#Uber’s newest rival for market share in Africa hails from #Russia

"The year 2018 was a bumpy ride for the global securities markets as investors faced fears about a global trade war, geopolitical uncertainties and corporate scandals, as well as increasing interest rates. The resulting sluggish performance of the securities markets is also reflected in the average returns of long-term mutual funds registered for sale in Europe (-5.68%) for the year 2018. That said, a view on the average results does hide that some funds were able to generate solid positive results, even as the respective classification average might be negative."

"More than 15% of refugees travelling north through the Horn of Africa were kidnapped during their journey last year, according to what is believed to be one of the most comprehensive surveys of migration journeys."

"Donors have stepped up financing Kenya’s vaccination campaigns after the immunisation level sunk to a 15-year low in 2017 even as it appears that some counties have suffered more than others."

"Natural gas spot prices jumped as high as $4.70/MMBtu in November, the highest price since the Polar Vortex of 2014. The run up in prices caught the market off guard, and even pushed an options trading firm to suddenly shutter its doors virtually overnight."

"As 2018 draws to a close, a change that has shaken the gender disparity debate in Africa has occurred in Ethiopia. In a historic move on 25 October, its parliament unanimously elected Ambassador Sahle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female head of state. In the same month, Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed appointed 10 female ministers, making Ethiopia the third country in Africa after Rwanda and"

"Speaking at the just-concluded African 2018 Forum held in the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, the Egyptian leader outlined to gathered delegates, including African Heads of State and leading business leaders, how Egypt will help tackle some of the issues and constraints holding back investment and economic growth around the continent."

"But it was only when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted the hashtag more than a decade later that it become the phenomenon the world knows now. It was meant as a personal gesture that quickly grew into a global movement, by social media mapping anyway. The idea was that if each woman who had experienced sexual harassment just tweeted the hashtag, the world would begin to understand the magnitude of the problem."

"Uganda’s education ministry is planning to add Mandarin language lessons to its secondary school curriculum at 35 schools with future plans to roll it out to more educational institutions as resources become available."

"Johannesburg was the first time the festival was held in Africa, and months later AfroPunk went on to hold a smaller pop-up festival in Dakar during the Dak’art Biennale, adding the two cities to a global network of a black cultural expression. In 2018 though, it was undoubtedly the mythical country of Wakanda that became the most celebrated corner of Africa."

"Africa’s largest telecoms operator says it has paid $53 million to settle a dispute after Nigeria’s Central Bank accused it of illegally repatriating $8.1 billion in profits. MTN was also alleged to owe Nigeria up to $2 billion in taxes by the attorney general."

"The World Economic Forum recently published a set of briefs as part of its “Shaping the Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security System Initiative”. These documents have begun to address some key questions around the potential role of the fourth industrial revolution in supporting a sustainable development agenda."

"Somalia granted fishing licenses to 31 Chinese vessels to exploit tuna and tuna-like species off its coast in a bid to tap the sector for economic growth. The vessels are associated with the China Overseas Fisheries Association, a distant-water trawling group created in 2012 to promote the East Asian giant’s competitive fishing edge abroad."

"It follows a decade of triumphs for the ecosystem which has recorded several startup and tech hub launches and attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. The promise of the ecosystem has also proven a significant enough pull for global tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg. But many of the software engineers who have been central to that steady growth are increasingly looking outward."

"As researchers, we have previously documented the positive effects of electrification schemes. Still, we think that money earmarked for rural electrification in sub-Saharan Africa might be better spent elsewhere. Providing people with clean drinking water and sanitation infrastructure may do more to improve living standards than providing them with electricity. In addition, water and sanitation provisions are generally less expensive than rural electrification. They could improve many more lives at the same cost."

"The researchers at the University of Sierra Leone, the University of Technology, Sydney, and College of Natural Health in Brisbane found both general populations and major health subsets use complementary medicine due to its lower costs and accessibility, belief in their “natural” status, word of mouth recommendations, or because of the treatment’s association with a patient’s cultural or spiritual beliefs. Aggressive marketing drives also continue to hype herbal medicine presenting them as better options to manage diseases."

"China’s relationship with the continent is not all bad. Nor can we say the US’ relationship with Africa is universally beneficial."

"The vast 14,000 square-meter museum opened a fortnight ago in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, a fulfillment of Senghor’s hopes for a grand museum for global black art. Senghor, who was also a poet, cultural theorist and leading pan-Africanist thinker, is believed to have conceived the idea following the First Festival of Negro Arts in 1966. But the first steps towards creating the museum did not happen until 2003."

"Between 2015 and 2017 South Africa’s South Western Cape region experienced three of its lowest rainfall years on record. This led to the progressive depletion of water supply reservoirs and by the summer of 2017/18 there was a real danger that – without drastic reductions in water use – the region, and especially the city of Cape Town, would run out of water."

"In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, Yury Fedotov, head of the UN’s office on drugs and crime says his office is “registering new alarming trends on drug trafficking in West and Central Africa with disruptive and destabilizing effects on governance, security, economic growth, and public health.”

"Ahead of the 2019 release of the live-action remake of The Lion King, news Disney has trademarked the kiSwahili phrase meaning “No worries” has sparked a furious debate on cultural appropriation."

"At the time, Karuhimbi, who declared she was born in 1912, which would have made her 82 (though older reports say she might have been 72, or even 69, and it’s nearly impossible to confirm for sure). According to reconstructions from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), the University of Texas, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial, she lived alone and would lodge workers to supplement her income as a healer and a sustenance farmer."

"It will take more than a century to close the gap between men and women in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap index. North Africa fared even worse."

"On many maps, the Central African Republic is a blank space in the middle of a continent that is already statistically under-represented. The data taken for granted in other countries are unavailable or simply unknown here. A civil war, successive coups, and near-constant violent instability have made data collection seem like an indulgence."

"The US economy has powered ahead this year, but a downturn in bank stocks signals investors are nervous about what’s ahead for 2019."

"Nigerians who use the drug are convinced it cures almost every ailment from minor headaches, fevers and pains to battling chronic rheumatism and arthritis. Medically speaking, Alabukun powder is an analgesic but it’s used in local traditional herbal medicine concoctions as commonly as it is used in modern medicine in Nigeria."