The 59-year-old victim had gotten into an argument with a 25-year-old suspect who is currently in custody

Ghana has rejected a proposed health compact with the United States that would have provided an estimated $109 million in US health funding over five years, with President John Dramani Mahama saying the agreement raised serious concerns over health data, financing obligations, and Ghana’s regulatory authority.

The decision places Ghana among a few African countries that have pushed back against new US health agreements introduced as Washington restructures its foreign assistance following the dismantling of USAID. Zimbabwe has also rejected a similar agreement, while Zambia has raised concerns over provisions in its negotiations with the United States.

Ghana raises concerns over health data

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on September 25, Mahama said the proposed compact was presented to Ghana as a replacement for health funding previously provided through USAID.

He said Ghana’s Ministry of Health reviewed the document before preparing a Cabinet Information Paper.

“Ghana is a sovereign nation, and we have our own processes. We are a democratic country,” Mahama said.

According to the President, the Cabinet identified several provisions that raised concerns, particularly those relating to Ghana’s health information.

“One, it says that we shall give the United States our pathogen profile,” he said, adding that the agreement also required Ghana to provide medical records.

“It also says we should give our medical records. I mean, who takes another country’s medical records? And so that was strange.”

Concerns over health-data sharing have been central to resistance to the new US health agreements in several African countries. 

No FDA inspection

Mahama also raised concerns about the treatment of medicines and other medical products supplied under the proposed arrangement.

He said Ghana would have been required to contribute funding to the program while, according to his account of the compact, the country’s Food and Drugs Authority would not have been able to inspect medicines or other medical products entering Ghana under the program.

“And then it also says that any medications or any medical products that shall be brought into our country, our Food and Drugs Administration has absolutely no right to inspect,” Mahama said.

“I mean, it was humiliating.”

Ghanaian officials had previously cited concerns about the proposed handling of sensitive health information as a reason for rejecting the agreement. Reporting on the negotiations also indicated that the proposed arrangement would have required additional investment from Ghana alongside the US contribution.

Cabinet rejected the agreement

Mahama said the proposal was rejected after the Health Ministry presented its assessment to the Cabinet.

He described the decision as unusually swift.

“It was the compact that was thrown out in record time in our Cabinet. I’ve never seen anything thrown out as fast as that.”

He said the government subsequently instructed the Health Minister to communicate Ghana’s position to the US ambassador.

“And so, of course, we rejected it. And we asked the health minister to inform the US ambassador that we didn’t need it. We’ll manage ourselves.”

The proposed agreement would have provided Ghana with about $109 million in US health assistance over five years. The negotiations had begun in late 2025.

A wider concern over health sovereignty

Ghana’s decision comes as the United States seeks to shift its approach to global health cooperation. The new US strategy places greater emphasis on recipient countries taking responsibility for financing and delivering health programs, while Washington reduces its traditional aid commitments.

Kenya became the first African country to sign the agreement which was challenged in court, followed by similar arrangements with Rwanda, Liberia, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini, among other countries. Ravi Ram from the People’s Health Movement (PHM) East and South Africa, told BreakThrough News in December 2025, that  “Bilateral agreements between the US and Kenya and other African countries are meant to limit the ability of any one ‘partner’ country to challenge the terms of implementing the agreement, due to the unequal power relations.”

The concerns among health activists and concerned Africans is the ability of African states to determine their own health priorities, regulate medicines, control sensitive health information, and collectively negotiate the terms of international health cooperation.

Strait of Hormuz transit data for the month of September reveals how the oil and container markets are tactically adjusting to the U.S./Israel war on Iran.

À Carhaix, Anthony Lescoat a vu son centre de contrôle technique pour poids lourds rester fermé plus de deux mois et demi en raison d’un dossier administratif bloqué. Le 25 septembre, il s’est enchaîné aux grilles du tribunal puis de la sous-préfecture à Brest. Quatre jours plus tard, le centre pouvait rouvrir.

Anthony Lescoat dirige le Contrôle poids lourds du Poher, à Carhaix (Finistère). Pendant plus de deux mois et demi, son centre n'a pas pu fonctionner.Pendant plus de dix semaines, son entreprise est restée à l’arrêt. Non en raison d’un défaut de sécurité signalé dans les éléments disponibles, mais à cause d’un dossier administratif dont le traitement n’aboutissait pas.

