Terrorism? Day hacker tried to poison water supply of a Florida city of 15,000
Around 8am last Friday, an employee of a water treatment plant in the 15,000-person city of Oldsmar, Florida, noticed that his mouse cursor was moving strangely on his computer screen, out of his control, as local police would later tell it. Initially, he was not concerned; the plant used the...
Grey market: Incentive to produce charcoal illicitly or legally set to rise in Kenya
Despite a longstanding moratorium on charcoal production and trade in Kenya, current high demand for the fuel that has been enforced by expansive alternatives such as liquified gas and kerosene has given rise to a booming ‘grey market’ that now threatens to exacerbate ecological degradation. Increased production and trade in...
There are spying eyes everywhere – and now they share a brain
One afternoon in the fall of 2019, in a grand old office building near the Arc de Triomphe, I was buzzed through an unmarked door into a showroom for the future of surveillance. The space on the other side was dark and sleek, with a look somewhere between an Apple...
Cocaine pipeline to Europe grows as drug peddlers target lucrative market
Europe has emerged as the world’s leading illicit drugs market over the past eight years for cocaine and heroin produced in Latin America, a new report by the Global Initiative Against Organised Crime shows. With the traditional market in the Untied States of America having either shrunk due to unending...
Centurion Plus launches Africa’s free trade area preliminary impact report
Long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that became operational January 1 this year, has published guidelines on how the world’s largest economic bloc by membership, will conduct business. However, it remains to be seen how the continent will resolve issues related to non-tariff barriers, such as infrastructure, that are...
Forget blood, your skin is able to ‘know’ if you are sick
A river of biological information flows just beneath the outermost layers of your skin, in which a hodgepodge of proteins squeezes past each other through the interstitial fluid surrounding your cells. This “interstitium” is an expansive and structured space, making it, to some, a newfound “organ.” But its wealth of...
On the trail of QAnon: How Trump turned conspiracy theory research upside down
For people around the world, the now-iconic images of a man in a horned headdress roaming the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection came as a shock. For Kate Starbird, the images were frighteningly familiar. ‘QAnon Shaman’ – the online persona of Jacob Anthony Chansley, or Jake Angeli –...
New report says Trump stole $400m from campaign fund
Former US President Donald Trump has shifted money from campaign donors into his personal businesses, Forbes magazine reports in new revelations that are expected to further stoke resentment of his Republican party sympathisers. The Trump Organisation is heavily indebted, reportedly owing around $400 million. Campaign donor money was moved both...
Covid’s mental-health toll: How scientists are tracking a surge in depression
As the Covid-19 pandemic enters its second year, new fast-spreading variants have caused a surge in infections in many countries, and renewed lockdowns. The devastation of the pandemic — millions of deaths, economic strife and unprecedented curbs on social interaction – has already had a marked effect on people’s mental...
African Union, Fifa pledge to enhance collaboration in sports and education
African Union and Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) have vowed to further grow the positive momentum of collaboration between both organisations in the past two years for the benefit of Africa. Speaking during a conference call that preceded the 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of...
