November 02, 2023
Ethiopia: Whose Job Will AI Replace? Here's Why a Clerk in Ethiopia Has More to Fear Than One in California
Artificial intelligence is changing the world - and one of the main areas it will affect in the short-to-medium term is the workforce. Read more »
November 01, 2023
Africa: Some African Govts Are Spending Millions to Spy On Their Citizens
Governments around the world use surveillance technology to monitor external threats to national security. Some African governments are also spending vast sums on mass surveillance… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Medium-Term Budget Reflects Difficult and Contested Decisions
The medium-term budget policy statement presented by South Africa's finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, to parliament on 1 November 2023 is intended to provide a preview of… Read more »
South Africa: Multimedia Is Key to Distance Education - I Built a Model South African Universities Can Use
Distance education first appeared in the United States in the 1800s. At the time, students received the relevant material through the post and then returned it to the institution. Read more »
Africa: Giraffes Could Go Extinct - the 5 Biggest Threats They Face
Giraffes are the world's tallest mammals and an African icon, but they are also vulnerable to extinction. Read more »
October 31, 2023
Kenya: Kenya's Courts Were Under Political Pressure - How a Constitutional Reform Empowered Judges
Changes to Kenya's constitution in 2010 on the independence of the judiciary created room for judges to act as guardians of the electoral process. Read more »
South Africa: South Africa Power Outages - Some Improvement but a Long Way to Go Before the Grid Is Stable
Over the past few months, South Africa's power generation sector has performed better than expected. Four factors explain this: an acceleration of solar power installations, less… Read more »
October 30, 2023
Africa: Why Some People Got Blood Clots After the Astrazeneca Vaccine - New Clues
AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford developed one of the first vaccines against COVID. The vaccine, which used an adenovirus to smuggle instructions into human… Read more »
Africa: TB Vaccine - WHO Expert Explains Why It's Taken 100 Years for a Scientific Breakthrough, and Why It's Such a Big Deal
The BCG vaccine for TB has been used for 100 years. It is largely effective for children under five, but less so in older people and can't be used on patients who have certain… Read more »
Africa: Diabetes Is South Africa's Second Biggest Killer Disease
Death rates in South Africa have declined slightly during the past few years. But the country faces a steady rise in both death and disability caused by increases in… Read more »
Kenya: King Charles in Kenya - Despite Past Tensions, the Visit Is a Sign of a Strong Relationship With Britain
King Charles' visit to Kenya this week is the British monarch's first to a Commonwealth nation since his coronation in September 2022. The visit comes during the country's 60th… Read more »
Nigeria: Niger Delta Is Rich in Resources, but Environmental Destruction Is Pushing People Into Poverty
Nigeria's Niger Delta region is rich in natural resources. Its vast oil and gas deposits are the mainstay of the country's economy. Read more »
October 29, 2023
Zimbabwe: Shepherd Ndudzo's Celebrated Sculptures Tell an Untold History of Southern African Art
The work of award-winning Zimbabwe-born sculptor Shepherd Ndudzo is instantly recognisable. Fluid, elongated black bodies and body parts flow from white rock in a typical work. The… Read more »
Africa: AGOA Trade Deal Talks - South Africa Will Need to Carefully Manage Relations With U.S., China
South Africa must tread carefully in its economic relationships to avoid being caught in the escalating tension between east and west, and more specifically China and the US. The… Read more »
October 27, 2023
Chad: First Dengue Fever Outbreak - What You Should Know
Chad has reported its first dengue outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The country's health ministry declared an outbreak on 15 August and so far 1,342… Read more »
October 26, 2023
Africa: China's Belt and Road Initiative Turns 10, Xi Announces New Priorities
China's Belt and Road Initiative, which now includes 44 African countries, got under way 10 years ago. President Xi Jinping launched it in 2013 with a first speech in Kazakhstan… Read more »
Africa: Global University Rankings Embrace Social Impact, African Universities Shine
World university rankings are released towards the end of each year. Institutions globally scramble to see how they have fared. Have they risen or fallen? If so, by how much and in… Read more »
South Africa: DNA Tech Solves 40-Year-Old Mystery of Pine Tree Disease in South Africa
In the 1970s and 1980s, pine trees growing in various forestry plantations in South Africa's Western Cape province began to die in patches. These trees succumbed to a mysterious… Read more »
October 25, 2023
Africa: Men Say They Are Spending More Time On Household Chores, and Would Like to Do More
Women perform between three and seven times more caregiving tasks than men in the global south. These include household domestic work and largely focus on caring for children. Read more »
South Africa: Izikhothane - A South African Youth Subculture That Trashes Luxury Items
In South Africa, a skhothane is a young, fashionably dressed black urban resident who engages in destructive conspicuous consumption. This involves regular get-togethers on… Read more »
Ghana: Christian Leaders in Ghana Are Trying to Reshape Govt - It May Not End Well
Ghana is constitutionally a secular state. This means religious liberty is guaranteed, and all citizens are free to believe and manifest any religious faith. No political parties… Read more »
Ghana: El Anatsui Review - the Great Ghanaian Sculptor Is the Talk of London
The international art world is celebrating the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui in London. On 9 October, a gigantic installation of three new works - Behind the Red Moon - opened at the… Read more »
October 24, 2023
Africa: In Times of War, Digital Activism Has Power. Here's How to Engage Responsibly
As armed conflict continues to play out in the Israel-Gaza war, a separate battle is raging to control the narrative being presented to the world. Read more »
Zimbabwe: HIV-Positive Parents in Zimbabwe Struggle to Manage Their Children's Educatio
Over the past three decades researchers have explored various aspects of the impact of the HIV pandemic. One focus area has been children who have lost their parents to AIDS. Less… Read more »
South Africa: The Thorny Issue of 'Race' in South African Politics
"Race" continues to have much political salience in South Africa, a country where, in the past, perceived differences of skin colour were used to construct a hierarchy of "races",… Read more »