Eskom has removed more than 1.1 million customers from load reduction schedules, with five of South Africa’s nine provinces now entirely free of the practice — a milestone in the utility’s programme to eradicate load reduction nationally by March 2027. Mpumalanga is the latest province to be cleared, joining the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free…
United Nations — A new assessment from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that the Ebola outbreak could cost Africa USD 3.6 billion, push 985,000 people into poverty, and put 300,000 jobs at risk. The new analysis shows that the damage extends well beyond just those infected, disproportionately harming vulnerable populations and creating trade…
Blake Lively is seeking more than $8 million in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs from Justin Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer Studios, and the other parties she settled with in their now-dismissed $400 million defamation lawsuit. Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading. Lively accused Baldoni…
King Charles III will not live at Buckingham Palace after the completion of a $487 million refurbishment, in a break from a nearly 200-year-old tradition. Royal officials stressed that the king and Queen Camilla would continue to work out of the palace, which will remain “the ceremonial and operational center” of the monarchy. But for…
There is a special gallery inside the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi where visitors slow down, lower their voices and often fall silent. In front of them, carefully lit and disarmingly small, lies the skeleton of Lucy, the 3.2 million-year-old hominin. Perhaps more than any other ancient relative, Lucy has challenged us to think deeply…
At a time when energy security and affordability have risen to the top of the development agenda, 655 million people globally still lack access to electricity, and two billion use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking putting their health and well-being at risk. Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share of these gaps, with over 560…
On February 27, 2026, the Keiyo Indigenous Community filed a formal grievance with the United Nations Development Programme’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit, alleging that a $2.68 million conservation project was being constructed across their ancestral land, including burial sites, without their free, prior, and informed consent. The case was registered as SECU0027 on March…
United Nations — Remarks by Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), at a High-level Meeting in the General Assembly Hall, 22 June 2026 I am honoured to address this High-Level Meeting. I thank very much the President of the General Assembly for her leadership, our Co-Facilitators, and all the…
South Africa faces a housing backlog of at least 2.6 million units, for more than 12 million people. The state supply of new, subsidised housing has declined over the past decade and the government’s housing policy is shifting. It sees the private sector as becoming the main provider of “affordable housing”. The market, according to…
Voters in Switzerland have cast their final ballots on Sunday on an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million. Early results showed Swiss voters were leaning against it. The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered…