Deux mois et demi dans l’attente

Le Contrôle Poids Lourds du Poher, implanté à Carhaix-Plouguer, est une SARL créée en 2008 et dirigée par Anthony Lescoat. Son établissement est spécialisé dans le contrôle technique des véhicules lourds. La société dispose d’un capital de 30 000 euros et de deux établissements déclarés.

“Je veux juste travailler”, après la suspension de son agrément, ce patron de contrôle technique s’enchaîne au tribunal de Brest

À Brest, Anthony Lescoat, patron d’un centre de contrôle poids lourds breton, s’enchaîne aux grilles du tribunal pour dénoncer la suspension de son agrément. Derrière ce geste, une bataille administrative aux lourdes conséquences économiques et territoriales.

Depuis plus de deux mois et demi, le centre ne pouvait plus exercer normalement en raison d’une suspension administrative de son agrément. Le dossier était lié à une procédure nécessitant encore des validations administratives et techniques. Les sources disponibles ne permettent toutefois pas d’établir précisément quelle administration a bloqué le dossier, ni la nature exacte du blocage. Il serait donc hasardeux d’attribuer la responsabilité à un service déterminé.

Le 25 septembre, Lescoat a choisi une méthode radicale : s’enchaîner aux grilles du tribunal judiciaire de Brest, puis devant la sous-préfecture. Ni inspection, ni décision de justice : une scène de rue. Une action spectaculaire, mais surtout révélatrice d’une situation où les démarches ordinaires semblaient ne plus produire d’effet.

Quatre jours pour débloquer ce qui stagnait depuis des semaines

Le calendrier, lui, interpelle. Après cette mobilisation du vendredi 25 septembre, le centre a rouvert le mardi 29 septembre. Cette succession de dates est factuelle ; elle ne permet pas, à elle seule, d’affirmer que l’action du chef d’entreprise a directement provoqué la réouverture. Mais c’est précisément ce qui nourrit l’indignation : deux mois et demi d’attente, puis quatre jours entre le coup d’éclat public et la reprise de l’activité.

La sécu vous coûte 1 115 € par mois

Santé et retraite du régime général prélèvent 1 115 € par mois sur un salaire moyen, dont 852 € en part employeur. Le PLFSS 2027 n’en parle pas.

Pour une petite entreprise, chaque journée de fermeture signifie pourtant des recettes perdues tandis que les charges, elles, ne disparaissent pas. Le cas Lescoat pose donc une question plus large sur le fonctionnement administratif : lorsque les voies normales deviennent interminables, la médiatisation finit-elle par devenir une condition pratique de l’accès à la décision ?

L’humeur de Veerle Daens : le bailleur, le PLU et les 9.316 communes

Nouveau bail type au 1er octobre 2026 : une mention oubliée peut annuler le contrat. 9 316 communes peuvent être concernées, aucune liste n’est publiée.

Le citoyen ou l’entrepreneur patient, qui respecte les procédures, attend. Celui qui monte sur les grilles d’un tribunal obtient soudain l’attention. Quand l'enchaînement devient l'ultime voie de recours, c'est que les voies prévues ne servent plus à rien.

LIBREVILLE — In the traditional-medicine corner of La Peyrie Market in Libreville, iboga comes in a repurposed clear rum bottle packed to the neck with pale bark powder, set among tinctures in old plastic bottles. Two men appeared within a minute on this day in July, and once they heard they were talking to a journalist, went half-giddy. They were happy to say where the root goes: overseas, to clinics, some of it ground into capsules. “Do the buyers pay well?” “They pay well,” one said. And all of it, he insisted, was legal. Iboga, Tabernanthe iboga, is a plant native to the wet forests of West-Central Africa. And here in Gabon, its root bark plays a central role in several Bwiti (or Bwété) traditions. It is also the original source of ibogaine, an alkaloid extracted from the root, now drawing intense interest as an experimental treatment for addiction and other mental-health conditions. The sellers at the market called the money good. But, further down the value chain, ibogaine treatment can cost thousands of dollars per patient. That gap, Gabonese practitioners and officials say, is at the heart of the dispute: the plant and the knowledge are theirs — and are threatened with overexploitation — while a lot of the money is made abroad. A 2023 Interpol analysis also found much of the trade was illicit, identifying that online resellers nearly quadrupled between 2021 and 2023. And the market for the plant may only get bigger, officials speculate. An unidentified…This article was originally published on Mongabay

I tagli fiscali individuali e la risoluzione della crisi migratoria in venti mesi basteranno a convincere l'elettorato?

