US
Ambassador
to
Zimbabwe
Pamela
Tremont
says
the
US
has
invested
hugely
in
agriculture,
health
and
other
sectors
The
Zimbabwean
government
has
introduced
strict
penalties
for
telecom
operators
failing
to
meet
quality
standards,
aiming
to
address
ongoing
issues
with
poor
service
affecting
consumers
nationwide.
Zimbabwe’s
telecom
sector
is
highly
competitive,
with
companies
offering
services
ranging
from
voice
and
data
to
cloud
solutions
and
cybersecurity.
However,
many
operators,
including
Econet,
NetOne,
and
Telecel,
face
challenges
maintaining
service
quality,
exacerbated
by
financial
difficulties.
NetOne,
for
instance,
reported
liabilities
exceeding
assets
by
ZWL$32
billion.
The
government
has
set
specific
benchmarks:
a
minimum
Data
Service
Access
Success
Rate
(DSASR)
of
95%
and
a
Data
Service
Drop
Rate
(DSDR)
below
2%.
Additionally,
4G
networks
must
provide
downlink
speeds
of
at
least
5
Mbps
and
uplink
speeds
of
1
Mbps.
Operators
failing
to
meet
these
standards
for
three
consecutive
months
will
be
fined.
These
penalties
come
as
new
competitors
like
Starlink
disrupt
the
market
with
high-speed
satellite
internet,
forcing
established
providers
to
rethink
pricing
and
service
quality.
In
response,
Liquid
Intelligent
Technologies,
Zimbabwe’s
largest
internet
provider,
cut
unlimited
internet
packages
by
up
to
45%.
TelOne
is
also
planning
flexible
pricing
models
to
remain
competitive.
While
these
measures
aim
to
improve
telecom
services,
they
highlight
the
challenges
operators
face.
Despite
infrastructure
improvements,
Econet
has
received
complaints
about
service
reliability.
The
penalty
framework
is
a
critical
step
toward
ensuring
operators
invest
in
infrastructure
and
improve
service
quality,
benefiting
consumers
across
Zimbabwe.
Ncube
was
just
three
years
old
when
his
father
was
shot
by
soldiers
near
their
home
in
Matabeleland
North
province
in
1983,
the
same
year
when
then
prime
minister
Robert
Mugabe
dispatched
troops
to
suppress
dissent
in
the
ethnic
Ndebele
heartland.
Mugabe
alleged
that Joshua
Nkomo,
his
former
ally
in
the
struggle
against
white
rule
who
garnered
significant
support
from
Matabeleland,
was
conspiring
against
him.
Ncube’s
father,
a
government
veterinary
worker
and
local
leader
of
Nkomo’s
ZAPU
party
was
targeted
by
the
red-beret
unit
deployed
by
Mugabe,
who
was
the
head
of
the
mostly
Shona
ZANU
party.
Baleni
last
saw
her
father,
a
school
teacher,
in
1983
at
the
age
of
19,
when
armed
men
forcibly
took
him
from
their
home
in
Midlands
during
the
night,
she
informed
AFP.
Relatives,
fellow
teachers,
and
students
searched
the
bush
but
failed
to
locate
Clement
Baleni,
who
was
not
known
to
be
politically
involved.
The
family
fled
the
area
in
fear,
leaving
their
belongings
and
livestock
behind.
Although
an
exact
death
toll
has
not
been
confirmed,
it
is
estimated
that
Mugabe’s
Fifth
Brigade,
trained
by
North
Korean
instructors,
may
have
killed
up
to
20,000
people
between
1983
and
1987.
Civilians
suffered
torture,
rape,
and
forced
displacement
from
their
homes
in
an
operation
known
as
Gukurahundi.
This
Shona
term
loosely
translates
to
“the
early
rain
that
washes
away
the
chaff”.
Previous
government
efforts
to
address
the
killings
have
been
ineffective.
The
conclusions
of
two
commissions
of
inquiry
established
by
Mugabe
in
the
1980s
have
never
been
disclosed.
The
government
has
not
officially
apologised,
and
Mugabe
never
admitted
responsibility
before
he
died
in
2019.
“To
ensure
transparency
and
demonstrate
sincerity,
such
a
process
should
prioritise
survivors
and
not
be
led
by
the
state,
as
some
of
the
individuals
were
heavily
implicated
in
the
massacres,”
he
informed
AFP.
Many
doubt Mnangagwa’s sincerity
in
introducing
the
new
initiative.
He
has
been
president
since
2017
and
was
the
national
security
minister
at
the
time.
Arthur
Chikerema,
a
conflict
resolution
lecturer
at
Midlands
State
University,
suggested
that
Mnangagwa
may
aim
to
enhance
his
legacy
and
that
the
announcement
of
hearings
may
be
more
“strategic
than
considerate”.
