Brazzaville/Oslo — New funding to the AdVAncIng Clinical TRials Excellence in Africa (AVAREF) could help accelerate the development of life-saving vaccines to contain infectious disease outbreaks on the continent. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is providing $1 million to AVAREF as part of a new two-year project to enhance the efficiency with which…
When Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state indicted by the International Criminal Court, reactions in Africa were mixed. Some victims cheered the prospect of accountability, but many on the continent saw something unsettling: yet another African leader in the dock of a court far away in Europe. Over two decades,…
Maziv subsidiary Dark Fibre Africa has quadrupled the capacity achieved in an earlier test, transmitting 1.6Tbit/s on a single wavelength over a 40km stretch of its core network between Isando and Midrand. The company called the test transmission a “world first” for IP/optical convergence at that speed, though the claim could not immediately be independently…
In West Africa, Lassa fever remains a persistent and recurring health threat, causing hundreds of lives each year and underscoring urgent need for sustained investment in research and vaccine manufacturing capacity. In the first five months of 2025 alone, Nigeria reported over 717 confirmed cases and 138 deaths, highlighting the escalating risk and the critical…
Former leader accused of using a broker married to his personal secretary to secure government insurance policies. Argentina’s former President, Alberto Fernandez, has been ordered to stand trial for alleged corruption related to insurance policies taken out by the government for the public sector during his 2019-2023 term. Fernandez will be prosecuted for “negotiations incompatible with the exercise…
US President Donald Trump said he was planning to impose a 50% tax on goods made in Brazil, escalating his fight with the South American country. He announced the plan in his latest tariff letter, which was shared on social media. In it, Trump accuses Brazil of “attacks” on US tech companies and of conducting…
A sequestered jury in Australia began deliberations Monday in the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson, accused of killing her estranged husband’s relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch. Three of Patterson’s four lunch guests — her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson — died in the hospital after…
Johannesburg residents will soon be able to pick up digital radio broadcasts using a promising next-generation broadcast technology called DRM, or Digital Radio Mondiale. The test broadcasts, a licence for which is expected imminently from communications regulator Icasa, will see three radio stations – including Joburg’s popular music station Hot 102.7FM – take to the…
US President Donald Trump has called for Israel to “pardon” Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, or drop the case altogether. He also claimed in a social media post that the US had saved Israel – alluding to its intervention in Israel’s war with Iran – and would now also “save” Netanyahu….
Three people and two companies went on trial in France on Thursday accused of forcing dozens of African migrants to live and work in squalid conditions during last year’s grape harvest in the Champagne region. The victims – mostly from Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire – were hired in Paris and transported to the…
