Disease, also known as Botrytis cinerea, turns fruits partially black to brown near the stalk

Enos Odongo is a building contractor, but on the side, he runs a fish farm as he seeks to cash in on rising demand for the produce

Over 6,000 farmers have already planted the new varieties. The factory will need over eight tonnes of banana produce daily.

Davis, 29, has competed against his elder brother Frank, 33, in top flight hockey since 2012.

The positions are for a non-renewable term of six years.

In the United States, 20.5 million jobs were wiped out in April -- the most ever reported .

Many individuals with disabilities have been hard hit due to loss of income.

Well-wishers are distributing relief supplies to victims.

She takes over the Public Affairs Department at a time when the military is slowly embracing openness.

We should come up with innovations that respond to societal needs.

Truth is seriously in short supply precisely because it was never been abundant even before Covid-19.

Her number was always the first I called whenever I was in a fix.

South Sudan Doctors’ Union say this may hurt millions of South Sudanese.

The partnership will ensure farmers get the input not only at the correct price but also at the right time.

Sixty eight needy sports men and women are set to benefit by the end of the exercise.

Ahmedabad, a city of 5.5 million, has become a major concern for authorities.

South Africa vaccinates health workers in response to the pandemic.

Kenya reports a total of 649 cases, 207 recoveries and 30 deaths.

Kenya Police Sacco distributes face masks, gloves and sanitisers in Trans Nzoia.

Studies show black people are less likely to get adequate pain drugs compared to whites

Cathay Pacific is looking at “structural change” as it investigates how to downscale its business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Post has learned.Hong Kong’s flag carrier is mulling scenarios that could reduce staff headcount, routes served and planes flown, as well as the possible consolidation of its airline brands, in drastic steps that would mirror those taken by rivals in recent weeks.“We are currently working with colleagues from across the airline to model varying degrees…

Charles Li, one of the longest-serving chief executives of a global financial marketplace, has thrown in the towel after more than a decade as head of the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX), in a surprise announcement to let his contract lapse in October 2021.The former oilfield worker, journalist and banker, also known as Li Xiaojia, will not seek reappointment when his current term expires at the end of October next year, according to a statement. He will continue to lead Asia’s third-largest…

Hong Kong recorded four new coronavirus infections on Thursday, all involving returnees from Pakistan the previous night, as the city prepared to bring back more residents stranded in South Asia.The diagnoses ended a two-day streak without any new cases, and takes the city’s total number of confirmed infections to 1,044.Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable diseases branch of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), said the patients in question, aged between 11 and 47, all returned to…

Muhammad Ali offering to help free Iran hostages, a contest pitting an abacus against a calculator and an Indian hospital using patients as guinea pigs made the headlines 40 years ago this week.May 4, 1980● The Macau ferry Fatshan, which capsized during Typhoon Rose in August 1971, was brought to the surface by a Chinese salvage team. Three skeletons, believed to be the remains of three of the victims trapped in the vessel when it sank near northeastern Lantau Island, were discovered inside the…

Disqualified lawmaker Lau Siu-lai was denied the opportunity to respond to allegations of not genuinely upholding Hong Kong’s mini-constitution before she was barred from trying to win back her seat in the Legislative Council, a judge has observed.Mr Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming made the remark on Thursday while hearing an election petition from Lau, who has asked the High Court to determine whether pro-establishment lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan had been duly elected to the office of Kowloon West…

Exam authorities will carry out citywide research to develop an alternative student grading system in the event university entrance tests are cancelled because of future pandemics, Hong Kong’s education minister told the Post on Thursday.In an exclusive interview, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung also said his bureau would review with schools how to better prepare for class suspensions, including teacher training and resources for non-traditional instruction methods.Hong Kong…

Three years ago, when visiting Washington as she neared completion of her term as Hong Kong’s second-ranking official, career civil servant Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she planned to leave government and do something different at year end – “perhaps social work”. Would that she had. Instead, she became Hong Kong’s fourth consecutive chief executive to become wildly unpopular since China regained sovereignty in 1997, yet another Beijing-backed leader required (or quite willing) to enforce…

Most of Hong Kong’s 70,000 teachers remained professional during the anti-government protests, despite complaints being made against more than 170 of them for misconduct, the city’s education chief said in a Thursday interview with the Post.Reflecting on the movement that started almost a year ago, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said there would be more emphasis on teaching proper values and knowledge about mainland China.However, he said there were no plans for schools to…

