At least five farms have attracted Chinese investment in Mashonaland Central, a region to the north-west of Harare, that was traditionally one of the country’s best tobacco-producing areas.
China has become the largest investor in Zimbabwe, the economy of which is still reeling from the land seizures of 2000 and hyperinflation, has taken a nosedive once again.
Unemployment is running at about 90 per cent and the regime is so short of money that it cannot pay teachers or civil servants.
Chen Li Jun,left, sits on a motorcycle with a farm worker CREDIT: TSVANGIRAI MUKWAZHI
While Zimbabwe’s land reform process has empowered around 60,000 small-scale black tobacco farmers, who grow lower grades of tobacco, many of the bigger farms distributed among Mr Mugabe’s cronies have not fared so well.
Farms just north of Harare lie fallow amid broken fences, fields scorched by fires and scarce livestock. There are few surviving indigenous trees as many were felled by new farmers who could not afford coal to cure their tobacco.
A generation of evicted white farmers have moved abroad or live hand-to-mouth, waiting for promised compensation.
Tsitsi Chiasan attends to tobacco seedlingsCREDIT: TSVANGIRAI MUKWAZHI
One farm worker in Mvurwi, about 60 miles north of Harare, said there were now plenty of jobs in the district after years of difficulties following the departure of the white landowners. “The Chinese are spending money,” he said.
Experts believe that the five Chinese-run farms will, despite their limited experience, grow and cure about 1,500 acres of tobacco this year. They said the new infrastructure including equipment manufactured by US company, Valley Irrigation, must have cost at least £7 million.
An insider in the tobacco industry said the Chinese company would be paying a hefty rental for the land they are now using to the “political” men who now own the farms.
“The Chinese will pay a percentage of the income from the tobacco as rent,” he said. “Some of that rental should be shared with the white farmers who left their homes with nothing and received no compensation from the government, but they probably don’t know their old farms are now about to start making money again.”
How many of you complain and moan when something doesn’t go your way? How about when you take up a new hobby or try something that you have never done before? Do you hate learning new skills?
Yes, juggling chainsaws is pretty darn difficult so stop doing that. It’s not big or clever and you will find it hard to comb your hair with a chunk of metal lodged in your head.
What about more ‘every day’ activities?
I see it every week with my guitar students.
“My hands are too small and I can’t do it!
“I have no rhythm”
“These barre chords are too hard”
Yes it is hard to learn a musical instrument, even harder to learn to play the guitar, but what did you expect? You’re contorting your hands and fingers into positions that would make a gangster rapper weep with envy.
The students who improve the quickest and who end up truly enjoying their practice sessions are always the ones who appreciate that time and effort = rewards.
Pete Buttigieg: Donald Trump Used Status To Fake A Disability,’Dodge Vietnam Draft//Crimson Tazvinzwa
Mayor Pete Buttigieg is accusing President Donald Trump of draft dodging the Vietnam War, claiming the president faked a disability. Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan, also spoke of the president as a “crazy uncle.”
I have a pretty dim view of someone making a decision to use their status and privilege, faking a disability in order to avoid going to Vietnam like any one else.
I don’t want to trivialise ‘disability’, but when you think about how someone can easily exploit and feed off the system, in a cavalier fashion at that. Imagine.
But again. Think about it. Manipulating the ability to obtain a fake diagnosis; I mean if it were out of conscientious object to the object of that infamous war, then let it be. Anyone would admire that as ‘practice out of principle’. It is fairly obvious to most of us that the president and his family took advantage at the time.
CORRECTS DATE – In this Friday, May 17, 2019, photo, released by the U.S. Navy, sailors work around an MV-22 Osprey as it lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Commercial airliners flying over the Persian Gulf risk being targeted by "miscalculation or misidentification" from the Iranian military amid heightened tensions between the Islamic Republic and the U.S., American diplomats warned Saturday, May 18, 2019, even as both Washington and Tehran say they don't seek war. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley/U.S. Navy via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in the Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The U.S. military command that oversees the Mideast has confirmed an explosion outside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and says there are no U.S. or coalition casualties.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in the Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran The U.S. military command that oversees the Mideast has confirmed an explosion outside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and says there are no U.S. or coalition casualties. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Bill Urban, says in a statement that Iraqi Security Forces are investigating Sunday’s incident. A State Department spokesman says that “a low-grade rocket” landed within the International Zone near the U.S. Embassy and that there was no significant damage or impact on any U.S.-inhabited facility.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Bill Urban, says in a statement that Iraqi Security Forces are investigating Sunday’s incident.
A State Department spokesman says that “a low-grade rocket” landed within the International Zone near the U.S. Embassy and that there was no significant damage or impact on any U.S.-inhabited facility.
The spokesman says that such attacks will not be tolerated and will be responded to “in a decisive manner” and that the U.S. will hold Iran responsible “if any such attacks are conducted by its proxy militia forces or elements of such forces.”
Days after saying he hoped the U.S. and Iran would not go to war, President Donald Trump threatened Iran with destruction if it seeks a fight.
