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The popularity of disposable e-cigarettes or vapes has fallen ahead of a UK-wide ban on their sale on 1 June, a study suggests. The percentage of people aged 16-24 who mainly use disposable vapes has dropped by nearly half in the last year from 63% to 35%, University College London (UCL) researchers say. But researchers […]
China has unexpectedly appointed a new trade envoy, as officials said the US’s practice of “tariff barriers and trade bullying” is having a serious impact on the global economic order. Li Chenggang, a former assistant commerce minister and WTO ambassador, is taking over from veteran trade negotiator Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen. The shift comes […]
Harvard University says it will not acquiesce to US President Donald Trump’s demands – federal funding or no. “No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach,” Harvard’s president Alan Garber said in a letter posted on the university’s website. Not long after Harvard refused to […]
Ghana has banned all foreigners from trading in its local gold market as part of efforts to boost national revenue and streamline the country’s mining sector. It follows the enactment of a new law earlier this month that grants exclusive authority of gold mining to a new state body, the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod). “All […]
The tussle between Starlink boss Elon Musk and South Africa over the company’s failure to launch in the country stems from the nation’s black empowerment laws, and could be one factor behind the diplomatic row between the US and Africa’s most industrialised nation. To his more than 219 million followers on his social media platform […]
An American pastor who was kidnapped by armed men during a church service in South Africa last week has been rescued following a “high-intensity shoot-out” that left three people dead, police say. Josh Sullivan was found unharmed in the township in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday evening – the area where the 45-year-old […]
Ghana has banned all foreigners from trading in its local gold market as part of efforts to boost national revenue and streamline the country’s mining sector. It follows the enactment of a new law earlier this month that grants exclusive authority of gold mining to a new state body, the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod). “All […]
Sudan’s paramilitaries have declared the formation of a rival government to the country’s armed forces, two years into a war that has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, said the group was “building the only realistic future for Sudan”. The announcement came as […]
A high-level international conference is under way in London to find “a pathway to peace” in Sudan, in the words of one of the hosts, the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Sudan’s civil war began exactly two years ago causing what aid agencies call the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The UK is promising an extra […]