“Magic mushrooms” are consumed recreationally and for medicinal purposes around the world. These fungi gained their fame as “magic” because they produce chemical compounds (called psilocybin and psilocin) which have psychedelic effects. The most famous species of these mushrooms, due to their global distribution and ease of cultivation, is Psilocybe cubensis, known primarily from its…
Nigeria Slams ‘Unbalanced’ U.S. Travel Warning The United States has urged its citizens to reconsider travel to Nigeria, citing rising risks of terrorism, kidnapping and civil unrest. The state department’s travel update added that specific Nigerian states that pose an increased risk have been placed under the most severe warning that advises against all…
Investing in irrigation technologies will make food security a more achievable goal in the decades ahead, writes Richard Colback of the International Finance Corporation. [SciDev.Net] Just six per cent of cultivated land in Africa is irrigated. On a continent where small-scale farms produce around four fifths of the food consumed across Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa,…
President Museveni has called for a shift from historical disputes to a strategic, development-focused approach in addressing challenges facing the Nile Basin, stressing that Africa’s future depends on electrification, industrialisation and regional integration. Museveni made the remarks while delivering a lecture to a delegation from the Egyptian Armed Forces Staff and Command College at the…
Birds have, for centuries, been captured from the wild to be kept in cages – valued for their looks, songs and ability to imitate sounds. Data compiled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the global agreement that regulates trade in threatened animals and plants, indicate that in the 1990s and early…
Some developing country governments spend years making the reforms that international financial institutions want – only to find that their efforts are not rewarded. They may make budgets more transparent, publish their debt obligations, set up independent bodies to monitor government spending, and complete an International Monetary Fund programme, but still receive the same ratings…
The rating agency S&P Global’s Africa Credit Rating Trends 2025 reviews the past year’s rating activities and analyses the continent’s prospects for 2026. It is an important document because it interprets underlying drivers of creditworthiness. It shapes how global investors and policymakers understand risk, opportunity and reform dynamics across the continent. But the document had…
In September 2025, MTN Group, in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the African Editors Forum (TAEF), launched the MTN Pan-African Media Innovation Programme (MIP) at MTN Group Headquarters in Johannesburg. The launch marked the expansion of a proven national initiative in Nigeria into a continent-wide platform aimed at strengthening the future of…
As a two-week ceasefire is agreed between Iran and the US, Anglican News shares updates on how different churches across the Middle East and beyond have been dealing with the impacts of war, and working to share hope in their setting. The Church and the impact of conflict As news of a ceasefire in Iran…
Standard Bank Group’s Simon Just Standard Bank has come out in defence of a market-led approach to open banking in South Africa that the Reserve Bank recently criticised, while the fintech industry is calling for more regulation. In March, the Reserve Bank released a working paper (PDF) arguing that South Africa’s market-driven approach to open…
