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Ghanaians renowned the news this week that they might maybe well maybe well soon be ready to discuss with Abu Dhabi and Dubai with out pre-registering for visas. But the settlement with the UAE for mutual visa-free shuttle used to be a reminder of how ragged African passports live.
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On the second, a Ghanaian passport holder can take a look at with 64 countries with out a visa, or by getting one on arrival. The strongest African passports belong to electorate of the Seychelles and Mauritius, who can take a look at with 152 and 146 countries respectively visa-free, per 2021 rankings by Henley & Companions, a review agency that has tracked passports for over a decade. Yet even the two island worldwide locations are a ways a ways from Japan, whose passport holders can take a look at with 193 destinations visa-free.
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That talked about, the cheer in Ghana used to be warranted. The UAE has change steady into a selection destination for African vacationers and alternate executives with around 810,000 Africans visiting Dubai in 2019, when put next with compatible below 10,000 within the mid-1980s. Round 21,000 Africa-centered firms possess space up their bases in Dubai since 2017, per the metropolis’s Chamber of Commerce and Trade. Non-oil alternate between the UAE and Africa surpassed $40 billion within the most important nine months of 2020, exceeding 2019 figures, irrespective of the pandemic. And in Will even, the Abu Dhabi Export Characteristic of business signed a $30 million settlement that grants loans to importers in east and southern Africa.
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Dubai has also consciously designed areas to welcome Africans, who want to pronounce money and time on visa applications and renewals (within the UAE’s case, between $90 and $460) when required. Ghanaians inspiring to discuss with the Center Jap country are happy that they are able to aid a ways from the bother. With any luck, more countries will apply suit. —Alexander Onukwue, West Africa correspondent
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Tales this week
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A Nigerian fraudster becomes an action movie villain. Instagram conman Ramon Abass admitted to money laundering payments in a US court in July. Alexander Onukwue describes how a movie immortalizing his escapades might maybe maybe appeal to Nigerian and worldwide audiences.
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Israel’s observer standing within the AU gets a lukewarm reception. African Union member states are opposing the continental body’s granting of observer pronounce standing to Israel. Carlos Mureithi appears to be like to be to be like at Israel’s hobby within the AU and why some African countries are protesting.
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Uber expands in Africa. Moove, Uber’s distinctive automobile finance accomplice in Africa, space out in 2019 to tackle the venture for Africans of accessing automobile loans. Alexander Onukwue reports on the implications of Moove’s contemporary $23 million financing round, which this can devote to continental expansion, constructing on its newest pilot in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
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Mapping restricted social media entry
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Carlos Mureithi unpacks a brand contemporary file by the cybersecurity firm Surfshark that says practically half of all countries that possess restricted social media entry since 2015 are African, making the continent the least tolerant of social media globally.
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Person of hobby
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Ugandan artist and technologist Neema Iyer is the founder of Pollicy, a Kampala-basically basically based civic technology organization, and a number one remark on concerns with knowledge governance, digital safety, and females’s safety online. She spoke with Amy Fallon about “Digital safe-tea,” a brand contemporary online game launched by Pollicy which targets to support females strive against online violence.“The digital gender gap, lack of opportunities for females, patriarchy, misogyny, and cultural practices, [mean] females across Africa are inclined to possess decrease digital literacy abilities,” says Iyer, “which makes them more susceptible for threats equivalent to online violence, surveillance, and stalking.”
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Dealmaker
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Chekkit, a Nigerian anti-counterfeiting startup, has raised a $500,000 pre-seed funding round to expand its operations within the pharmaceutical and fleet-transferring consumer goods industries. The funding comes from Initiating Africa, Japan Strategic Capital, Blockchain Founders Fund, two syndicate groups of angel merchants, and a grant from the Orange Corners program. The startup works with producers equivalent to Merck, Nabros Pharmaceutical, Indomie, and Nivea.
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BYON8, a Swedish, Africa-centered successfully being startup, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The funding used to be led by Folks Ventures, with participation from Jellyfish Invest, T&W Holding, and several other angel merchants. The startup will pronounce the funding to bustle its growth in rising markets starting with Kenya, where it already has a significant presence.
