The Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa), which government has said it intends to abolish, has begun public consultation on what universal access to communications services should mean, more than 14 years after the last universal access targets lapsed. A discussion document published in the Government Gazette on Thursday asks whether the…
Share of households experiencing water shortages has doubled over the past decade. Key findings Water supply ranks third among the most important problems that South Africans want their government to address. Only unemployment and crime/security are deemed more important. o A decade ago, water supply was ninth on the list of citizen concerns. o Rural…
Nairobi, Kenya — I was born in Rwanda, but my family soon became refugees in Uganda during the conflict and unrest on the cusp of independence. My father was a teacher and went to great lengths to make sure I was well educated. My parents were also smallholder farmers, and I saw firsthand the challenges…
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia has used the 81st United Nations General Assembly to put a broader strategic question before the international community: can a global system facing profound geopolitical, economic, technological and environmental change remain credible without giving greater weight to Africa and the Global South? For President Taye Atske Selassie, the answer is increasingly…
Addis Ababa — Ethiopia has placed its pursuit of reliable maritime access firmly on the global diplomatic agenda, with President Taye Atske-Selassie telling the United Nations that securing access to the sea is essential to sustaining the country’s economic transformation and deepening its integration into global trade. Addressing the General Debate of the 81st Session…
The Department of Justice said in a court filing late Tuesday that President Donald Trump has the right to ban media outlets CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House, calling their access a “privilege” and citing national security concerns. The filing urges a federal judge not to block the ban, ahead of an emergency…
Almost one-fourth of citizens use sources of electricity other than the main grid, mostly solar panels. Key findings About seven in 10 Africans (72%) live in areas served by an electric grid, ranging from just 29% in Chad to 100% in Tunisia, Mauritius, Eswatini, and Cabo Verde. o Rural residents (49%) and the poorest citizens…
MS NOW said Saturday that its journalists have been denied access to the White House grounds, a day after President Donald Trump said on a social media he had banned the news outlet alongside CNN and Politico over what he called their “constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS.” “The White House belongs to the American people and…
Google on Friday disclosed the first known instance of its artificial intelligence software, Gemini, carrying out an undirected computer hack, weeks after similar disclosures by AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI raised security alarms about AI models going beyond the instructions of their human creators. Google said in a statement that in May its AI model…
The EU has announced plans to restrict social media access for under-15s across its member states, in a bid to increase wellbeing and tackle online safety. Under the plans, there would be a gradual approach to children using social media which would include banning under 13s from accessing platforms. Those aged 13 to 15 would…
