Japan, Africa look to deepen trade ties

Japan, Africa look to deepen trade ties

Japan is looking to expand its presence on the African continent, with trade and investment taking center stage during the Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum held in Nairobi. The event attracted seven ministerial-level leaders and over 200 participants from 15 countries, according to the Kenyan trade ministry. Among them was Takako…

Blaise Compaoré convicted in Thomas Sankara death

Blaise Compaoré convicted in Thomas Sankara death

The long journey toward a verdict in the murder trial of Burkina Faso’s former president Blaise Compaoré has ended, with Compaoré sentenced in absentia to life in prison for his role in the 1987 death of beloved revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara. Sentenced by the Ouagadougou court along with Compaoré were…

AfDB, AU heads hold ‘surprise’ talks in Dakar airport lounge

Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank (AfDB), says he was in the VIP lounge of Dakar’s Blaise-Diagne International Airport with Senegal’s economic minister this week when another African dignitary walked in. The surprise guest was Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission. What followed, the AfDB…

Death toll likely to rise in Ghana explosion

Emergency management officials in Ghana say an enormous explosion in the community of Apiate has leveled it, with the death toll still unknown as responders search through collapsed buildings. Ghana Police Service said the blast happened when a vehicle carrying explosives used for mining was passing through the village, between…

Côte d’Ivoire transport sector gets a boost with new bus production

In Côte d’Ivoire, authorities announced another step forward in boosting the economy through its transport sector. Beginning Monday, the company’s SOTRA bus services — working in partnership with Italian manufacturer IVECO —will start production of new minibuses. The government’s agreements with the private sector firms call for 1,000 of the…

South Africa to donate COVID vaccines to other African nations

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africa will donate more than 2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to its African neighbors, in a show of unity worth more than US$18 million. “This donation embodies South Africa’s solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the continent…

Apple sues Israeli firm scrutinized over Pegasus spyware tools

Apple announced on Tuesday it has filed suit against an Israeli company that’s been closely monitored for its role in supplying spyware to foreign governments—a number of them on the African continent—and placed on a U.S. entity list for its development of Pegasus surveillance tools. “NSO Group creates sophisticated, state-sponsored…

Report puts Kabila, BGFI at center of global financial investigation

Explosive allegations in an investigative report released Friday put former president Joseph Kabila and his associates at the center of embezzlement claims of at least US$138 million taken from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state coffers. The “Congo Holdup” report, a product of European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), is based on…

First African vaccine facility to be built in Rwanda

BioNTech is moving forward with plans to build vaccine manufacturing facilities on the African continent, with an announcement Tuesday that Rwanda has been chosen for the first site. Dr. Daniel Ngamije, the health minister for Rwanda, said the first facility will be built at the Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ),…

Facebook services reported out across the globe

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…