Author: Agencies

By Bill Gates In Kenya, I visited with a smallholder farmer using new tools and practices to fight back against climate change. I planted drought-tolerant seeds, fed and weighed chickens, and used a mobile phone to monitor weather forecasts and local crop prices. These were a few of the chores I was given during my visit with Mary Mathuli, a smallholder farmer in rural Kenya. I stopped at her home in Makueni County, south-east of Nairobi, during my recent trip to Kenya to better understand how farmers like Mary are faring in the face of climate change. I arrived expecting…

Oil prices posted gains in Asian trade on Tuesday after OPEC+ plans to cut more production jolted markets the previous day, with investors’ attention shifting to demand trends and the impact of higher prices on the global economy. Brent crude futures were up 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $85.34 a barrel by 0400 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $80.83 a barrel, up 41 cents, or 0.5%. Both benchmarks jumped more than 6% on Monday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, rocked markets with Sunday’s…

Donald Trump, the ex-president and frontrunner to be Republican nominee in 2024, will appear in court on Tuesday and is set to be formally charged, finger-printed and have a mug shot taken in a watershed moment ahead of next year’s presidential election. Trump was indicted last week, becoming the first sitting or former president to face criminal charges, over a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. He has said he is innocent and is due to plead not guilty. Trump will turn himself in on Tuesday amid tight security as demonstrations were expected for…

As governments across the world have promised to stop polluting carbon emissions by 2050, scores of European cities have pledged to get there by 2030 — just seven years from now. The European Union wants 100 cities — including capitals Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam — to be carbon neutral by the end of the decade. Berlin, which is not on the list, held a referendum in March on moving its target forward to 2030. Despite a slim majority in favor of the plans, too few people voted overall for the law to pass. Cities aiming to meet the target by 2030…

Hundreds of anti-riot police who had been mobilized ahead of Monday’s mass protests were Sunday ordered to stand down and go back to their stations. This was after Azimio La Umoja Coalition called off a planned mass protest in the city on Monday, April 3. President William Ruto had earlier on asked the leaders of the coalition who were planning the protests to call it off and give dialogue a chance. Hundreds of security officials had been mobilized from some regions and police colleges in readiness for confrontations in the city. The protests were called to denounce among others, the…

Events often seem inevitable in hindsight. The indictment of former US President Donald Trump on criminal charges has been a possibility since the start of his presidency – arguably, since close to the beginning of his career in New York real estate. But until now, the potential consequences of such a cataclysmic development in American politics have been purely theoretical. Today, after much build-up in the media, The New York Times reported that a Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Trump and the Manhattan district attorney will now likely attempt to negotiate Trump’s surrender. The indictment stems from a criminal investigation…

The New York hush money payment investigation is not the only probe former President Donald Trump is facing. Here’s an updated list of additional notable investigations, lawsuits and controversies: Mar-a-Lago documents: Did Trump mishandle classified material? Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Trump’s resort and into parts of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The Justice Department investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were taken to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office. A federal grand jury has interviewed potential witnesses regarding how Trump handled the…

Taiwan’s relationship with the United States has “never been closer,” its President Tsai Ing-wen said after arriving in New York City Wednesday, as Beijing warned her visit could lead to “serious confrontation” between China and the US. Taiwan faced “tremendous challenges,” Tsai said from the city, where she is making the first of two planned stopovers in the United States on either side of an official visit to Central America. “We know that we are stronger when we stand together in solidarity with fellow democracies. Taiwan cannot be isolated and we do not take friendship for granted,” Tsai said at a banquet with members…

By Crispin Kugiza Kaheru The presentation during the event held in Beijing, China, on March 22-23, 2023, below was titled: Reframing Democracy in the Context of a Diverse Human Civilization Distinguished guests, please allow me to share my profound gratitude with the organisers of the Second International Forum on Democracy; the Shared Human Values. I come here from Uganda and by extension Africa to share my perspective on how democracy can be reframed in the context of a diverse human civilisation. Governments that organise communities, have existed for at least 5,000 years. And there have been many experiments to running…

Monday’s Azimio mass demonstrations were dotted with several ugly incidents including the invasion of Northlands City, a multi-billion private property owned by founding father Jomo Kenyatta’s family. Unknown people stormed into the estate in Ruiru and made away with sheep. Several miles away in Industrial Area along Mombasa Road, goons also vandalised East Africa Spectre Limited premises linked to Azimio leader Raila Odinga and broke window glasses. The twin criminal acts amount to malicious damage to property by law established. But until and after the twin incidents, many still have little knowledge about the two establishments. Northlands City is a Sh500 billion-shilling…