For as long as most of us have been alive, the Strait of Hormuz has been treated as a fact of nature. A, narrow strip of water that a fifth of the world’s oil simply had to pass through, war or no war, because there was no real alternative. That
Southern Africa faces a challenge that goes far beyond economic growth rates or budget deficits. According to the African Development Bank’s 2026 Regional Economic Outlook, the region must mobilise development finance at an unprecedented scale to close an annual financing gap of approximately $55 billion. Without it, ambitions around industrialisation,
Every party that governs for a long time eventually faces the same quiet question: not how it will overcome its rivals, but how it will keep faith with itself. It is a question familiar to any liberation movement that has carried the weight of governing long after the struggle. Many
Every party that governs for a long time eventually faces the same quiet question: not how it will overcome its rivals, but how it will keep faith with itself. It is a question familiar to any liberation movement that has carried the weight of governing long after the struggle. Many
Five months into the war between the US, Israel and Iran, the fighting hasn’t stopped, it’s just spread further out, and every side seems to be running low on something. This week alone brought three developments that, taken together, say a lot about where this conflict is actually headed. A
More than a weather event El Niño is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon caused by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Although it begins thousands of kilometres away from Africa, it disrupts weather patterns across the globe. For Africa, the impacts are rarely uniform. Southern Africa often experiences
That gap, between what Africa digs up or grows and what Africa actually manufactures, was the subject at the centre of the 13th Manufacturing Indaba, held in Sandton on 14 and 15 July under the banner Made in Africa: Scaling Growth and Shaping Trade. Deputy President Paul Mashatile and a
The numbers behind the headline According to NUPRC chief executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, 143 prequalified companies submitted roughly 200 bids for the 37 blocks that attracted offers, out of 50 originally on the market. Thirteen blocks received no bids and return to the bid basket for further technical work. Of the
The relentless conflict in the Middle East has evolved from a regional struggle into a crisis with global consequences. For decades, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was largely viewed as a regional issue, with many states balancing diplomatic concern against strategic and economic interests. Governments often justified their restraint in the language
If you want to see where artificial intelligence is actually changing daily life, stop looking at chatbots and start looking at water pipes, forests, and farms. This week, Dubai Municipality rolled out an AI-powered system that dramatically speeds up household water testing, catching bacterial threats like Legionella and E. coli