Surge driven by economic growth, new manufacturing capacities in Eastern Europe and demand for biofuel. Global production of major wood products surged in 2016 for the seventh consecutive year with a growth rate of three to six percent, according to new data published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The fastest increase...
Algeria has temporarily banned the import of 900 products including cell phones, household appliances and vegetables in a bid to cut a ballooning import bill following a fall in energy earnings, according to an official document seen by Reuters. The OPEC member has been trying to cut spending since crude...
The “WISE-UP to Climate” project, initiated in April 2014 to demonstrate that natural ecosystems are nature based solutions for climate change adaptation and sustainable development, has now ended. And the thinking among partners on the project is that they have been able to advance knowledge on how to ensure...
A passenger train has caught fire in South Africa after colliding with a truck, killing at least 14 people and injuring 268, rescue workers say. Some of the bodies are "burnt beyond recognition", Free State Health Department spokesman Mondli Mvambi told South African news site Times Live. Video footage showed a...
Lawyers for US President Donald Trump are seeking to stop the release of a book containing damaging allegations about his administration. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is due for release on Tuesday. It cites former top aide Steve Bannon as describing a meeting with a group of Russians...
Africa returned home from the Eleventh Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) without getting any of what it tabled. The conference ended on the 13th of December 2017 in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, and again failed to address the longstanding demands of Africa which were...
Ethiopia has signed an agreement to build two geothermal power plants at a combined cost of $4 billion, to be run by the country’s first privately-owned utility. The Corbetti and Tulu Moye plants will produce a combined 1,000 MW of power upon completion in eight years time in the volcanically-active...
Uber is officially a transport company and not a digital service, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. The ride-hailing firm argued it was an information society service - helping people to make contact with each other electronically - and not a cab firm. The case arose after Uber was...
The election of South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new leader of ruling African National Congress (ANC) opens up tentative prospects of a policy shift and rise in business confidence, ratings agency Moody’s said on Tuesday. Moody’s lead sovereign analyst for South Africa, Zuzana Brixiova, said that in...
The first Regional Round-table on Infrastructure Governance was held in Cape Town at the beginning of November. Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International), who addressed the event, reflects on the vital importance of openness and transparency for successful and sustainable infrastructure projects. Corruption is nothing new and it’s certainly not unique...