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Zowasel, a Nigerian agri-tech startup, has acquired $100,000 equity-free financing from Guinness Nigeria and Promasidor Nigeria on the UN World Meals Program’s “Zero Hunger Jog.” In a instruct to total hunger by 2030, the initiative funds disruptive innovations whose operations are on the intersection of smallholder farmers, communities, of us, and networks, for seamless and accessible agricultural alternate.
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Quartz Gems
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Visualizing the IPCC file. The ideal takeaways from the 4,000-net page Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Trade file released this week are with out concerns summarized. Global warming is attributable to human greenhouse gasoline emissions, and the impacts vary from very substandard to catastrophic.
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While worthy of it’s written in inscrutable scientific jargon, if you’ll need to hope to comprehend the scientific case for man-made world warming, uncover no extra. We’ve reviewed the info, summarized the well-known choices, and created an interactive graphic exhibiting a “heat draw” of scientists’ self belief in their conclusions. The terms describing statistical self belief vary from very excessive self belief (a 9 out of 10 chance) to very low self belief (a 1 in 10 chance). Take a look at out our tubby visualization.
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Diverse things we loved
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Harnessing kinetic vitality from pedestrians and placement traffic. Nearly three-quarters of the Sierra Leone population struggles to construct up entry to electricity, with native solutions inefficient, sinful to the ambiance, and in most cases even deadly. The BBC’s Isabelle Gerretsen reports on a gadget by a younger native inventor that harnesses circulation to express natty vitality to communities.
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Sanctuary for orphaned elephants. Since 2016, the Samburu of us, residents within the mountains of northern Kenya, possess rescued and cared for younger, susceptible elephants. For the Guardian, Ami Vitale reports on the neighborhood’s manner, and its final aim to support these orphans return to the wild.
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The of us versus the king. King Mswati III, Africa’s final absolute monarch, has persisted to wreak havoc on pro-democracy protesters and various harmless electorate, along side formative years and formative years. New Frame reports on the impunity in sparkling detail because the worldwide neighborhood appears to be like to be to be like on.
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Restoring Sudan’s wonderful railways. British colonialists who invaded Sudan a century within the past left on the lend a hand of what would change into Africa’s third ideal railway network, but tall facets possess fallen into disrepair. The Telegraph’s Will Brown and Simon Townsley inquire a half-billion pound concept to revamp the network to its former glory.
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A tragedy in Cardiff retold. In 1952, a younger Somali man who worked within the Service provider Navy in Cardiff, Wales used to be despatched to the gallows for a assassinate that he did no longer commit. Neil Prior reports for the BBC on the contemporary current by Booker Prize long-listed British-Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed that relates the somber narrative of Cardiff’s final penal complicated putting.
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Reduction an inquire on
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Reuters/Josiane Kouagheu
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An influential tech figure used to be mysteriously arrested in Cameroon. Rebecca Enonchong, a renowned tech entrepreneur and investor, launched she had been freed on Friday, after being arrested on Aug. 10 on a irregular contempt of court criticism by the country’s attorney usual. The actually warrantless arrest fueled fears that it’s an strive to silence voices against oppression in Cameroon, which has a protracted listing of arbitrary citizen arrests. Along side the influential Enonchong to the listing sparked outrage within Africa’s tech neighborhood, Alexander Onukwue reports.
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Zambia takes to the polls. Zambia went to the polls on Aug. 12, against the backdrop of piling debt and a failing economy, and because the most important African country to default on its sovereign debt all the procedure thru the Covid-19 pandemic. Election campaigning has liked the incumbent president Edgar Lungu, who has been ready to traverse the country below the guise of inspecting constructing projects. His opponent, Hakainde Hichilema, who he faces for a third time, has had to adhere to lockdown measures and restrictions against gatherings.
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Cape Verde launches the continent’s first floating inventive hub. On Aug. 14, Cape Verde begins a 3-day commence match for the Mansa Floating Hub, an iconic assembly predicament for creatives, built on water within the magnificent ocean bay of Mindelo, on São Vicente Island in Cape Verde. Designed and built by Kunlé Adeyemi, the Nigerian architect who built the Makoko Floating College, the hub targets to, “entice influential creators and industrialists to the diaspora and across the African continent for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and financial constructing.”
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? This transient used to be produced while paying attention to “ Sangue de Beirona” by Cesária Evora (Cape Verde)
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