Category archives for: top stories

Google’s subsea cable for Africa is making its first landing in Togo

ALEXANDER ONUKWUE Equiano, Google’s subsea internet cable in Africa, will make its first landing in Togo this month. First announced in 2019, Equiano is Google’s 14th investment in internet subsea cables but the first dedicated to internet access in Africa. It is expected to travel from Portugal to South Africa and is part of the […]

Historic drought looms for 20 million living in Horn of Africa

The climatic phenomenon known as La Niña is preventing nourishing rains for the fourth season in a row, putting East Africa on the “brink of catastrophe.” KIERAN MULVANEY As many as 20 million people in four African countries are facing extreme hardship and food shortages as an exceptionally long and severe drought grips the eastern […]

Ukraine’s Bid to Recruit Fighters from Africa Sparks Uproar

CHRISPIN MWAKIDEU Nigeria, Senegal and Algeria have criticized Ukraine’s efforts to enlist international fighters as it resists a Russian invasion. Analysts say those who have responded to the call need to reconsider. Russia’s war on Ukraine is barely two weeks old but Kyiv is already attracting potential foreign fighters from as far away as Kenya. […]

Atheists ask Magoha to ban mandatory prayer days in schools

VINCENT KEJITAN The Atheists in Kenya Society has written to Education CS Prof George Magoha asking him to ban forced prayers in schools. The Society stated that it had received several complaints from students in Kenyan schools who had been forced to attend church services on Sundays. “Most Kenyans have gone through a public education […]

Strong African-Caribbean Synergy Needed to Boost AFCTA

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, has called on Africans and the Caribbean to bridge their artificial barriers and collaborate to boost trade and investment. “This is the way to give a strong boost to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA) to resolve the myriad of debilitating socio-economic, ecological and political challenges […]

Child sex abuse in Madagascar ‘widespread and tolerated’

In Madagascar, child sex abuse is “widespread and tolerated” in tourist hotspots, UN-appointed rights experts said on Thursday February 17. In a call to the authorities to take action to protect youngsters from child prostitution and other violations, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child heard that the majority of children who had sex for money, do […]

Nigerian immigrant begins manufacturing first-ever Black-owned fleet of self-driving pods

ABU MUBARIK A Black-owned tech firm based in Miami, Florida, has begun manufacturing self-driving vehicles called JéGO Pods. The firm will start releasing the pods in late 2022 and will be used to mobilize healthcare services. JéGO Technologies Inc is founded by Frederick Akphoghene, a Nigerian immigrant, who started his career in tech as early […]

Sudan slams Ethiopia move at controversial Nile dam

Sudan has condemned neighboring Ethiopia for launching power generation at a controversial dam on the Blue Nile without the agreement of downstream nations, saying the “unilateral move” violated international commitments. Sudan “has emphasized its rejection of all unilateral measures with regard to filling and operation” of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the spokesman for its […]

Descendants of 1st enslaved Africans in North America visit ancestors’ birthplace of Angola

MILDRED EUROPA TAYLOR The Tuckers of Virginia, descendants of the first enslaved Africans to come to North America, recently traveled to Angola, the birthplace of their ancestors. The Tuckers are believed to be descendants of two of the first enslaved Africans to land in English North America at Point Comfort in 1619, which is currently […]

Africa may have reached the pandemic’s holy grail

NURITH AIZENMAN When the results of his study came in, Kondwani Jambo was stunned. He’s an immunologist in Malawi. And last year he had set out to determine just how many people in his country had been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Jambo, who works for the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, knew the […]

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