Zambia

LUSAKA, Dec 28 (NNN-ZANIS) – A train, carrying 24 wagons of coal, derailed in southern Zambia’s Mazabuka town, due to a blocked drainage, the state-run railway firm said yesterday.

Zambia Railways Limited acting spokesperson, Sombe Ng’onga, said, the incident happened in the early hours of yesterday morning.

She said, preliminary investigations revealed that, the derailment was caused by a blocked drainage, due to heavy rains, that buried the rail line.

LUSAKA, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in northern Zambia on Saturday launched a massive oral cholera vaccination campaign aimed at containing the frequent outbreak of diarrhea disease in some districts.

The first round of vaccination campaign will be done in Nsama, one of the districts with high cholera incidences in which over 7,000 people will be captured, according to the state-run news agency, the Zambia News and Information Service (ZANIS).

LUSAKA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Thursday pardoned 130 inmates as part of the commemoration of this year's Christmas Day which falls on December 25.

Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo said the pardoning of the inmates was in line with the powers vested on the president in the constitution.

He said during a press briefing streamlined on Facebook that among those pardoned included 113 male inmates and 17 females.

LUSAKA, Dec 19 (NNN-ZANIS) – Zambia launched a nuclear policy, meant to provide guidance to the country’s national nuclear programme.

The National Nuclear Policy was meant to put the nation, on a path to exploit nuclear technology.

Minister of Higher Education, Brian Mushimba, said during the launch that, the policy will guide the country in the implementation of nuclear programmes that protects human life and the environment.

LUSAKA/DAR ES SALAAM, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zambia temporarily shut its border with Tanzania to enhance measures against the spread of the new coronavirus, delaying its main copper exports via Dar es Salaam, a minister said.

President Edgar Lungu on Sunday directed the closure after the border town of Nakonde recorded 76 cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, the highest number registered by Africa’s No.2 copper producer in a single day.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - More than 50 people in Zambia have been killed in mob violence in response to a spate of poision spray attacks, President Edgar Lungu said on Friday, blaming church leaders for encouraging some of the reprisals.

The chemical attacks began in December and were initially confined to the mineral-rich copperbelt but have since spread to the capital Lusaka.

Some 26 people have been arrested under suspicion of being behind the incidents, but police have still to pinpoint the motive or exact number of victims.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - The United States will give Zambia a new one year bilateral grant of $389 million for AIDS relief starting in October after Congressional approval, Zambia’s ministry of health said in a statement.

The grant under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) follows a meeting on Zambia which was held last week in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“The meeting reviewed key policies, strategies and activities to be undertaken toward the goal of achieving epidemic control of HIV,” the statement said.

LUSAKA, Dec 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zambia’s state power firm Zesco said it will increase the price of electricity by an average 113 percent for all customers beginning next month as the African nation seeks to attract investment into power generation, according to the country’s energy regulator.

Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board said it had allowed Zesco to increase electricity tariffs by more than 200 percent for residential customers consuming the least amount of power.

LUSAKA, Dec 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US has recalled its ambassador to Zambia amid a diplomatic row after he criticised the imprisonment of a gay couple.

US embassy sources confirmed to news agencies and local media that Foote had been recalled by Washington.

Last month, Daniel Foote said he was “horrified” that a judge had sentenced the men to 15 years in prison after they were caught having sex in 2017.

The government accused him of trying to dictate policy, and President Edgar Lungu declared him persona non grata.

VICTORIA FALLS (Zambia), Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — For decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascade down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, have drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for their stunning views.

But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions.