Africa’s Showing at the Winter Olympics
A record number of eight African countries competed at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. At the 2022 Beijing winter games, currently underway, Africa is represented by six athletes from five countries: Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco and Nigeria. Five are competing in Alpine (downhill) skiing and one in cross country skiing. These […]
New Discoveries Reveal How Ancient Egyptians Lived
Archaeologists have uncovered over 18,000 pieces of pottery inscribed with details of life in ancient Egypt — including lines written as punishment by badly behaved students. The 2,000-year-old fragments also included receipts, school texts, trade information and lists of names, according to researchers at Germany’s University of Tübingen, which carried out the excavation. The discoveries […]
Africa is Transitioning Out of the Pandemic Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak
“I believe that we are transitioning from the pandemic phase and we will now need to manage the presence of this virus in the long term,” says World Health Organization on the continent, Dr Matshidiso Moeti. Moeti’s optimism contrasts sharply with the warnings from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has said repeatedly the pandemic […]
West Africa Is Home to New Coffee Flavour
The cultivation of arabica and robusta coffee beans accounts for millions of livelihoods across Africa, South America and Asia. Arabica is a cool tropical plant; it doesn’t like high temperatures. Robusta is a plant that likes even moist conditions; it likes high rainfall. And under climate change, rainfall patters are being modified, and it’s also […]
Electric Public Transport Initiative Grows beyond Kenya
Kenyan startup BasiGo, an electric vehicle technology and financing company bringing electric bus services to Sub-Saharan Africa, has raised a US$4.3 million seed funding round to help it commercialise its business model and begin local assembly of electric buses. BasiGo will use the funding to launch sales and delivery of its electric buses this year, […]
A Hero’s Welcome for the Lions of Teranga
The President of Senegal, Macky Sall, has awarded cash prizes and plots of land to members of the national team after last weekend’s victory over Egypt in the African Cup of Nations. The Senegalese beat Egypt 4 – 2 on penalties to become Africa’s football champions for the first time. “We dreamed of the cup, […]
Museveni Critic Forced to Flee
Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who has accused the authorities of torturing him while he was in detention, has fled the country, his lawyer has confirmed to the BBC. The lawyer did not reveal where the award-winning writer, who had been granted bail by a court, had gone. Rukirabashaija had sought permission to leave the country […]
A Promising Venture for a ‘Made in South Africa’ Smartphone Dashed
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which heavily funded South Africa’s first smartphone factory, said it decided to pull the plug on Mara Phones because it did not meet production targets after the Covid-19 pandemic affected the business. The smartphone manufacturing facility was launched in 2019 at the Dube Trade Port in Durban, with much fanfare. […]
The Most Treacherous Part of the Journey for Zimbabweans Seeking a Better Life in South Africa
The Limpopo River has flooded after weeks of incessant rain, resulting in three drownings of “border jumpers” last month alone. A few kilometres away, where the roar of the river can still be heard, men and women clutching small bags of belongings trudge along a different dusty track near Malindi Transit Shed. At 9am on […]
Libya’s State of Perpetual Chaos Continues
Libya has been thrown into further political chaos and confusion after the country’s eastern-based parliament elected a new prime minister just hours after the interim incumbent was reportedly the victim of a failed assassination attempt. Sources close to Mr Abdul Hamid Dbeibah claimed earlier on Thursday that gunmen shot at his armoured car. The assailants […]