NEW YORK — Long before Dickson Kaelo became one of the leading voices for community conservancies in Kenya, conservation was something much more personal. He grew up with livestock. His father was a veterinarian. And he knew firsthand the uneasy relationship between pastoralist communities and wildlife: Lions killing cattle, elephants destroying crops, hyenas taking goats — sometimes dozens of sheep in a single night. “That’s their (communities’) food. That’s what they sell to get fees to take their children (to school),” Kaelo, a member of Kenya’s semi-nomadic pastoralist Maasai community, told Mongabay. Fresh from college nearly three decades ago, Kaelo began wondering whether there was another way, something between conflict with wildlife and a conservation model that excluded communities from protected areas. Working with elders near the northern Maasai Mara, he helped organize a community trust (an organization created by community members to collectively manage land, resources or revenues for their shared benefit) in 1998. It built dams and dispensaries, supported hundreds of students through scholarships and experimented with generating tourism income while keeping livestock on the landscape. Then it fell apart. While Kaelo was away studying wildlife, the land under the care of the trust was subdivided into individual holdings. He considered abandoning conservation altogether. “One part of me was saying, it’s time to give up and go out to the city and do something,” he recalled. Instead, Kaelo returned to the same landscape with a belief that land could be privately owned but still managed collectively. Between 2004…This article was originally published on Mongabay

According to four inmates, the former music mogul allegedly received services and prohibited goods while incarcerated at Fort Dix

“What is remarkable is that Ukraine and Moldova, despite finding themselves in a very tense situation regarding their security, are extremely keen to move closer to the EU and have therefore already begun negotiations and opened the first cluster.”

These are the words of the deputy director of the European Council on foreign relations (ECFR), Vesela Cherneva, and they come just as the official negotiation process for the two countries’ accession to the European Union has begun.

With this, the EU embarked on a truly geopolitical enlargement – driven not only by the pursuit of shared values, a larger market, and stronger common institutions, but also by the need to safeguard the continent’s security in a shifting environment.

Ukraine: a battle-hardened nation’s journey from the post-Soviet world to the EU

According to Cherneva, the EU’s upcoming enlargement is the only way to institutionally anchor Ukraine within a serious and lasting framework, given that the US position has remained clear under both presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden: Nato enlargement to include Ukraine is not possible.

“Currently, EU membership is the only way to integrate Ukraine’s and Europe’s security systems. This is an entirely different discussion from negotiations on chapters, clusters, sanitary standards and other accession requirements. We are talking about security guarantees, but also about the transfer of military technologies from Ukraine to Europe and, more broadly, about how Ukraine – which currently possesses the strongest and most combat-capable army in Europe – can, while defending Europe, also become part of the European security debate,” Cherneva says.

Ognyan Minchev, political scientist, professor and executive director of the Institute for Regional and International Studies, an independent think-tank in Bulgaria, also believes that Ukraine’s importance is substantial and that the questions surrounding its integration are highly complex.

“Ukraine currently possesses the only genuinely combat-capable army on the European continent. Western European armies have very limited personnel numbers and, until recently, received extremely low levels of funding. The lack of real resources, including weapons, to address the challenges of military security makes Ukraine a more attractive partner,” he says.

Although many experts would point to Ukraine’s contribution to European security as the greatest benefit of its accession to the EU, the country can also contribute to development in other areas. There is undoubtedly great potential for development in the fields of agriculture and farming.

The country has a vast area of cultivated land and is among the world’s leading producers of a number of cereal crops such as wheat, maize, barley, rice, and others. It exports these products to third countries, and membership would increase the EU’s economic influence in these regions.

Ukraine’s accession could also lead to cooperation between different sectors and result in an increase in meat and dairy production as a consequence of increased cereal production.

