New York — Three people accused of using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys to steal about $129 million have been indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said Thursday. Over more than a year and a half, Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, targeted…
South African author and PlotProse founder Coral Hart has written over 370 books since February 2025 by pairing custom prompt engineering with artificial intelligence models. The strategic turn to generative AI began as an experiment after a major publisher cancelled her traditional ghost-writing contracts in favour of automated tools. Read: Anthropic files for historic Nasdaq…
Copenhagen/Geneva/New York — An agreement announced today will cut the price of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine by approximately 40 per cent. The deal, executed by UNICEF and financially backed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is expected to generate around US$50 million in savings between 2027 and 2029. As demand for malaria vaccines grows, this could…
The price tag for smuggling on European sea routes reached up to half a billion dollars last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the UN migration office, IOM, reported on Wednesday. Key points Total fees paid to smugglers on sea routes to Europe reached between $388 and $509 million in 2025:…
Spotify has removed more than 50 million tracks that appear to have been created by artificial intelligence from its curated music recommendations so far this year, as the streaming giant works to keep AI-generated music from crowding out human artists. “AI-generated slop and spam don’t belong in your recommendations, and we’ve made changes to keep…
Countries must accelerate efforts to prevent lead exposure, which is estimated to cause more than 3.5 million deaths globally each year and affects hundreds of millions of children, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. The UN agency issued the call ahead of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which runs from 18-26 October. Although…
More than a century after the BCG vaccine was licensed, new tuberculosis vaccines could arrive in 2029. Gavi says the groundwork has to start now. TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, causing around 1.2 million deaths every year – equivalent to roughly one death every 26 seconds. Africa still records the highest rates of…
Geneva — Disruption to the Strait of Hormuz is driving up food prices and putting further strain on the livelihoods and household resources of millions of women and girls, according to a new UN Women analysis. An additional 11.7 million women and girls could face food insecurity by the end of 2026, as the escalation…
Approximately 800 million young people entering the labour market in developing economies over the coming years will not find jobs unless countries act, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) warned on Tuesday, as the agency launched two initiatives to boost investment and employment. “If you look at the next 15 years, there will…
Africa’s gaming industry is shifting from a story about how many people play games to one about how much of the industry can be built around those players. The change is being driven by faster market growth, new payment infrastructure, growing game development capacity and an expanding calendar of competitive events across the continent. Data…
