🔅 VP Harris comes bearing gifts.
Plus: Ethiopia Bids Farewell to a Legend, A Mining Miracle in the DRC, Germany's Burial of the Nameless from Namibia, Kenya’s Court Halts Facebook's Job Cuts, And much more... ☕
Photo of the day: Jazeera Beach, Mogadishu — Somalia
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Global Markets: Binance Gets Sued | Binance, the world’s largest crypto trading platform, is being sued by US regulators for operating illegally in the country. The lawsuit claims that the company broke several US financial laws and didn’t register properly with authorities. The company has been actively avoiding oversight, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleges, and was encouraging US customers to use virtual private networks (VPNs) and shell companies to bypass rules and regulations. The CFTC has asked for restitution and fines, as well as permanent trading and registration bans. The lawsuit comes as the crypto industry has been struggling with a sharp decline in prices, as well as increased scrutiny from regulators.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
GEOPOLITICS
VP Harris comes bearing gifts.
Vice President Kamala Harris is kicking off a week-long, three-nation African tour in Ghana, and she brings with her some serious gifts.
It also plans to provide $139 million for Ghana in the fiscal year 2024.
It's all part of America's plan to strengthen its partnership with Africa, and push back against the heavy investment China and Russia have made on the continent over the years.
Why the focus on security?
Several countries across West Africa and the Sahel region have been struggling to quell Islamist insurgencies that have caused humanitarian disasters and fuelled discontent.
These have contributed to military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, and VP Harris has also stressed the importance of responding to recent democratic back-sliding in West Africa as a result.
What about LGBT rights?
VP Harris was asked during the news conference whether she would be promoting LGBT rights during her tour.
She said she felt very strongly about supporting freedom and equality for all people, and that LGBT rights were a human rights issue.
In Ghana, a bill that would severely restrict those rights is going through parliament.
Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo responded by saying that it was not official government policy, but rather had been put forward by legislators acting in a private capacity.
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇪🇹 Farewell to a Legend | Ethiopia said goodbye to a legendary figure this week. Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, a 99-year-old nun and composer, passed away in Jerusalem after nearly four decades of living in a monastery. Nicknamed “the Piano Queen,” Guèbrou was one of the country’s first classical pianists and achieved global fame in 2006 when her music featured in several albums of Ethiopian music from previous decades. Her most famous works, “The Homeless Wanderer” and “The Mad Man’s Laughter,” have left a lasting impression on the music world. The BBC did an interesting radio segment on her a few years ago, and you can listen to one of her most enduring works below:
🇨🇩 Nine Lives in the Congo: A Mining Miracle | It was a miracle in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Nine miners, who had been trapped in a collapsed gold mine, suddenly emerged alive and well. The amazing video of the rescue quickly went viral, showing a man frantically digging with a spade as the miners’ friends and family anxiously watched. And then, one by one, the miners started tumbling down the rubble, to the cheers of everyone around. The rescue worker soon switched to digging with his bare hands, and within two minutes all nine miners were safe and sound. The odds of such a rescue succeeding are usually slim to none, but in this case, it was a miracle.
🇳🇦 Germany's Burial of the Nameless from Namibia | In a moving ceremony, thousands of bone fragments were buried in Berlin. They were found on the grounds of the Free University, where a Nazi institute for anthropology and eugenics once operated. The university said the bones could belong to victims of Nazi or colonial-era crimes, and organisations representing groups that may have been among those the bones belonged to — including Jews, Sinti, Roma and people with physical and mental disabilities killed by the Nazis, as well as the Herero people of Namibia — agreed that further research shouldn’t be carried out. The public burial, with about 230 guests, took place at the Waldfriedhof cemetery in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem, and the five caskets were lowered into the ground by pallbearers.
🇰🇪 Kenya Court Temporarily Halts Facebook's Job Cuts | Facebook is getting grilled over its content moderation policies. 43 moderators in Kenya filed a lawsuit against the social media company and its outsourcing firm, Sama, after they were fired for trying to unionise. The court agreed and has issued a temporary injunction against Meta and Sama, preventing them from firing the 260 content moderators and subcontracting their roles. Facebook, Sama, and another outsourcing firm, Majorel, are all being forced to play the waiting game while the court decides the legality of the job cuts. This could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Don't procrastinate or you will be left in between doing something, having something and being nothing.”
— Ethiopian Proverb.