Beyond agriculture, Ukraine’s pharmaceutical industry could offer the EU an opportunity to reduce its reliance on imports of generic medicines from China and various Asian countries. Thanks to its favourable climate, Ukraine also has great potential for various types of renewable energy.

Deposits of gallium, rutile, graphite, magnesium ores, lithium and other minerals vital to the green transition could contribute to European production and help the EU compete with China.

According to Minchev, integrating Ukraine represents a major challenge because it involves a large country that is institutionally weak, with high levels of corruption, poor economic organisation and significant shortcomings in the functioning of public life.

“Ukraine has been forced to transform itself into an effective fighting machine, but in other respects it remains a post-Soviet society with serious problems in the areas mentioned above. This makes its rapid integration into the EU extremely difficult,” Minchev says.

Moldova: a key piece in Europe’s security architecture continues to struggle under Russia’s shadow

“For Moldova, we can say that it is a small but significant element in the broader domino effect of Black Sea security, which is becoming an increasingly crucial aspect of overall European security. This is because the confrontation between the Kremlin regime and Europe is effectively unfolding along the line of a new Iron Curtain being formed across Ukraine and the Black Sea region,” Minchev says.

According to Cherneva, Moldova’s accession is also crucial precisely because the country is a buffer state, and Russia has demonstrated that it does not tolerate buffers.

“Russia seeks to conquer and control such buffer zones. If Moldova does not want to share the fate of Belarus or Georgia, it must take rapid steps towards European integration,” Cherneva says.

For years, Moldova has served as a testing ground for Russia’s hybrid warfare. As Western European countries are only now confronting the full scale of Russian hybrid attacks, Moldova has already spent years developing its own resilience and countermeasures.

The country brings to European security valuable expertise gained from combating Russian disinformation and resisting repeated attempts by the Kremlin to interfere in its domestic political processes.

Yet Moldova’s accession would have implications extending far beyond security. Although it possesses far less agricultural land than Ukraine, the country has the potential to make a meaningful contribution to the European agricultural sector. Moldova has been gradually integrating into the EU’s Single Market through the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).

This article continues, but the full version is available only to EUobserver.com subscribers. Visit account.euobserver.com/membership

Le 5 octobre 2017, un inspecteur de l'URSSAF des Pays de la Loire, contrôle un restaurant. Il y trouve un adolescent de dix-sept ans en tablier bleu, occupé à la plonge, présenté comme stagiaire. Neuf ans plus tard, la justice donne tort à l'organisme de recouvrement. Entre-temps, l'entreprise a vécu sous la menace d'un redressement.

Le 9 septembre 2026, la cour d'appel de Rennes a mis fin à un contentieux né d'un simple contrôle. Après avoir validé le redressement de l’URSSAF en 2021, la justice l’a finalement annulé en totalité en septembre 2026 : 10 690 euros réclamés au restaurateur, auxquels s’ajoutent des années de frais et de défense.

10 690 euros réclamés sur la base d’une convention irrégulière

Le redressement atteint précisément 10 690 euros. Il comprend 5 105 euros de taxation forfaitaire, 3 054 euros correspondant à l’annulation de réductions de cotisations, 2 042 euros de majoration de redressement et 489 euros de majorations de retard. La note est lourde pour une SARL.

Stagiaires dans la restauration : l’URSSAF réclame 10 690 €

URSSAF, stagiaire et travail dissimulé : une convention irrégulière ne suffit pas, l’URSSAF doit prouver la subordination. CA Rennes, 9 septembre 2026

Presque la moitié du montant correspond à une estimation forfaitaire, non à une rémunération constatée. Le tribunal de Nantes valide ce redressement en 2021. Le restaurateur fait appel. La procédure se poursuit jusqu'à la cour d'appel de Rennes. Le 9 septembre 2026, la 9e chambre sécurité sociale de la cour d’appel de Rennes, dans l'affaire RG 21/06754, renverse le jugement. Elle annule intégralement le redressement.

