AFRICA

Cape Town, South Afriac | XINHUA |  TikTok has overtaken Instagram to secure the second place among the “Big Five” social media platforms in South Africa, challenging Facebook’s dominance in the country. Facebook, with a commanding 56.7 percent penetration of South Africans aged 15 and over in urban areas, continues to …

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | Kenyan former President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on various sides of a conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to embrace dialogue in order to achieve a lasting peace in the troubled region. Speaking in Nairobi on Friday evening after meeting with stakeholders on …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Xinhua | Ethiopia has submitted a request to join the BRICS mechanism, said the foreign ministry on Thursday. “Ethiopia is a founding member of numerous multinational organizations, like the United Nations, the African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement,” Meles Alem, spokesperson for the ministry, told reporters. “Taking …

In Kenya, small and medium-sized farmers – and even upmarket households – are adopting biodigesters to turn their animal waste into biogas, which they use for cooking fuel and lighting. SPECIAL FEATURE | BIRD AGENCY | Thirty-three-year-old Kelvin Maina Njuguna considers himself a ‘full-time farmer’. He rears cows, pigs, goats, and …

Universal Studio Group’s UCP and Nigeria’s Comic Republic recently announced a partnership to create a film and TV series featuring characters from Comic Republic’s Vanguards Universe. We spoke with the team at Comic Republic to gain insight into their journey and future plans. SPECIAL FEATURE | BIRD AGENCY | Growing …

Changsha, China | Xinhua |   The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off on Thursday in Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan Province. The expo aims to welcome more “Made in Africa” products into China and boost business links between the two sides. Themed “Common Development for a …

Brussels, Belgium | THE INDEPENDENT  | Ugandan legislators participating in the ongoing European Union, and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (EU-ACP) States’ assembly in Brussels, Belgium have denounced threats propagated and orchestrated by Europeans on developing nations. This reaction was evoked by the EU parliament’s condemnation of the Parliament of Uganda …

It’s time to push for greater debt transparency across all creditors and natural resource backed loans should no longer be used as collateral Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Africa’s total external debt hit the US$ 1 trillion-mark last year and is expected to rise up to US$ 1.13 trillion by …

Khartoum, Sudan | Xinhua | General Commander of the Sudanese Armed Force Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Tuesday urged those who are able to carry arms to join the fight against the paramilitary forces. “We ask all the youth of my country and whoever can defend not to hesitate or delay …

In an era of AI and blockchain, the simple text message seems distinctly old-fashioned. But text messaging’s USSD technology remains a key feature for African businesses. Here’s how a crackdown on customer information sharing suddenly makes USSD even more attractive. SPECIAL FEATURE | BIRD AGENCY | African businesses are continuing …