The 2020-2021 sea cucumber fishing season is set to open October 1, and the year's quota will be 10 percent lower for the flower teat fish species, one of the three types of sea cucumber targeted in Seychelles. The Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) decided to reduce the quota as fishermen were not able to meet [...]
The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray is set to "worsen dramatically" and to deadly effect, the UN warned Thursday, blaming an "aid blockade" for the escalating crisis. Northern Ethiopia has been wracked by violence since November, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the regional [...]
Flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at least 44 people in the New York area overnight into Thursday, including several who perished in basements during the "historic" weather event officials blamed on climate change. Record rainfall, which prompted an unprecedented flash flood emergency warning for New York City, turned streets into [...]
The public will pay SCR10 (cashless) or SCR12 (cash) when boarding a Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) bus as of October 1, an increase from the current SCR7 fare. The transport minister, Antony Derjacques, told a press conference on Thursday that the fare increase is part of a restructuring process that SPTC is undergoing. "SPTC [...]
The Seychelles' financial system will be almost entirely digitalised by 2023 in line with the Central Bank's technological integration strategy, said a top official on Thursday. With the government pushing for digital governance, the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) had its financial technology strategy approved by the cabinet of ministers last month. Through the strategy, [...]
Around a third of all the world's tree species are threatened with extinction, according to a global index published Wednesday, warning that climate change could tip some forests into ecosystem collapse. Land clearance for farming -- both crops and livestock -- and logging are by far the biggest threats to trees, the State of the [...]
The United States has thrown away at least 15.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March 1, according to a report by NBC News. The figure is far higher than previously thought and probably still an undercount, because it is based on self-reported data from pharmacies, states and other providers, NBC said, quoting a response [...]
A first $34 million loan disbursement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be used to finance the government's current year budget deficit, a top official said on Wednesday. The Secretary of State of Finance, Patrick Payet, said the first disbursement, which the government has received, will allow it to pay salaries and meet other [...]
The colonels who rule Mali have repeatedly said they will restore civilian rule in early 2022, but with less than six months to go before promised elections, doubts about the timetable are deepening. Already struggling with a bloody jihadist insurgency, Mali slid into political turmoil last year, culminating in a military coup in August 2020 [...]
The federation of associations regrouping artisanal fishermen from the Indian Ocean Commission has launched a study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on their activities, said the chairman. Keith Andre said that "each country has its own specificity and although the challenges might be the same they can also differ in both nature and intensity, [...]