It
has
not
been
specified
whether
the
process
will
lead
to
justice
or
compensation,
“both
desirable
components
of
reconciliation,”
he
remarked.
On
the
other
hand,
a
coalition
of
human
rights
organizations
views
this
new
effort
to
address Gukurahundi as
an
“admirable
cause”.
“In
transitional
justice,
there
is
a
principle
known
as
‘working
with
the
grain,’
which
means
that
even
if
a
process
is
flawed,
it
serves
as
a
foundation
that
can
be
developed
upon,”
said
National
Transitional
Justice
Working
Group
(NTJWG)
coordinator,
Fortune
Kuhudzebwe.
Subscribe and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more.
We will never sell or share your information without your consent. See our privacy policy.
Ed.
Note:
Welcome
to
our
daily
feature
Trivia
Question
of
the
Day!
Who
was
the
first
woman
admitted
to
the
Supreme
Court
bar
and
the
first
woman
to
argue
a
case
before
the
Court?
Hint:
This
woman
was
a
noted
suffragette
and
politician.
She
ran
for
president
in
1884
and
1888
for
the
National
Equal
Rights
Party,
and
was
the
first
woman
to
appear
on
official
ballots,
but
whatever
votes
she
received were
all
from
men,
as
women
could
not
yet
vote.
See the
answer
on
the
next
page.
AI-powered
deepfake
technology
is
already
plaguing
the
business
world,
but
using
AI
can
lower
companies’
cyber
insurance
costs,
according
to
a
pair
of
surveys
flagged
by
Legal
Dive
this
week.
Deepfakes
are
AI-manipulated
images
and
messages
that
convincingly
mimic
real
people,
often
for
social
engineering
scams.
According
to
a
survey
of
over
1,500
U.S.
and
U.K.
finance
professionals
by
Medius,
53%
of
businesses
have
been
targeted
with
deepfake
scams,
and
85%
of
respondents
consider
them
an
“existential
threat”
to
their
companies.
But
the
news
isn’t
all
bad.
A
separate
survey
by
Delinea
found
that
half
of
U.S.
companies
use
AI
to
combat
scammers
through
practices
like
threat
detection
and
monitoring
—
and
that
this
is
lowering
their
insurance
costs.
“These
advanced
technologies
are
proving
instrumental
in
reducing
cyber
insurance
premiums,”
Delinea
wrote
in
a
news
release,
“offering
a
strategic
advantage
to
policyholders
in
an
environment
where
overall
insurance
costs
are
on
the
rise.”
Companies
lean
on
AI
in
push
to
curb
cyber
insurance
costs
[Legal
Dive]
Deepfake
scams
escalate,
hitting
53%
of
businesses
[Legal
Dive]
Jeremy
Barker
is
the
director
of
content
marketing
for
Breaking
Media.
Feel
free
to email
him with
questions
or
comments
and
to connect
on
LinkedIn.
More
than
330
healthcare
organizations
signed
letters
this
week
urging
the
White
House
and
Congress
to
extend
a
telehealth
prescribing
flexibility
that
was
introduced
during
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
Failure
to
extend
this
policy
would
cause
millions
of
Americans
to
lose
access
to
“critically important
healthcare
treatment,”
the
organizations
wrote.
In
2020,
Congress
waived
a
rule
that
required
an
in-person
visit
to
establish
a
relationship
between
a
patient
and
their
provider
before
any
prescriptions
can
be
given
via
telehealth.
The
Drug
Enforcement
Administration
had
originally
planned
to
roll
back
this
flexibility
last
year,
but
the
agency
extended
it
through
the
end
of
2024
after
receiving
more
than
38,000
comments
on
its
proposed
rule.
For
nearly
four
years
now,
providers
have
been
using
the
telehealth
prescribing
flexibility
to
prescribe
controlled
substances.
These
include
Schedule
II
drugs,
such
as
stimulant
medications
to
treat
ADHD
like
Adderall
and
Vyvanse,
as
well
as
opioids
like
Percocet
and
Dilaudid.
These
also
include
Schedule
III-V
controlled
substances,
such
as
common
psychiatric
drugs
like
Xanax,
Ambien
and
Prozac,
as
well
as
drugs
that
treat
substance
use
disorder
like
buprenorphine.
The
DEA
is
still
working
on
a
new
proposed
rule
that
will
dictate
whether
or
not
providers
can
prescribe
controlled
substances
via
telehealth
after
this
year
—
but
last
week,
its
plans
were
leaked
by
media
outlets.
The
agency’s
rule
—
which
is
not
final
and
is
currently
being
reviewed
at
the
White
House
—
is
definitely
not
what
telehealth
advocates
were
calling
for.
