there is rising instability and discontent in the country. Guinea, which has fertile farmlands among lush forests and savannah, also boasts one third of the world's known reserves of the aluminum ore bauxite. The government says investors like Alcoa, Rio Tinto and Rusal will pump more than $25-billion into "mega-investments" by 2015. However, widespread graft and political unrest over the years have impeded economic development. The United Nations says almost half of Guinea's nine-million people live in poverty, less than a third can read and only half have access to clean water.
ROME – The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says policies encouraging biofuel production and use in Europe and the United States are likely to maintain pressure on food prices but have little impact on weaning car users away from oil. A report from the FAO says growing demand for biofuels will boost prices of agricultural commodities in the next 10 years. Anti-hunger campaigners blame biofuels, which convert crops such as maize, sugar, oil seeds and palm oil into liquid fuel for use in cars, for pushing up global food prices, contributing to soaring food bills in the last two years. The FAO says the global food import bill is expected to jump 26% to $1,03-billion in 2008, driven by price rises in rice, wheat and vegetable oils.
WASHINGTON - The World Bank intends introducing a new way to encourage developing countries to cut greenhouse gases, by measuring trends in various sectors instead of counting every ton of decreased emissions. This will represent a change from current practice, which has resulted in international talks stalling over failure to agree on global and national targets to reduce climate-warming emissions. The new approach will not measure cuts in climate-warming carbon dioxide on every project, but instead will offer carbon offsets to developing countries that, for example, beat targets for energy efficiency or carbon intensity – the measure of emissions reduced as related to economic growth. The World Bank acknowledges that critics may question whether some countries can be relied upon to measure their own performance, but says the project is aimed at cutting transaction costs of the carbon program and ultimately curbing emissions in parts of the world that feel the impact of global warming most.
ADDIS ABABA - The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance indicates that 31 of 48 sub-Saharan nations recorded higher scores than in last year's survey, with Liberia showing the greatest improvement. Investors cite improvements in governance as one reason for unprecedented financial flows to Africa in recent years, along with booming Asian investment, rises in commodity prices and debt relief. For the latest index, nations were judged by criteria including economic stability, corruption, security, rights, laws, elections, infrastructure, poverty and health. The index, however, uses data that is two years old. Mauritius, one of Africa's most stable and prosperous nations, was top with a score of 85,1 out of 100. Second place went to fellow Indian Ocean nation Seychelles, while Cape Verde was third. Botswana came fourth, and regional economic powerhouse South Africa was fifth.
PRETORIA - South Africa's new health minister Barbara Hogan vows to make HIV/Aids a top priority after years of controversy over her predecessor's support for unconventional treatments. Although the country faces one of the world's heaviest HIV caseloads, Aids activists accuse the government of dragging its feet while the disease ravages millions of South Africans. Hogan, whose appointment is welcomed by Aids activists, says she will push to get anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to as many people as possible. While acknowledging that she has little experience of healthcare matters, Hogan says that she will be willing to engage expert opinion on HIV/Aids.
AFRICA & WORLD
CONAKRY – Guinea celebrates 50 years of independence from France. Away from the celebrations, the West African country faces threats ranging from Latin American drug gangs to global food price hikes. In addition, there is rising instability and discontent in the country. Guinea, which has fertile farmlands among lush forests and savannah, also boasts one third of the world's known reserves of the aluminum ore bauxite. The government says investors like Alcoa, Rio Tinto and Rusal will pump more than $25-billion into "mega-investments" by 2015. However, widespread graft and political unrest over the years have impeded economic development. The United Nations says almost half of Guinea's nine-million people live in poverty, less than a third can read and only half have access to clean water.
ROME – The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says policies encouraging biofuel production and use in Europe and the United States are likely to maintain pressure on food prices but have little impact on weaning car users away from oil. A report from the FAO says growing demand for biofuels will boost prices of agricultural commodities in the next 10 years. Anti-hunger campaigners blame biofuels, which convert crops such as maize, sugar, oil seeds and palm oil into liquid fuel for use in cars, for pushing up global food prices, contributing to soaring food bills in the last two years. The FAO says the global food import bill is expected to jump 26% to $1,03-billion in 2008, driven by price rises in rice, wheat and vegetable oils.
WASHINGTON - The World Bank intends introducing a new way to encourage developing countries to cut greenhouse gases, by measuring trends in various sectors instead of counting every ton of decreased emissions. This will represent a change from current practice, which has resulted in international talks stalling over failure to agree on global and national targets to reduce climate-warming emissions. The new approach will not measure cuts in climate-warming carbon dioxide on every project, but instead will offer carbon offsets to developing countries that, for example, beat targets for energy efficiency or carbon intensity – the measure of emissions reduced as related to economic growth. The World Bank acknowledges that critics may question whether some countries can be relied upon to measure their own performance, but says the project is aimed at cutting transaction costs of the carbon program and ultimately curbing emissions in parts of the world that feel the impact of global warming most.
ADDIS ABABA - The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance indicates that 31 of 48 sub-Saharan nations recorded higher scores than in last year's survey, with Liberia showing the greatest improvement. Investors cite improvements in governance as one reason for unprecedented financial flows to Africa in recent years, along with booming Asian investment, rises in commodity prices and debt relief. For the latest index, nations were judged by criteria including economic stability, corruption, security, rights, laws, elections, infrastructure, poverty and health. The index, however, uses data that is two years old. Mauritius, one of Africa's most stable and prosperous nations, was top with a score of 85,1 out of 100. Second place went to fellow Indian Ocean nation Seychelles, while Cape Verde was third. Botswana came fourth, and regional economic powerhouse South Africa was fifth.
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