Cocoa Futures Surge on Worries About Weaker Crops in West Africa
Dry weather conditions in some parts of the world's top growing region have led to a bleak outlook for the next harvest after the mid-crop from April to September has already turned out significantly poorer-than-expected.
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Winnipeg Free Press
9 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Women's career fair showcases talent, opportunities
Wednesday marked a day of notable change for Ramatoulaye Koete: as she spoke to career scouts, her English flowed — something not possible for her last year — and she was one step closer to a new job. A billing job, perhaps. A City of Winnipeg staffer flagged it to Koete. She and roughly 400 others had registered for StratHR Solutions's women's career fair, which the company touted as a woman-focused first in Manitoba. 'It was a great opportunity for me to meet (employers) here and to introduce myself, and to know how to apply,' Koete said. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Zita Somakoko, CEO of StratHR Solutions, at the women's career fair in Winnipeg, Wednesday. Finding a job has been tough, she relayed. She's been in Winnipeg for 18 months. To start, Koete couldn't speak English — she'd come from Mali, a West African country, and French was her native tongue. 'I'm looking for French positions, but they need bilingual,' Koete recalled. So she enrolled in English language classes at StratHR Solutions. She returned to the firm Wednesday, at 62 Hargrave St., to translate her customer service skills into a Winnipeg career. 'We know that equity is still a box check for many employers in Canada,' said Zita Somakoko, president of StratHR Solutions. 'We wanted to challenge the workforce community to say, 'Hey, you said there are shortages. You're claiming there are labour shortages, right? OK, well come and see — you've got this pool of people that nobody's tapping into.'' Many of the attendees were immigrants, including women who'd gone through StratHR Solutions programming. 'They are ready to work,' said Somakoko, who's president of the Black Manitobans Chamber of Commerce. Her human resources firm received $4.3 million in federal funding in 2022 to run Narrowing the Gender Gap, a literacy program aimed at getting women into workplaces. Within three days, 1,500 women across Canada had applied, Somakoko said. The program ended in March 2024 with a training count of 500 women (Canadian born and newcomers). Students learned soft skills like conflict resolution and taking initiative, Somakoko said. '(I) just really hope that employers in Winnipeg can tap into all of this talent,' said Ashley Dunlop. GABRIELLE PICHE / FREE PRESS Angelle Holmes attends StratHR Solutions's women's career fair in hopes of finding a communications job. She tabled for Economic Development Winnipeg, promoting the online job portal it operates. A list of job postings uploaded Monday — receptionist, cook, occupational therapist — sat nearby. More than 2,000 employers have joined the Work in Manitoba portal, Dunlop said. People uploading resumés are assisted in making profiles to spotlight their skills. 'We find a lot of times with newcomers, they know what their job is back home and what their training was back home,' Dunlop said. 'They were certified to be a bookkeeper. Sometimes they don't know that in Canada, that can also be an accounting technician, that can be an accounting assistant.' Focusing on skills helps build connections, she said. Economic Development Winnipeg has liaised with post-secondaries and settlement organizations to grow the portal. Wednesday marked Dunlop's first experience with a women-only career fair. Jashan Sidhu appreciated the female focus: she's recruiting women for Clients requiring care often ask for female aides, Sidhu explained. 'I think (this is) really good,' she said, a stack of roughly 10 resumés in front of her. Angelle Holmes attended the fair following a referral from Opportunities For Employment Winnipeg. She's spent the past half year job searching, applying to two positions online daily, she estimated. 'I'm… hoping being here in person will be a little bit of a leg up,' Holmes said. 'Sometimes they get posted online, but I feel like 1,000 people apply for those ones.' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Jana Catabona (left) and Isabelle Anglo chat with Tina Bedi of RBC at the women's career fair in Winnipeg on Wednesday. She worries artificial intelligence weeds out her resumé because it has pictures — it's hard to know, the freelance photographer said. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Manitoba's unemployment rate was the second lowest among provinces in July, clocking in at 5.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the province's employment level rose slightly — 0.3 per cent month-over-month — bucking the national downturn. StratHR Solutions plans to host women's job fairs across Canada in the coming months. The second will occur in Toronto this winter, Somakoko said. Fourteen organizations, including government and its branches, tabled in Winnipeg. StratHR Solutions is also launching a program for immigrant men who need assistance applying their professional credentials in Canada. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
MTV Lebanon
20 hours ago
- MTV Lebanon
Macron admits French repression in Cameroon's independence struggle
French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged the violence committed by his country's forces in Cameroon during and after the Central African nation's struggle for independence. It followed a joint report by Cameroonian and French historians examining France's suppression of independence movements from 1945 to 1971. In a letter to Cameroon's President Paul Biya made public on Tuesday, Macron said the report made clear "a war had taken place in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army exercised repressive violence of several kinds in certain regions of the country". "It is up to me today to assume the role and responsibility of France in these events," he said. However, Macron fell short of offering a clear apology for the atrocities committed by French troops in its former colony, which gained independence in 1960. The French leader cited four independence icons who were killed during military operations led by French forces, including Ruben Um Nyobe, the firebrand leader of the anti-colonialist UPC party. The decision to investigate and publish findings on France's role in Cameroon's independence struggle was made in 2022, during Macron's visit to Yaoundé. It followed pressure from within the country for France to acknowledge its atrocities in its former colony and pay reparations. Macron also expressed willingness to work with Cameroon to promote further research on the matter, while highlighting the need for both countries to make the findings available to universities and scientific bodies. The BBC has reached out to Cameroon's government for comment on the French president's admission. While Macron did not address calls for reparations, it is likely to be a key talking-point in Cameroon going forward. Under Macron, France has attempted to confront its brutal colonial past. Last year, it acknowledged for the first time that its soldiers had carried out a "massacre" in Senegal in which West African troops were killed in 1944. Macron has previously acknowledged France's role in the Rwandan genocide, in which about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died, and sought forgiveness. In 2021, he said France had not heeded warnings of impending carnage and had for too long "valued silence over examination of the truth".
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Mali's former prime minister Maiga taken into custody amid corruption probe
BAMAKO, Mali, Aug 13, (AP): Former Malian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga was taken into custody on Tuesday on accusations of corruption, his lawyer said, as the West African country 's military junta has ramped up arrests of top politicians in recent weeks. Maiga's lawyer, Cheick Oumar Konaré, told The Associated Press the former prime minister was taken in for questioning earlier this month by the National Economic and Financial Unit, which is responsible for fighting corruption, as part of an investigation into allegations of misuse of public property. "Former Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga has been taken into custody by officers from the brigade of the National Economic and Financial Unit,' Konaré said. "We are contesting his detention because the former prime minister has no intention of fleeing the country or destroying evidence,' he added. In November 2024, Maïga was dismissed from his role as prime minister, days after he criticized the military regime for postponing elections. Following his dismissal, Maiga continued to criticize the military regime in the media. Earlier this month, another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, was imprisoned after tweeting his support for jailed critics of the ruling military junta. Mali has been ruled by military leaders since a junta seized power in 2020 and staged another coup the following year. In June, the country's leader, Gen Assimi Goita, was granted an additional five years in power, despite the junta's earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024. The move followed the military regime's dissolution of political parties in May.
