Russia to Africa: We’ll decide for you economic and political set-ups and America will do nothing
On March 27 – a market day in Mali’s central town of Moura – Malian armed forces and suspected Russian mercenaries descended on the town in a helicopter, guns blazing. In an investigation published last week, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said the troops closed off all exits from...
New report details how Facebook is grappling with spectre of Russia’s half-truths and support for coups in Africa
Facebook is struggling to contain pro-Russian and anti-western posts that are contributing to political instability in West Africa, investigators and analysts have said. The platform, which has expanded rapidly across the continent in recent years, has made significant investment in content moderation, but still faces enormous challenges in curbing deliberate...
New study shows highly creative people like visual artists and architects have ‘unique brain connectivity’
The latest research into creativity compares the brain function of exceptionally creative visual artists and scientists with a highly educated group. Scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan participants’ brains while they performed tasks that tested creative thinking. The researchers found that the brains of exceptionally creative people...
Moving target: Rather than Nigerian police investigate crimes digitally, they profile young men for torture and extortion
In Nigeria, the meaning of “tech” is rapidly changing. In the last year, data centres have been spreading all across Africa. In response, Lagos-founded MainOne – the largest ISP and data centre operator in West Africa – was acquired by Equinix for $320 million in 2021, with the hopes of...
Cybercrime: Why international institutions are shunning internet traffic from Nigeria as scepticism on financial instruments grows
In November 2021, Oluwaseun Medayedupin was arrested by the Nigerian police in Lagos. An investigation found that he had been pursuing “disgruntled employees” from American companies and pushing them to release ransomware on internal enterprise servers, offering a percentage of the cut if they agreed to collaborate in the attack....
Island nation of Guyana on course to becoming one of leading oil producers in the world by 2025
A United States Geological Survey estimated in the year 2000 that the Guyana-Suriname basin’s reserves stand at 13.6 billion barrels of oil and 32 trillion cubic feet of gas, but subsequent discoveries and surveys have taken updated estimates way beyond those numbers. On this basis, the basin represents one of...
First malaria vaccine is a leap forward, but it is suicidal for the world to stop pumping money into more research
When the World Health Organization endorsed the world’s first malaria vaccine in October 2021, it was a pivotal moment in a very long quest. I was completely overwhelmed with emotion. I tweeted, emailed, texted and called colleagues, friends and family members. Some of us cried. This vaccine, which will be...
