There are thousands of earthquakes every year that occur around the world. Most are safe, thankfully. Some are particularly deadly and can kill hundreds of thousands in a matter of minutes. Disasters that countries often have to cope with, such as the last major earthquake in Haiti in 2010, which has left more than 200,000…
70.8 million people uprooted worldwide in 2019
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has just released its annual statistical report on uprooted people. By the end of 2018, the organization had 70.8 million people forced out of their homes against their will. This number has never been higher in nearly 70 years of the Office of the…
Africa: the world’s largest single market in the making
Africa is becoming the largest single market in the world. A trade treaty, called the Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will come into effect after ratification by 24 countries. It should eventually extend to 55 countries of the continent. The decision to launch the Continental Free Trade Area Project was taken in January 2012 at…
43 million inhabitants in Algeria
Algerian demographics continue its dynamic, even if it slows slightly. Indeed, Algeria has just exceeded 43 million inhabitants on 1 January 2019, up + 1.9% compared to 2018 (42.2 million inhabitants), according to data from the National Office of statistics (ONS). The previous year, growth was + 2.2%. The birth rate is falling a bit,…
Naruhito becomes the new emperor of Japan
After the abdication of 85-year-old Emperor Akihito, who ruled from 1989 to 2019, his son Naruhito became Japan‘s new Emperor at 59 on May 1, 2019. His accession to the throne marks the beginning of the Reiwa era, “era of beautiful harmony”, which succeeds the Heisei era, “era of the achievement of peace” of the…
Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky wins the presidential election
Volodymyr Zelensky has won the presidential election in Ukraine in the second round against incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, with 73.22% of the vote, against 24.5% to the second. At age 41, he becomes the youngest president of the country. He will take office on May 31st. Of Russian-speaking origin and deemed closer to Russia than…
Indonesia: Joko Widodo should win the elections
In Indonesia, one of the most populous countries in the world with nearly 270 million people, incumbent President Joko Widodo is expected to win the presidential elections on Wednesday, April 17th. Estimates give him about 55% of the vote, compared to 45% for his opponent Prabowo Subianto, a former military man supported by Islamist conservatives…
Sudan: The dictator al-Bashir overthrown by the army
The Sudanese army has just overthrown Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in a coup. He was dismissed Thursday morning, 11 April, and arrested by the military before being detained in an undisclosed location. A military junta has taken control of the country’s institutions, and intends to retain power for at least two years. The new Transitional…
Catastrophic floods in Mozambique
Catastrophic floods have occurred in the Beira region, a large city of about 650,000 people in central Mozambique, after cyclone Idai. For the time being, entire regions are still under water, and relief efforts are finding it extremely difficult to access the affected areas as many roads and bridges are cut off. The UN estimates…
Nursultan Nazarbayev, President-dictator of Kazakhstan, resigns
To everyone’s surprise, Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned today, 19 March, as President of Kazakhstan. He had been in power since 1984 – when he was 44 – when he became President of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, before becoming the first secretary of the Kazakh Communist Party in 1989 – de…
