$6.5 billion lined up for Great Green Wall initiative in the Sahel region
Barely hours after 100 actors from Africa and Europe signed a charter in support of pastoralism and livestock development in the Sahel, the African Development Bank unveiled plans to raise $6.5 billion to fund the region’s Great Green Wall Initiative. The funds will mitigate losses wrought by the coronavirus in...
100 African, European actors sign a charter to promote pastoralism in the Sahel
More than 100 European and African actors have signed a charter committing to the development of the agro-pastoralism in Africa, particularly in the Sahel. The charter is inspired by the resilience of Africans against coronavirus compared with other races. Pastoralism is a key economic activity of the Sahel, a vast...
Anti-secrecy activists publish a trove of ransomware victims’ data
For years, radical transparency-focused activists like WikiLeaks have blurred the line between whistle-blowing and hacking. Often, they’ve published any data they consider to be of public interest, no matter how questionable the source. But now one leak-focused group is mining a controversial new vein of secrets: the massive caches of...
Zuckerberg to Trump: Go away quietly, don’t undermine law and order
As of Thursday morning, following a day in which a mob of the president’s supporters violently invaded the US Capitol, the president’s Twitter account was temporarily frozen. YouTube had taken down his latest video and most remarkably, Mark Zuckerberg had announced that Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely....
Big relief for scientists as UK, EU sign Brexit trade deal
Researchers reacted with relief to the news that the United Kingdom and the European Union had reached a last-minute trade deal on December 24 – ending more than four years of uncertainty over what their relationship after Brexit would look like. The deal has wide-ranging impacts for scientists — most...
Egyptian bank hires tech firm Temenos to drive digital, financial growth
Egypt’s Arab Investment Bank has picked technology company Temenos Infinity to provide a range of digital customer experience and grow digital customer base. Temenos, a banking software company, confirmed entering the contract with AIB in the first week of 2021 with a promise “to power its digital customer experience” for...
Opinion: Marginalised groups were ‘mistreated’ by Wikipedia’s editing corps
More than decade ago, I wrote an essay comparing Wikipedia to a vibrant city, how it “can send you down unlikely alleyways” via the many links embedded on a single page: There are the links to articles about other people or places mentioned; links to categories of articles on similar...
Wikipedia’s major challenge: Reliability and sturdiness of its community of editors
Facts are stubborn things. And that stubbornness was a vital asset for Wikipedia in 2020, as it unapologetically banned from its pages disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential election. The contrast was sharp with global digital platforms like Facebook and YouTube, which slowly, and often ineffectually, responded to...
Universal Music Group picks new team to oversee its business in Africa
World leading record company Universal Music Group (UMG) has strengthened further its position in the industry as a force in Africa by appointing an expansion team to oversee its business Sub-Saharan Africa. These appointments underscore UMG’s ongoing support for Africa’s domestic music ecosystems, while also creating new opportunities for African...
Ethiopia ready to build a 100mw wind power plant
Siemens Gamesa has signed its first wind power project in Ethiopia with state-owned electricity company Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) and in the process strengthened its leadership in Africa as the East African nation embarks on expansion of its green energy capacity to meet ambitious renewable targets. The 100mw Assela wind...
