Author: Ewang Johnson
I recently watched Herbie Hancock describe a moment of pure stress with Miles Davis. In the middle of a solo, Hancock hit a wrong chord. But Miles didn’t treat it as a mistake; he took it as the new reality – data – and played into it creatively. What if that mindset could inspire a different way of governing in Africa? One that is inclusive, accelerates economic transformation and asserts the continent as a key player on the global stage. My conviction is that jazz improvisation, combined with our cultural foundations and the lessons of the informal sector, offers powerful…
A new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, “Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination”, features photographic portraits by African artists and captures the spirit of decolonisation that swept across the continent in the 1960s and ’70s alongside the US Civil Rights movement. Source link
A recent study has shown that Sub-Saharan Africa, home to the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities, receives less adaptation and biodiversity funding than almost any other region.This story is written and edited by Global South WorldDespite being at the epicentre of the climate crisis, African nations receive some of the lowest levels of international funding to adapt to its impacts, according to the analysis of over 180,000 aid projects across 124 recipient countries in the Global South between 2013 and 2022.The study, published in World Development, examined US$163 billion in climate adaptation funding and US$91 billion in biodiversity investments and found that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),…
Iran’s protests go international amid a deadly crackdown, ICE agents terrorise US citizens in Minnesota, far-right leader Marine Le Pen appeals her embezzlement conviction, French farmers protest with tractors in Paris and US President Donald Trump gets his long-coveted Nobel Prize – albeit second-hand. FRANCE 24 looks back at the week’s most striking images. Source link
Authorities Should Immediately Restore Full Internet Access; Uphold Election IntegrityPhoto: A member of the Ugandan police force gives instructions to supporters of Uganda’s incumbent president and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni entering the rally grounds ahead of the party’s closing campaign rally ahead of the 2026 Ugandan general elections, in Kampala on January 13, 2026. © 2026 AFP via Getty Images Ugandan authorities should immediately restore internet access and refrain from imposing blanket shutdowns that undermine fundamental rights and threaten election integrity, Human Rights Watch said today.“Uganda’s constitution and international human rights obligations guarantee access to information and…
Should access to culture come at a higher price for some visitors? This week on arts24, we examine the growing controversy over rising entrance fees at Europe’s most iconic cultural sites, as France moves to charge non-European visitors more at the Louvre and Versailles – a decision that has sparked debate over fairness, funding and universal access to art. Source link
Hello around the world While the English language settled on “hello” as its customary greeting, other languages forged their own. Some were influenced by English, others developed independently – yet each carries a distinct cultural flavour, hinting at the social norms and stereotypes we have of the people who use it.In Germanic and Scandinavian languages, for example, “hallo” and “hallå” are phonetically harder and feel more efficient and no-nonsense than the lyrical, almost poetic quality of “hola” and “olá”, favoured by the Romance languages that are associated with more effusive stereotypes. Elsewhere, some greetings carry traces of national history: from the…
ROME, Italy, 15 January 2026-/African Media Agency(AMA)/-As Sudan marks more than 1,000 days of brutal conflict this month, what has become the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis shows no signs of abating. This comes as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is struggling to keep life-saving emergency operations running.WFP has reached over 10 million of the most vulnerable women, men, and children in Sudan with emergency food, cash, and nutrition assistance since the resurgence of civil conflict in April 2023. The agency continues to deliver life-saving food aid to an average of four million people every month, including…
This week, Valérie Fayolle meets Pascal Obispo. His melodies have left their mark on the French musical landscape and he’s well known as an author, composer and performer. Now we meet his alter-ego, the painter! Pascal takes us to the Ange Basso gallery in Paris’s 6th arrondissement, where his artwork is on currently on show. We also discover Julie Depardieu’s one-woman show, “La Misérable” at the Marigny studio. Depardieu plays Juliette Drouet, the woman who was Victor Hugo’s mistress for almost 50 years. Source link
Washington, USA, 16 January 2026-/African Media Agency(AMA)/-The World Bank approved $100 million in financing from the International Development Association (IDA) to help Benin promote access to finance and growth for women entrepreneurs in both the formal and informal sectors.The Women Entrepreneurship Development and Access to Finance Program (WEDAF) is a results-based program (PforR). It will support the government in setting up a Women’s Business Center and provide more than 10,000 women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with access to loans, training, mentoring, and career advice. This results-based program will competitively select a cohort of promising enterprises led or owned…