La cour d’appel annule finalement tout le redressement

Le redressement est annulé en totalité. L'organisme est condamné aux dépens et à 3 000 euros au titre de l'article 700 du code de procédure civile. Son raisonnement est l'irrégularité de la convention de stage ne suffit pas, à elle seule, à caractériser du travail dissimulé. La cour condamne en outre l'URSSAF aux dépens et lui impose 3 000 euros au titre de l'article 700 du Code de procédure civile. Pour caractériser le travail dissimulé, il fallait établir un lien de subordination et une rémunération. L'URSSAF n'a démontré ni l'un ni l'autre.

Dans cette affaire, l'URSSAF a engagé des fonds publics pendant neuf ans, sans que quiconque en réponde. Elle rembourse 3 000 euros, au titre des frais irrépétibles, alors que neuf ans de procédure sur deux niveaux de juridiction coûtent très probablement davantage à l'employeur, sans compter le temps perdu et l'incertitude sur les comptes. Cette indemnité, fixée par le juge, n'est qu'un forfait.

Le contrôleur qui qualifie sur la seule apparence n'encourt rien. Le chef d'entreprise doit financer sa défense, parfois sur des années, pour obtenir ce que la loi lui garantissait dès le départ : que l'accusateur prouve. Quand l'État peut se tromper sans conséquence, il n'a aucune raison de se montrer prudent.

Once again I am indebted to Karl W. Miller, whose analysis of the energy crisis unleashed by the war with Iran has become essential reading for me. Karl has a habit of seeing around corners. He anticipated the Houthi push in southern Yemen back in July, well before it made headlines, and his recent work...

The New York Times and the rest of the legacy media are in mourning after President Trump axed Biden's pro-EV fuel economy standards. But real fuel efficiency shouldn't need a mandate, says Dr Tilak Doshi.

The post Legacy Media Weep as Trump Axes Biden’s Fuel Economy Diktat appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

La farmacia es, para buena parte de los españoles, uno de los establecimientos sanitarios más cercanos y accesibles. Su amplia presencia en todo el territorio convierte además a este sector en uno de los negocios con mayor capilaridad de la economía española. Son más de 22.000 las farmacias distribuidas por toda la geografía que generan una facturación conjunta cercana a los 25.000 millones de euros al año, con una media de 1,1 millones por establecimiento.

Su actividad está vinculada a una necesidad esencial, cuentan con una elevada capilaridad territorial y requieren una gestión financiera que va bastante más allá de abrir una cuenta corriente y cobrar a los clientes. Comprar una farmacia, renovar su equipamiento, automatizar parte de sus procesos, gestionar los pagos o proteger el establecimiento frente a nuevos riesgos son decisiones que forman parte de la vida habitual de estos negocios.

Y aquí es donde entra Santander y su nueva estrategia adaptada a este sector, con la que aspira a pasar de las 7.600 farmacias con las que trabaja en la actualidad a acompañar a 10.000 a finales de año. Si logra este objetivo, la entidad trabajaría con cerca de la mitad de las farmacias que existen actualmente en nuestro país.

Financiación adaptada a cada etapa del negocio

Pocas operaciones ilustran mejor la singularidad de este sector que la adquisición de una farmacia. Para un profesional que decide convertirse en titular, el momento de la compra supone una de las inversiones económicas más importantes de su trayectoria profesional. A ese proceso hay que sumar las necesidades propias de estos establecimientos: equipamiento específico, robots dispensadores, cámaras frigoríficas…

La financiación se convierte, por tanto, en una de las piezas centrales. La propuesta de Santander contempla soluciones específicas para la adquisición de farmacias, así como leasing para inversiones en equipamiento, robots dispensadores o cámaras frigoríficas y renting para vehículos y tecnología.

Del mostrador a la gestión diaria

El día a día de una farmacia implica cobrar, pagar a proveedores, gestionar ingresos, afrontar gastos, controlar la tesorería y mantener protegida una actividad que, como cualquier otro negocio, está expuesta a riesgos.

La cuenta bancaria y los sistemas de cobro son, más que meros elementos administrativos, parte de la infraestructura del establecimiento. En este sentido, las farmacias pueden acceder a una Cuenta Negocios sin comisiones y soluciones de cobro mediante TPV. Para los colegios con los que Santander mantiene acuerdos, además, existen condiciones específicas para los TPV, con una comisión que parte del 0,20%.

