Tag - africa

 
 

AFRICA

Chinese President Xi Jinping's government is strengthening cooperation with Middle East countries and diversifying its involvement in African nations, a Japanese government think tank said.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 18, 2024
China boosting influence over Global South, Japan think tank says
An annual report on China by the National Institute for Defense Studies says that Beijing's growing sway has the risk of destabilizing the region.
An Apple logo is seen in Brussels, Belgium, in 2016.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 17, 2024
Congo files criminal complaints against Apple over conflict minerals
International lawyers representing Congo argue that Apple uses minerals pillaged from the country and laundered through international supply chains.
Customers queue at a bank ATM in Lagos. Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation sits outside of banks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Nigeria’s dying ATMs leave a cash-shaped hole filled by agents
Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation — or 4 trillion naira ($2.6 billion) — sits outside of banks as of September.
185 content moderators sued Meta last year, saying they had lost their jobs for trying to organize a union.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024
Meta contractor dismissed threats to moderators by Ethiopia rebels: court documents
Court documents say that Meta allegedly ignored advice from experts it hired to tackle hate speech in Ethiopia.
Insurance tycoon Douw Steyn’s 250 million rand home overlooks the luxury residential estate bearing his name near Johannesburg, South Africa.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2024
Luxury estates for the rich are a booming business in South Africa
Despite a 20% decline in South Africa’s millionaire population over the past decade, it remains a hub for the continent’s high-net-worth individuals.
Since Oct. 24, there have been 406 cases of an unidentified illness in Congo’s southwest.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 9, 2024
‘Disease X’ outbreak widens as U.N. sends health team to Congo
The unidentified illness is marked by fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches, with 31 deaths currently on record.
A grapnel, used to retrieve cables, on the deck of the Leon Thevenin in Cape Town on April 30. In a wireless world, it is easy to forget the all-too-real cables that snake across the turbulent ocean floor — until they snap.
WORLD
Dec 4, 2024
When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed
Landslides, a ship dragging its anchor, military skirmishes and sabotage can all damage cables.
The challenge for African governments and communities is how to harness this wave of youthful talent — with all their innovation, resilience and determination — rather than lose them to developed economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2024
Africa must act to stem its youth brain drain
African governments must harness youthful talent or risk losing it to developed economies.
A woman carries firewood she bought at a marketplace in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 2. Telehealth — the use of technology to provide and access health care services remotely — has been growing around the world but is relatively new in Zimbabwe.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2024
In Zimbabwe, Starlink’s fast internet gives telehealth a boost
The satellite unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX received the green light in May to operate its internet services in Zimbabwe.
The time and location for Amapinight parties are never certain, but two things you can be assured of when attending are that there will be dancing and a lot of amapiano.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 24, 2024
There's no room for wallflowers at Amapinight
From amapiano to dancehall, Japanese dancers and DJs are moving the masses with African beats at Tokyo's most energetic party.
Genetically modified mosquitos are being released in Djibouti as the African nation tries to stem the tide of malaria infections.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 19, 2024
Djibouti tests genetically modified mosquitoes to fight malaria
A species of mosquito native to Asia and the Middle East is a key factor in an unprecedented spike in malaria cases in Djibouti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Moscow on Nov. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 13, 2024
Russian sends 200 military instructors to Equatorial Guinea in West Africa push
The deployment fits into a wider pattern of waning Western influence in the region while offering Moscow funding opportunities.
Nigeriens gather in a street to protest against the U.S. military presence, in Niamey, Niger, on April 13.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 12, 2024
Trump inherits waning U.S. strength in Africa
Biden made sweeping political promises to Africa that he has yet to keep, including visiting during his presidency, which ends in January.
A demonstrator holds a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a Russian flag to protest against the visit of the French President Emmanuel Macron in front of the French embassy in Kinshasa, Congo, on March 1, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 11, 2024
Putin promises Africa 'total support' in anti-West pitch to continent
Facing isolation in the West following its full-scale offensive against Ukraine, Moscow has tried to build new partnerships across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Pedestrians walk in front of the venue for COP29 Summit in Baku on the eve of UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) on Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 11, 2024
Who are the key voices at the COP29 climate summit in Baku?
The U.S., the world's second largest emitter comes to COP29 following an election that will put Donald Trump back in power in 2025.
Prime Minister of Mauritius and candidate for the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) Pravind Jugnauth (C) is surrounded by supporters during a campaign rally in Mahebourg on Oct. 20.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 10, 2024
Dynasties battle to lead Mauritius with democracy out of favor
Members of just three families have led the Indian Ocean archipelago since it gained independence from Britain in 1968.
The surge in spending came as countries across Africa, including Uganda, attempted to introduce legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people.
WORLD / Society
Nov 6, 2024
U.S. anti-LGBTQ+ groups' spending in Africa soars, report finds
The Institute for Journalism and Social Change found that seventeen American groups spent $5.2 million in 2022, up 47% compared to 2019.
Refugees from Darfur in eastern Chad on July 8. A major surge in fighting in Sudan has taken a searing toll on civilians, killing hundreds of people in aerial bombings and revenge attacks in late October, as Africa’s largest war shifts into a higher gear after the end of seasonal rains.
WORLD
Oct 27, 2024
Hundreds killed in days as war in Sudan surges
Territory has changed hands; a prominent commander has switched sides; and retreating fighters have sexually assaulted, kidnapped and killed villagers.
Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, is greeted by an honor guard upon arriving at Juba International Airport in South Sudan on  Sept. 16.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2024
The dark reality of global capitalism and perpetual war
In countries like Sudan and the DRC, however, we have something closer to the feudalism of medieval times.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a closing executive session during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Apia, Samoa, on Saturday.
WORLD / Society
Oct 27, 2024
Commonwealth agrees 'time has come' for talks on legacy of slavery
African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want Britain and other colonial powers to atone for slavery and other ills of colonization.

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Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition