A new tool to map floods around the world, especially those that occur in the Global South, has been launched through a partnership between Google, MapBox, and other players working with a UN University group based in Canada. The World Flood Mapping Tool uses the Google Earth engine combined with…
Morocco, Egypt and Rwanda are just three of the nations where governments and their leaders are named in an ongoing investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware supplied by Israeli tech company NSO Group. The Pegasus Project, coordinated by the Paris-based NGO Forbidden Stories, looks at how the technology is…
Human rights and privacy advocates are closely following a decade-old case that’s led to this month’s indictments of four technology executives in France, on the grounds that the sale of their surveillance technology in Libya and Egypt leaves them complicit in torture and other rights violations. The four executives are…
South Africa will lead the way in the effort to begin manufacturing COVID vaccines on the African continent, beginning with an mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub supported by the World Health Organization. WHO said it will work with its COVAX partners, a South African consortium of biotech firms, a network…
One of the first things to notice in the new “Children and Digital Dumpsites” report from the World Health Organization is how little e-waste – castoff phones, computers and other electronics – originates in African nations. It may be the most important thing to notice, though, because the enormous amounts…
Nigeria has suspended the use of Twitter across the country, just days after a tweet posted by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed for what the social media platform said was a violation of its rules. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, announced the decision in a…
All eyes are on the skies as space debris from China’s Tianhe-Long March rocket launch edges closer to a fall from orbit, with parts of the African continent still within the range of places that could be affected by any rocket debris that falls to earth. The latest update from…
The anti-corruption organization Transparency International (TI) says that a fake YouTube channel in its name is being used to post videos targeting groups doing similar work against corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The channel, which was created on 26 February, has no relationship to Transparency International whatsoever,” the…
The surveillance society in South Sudan is harnessed by the state in service of repression, according to a new report from Amnesty International that focuses on impacts to journalists and opposition groups critical of the government. The report, called “These Walls Have Ears” – The Chilling Effect of Surveillance in…
East Africans are now using an early warning tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to help farmers fight off locusts that have devastated crops and communities across the past year. The new tool from Selina Wamucii, a platform that connects farmers and markets across Africa, is called Kuzi, the Swahili…
Social media giant Facebook announced Tuesday that it has shut down three different groups behind the spread of disinformation in African nations, including one network the company traced to “individuals associated with French military.” Facebook said the violations for “coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign or government entity”…
The Urumuri robot helping to screen passengers at Rwanda’s Kigali International Airport is just one of more than 120 health technology innovations that Africans are using in the fight against COVID-19. That’s according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) analysis of 1,000 new or modified technologies developed around the…
Alexander Nix, a director of companies linked to the former Cambridge Analytica firm and its role in elections in Kenya, Nigeria and other nations, will serve a seven-year suspension from acting as any firm’s director without court permission. The decision announced Thursday by the British government follows a high-profile investigation…
Social media giant Facebook announced Friday a new office in Lagos, Nigeria, meant to support operations in sub-Saharan Africa. It is expected to be operational next year. The office will be home to several teams for sales, partnerships and communication, as well as becoming the first Facebook office on the…
Back in 2015, Liberia was among the highest-ranked countries in the world with citizens who said they think vaccines are safe, while Ethiopia was atop the list of those whose people said vaccines were important. Morocco, conversely, was among the lowest on both measures. But now, at a time when…