A estas condiciones se suma la propuesta tecnológica de Getnet, la plataforma global de pagos de Santander, que ofrece a las farmacias soluciones de cobro ágiles y seguras adaptadas a sus necesidades. Desde terminales de última generación, que pueden integrarse con el software de gestión de la farmacia, hasta soluciones que permiten convertir dispositivos móviles en terminales de pago, Getnet facilita una experiencia de compra más rápida y cómoda. Además, sus soluciones de comercio electrónico y cobro mediante enlaces de pago permiten a las farmacias ampliar sus canales de venta y avanzar en su digitalización.

Además, para afrontar otras necesidades y riesgos, la propuesta diseñada para este sector se completa con seguros para el negocio, soluciones de ciberseguridad y alarmas.

Una oferta que también mira al titular y a su equipo

Detrás de cada mostrador, con su característica bata blanca, encontramos a un profesional que, además de tomar decisiones empresariales, también tiene sus propias necesidades financieras. No está solo: junto a él, hay un equipo de trabajadores esencial para el buen funcionamiento del negocio. Es por eso que la propuesta de Santander no se limita a financiar la adquisición de una farmacia o a facilitar su operativa diaria, sino que extiende sus servicios tanto al titular del establecimiento como a sus empleados.

Para los farmacéuticos, la oferta contempla opciones de financiación, ahorro e inversión y seguros, además del acceso a los servicios de Santander Select. El objetivo es que el profesional pueda encontrar en una misma entidad respuestas para dos ámbitos que, en su día a día, están estrechamente relacionados: la gestión de su negocio y la de sus propias finanzas.

Este planteamiento se amplía al equipo que hace posible que la farmacia funcione cada día. Los empleados pueden acceder a la propuesta de Banco Santander para colectivos profesionales, que incluye cuentas sin comisiones, financiación en condiciones preferentes y servicios vinculados a aspectos cotidianos como los viajes y el bienestar.

Hay además un incentivo directamente ligado a una de las operaciones más habituales de cualquier trabajador: el ingreso de la nómina. Tanto los farmacéuticos como la plantilla pueden obtener hasta 840 euros en dos años por domiciliar sus ingresos y cumplir las condiciones de la promoción.

La importancia de estar donde se necesita

En sectores especializados, la relación entre una entidad financiera y su clientela también se construye a través de los colegios profesionales, las asociaciones, los distribuidores y los encuentros sectoriales. Actualmente, Santander mantiene acuerdos con tres colegios farmacéuticos y con Cofares, uno de los principales actores de la distribución farmacéutica en España.

El objetivo de la entidad financiera es ampliar esa relación con un sector tan importante para la economía española y uno de sus primeros pasos ha sido estar presente con un espacio propio en el Congreso Nacional de Farmacéuticos de Oviedo.

Toda esta iniciativa se enmarca en la estrategia del banco para reforzar su propuesta de valor para los colectivos profesionales. El objetivo de pasar de las más de 7.600 farmacias con las que trabaja actualmente a alcanzar las 10.000 a finales de este año pone una meta, pero el verdadero cambio que plantea Santander se encuentra en la naturaleza de la relación que quiere construir la entidad financiera con este sector.

La farmacia deja de contemplarse únicamente como una empresa que necesita financiación y pasa a abordarse como un ecosistema profesional: está el establecimiento, está el farmacéutico que lo dirige, están sus empleados y están las organizaciones y empresas que participan en la actividad.

© Imagen creada con IA

© Pexels

Xi’s recent visit to Washington was merely a tactical step rather than a genuine reconciliation. Beneath the façade of conspicuously displayed friendliness lies a persistent antagonism across various domains—an antagonism that both sides have learned to “manage,” including in ways that serve their respective domestic political objectives. Both fully aware that the perception of China […]

