A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off carrying Amazon Leo internet network satellites from the Cape Canaveral in the US in April 2025. Steve Nesius/Reuters By any sensible measure, this was a race Starlink could not lose. Elon Musk’s satellite broadband service has more than 10 000 satellites in orbit and millions of customers…
Nigeria’s discovery of a major new critical minerals province reflects a broader shift as Africa’s leading oil producers invest in mining to diversify their resource economies. The strategy aims to reduce dependence on a single commodity by expanding exploration, attracting mining investment and building new value chains around minerals expected to drive the global energy…
Nothing much stays with me from the first days of Twitter, which was publicly launched 20 years ago, on July 15, 2006. I had discovered the internet back in 1995 and early on, I started thinking about how to get my voice heard by the world. I created a couple of websites through Angelfire and…
Female activists are filling the reporting gap in Sudan, but this raises concerns about credibility, protection and oversight. Sudan’s ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, increasingly viewed as a proxy war driven by competing geopolitical interests, has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. It also highlights a hybrid…
The Chery Tiggo 4 Cross HEV. (Image source: Chery) Chery plans to manufacture new energy vehicles (NEVs) in South Africa, as part of a broader localisation strategy centred on its newly-acquired Rosslyn manufacturing plant. This positions SA as the Chinese car maker’s African manufacturing, research and development (R&D), and export hub, it says. In an…
Choosing a path for the future has never been easy, but for young people today, such rapid technological change as artificial intelligence (AI) is making it increasingly difficult to predict which skills will remain relevant in the years ahead. Key takeaways Nearly 40 per cent of skills workers rely on now could change or become…
U.S. Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano speaks during a press conference to unveil the official Trump Accounts website, at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 17, 2025. Aaron Schwartz | Reuters The U.S. Treasury Department is putting top official Frank Bisignano in charge of implementing the expansion of its popular Trump accounts,…
Global childhood immunization programmes continued to recover in 2025, but conflict, poverty and growing vaccine hesitancy are still leaving millions vulnerable to preventable diseases, according to new UN data released on Wednesday. The annual WHO-UNICEF Estimates of National Immunization Coverage reveal 90 per cent of infants worldwide received at least one dose of the diphtheria,…
In August 1602, more than 1 100 investors – from wealthy merchants to ordinary craftsmen – subscribed to the world’s first initial public offering. The Dutch East India Company, the VOC, raised Gld6.4-million to build a maritime trade network stretching from Amsterdam to the East Indies. On 12 June 2026, SpaceX raised US$75-billion in the…
Contrary to the new normal where technology leads business reformations, growth conversations in Africa’s business landscape, particularly in Nigeria energy sector, often begin with capital. Investment, infrastructure, and asset acquisition are frequently treated as the clearest indicators of progress. While important, they do not tell the full story of what is required to build a…
