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The US Supreme Court was poised to wade into the divisive battle over the abortion drug mifepristone with a ruling due Friday on lower court-ordered restrictions on the widely used pill.

By NATION REPORTER

RESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has demonstrated sufficient zeal to fight corruption but it is worrying that he is the only one talking against the vice particularly that the 2022 Financial Intelligence Centre Report has revealed a significant increase in money laundering and other illicit financial transactions, economist Noel Nkoma has said.

THE millers are right.

We do not think any person running a successful enterprise would resort to underhand methods, let alone smuggling.

The shortage of mealie meal particularly on the Copperbelt as well as the high prices has been blamed on some unscrupulous millers, smuggling their produce into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

But the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) has distanced itself from allegations that some of its members are colluding with unscrupulous individuals to smuggle maize meant for local consumption into some neighbouring countries.

In an interview with Millennium TV, MAZ president Andrew Chintala said no reasonable miller would want to engage in mealie-meal smuggling considering the grave consequences that came with such illegal acts.

We agree.

We do not subscribe to the narrative being peddled by certain political leaders that some millers are smuggling mealie meal at the expense of the local market.  It is being disrespectful.

This is running away from the truth behind the shortage of mealie meal on the market.

Milling companies exporting mealie meal have been doing so openly in line with Government guidelines.

As Mr Chintala explained, “We have modalities in terms of the regulated export arrangement, which is in place so we would like to encourage those that would like to engage into exports to approach the millers and negotiate to see how best they can be supported to do it in a legal manner.

“We do not support illegality and as such, we would like to make a call to our colleagues the state security wings that are responsible to ensure that they provide security and monitor the export arrangement that is in place.”

It should be noted that successive governments have always had stringent policies in place that include making use of the defence forces to patrol the Zambia/Congo DR border to curtail smuggling.

If our collective memory serves us right, none of the seized bags of mealie meal or maize have ever been traced to a milling company.

It has always been individuals with the financial muscle to buy mealie meal in bulk and hire transporters who have been intercepted.

We expect the government officials to look at millers as genuine partners in the country’s development agenda.

They should be respected as people running multi-million Kwacha businesses that are contributing to the national coffers as well as to the country’s food security.

This is why even President Hakainde Hichilema had seen it fit to meet the millers recently and listen to their concerns amidst the shortage.

Moreover, we do not think any sensible miller would like to see social unrest breaking out for that would affect their businesses.

Mr Chintala said millers are working with state agencies to ensure that the smuggling is curbed “and obviously there are measures that are in place and we have sufficient laws that should be applied to the perpetrators of this vice.

Because you see what smuggling does is that it affects and disturbs the market, so it is something that obviously we should not pay a blind eye on because that will affect all these other interventions that Government is making with ourselves,” Mr Chintala said.

THE Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) has donated K150 000 toward the successful hosting of Ukusefya Pa Ng’wena traditional ceremony of the Bemba people.

Speaking at the cheque handover ceremony, ZANACO head of client solutions marketing and corporate commutation, Chanda Katongo said Traditional ceremonies are not only a catalyst for culture preservation but are also key at boosting the counties revenue in the tourism sector.

Ms. Katongo said ZANACO understands the value that traditional ceremonies bring in supporting the tourism sector and they stand ready to support all traditional ceremonies across all the 10 provinces of Zambia. “As a home-grown bank ZANACO believes that a nation without a history or culture is dead and therefore we need to preserve our history and culture through continuous reminders of who we are, this must be passed from one generation to another” he said. 

She said ZANACO has its presence in all the 10 provinces of Zambia and has the largest branches network and the largest digital network through the country with their press model which they have called ZANACO express.

Ms Katongo said the contribution of K150 000 to Ukusefya Pa Ng’wena was the affirmation of their commitment to the support to preserve Zambians culture.

Ukusefya Pa Ng’wena Lusaka organizing committee chairpersons, Dr. Bwalya Chiteba thanked ZANACO on behalf of the Chitimukulu for the investment that the bank made towards the ceremony and being a supportive partner as always.

Dr. Chitabe said as organizers they have been looking at which value they could give to ZANACO as they have invested toward the journey of successfully hosting the traditional ceremony.

He said the organizers have an effective digital marketing team who are looking at providing opportunities through the various events that they are going to have.

By NATION REPORTER

The answer to Zambia’s debt question is with China and the country’s long-term development prospects are strongly tied to the world’s second biggest economy, former Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo has said.

Mr Lusambo said he was of sincere
hope that the engines of the ZAF 1 Gulfstream G-650 Presidential Jet were
getting ready to take off and fly President Hakainde Hichilema to China to
engage with President Xi Jinping.

“We also know that whether President
Hichilema and his friends from Washington like it or not, ku Beijing kwena
muzayenda baba,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kankoyo Member of
Parliament Heartson Mabeta said out of the US$31 billion borrowed, Zambia only
owes China six billion dollars.

Mr Mabeta wondered how Zambia could
use US$6 billion to restructure US$31 billion.

“The MoU in Washington has a
detailed plan of how much each creditor including China are going to contribute
towards the restructuring of the total debt,” he said.

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Metabolic (bariatric) surgery is more effective than medications and lifestyle interventions for the treatment of advanced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Suzette Zuena is her own best advertisement for weight loss. Zuena, the “founder/visionary” of LH Spa & Rejuvenation in Livingston and Madison, New Jersey, has dropped 30 pounds. Her husband has lost 42 pounds.

There are more than 100 types of arthritis and related conditions, and they affect at least 54 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States, according to the Arthritis Foundation.

For people with cancer, chemotherapy saves lives, but for some patients, the treatment comes with a side effect—heart damage. Screening cancer drugs for cardiotoxicity has been an ongoing challenge, as heart cells don’t naturally grow in a dish, requiring researchers to do this critical testing using cardiac tissue from rodent models.