A meeting in Hong Kong’s legislature descended into shouting matches and scuffles as 11 opposition lawmakers were thrown out by a pro-establishment leader who took control of a key committee to begin clearing a backlog of bills for review.The pan-democrats walked out of talks on Friday after losing their hold over the House Committee, threatening court action against Legislative Council staff, including legal advisers and security guards, whom they accused of abandoning political neutrality and…

Bars and other entertainment venues were finally allowed to reopen their doors on Friday after more than a month of coronavirus measures, but Hong Kong’s famed nightlife scene was far from buzzing as people remained wary over the potential risk of infection.But along with the caution there was a sense of optimism from customers and business operators alike.A day after the city detected four imported cases in Hong Kong residents returning from Pakistan, the number of new infections dropped to…

Hong Kong’s police chief has reacted with fury over the “dishonour brought to the force” by the arrest of 18 officers for various offences over the past three weeks, including nine detained on Friday in connection with actions against street sleepers.Commissioner of Police Chris Tang Ping-keung said the behaviour of the officers concerned had brought disgrace to the force and dealt a severe blow to its credibility and nullified efforts achieved over the years.“As commissioner, I am not just…

The High Court has thrown out a Hong Kong resident’s challenge to his quarantine status, dismissing his application for a writ of habeas corpus over his mandatory isolation at a government-run facility.Accountant Syed Agha Raza Shah, who tested negative for Covid-19 upon his return, was sent to the Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan for a 14-day stay after returning from Pakistan via Qatar with about 200 other Hong Kong residents on April 29.On Thursday, he applied for a writ of habeas corpus…

Ocean Park could run out of cash by September, its CEO warned on Friday as he estimated the Hong Kong attraction had missed out on nearly 1 million visitors over three months of its coronavirus shutdown.With the health crisis intensifying the resort’s financial woes, Matthias Li Sing-chung said no decision had been made on when the park would emerge from the shutdown imposed on January 26, but said it could return within two weeks once conditions were deemed suitable, even if some social…

Two Hong Kong men found carrying weapons at an unauthorised protest last year were jailed for eight months on Friday.Fanling Court sentenced sales consultant Yung Wai-shing, 26, and clerk Chu Tsz-wan, 24, to jail for possessing an extendable baton, a laser pointer, a catapult and a packet of metal pellets at a march in Yuen Long on the night of July 27.The court sentenced co-defendant Vincent Chu Chun-hoi, a 19-year-old cook, to correctional training for carrying an air pistol at the same event…

Police dispersed lunchtime protesters with pepper spray in an upscale Hong Kong shopping centre just 12 hours after the government relaxed some coronavirus social-distancing measures and allowed people to gather in groups of eight on Friday.Shortly after dozens of anti-government demonstrators began yelling slogans and belting out their anthem, officers entered the IFC Mall in Central to cordon off their protest site, forcing the Apple store to lower its shutters.Later, police used pepper spray…

A Hong Kong police officer arrested in connection with the seizure of 25kg of drugs worth HK$12 million is believed to have orchestrated its theft from the scene of a bust he was personally in charge of last week, according to police sources.If true, it would mean the announced record seizure of 296kg of Ice, a form of methamphetamine, actually involved 321kg.Sources said the station sergeant, who was arrested along with a constable in connection with the missing drugs, was in charge of the…

A Hong Kong man has admitted in court to raping his nine-year-old daughter and telling his younger son that it was none of his business when the child caught him in the act.The High Court heard the sexual attacks spanned nearly six years, since 2011, when the casual vegetable seller, who could not be identified for legal reasons, first attempted to rape his daughter after school.At the time she was only six, while he was 40.Acting deputy director of public prosecutions Catherine Ko said the…

A senior civil servant overseeing the distribution of reusable masks to all Hongkongers has promised to put the production of their replacement filters out to tender after admitting to shortcomings in the transparency of the original contract awarded by the government.Annie Choi Suk-han, permanent secretary of the Innovation and Technology Bureau, on Friday rejected suggestions the government had intentionally hidden the identity of the manufacturer chosen for the HK$320 million (US$41 million)…

