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Digital rights in Africa: advocates must team up to consolidate gains – Report

Digital rights advocates need to better team up to advance their objectives across Africa given the hard terrain in which they operate, according to a digital rights report released in March 2020. Paradigm Initiative’s 2019 Digital Rights in Africa Report said even though the multi-stakeholder model of internet governance gave rights groups a seat at […]

Ethiopia restores internet to western Oromia after 3-month blackout

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the world and particularly in Africa, the need for information has never been more important but in the midst of all that too the battle against misinformation rages. The World Health Organization, WHO, called the scourge of fake news, an infodemic, that is even a more potent […]

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Industrial pollution across Asia, Europe drops due to coronavirus

Global pollution has significantly declined thanks to the coronavirus pandemic which has slowed industrial production across the world. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel-5P earth-observation satellite, captured this development as northern Italy went into lockdown due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. From 1 January to 11 March, northern Italy’s nitrogen dioxide levels dropped. Simonetta Cheli […]

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African Telecommunications Union calls for harmonised action by telecommunications regulators

The African Telecommunications Union (ATU), a specialised agency of the African Union in the field of telecommunications, has put together a set of guidelines to assist in combating the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, that every Member State should consider. Africa has so far recorded relatively few coronavirus cases compared to the rest of the world. […]

Perrance Shiri

No going back on land reform, Shiri

Government will not return land to the white former commercial farmers but only to the indigenous farmers and those that were under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) who were affected during the land reform, Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri has said. Minister Shiri was explaining the Statutory Instrument […]

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MTN reviews tariffs in Uganda, Cameroon

Mobile phone giants, MTN, are tweaking their tariffs in the area of mobile money transfers in some African countries with the aim of reducing contact with cash amid the coronavirus pandemic. The latest developments are in Uganda and Cameroon where the operator is waiving costs on transfers done with their mobile money platform. The MTN […]

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Coronavirus triggers glut of unsold crude oil in Nigeria

A glut of unsold, high quality Nigerian crude continues to build up with weak global demand caused by coronavirus and surplus supplies by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia and other OPEC nations. Nigeria, which produces some of the easiest-to-refine crude that typically commands a premium, has 30 or more unsold April-loading cargoes, traders say, equal to […]

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Renewable Energy Policy Set for Launch in Zimbabwe

President Mnangagwa will today launch the National Renewable Energy and the Bio-fuels Policies of Zimbabwe in Harare, a move that will create a conducive environment for the development of renewable energy. The policies seek to promote optimal supply and utilisation of energy for socio-economic development in a safe, sustainable manner. Government is seeking to prioritise […]

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First Major Cobalt refinery expansion study

The feasibility study for an expansion of the Glencore-backed First Cobalt refinery, in Ontario, Canada, is in the final stages and will be concluded in the coming weeks. Commenting on the current market developments, First Cobalt president and CEO Trent Mell said on Tuesday while the uncertainty owing to Covid-19 had put downward pressure on […]

Power Plant

US Trade and Development Agency supports coalbed power plant in Botswana

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Kalahari Energy Botswana for a feasibility study of a power plant that will generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity using indigenous coalbed methane. The project, located in the Central Kalahari Karoo Basin, will bring critically important additional power to Botswana’s electrical grid. Kalahari Energy […]

Apple

Apple to close US retail stores

Apple is temporarily closing all of its retail stores “outside of Greater China” until March 27th, CEO Tim Cook announced in a letter posted on the company’s website late Friday night. “The most effective way to minimize risk of the virus’s transmission is to reduce density and maximize social distance,” Cook wrote. “We are committed […]

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Nuclear organisation appoints Montwedi as executive secretary

Global nonprofit industry organisation, the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC) has appointed Emmanuel Montwedi as its new executive secretary. Montwedi is a senior nuclear engineer and is currently serving as the deputy chairperson of the South African Young Nuclear Professionals Society, a national network of more than 500 members. In a statement issued on Friday, […]

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Morocco, Hungary concur on water development

The Minister of Equipment in Morocco, Abdelkader Amara, is on an official visit to Budapest, Hungary, where he will discuss means to strengthen bilateral cooperation in water management and road infrastructure. The working visit began Monday, March 9, and will wrap up on Wednesday, March 11. Amara is accompanied by a delegation of Moroccan experts […]

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Egyptian Engineer sentenced to 15 Years imprisonment

A court in Egypt on Monday sentenced a train engineer to 15 years in prison for his conviction on charges of manslaughter and damaging public property stemming from a deadly locomotive crash last year at the Egyptian capital’s main train station. An argument between engineers Emad Fathy and Ayman el-Shahat led to the unleashing of […]

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Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, cancels the trip to Africa

Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey on Friday said he is rethinking plans to spend as long as six months in Africa, partly due to concerns over the new-coronavirus epidemic. The news came with Dorsey facing a challenge from an activist investor seeking to oust the social media executive, who is also CEO of the digital […]

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Power outages are dragging South Africa back into recession

Nationwide power cuts are blamed for pushing South Africa’s economy, the continent’s most industrialized, into recession, according to official statistics released Tuesday. The South African economy shrank by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2019 from the previous three-month period, after contracting by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to Stats SA. A recession is […]

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Development of engines on the African continent

An investment in 2007 in an acre of land in Juja, a small town 30 km north of Nairobi, would have earned a savvy speculator a return of 1 428% in 2019. That’s according to The Economist, which also cites an estate agency’s report that Nairobi’s land prices have risen sixfold in 24 of the […]

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Morocco, USA Explore New Opportunities for Cooperation in Water and Electricity

Director general of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), Abderrahim El Hafidi held, on Friday in Rabat, a working meeting with a US delegation, devoted to the exploration of collaboration and investment opportunities in the field of water and electricity in Morocco. The meeting is part of the strengthening of cooperation relations […]