When pastoralists, researchers, policymakers and development practitioners gathered in Marsabit this year to mark the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP-2026), the conversations went far beyond livestock, drought or humanitarian aid. Convened by the Centre for Research and Development in Drylands (CRDD), the dialogue challenged a deeply rooted assumption that has shaped development policy…
The prolonged disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has exposed how vulnerable Africa’s economies are to geopolitical shocks. Fuel prices have remained elevated, squeezing economies that depend heavily on petroleum imports from the Middle East. These include Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. This vulnerability also puts at risk the continent’s…
South Africa’s redrafted national AI policy will not prescribe rules to industry. Instead, individual sectors will be left to write their own AI strategies off a set of national guidelines. That is according to department of communications & digital technologies acting deputy director-general Jeanette Morwane, who told TechCentral on the sidelines of the inaugural Naspers/Prosus…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — The global fight against HIV has never had more powerful scientific tools or faced greater political uncertainty. More than 7,000 scientists, activists, policymakers and community leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the opening of the International AIDS Conference. Global leaders warned that decades of progress against the epidemic could be…
The UN’s top human rights official has called for a ‘massive rethink’ of US immigration and security policies ahead of the World Cup, warning that racial profiling, surveillance and aggressive enforcement are already affecting teams, officials and supporters. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists on Wednesday that if such issues…
African governments must avoid replacing one dependency with another while building more accountable, fit-for-purpose security systems. Given slow economic growth, a large youth bulge and destabilising external engagement such as from Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Africa is set to become more unstable in the next few years. Both the Armed Conflict Location…
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…
Absa Group has written off R2.4-billion in software assets after a revision of its overall strategy led to changes in investment priorities and faster-than-expected technology obsolescence, its annual financial statements show. The software impairments – more than 13 times the R179-million written off a year earlier – were spread across the group, with the largest…
Megan Langton, tax attorney (left) and Micaela Paschini, team lead of Tax Legal at Tax Consulting. (Graphic by Nicola Mawson, with images sourced from Tax Consulting and LinkedIn) The buzz around Starlink’s potential entry into South African orbit has been focused on broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) but is also now raising questions about how…
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Shelby Tauber/Reuters OpenAI is unsatisfied with some of Nvidia’s latest AI chips, and it has sought alternatives since last year, eight sources familiar with the matter said. The news potentially complicates the relationship between the two highest-profile players in the AI boom. The ChatGPT maker’s shift in strategy, the details of…
