The German monarch’s imperial ambitions were fuelled by the British colonialist – as the story behind a recently discovered relic revealsIt was discovered, dusty and damaged, on a warehouse shelf.Recorded simply as a “paperweight” in the depot inventor…
Facebook revamps its business tool lineup following threats to its ad targeting business
Facebook today is announcing the launch of new products and features for business owners, following the threat to its ad targeting business driven by Apple’s new privacy features, which now allow mobile users to opt out of being tracked across their iOS apps. The social networking giant has repeatedly argued that Apple’s changes would impact […]
Ex-South African leader Jacob Zuma leaves prison due to ill health
Zuma, who was ousted in 2017, served less than two months of a 15-month sentence for contempt of courtJacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has been released from prison on grounds of ill health after serving less than two months of a 15-mo…
‘Swazi gold’: grandmothers in Eswatini growing cannabis to make ends meet
In the poverty-stricken kingdom, an older generation rely on growing marijuana to feed children orphaned by Aids epidemicIn Nhlangano, in the south of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), the illegal farming of the mountainous kingdom’s famous “Swazi gold” i…
‘I was on a list to be terminated’ – Sue Dobson, the spy who helped to end apartheid
She risked arrest, torture and jail to fight racism in 1980s South Africa, and her story is being made into a filmAs a white South African, Sue Dobson risked arrest, torture and imprisonment spying for the black nationalist cause during the latter days…
Facebook adds four new branches to its 2Africa subsea cable network
Facebook today announced that it would extend the “most comprehensive” subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region to four more branches. Facebook will do this in collaboration with the 2Africa consortium that includes China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC. The new branches are Seychelles, the […]
Moove raises $23M to create flexible options for drivers to own cars in Africa
Africa is home to more than a billion people where a majority have limited or no access to vehicle financing. In fact, the continent has the lowest per capita vehicle ownership in the world. In 2019, Africa had fewer than 900,000 new vehicle sales. The U.S. sold more than 17 million new cars that same […]
This Week in Apps: In-app events hit the App Store, TikTok tries Stories, Apple reveals new child safety plan
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. […]
Naspers leads $11M investment in South African insurtech Naked
South African insurtech platform Naked has raised $11 million in a Naspers-led round. Existing investors, Yellowwoods and Hollard, also participated in the funding round. This comes barely two weeks after Naspers, via its early-stage tech investment vehicle Naspers Foundry, invested in another South African insurtech platform Ctrl in its $2.3 million Series B round. Naked’s […]
South Africa’s Khula closes $1.3M seed to scale its software-for-agriculture platform
The myriad challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Africa — inadequate financing, education and input distribution — persist and greatly affect the agricultural output on the continent.