Hundreds of elephants have died mysteriously in Botswana's famed Okavango Delta, the wildlife department said Thursday, ruling out poaching as the tusks were found intact. The landlocked southern African country has the world's largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000. "We have had a report of 356 dead elephants in the area north of [...]
Nearly 190 Seychellois workers could lose their jobs after 91 businesses in Seychelles have filed for permission to make employees redundant as they cannot sustain their activities, said a top government official. The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the Seychelles' tourism-based economy, causing a drastic drop in the value of the island nation's currency and [...]
Amazon forest fires in Brazil increased by 19.5 percent in June compared to the same month last year, making it the worst June in 13 years, authorities revealed on Wednesday. June marks the start of the dry period and there were 2,248 recorded fires, leaving analysts expecting a worse year for the rainforest than the [...]
The Department of Health has advised the public to wear face masks as a preventative measure against COVID-19 in areas where social distancing cannot be practised. Following this announcement, the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC) announced that by July 8 wearing a mask on public buses will be mandatory. Aside from being able to buy [...]
As Europe begins its cautious reopening after weathering the pandemic's first wave in lockdown, many developing and middle-income countries continue to be battered by skyrocketing numbers of COVID-19 cases. With infections still growing daily in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria among others, health experts warn that before the world can start buttressing for COVID-19's much-feared [...]
Internet users in Seychelles used nearly 40 percent more data in the first three months of 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier, a rise that experts attributed to a reduction in data prices and an increase in high-definition video. Data usage may increase even more in the second quarter of 2020 when [...]
Ethiopia said Saturday it was on track to begin filling a controversial mega-dam on the Blue Nile River within weeks but vowed to try resolving its dispute with downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), set to be Africa's largest hydroelectric project, has been a source of tension in the Nile [...]
The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only caused the tourism sector to shut down in Seychelles but is causing financial strain on the island nation’s utility company, the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC), which provides the island nation with utility services. With tourism establishments including large hotels closed since March, PUC says its revenue [...]
Belgium's monarch expressed his "deepest regrets" on Tuesday for colonial abuses in DR Congo, in an unprecedented gesture for his country that Kinshasa swiftly hailed as "balm" for the Congolese. King Philippe made his remarks in a letter to the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, on the 60th anniversary of Congo's [...]
A second seafarer from a Spanish fishing fleet operating in the Seychelles' waters who tested positive for COVID-19 has been admitted to the isolation centre at Perseverance, a top health official said on Tuesday. The chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Danny Louange, told a press conference that the second seafarer was admitted on [...]