The
rule
would
get
rid
of
providers’
ability
to
prescribe
Schedule
II
drugs
via
telehealth
without
a
prior
in-person
appointment
—
either
by
establishing
new
regulations
or
simply
allowing
the
pandemic-era
flexibility
to
expire
at
the
end
of
the
year.
On
the
other
hand,
Schedule
III-V
drugs
would
still
be
allowed
to
be
prescribed
via
telehealth
without
an
in-person
visit.
Additionally,
the
unpublished
rule
would
require
that
no
more
than
half
of
a
provider’s
prescriptions
may
be
given
via
telehealth
appointment.
It
also
includes
a
mandate
for
prescribers
to
check
all
50
states’
prescription
drug
monitoring
programs
before
writing
a
prescription
for
a
patient
with
whom
they
have
never
had
an
in-person
visit.
However,
enforcing
this
requirement
will
be
difficult,
as
providers
say
there
is
no
national
registry
where
providers
could
easily
check
whether
or
not
the
patient
had
obtained
a
prescription
for
the
drug
in
another
state.
Many
provider
organizations
have
reacted
to
the
leaked
rule
with
outrage.
On
Tuesday,
more
than
300
groups
sent
separate
letters
to
the
White
House,
Senate
and
House,
imploring
them
to
roll
back
the
strict
rules
that
the
DEA
is
reportedly
planning
to
propose.
Some
of
these
organizations
included
Amazon,
Cleveland
Clinic,
Mass
General
Brigham,
Hims
&
Hers
Health,
the
American
College
of
Physicians,
and
the
National
Rural
Health
Association.
“The
ongoing
challenges
in
accessing
mental
health
and
substance
use
treatment
services,
particularly
in
rural
and
underserved
areas,
underscore
the
importance
of
maintaining
these
flexibilities.
More
than
half
of
U.S.
counties
do
not
have
a
psychiatrist.
The
shortage
is
even
more
prominent
in
rural
areas,
with
nearly
three
quarters
of
rural
counties
lacking
a
psychiatrist,”
read
the
groups’
letter
to
the
White
House.
Extending
the
prescribing
flexibility
would
mean
that
millions
of
patients
in
these
underserved
areas
would
get
to
keep
their
access
to
treatment,
the
organizations
argued
in
their
letter.
The
letter
also
pointed
out
that
there
is
very
little
time
to
make
this
happen.
“Given
how
late
we
are
in
the
year
and
with
the
waiver
expiring
on
December
31,
there
is
very
little
time left
for
the
DEA
to
release
a
draft
rule
for
public
comment,
close
the
comment
period,
review
the substantive
feedback,
and
finalize
the
rule
in
time
for
the
end
of
the
year.
Nearly
40,000
comments
were submitted
last
year
when
the
DEA
first
attempted
to
draft
rules
for
a
permanent
framework
on
remote
prescribing
of
controlled
substances,”
it
read.
Photo:
Rawf8,
Getty
Images
Ed.
Note:
A
weekly
roundup
of
just
a
few
items
from
Howard
Bashman’s
How
Appealing
blog,
the
Web’s
first
blog
devoted
to
appellate
litigation.
Check
out
these
stories
and
more
at
How
Appealing.
“The
Chief
Justice
Roberts
Who
Stood
Up
Last
Term
Was
More
Interested
in
Advancing
a
Conservative
Legal
Agenda
than
Promoting
Judicial
Statesmanship”: Law
professor Rodger
Citron has
this
two-part
essay
(access part
one; part
two)
online
at
Justia’s
Verdict.
“The
Supreme
Court’s
Effort
to
Save
Trump
Is
Already
Working;
The
conservative
justices
created
so
many
avenues
for
challenge
and
confusion
that
the
Court
functionally
collaborated
in
Trump’s
strategy
of
delay”: Quinta
Jurecic
has this
essay online
at
The
Atlantic.
“Gun
Control
Laws
See
a
Circuit
Court
Boost,
Rooted
in
Rahimi;
Some
courts
rely
on
Barrett
concurrence
to
uphold
gun
restrictions;
Dissenting
judges
decry
more
generalized
historic
analysis”: Mike
Vilensky
of
Bloomberg
Law
has this
report.
“Harvard
enrolls
fewer
Black
freshmen
after
affirmative
action
ban”: Hilary
Burns
of
The
Boston
Globe
has this
report.
“Opioid
plaintiffs’
committee
urges
US
appeals
court
to
toss
fee
bid
by
shut-out
law
firms”: Alison
Frankel’s
“On
the
Case”
from
Reuters
has this
post.
“Why
Mike
Lee
Folded:
In
2016,
he
tried
to
stop
Trump
from
becoming
president.
By
2020,
he
was
trying
to
help
Trump
overturn
the
election.
Now
he
could
become
Trump’s
attorney
general.” Tim
Alberta
has this
article in
the
October
2024
issue
of
The
Atlantic.