Sub-Saharan Africa reported frustrating difficulties with Internet and data access that began Thursday, following accidental cuts of the undersea West Africa Cable System (WACS) that runs along the coast. The 16,000-kilometer system runs from South Africa to the UK, connecting much of western and central Africa to Europe and each…
The “Made in Africa” smartphones from Rwanda’s Mara Corporation have made a big splash, but there’s a much bigger vision through a “Connect Rwanda” campaign that hopes to put Mara and other smartphones in the hands of every household in the country. The program, launched in late December, relies on…
Websites across some 30 countries remain locked down for Travelex customers as the foreign exchange firm deals with a ransomware attack that’s crippled its operations since New Year’s Eve. Company officials say they took their websites offline in Europe, Southeast Asia and North America as a precaution to contain the…
By N. D. Francois When terror struck Nairobi almost one year ago, David Mwangi had yet to graduate from Kenya Police College. He and his colleagues watched the attack unfold live on television. Now an on-duty officer in Nairobi, the 26-year-old is bent on never letting such tragedy happen again….
South Africans were among the global citizens complaining Thursday that their access to Instagram was down, as a service outage for Facebook and the Facebook-owned platform popped up in dozens of countries. The Messenger service also appeared to be affected. “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing…
Millions of Ethiopians are exposed to fluorosis, a bone disease caused by drinking Rift Valley water tainted with high levels of naturally occurring fluoride. Now scientists say they have a solution, and they found it in another type of abundant mineral in the region called zeolites. On Saturday, the researchers…
Slightly more than half of 65 nations reviewed in the new Freedom on the Net 2019 report show a decline in access, democratic protections for speech, and related Internet and social media rights – with Sudan showing one of the biggest drops and Zimbabwe not far behind. The annual report…
China delivered a blistering retort on Monday to new remarks about spying at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, a claim that has circulated in recent years but was recently referenced by a U.S. official seeking to persuade nations not to use China’s Huawei firm and its equipment. Spokesman…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi will deliver opening ceremony remarks Tuesday as the Paris Peace Forum kicks off, but he is one of many African heads of state traveling to discuss global issues ranging from climate change to security, and stolen art to good governance principles. Tshisekedi will join host President…
Authorities in the United States filed charges on Wednesday against three men – two of them Twitter employees – who they say used internal access to user data to help Saudi Arabia track its dissidents, such as the late Jamal Khashoggi. The charges against the three, filed by the U.S….
Scientists working with Abbott Laboratories in the United States say they’ve discovered a new strain of HIV, one that took nearly four decades to confirm. That’s because researchers needed to verify three occurrences of the unusual strain before they were able to report that it was, indeed, a separate HIV…
Both Twitter and Facebook made big announcements on Wednesday, as the social media companies seek to curb fake accounts, abuse in political ads, and the potential to spread fake news or incite violence through hate speech. Facebook announced it removed three Russia-linked networks of accounts, pages and groups that targeted…
The Wellcome Sanger Institute has responded to a British media report that it misused African DNA it acquired from the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, with the intent to sell it in a commercial application rather than use the DNA for research into African genetics and evolution. The allegations were…
Facebook’s latest move in seeking to address misinformation and political “fake news” on the African continent is to expand its efforts into 10 sub-Saharan countries, working in local languages – as well as with news outlets – to better monitor Facebook post content. The social media giant announced this week…
Five students from Kenya have been named as short-list finalists for the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, awarded for exceptional achievements in human rights. The five – Stacy Owino, Cynthia Otieno, Purity Achieng, Mascrine Atieno and Ivy Akinyi – developed an app to help young women…