Users of Facebook and its related services, Instagram and Whatsapp, reported global outages of the social media platforms on Monday. The services went down shortly before 7 p.m. in Kenya. South Africans and Egyptians said they were unable to access Facebook, even as users from India, Canada, the United States…
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…
A provocative new report from the World Animal Protection organization claims that Ethiopian Airlines, the leading airline on the African continent, is involved in fueling the global wildlife trade. “Between 2016 and 2020, at least 25 different species of wildlife, including reptiles, mammals, invertebrates and amphibians featured in at least…
China reaffirmed its commitment to the African continent on Monday, with foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin citing an increase in direct investment, and advances in medicine and other sectors. “Over the past 20 years, the flow of China’s direct investment in Africa has been growing by more than 25 percent…
France’s Castel Group, one of the largest wine producers in the world, says it will launch an investigation into claims that it paid armed group members to provide security for its operations in the Central African Republic. The company’s announcement follows an investigation by The Sentry, a human rights and…
The World Health Organization (WHO) says three drugs already used for other conditions will be used to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients as part of the global Solidarity PLUS trial program. The three drugs – artesunate, imatinib and infliximab – were chosen by an independent panel of experts looking to find…
Two African athletes are now suspended from further Olympics competition in Tokyo following the results of testing for banned substances. Kenyan runner Mark Otieno tested positive for the steroid methasterone, according to media outlet The Standard, and was pulled from competition in the 100-meter men’s race on Saturday. He has…
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…
Four members of South Africa’s Olympic sports teams in Tokyo have tested positive for the coronavirus. Three of them are members of Team South Africa’s soccer squad and have moved into an isolation facility after testing positive for COVID, according to the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC)….
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…
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…
With just 65 days to go before the opening ceremony of the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday it is prepared to hold the games despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the organizational challenges. John Coates, head of the IOC Coordination Commission, issued a…
The University of Cape Town and scholars across the globe are working quickly to see how they can replace treasured materials that were destroyed during the Table Mountain wildfire last weekend. UCT’s Special Collections consist of print and audiovisual material on African studies and other specialized subjects, including more than…
There are now at least 237 vessels waiting to transit through the Suez Canal in Egypt, as Thursday’s efforts to move the grounded MV Ever Given proved unsuccessful in an operation experts say now may take days if not weeks. “Despite continuous and tireless efforts from the Suez Canal authority…