Sheikdom ramps up multi-billion dollar investment in Africa’s freight industry, positioning itself as a logistics and trade behemoth in a post-fossil-fuel era. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | United Arab Emirates-based companies and funds are doubling down on a foray into Africa’s freight and logistics scene. Earlier this year, Emirati …

COMMENT | SARAH NEWMAN | When the world leaders gathered in Dubai for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the United Arab Emirates unveiled the world’s highest-capacity waste-to-energy (WTE) facility. The plant is designed to process two million metric tons of municipal waste annually, producing enough electricity to power 120,000 …

BEIJING | Xinhua |  Another Christmas has come and gone, replete with families and friends exchanging gifts beside a crackling hearth, sharing stories under a Christmas tree and enjoying traditional holiday meals. Others weren’t so fortunate, receiving church handouts, curling up in a subway station to avoid the cold or …

NAIROBI | Xinhua | Kenya Airways (KQ), the country’s national carrier, said Thursday it has expanded its codeshare partnership with South African Airways (SAA), the flag carrier airline of South Africa, to include direct flights from South Africa to South America. Kenya Airways said customers will now experience a seamless …

KAMPALA | Xinhua | Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said there will be no compulsory COVID-19 testing for delegates arriving in Uganda next month for the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Group of 77+China summits. In a brief message posted Thursday night on his social media handle on X, formerly …

Africa’s vast mineral resources have always pointed to its potential as a market maker – and a global player in consumer goods. But division has kept producers and markets weak. An agreement between Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia shows how to change that, according to a new report. SPECIAL …

BERLIN | Xinhua |  Drawing lessons from the riots and attacks on emergency services that occurred on New Year’s Eve 2023, Germany’s emergency services are preparing to be present in large numbers during the year-end festivities across the country, appealing to the public to be peaceful as the sale of …

Rwakitura, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that First Lady Janet Museveni is self-isolating at home after a positive test for COVID-19. The tests were done after she reportedly felt weak, with headache and irritation in the throat. “On Christmas day, after a family lunch, Maama Janet …

COMMENT | ROBERT SKIDELSKY |   A little over a year ago, the San Francisco-based OpenAI released its chatbot, ChatGPT, triggering an artificial-intelligence gold rush and reigniting the age-old debate about the effects of automation on human welfare. The fear of displacement by machines can be traced back to the nineteenth-century Industrial …

LUSAKA | Xinhua | Zambian health authorities on Thursday announced that measures have been heightened to contain the outbreak of cholera which has now spread to 12 districts in the country. Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo said a multisectoral approach headed by the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit has been …