JAKARTA — In 2016, following the most devastating land and forest fires in its recorded history the previous year, the Indonesian government set up an agency to restore peatlands, among the worst-hit biomes during the disaster. A decade later, following the most devastating land and forest fires since the 2015 season, the current government has once again set up an agency to restore peatlands — prompting questions over what impact, if any, this new body will have. The National Peatland and Mangrove Management Agency, or BPGMN, was announced by Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni following a meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Sept. 24 between President Prabowo Subianto and a group of 22 experts. Like the earlier Peatland and Mangrove Restoration Agency (BRGM) established by Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko Widodo, which was shuttered in December 2024, the new agency will report directly to the president and be staffed by scientists and professionals, according to Raja Juli. For some observers, that begs the question of why Prabowo didn’t renew the BRGM’s mandate and instead let it expire, and what the BPGMN will do differently. “The BPGMN must not stop at changing the institution’s name,” said Uli Arta Siagian, national campaign coordinator for Walhi, Indonesia’s biggest environmental advocacy group. “The experience of the BRGM, which was disbanded at the end of 2024 after operating for nearly a decade, shows that changing the institutional structure does not automatically guarantee better governance. “The BPGMN must have a mandate, authority, success indicators, and working…This article was originally published on Mongabay

It is my view that Marxism is a republication of the account in the Garden of Eden.  As such, Marxism is not merely a political philosophy, but a religion that flows from the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden. We could call it the doctrine of demons.  It should be taught today, especially... Continue Reading

If you belong to Him, you have work to do. The very areas of life where you have allowed sin to grow are places where you must now learn to obey your King and pray His Kingdom victory will come as it already is in heaven.   Across New England, which boasts one of the... Continue Reading

A proposed R114 million wall along Cape Town’s N2 has sparked protests, with residents and civil society groups accusing the city of investing in a barrier that could deepen the divide between poorer communities and surrounding suburbs.

Residents marched on September 25 to oppose the N2 Edge project, a planned 9-kilometer wall development that the city says is aimed at improving safety and security along the highway.

But protesters say that the wall risks reproducing the spatial divisions created under apartheid, saying public money should instead be spent on housing, public services and opportunities for communities that have been pushed to the margins.

Movement for CARE, which was among those involved in organizing the protests, had criticized the project, saying;

“Instead of investing in dignified housing, safe neighborhoods, quality public services, and opportunities for communities that have been pushed to the margins for generations, the city wants to invest millions in a barrier that deepens exclusion and reinforces the geography of apartheid.”

The organization said from the beginning when the news about the proposal was announced, that Cape Town does not need more walls but rather affordable housing close to work and economic opportunities, as well as greater investment in communities.

“We need investment in communities, not their isolation. We need a city that brings people together instead of driving them further apart,” it said.

The Movement for CARE described the proposed structure as an “Apartheid Wall,” arguing that the first step towards justice is refusing to normalize and hide existing inequalities.

City defends the R114 million project

The City of Cape Town has defended the project as a safety intervention. In January, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the city’s adjustment budget had committed “R114m to the N2 Edge project.”

The investment “will make a positive difference to the safety of every motorist along that stretch, and reduce pedestrian fatalities,” Hill-Lewis said.

He said the project would repair safety barriers and introduce other safety improvements for communities along the N2.

Hill-Lewis also said that a small number of “criminal elements” were affecting the safety of hundreds of thousands of daily N2 users.

According to the mayor, the N2 Edge project would be accompanied by increased highway patrols, with more than 40 new Metro police officers deployed to the N2, supported by CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition and digital coordination for rapid response.

Despite the widespread backlash, the city maintains it will continue with the project.

Abahlali baseMjondolo backs the protest

Abahlali baseMjondolo also supported the protests, saying in a post that the project would deepen racial and economic divisions in the city.

“The City of Cape Town continues to entrench neo-apartheid laws in post-apartheid South Africa by building a wall that segregates and hides the poor from the rich along the N2,” the organization said.

Adding that the project shows that the Democratic Alliance-led City does not recognize the needs of poor communities, particularly Black communities.

Read more: “A declaration of war against the poor”: AbM leads resistance against South Africa’s anti-occupation bill

The organization said it supported the struggles of residents in Khayelitsha, Langa, Dunoon, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain who continue to face what it described as segregation and racism.

The protests have raised questions over whether the R114 million allocated to the N2 Edge project represents the right priority for Cape Town. With the protesters arguing that public resources should instead be directed towards reducing inequality, improving services and providing better housing and opportunities for communities living along the N2, instead of separating communities and concealing poverty.