Hong Kong recorded zero new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, as a government adviser suggested that border control measures between the city and Macau could be the first to be lifted.It was also the 20th day in a row without any local infections, although a handful of imported cases over the past week had taken Hong Kong’s tally to 1,044 with four related deaths.Health experts earlier raised the prospect of Hong Kong being declared free of local transmission if there were no such cases after 28 days…

A revised bailout plan will be proposed by the Hong Kong government very soon to save Ocean Park from running out of cash as early as in June, the Post has learned.Two sources said that a HK$10.6 billion (US$1.35 billion) proposal tabled in January would not go ahead with officials unveiling an alternative on Monday at the earliest, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the theme park on Southern district to shut down temporarily.On Friday night, the legislature’s Finance Committee announced that…

Hong Kong’s Canto-pop “dancing king” Aaron Kwok Fu-shing’s online charity concert on Saturday afternoon to help the city’s struggling dancers attracted about 2 million viewers and raised more than HK$1 million, amid local signs of an easing coronavirus threat.Kwok’s onstage moves are known to be inspired by Michael Jackson. The one-hour performance by the singer-dancer-actor, 54, flanked by about 100 dancers, was live-streamed on multiple channels on social media from 5pm to 6pm.He performed on…

China Evergrande’s weekend sale of its Emerald Bay flats in Tuen Mun has flopped for the third time in as many months, as Hong Kong’s homebuyers shunned its meagre discounts in anticipation of further price declines.The developer managed to find buyers for 41 flats, or 12 per cent of the 335 units on offer at 8:30pm, according to sales agents.In March, the developer sold 49 of 141 flats when it launched the project in the midst of the city’s coronavirus outbreak, at a time when social…

Lawmakers on both sides of the political divide are considering whether to report their rivals to police after a row in Hong Kong’s legislature over control of a key committee descended into chaos in the chamber.Two opposition legislators revealed on Saturday they planned to make formal allegations of assault, while the pro-establishment camp was mulling filing complaints of its own to the force.It follows a turbulent meeting of the Legislative Council’s House Committee on Friday, when a pro…

While the coronavirus pandemic has forced the city’s tourism sector to a near standstill, agency head Christina Yuen Ho-yee is busier than ever, routinely working 12 hours a day.As the Covid-19 pandemic caused global lockdowns, sales at her firm, EGL Tours, dropped to zero between March and June, down from HK$500 million (US$64.5 million) in the same stretch last year.All of her roughly 600 staff members have been asked to take days of unpaid leave between April and June.But Yuen, the agency’s…

Hong Kong authorities have seized 34 tonnes of American ginseng worth HK$47 million (US$6 million) and arrested seven people in what is by far the biggest-ever bust of its kind in the city.The haul breaks a record set less than three months ago, when more than three tonnes of the traditional Chinese medicine valued at about $HK4.6 million were seized in February.Police and customs officers discovered a “suspicious-looking” fishing boat to the northeast of Hong Kong’s international airport on…

A man in Hong Kong has died the day after police used what they described as appropriate force to arrest him for criminal damage, drugs possession and assaulting officers.The force said that Yau Tsim district officers on patrol in Nathan Road were called at about 5pm on Thursday by members of the public who reported that a non-Chinese man “smelling strongly of alcohol” had damaged a moving vehicle with a glass bottle and toppled over a nearby motorcycle.The suspect “fiercely resisted” when he…

Stella Paul is the recipient of the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, a multiple winner of the Asian Environmental Journalism Awards, the Lead Ambassador for World Pulse and a senior IPS correspondent.

The post Protect Journalists’ Rights so We can Stop the COVID-19 Disinfodemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

This year’s World Press Freedom Day on 3 May falls during COVID-19 lockdowns in many of our countries. Restriction on movement means journalists all over the world are facing obstacles in getting interviews and data, and verifying stories before publishing. In addition, the global pandemic has been used by many governments to control not just […]

The post Journalism is Not a Crime…and Fake News on Social Media is Not Journalism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Director, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD)

The post Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism in Small Island Developing States appeared first on Inter Press Service.

ONLINE HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE Moderated by Jorge Ramos (journalist & author, Univision)

 
4 May 2020, 17:00-18:15 CET (GMT+2) / 11:00am-12:15pm EDT

 
JOIN LIVE: http://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpressfreedomday
 

The post Press Freedom and Tackling Disinformation in the COVID-19 context appeared first on Inter Press Service.