Trump issued the warning after a rocket landed less than a mile from the U.S. Embassy on Sunday in Baghdad’s Green Zone, further stoking tensions in the region.
Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”
Iranian officials say the country is not looking for war.
Trump had seemed to soften his tone after the U.S. recently sent warships and bombers to the region to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran. On Thursday, when asked if the U.S. and Iran were headed toward armed conflict, he answered: “I hope not.”
An apparent rocket attack has exploded in the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to government headquarters and the U.S. Embassy.
Iraq’s state-run news agency says a Katyusha rocket crashed inside the area without causing any casualties.
Alert sirens sounded briefly in Baghdad after the explosion was heard, according to Associated Press reporters on the east side of the Tigris River.
The apparent attack comes amid heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf, after the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region earlier this month to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran. The U.S. also has ordered nonessential staff out of its diplomatic posts in Iraq.
Iraq hosts more than 5,000 U.S. troops, and is home to powerful Iranian-backed militias, some of whom want those U.S. forces to leave.
The U.S. Navy says it has conducted exercises in the Arabian Sea with an aircraft carrier strike group ordered to the Persian Gulf to counter an alleged, unspecified threat from Iran.
The Navy said Sunday the exercises and training were conducted with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group in coordination with the U.S. Marine Corps, highlighting U.S. “lethality and agility to respond to threat,” as well as to deter conflict and preserve U.S. strategic interests.
Also taking part in exercises were the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, both deployed to the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of operations in the Persian Gulf.
The Navy says the exercises, conducted Friday and Saturday, included air-to-air training and steaming in formation and maneuvering.
A top Saudi diplomat says the kingdom does not want war but will defend itself, amid a recent spike in tensions with archrival Iran.
Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, spoke early Sunday, a week after four oil tankers were targeted in an alleged act of sabotage off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and days after Iran-allied Yemeni rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline.
Saudi Arabia has blamed the pipeline attack on Iran. Gulf officials say an investigation into the tanker incident is underway.
A-Jubeir told reporters: “We want peace and stability in the region, but we won’t stand with our hands bound.”
Ministers from major oil-producing countries were to meet in Saudi Arabia later Tuesday.
Australians will elect a new Parliament in less than two weeks, but many candidates have withdrawn from the race after making offensive remarks.CreditCreditLisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
If the devil Fraser Anning still be a politician in Australia and sit in the parliament instead of going to jail, there is something severely wrong in Australian politics, law, and state-system.
One candidate ranted about the danger of the “homosexual lifestyle.” Another called for the genital mutilation of non-Muslim women who support Islam. A third made light of rape, and yet another boasted that he had “done more Asian than I know what to do with.”
Nearly every day in the brief run-up to the Australian election on May 18, voters have confronted a new revelation of toxic speech by politicians, propagated largely on social media. The offensive remarks have forced at least six candidates for Parliament to quit, while many more linger like zombies — most of them from the conservative governing coalition and other parties on the right
Luke Creasey, second from the right, a Labor candidate who quit the race after making a joke about rape, is seen here with the party’s leader Bill Shorten, second from left.CreditEllen Smith/EPA, via Shutterstock
The Guardian already published that terrorism done by a few entities who misinterpret Islam is covered 357% more in media. And I believe in Australia it is covered more than 357% when in reality most of the terrorist acts are done by non-Muslims.
Australia was founded by killing and oppressing indigenous communities.Scott Morrison capitalized on Islamophobia to come to power. The country is build on hate. Fortunately, most of the present-day Australians are regular innocent people who condemn islamophobia and want to live in harmony.
Yet, devils like Pauline Hanson and Fraser Anning are able to sit in the parliament and promote racism. This is brutal and horrifying. This is the result of the indifference of Australian people. This is the result of world media who promote islamophobia. This is the result of indifference of world leaders towards islamophobia. Please take action in a way you can.
Please remember, the kind of killing of Muslims happened in Christchurch New Zealand will trigger the violence of radical islamist groups. Both the lives of Muslims and non-Muslims are at stake here. Please remember, in Quran, God/Allah said no person has the right to judge another human being and no person can be revengeful.
The extreme approaches of Shariah Law are man-made they are not from Quran. It is clear in Quran that only God/Allah is able to decide who will go to heaven or hell. What you hear about Muhammad being a war-lord is nothing but ill-conceived and agenda-driven misinterpretations.
We humans have no right to judge other human beings. I am not talking against the rule of law in a country here. The rule of law and constitution must exist. It is the best way we human can live in a peaceful way. I am talking about the hateful misinterpretations of Islam based on which Australian politicians are capitalizing.
Faith is personal, and it should always remain personal.
A politician of a democracy must not play politics with someone’s faith and no media platform should promote the play of politics when it harms faith. It’s time for us to go beyond race, creed, and gender identities, otherwise Muslims and non-Muslims and Christians will suffer and death will become obvious.
No time for indifference. It’s not the time to watch Captain Marvel, it’s the time to break the bubble of your comfort zone and do something for humanity.
