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THURSDAY, 21 MAY 2026, 12:53

Top Stories

Nigeria busts meth cartel in largest seizure, arrests kingpin

Today at 12:25 PM, via Daily Maverick

Nigeria’s anti-drug agency said it had dismantled a methamphetamine syndicate in the largest seizure of its kind in the country, seizing drugs and chemicals worth about $363 million and arresting 10 suspects, including three Mexicans.

South Africa

MTN Plans to Turn Its African Tower Network Into a Distributed AI Compute Grid

Today at 12:41 PM, via iAfrica

MTN Group plans to convert its African tower estate into a distributed AI compute fabric, installing open GPU infrastructure at base-station sites so that the same hardware can run both the cellular network and edge AI inference workloads. The plan was set out by MTN Group chief technology and information officer Charles Molapisi at an […]

South Africa

African Utilities Turn to AI, Smart Metering and Real-Time Data to Modernise Electricity Grids

Today at 12:37 PM, via iAfrica

Utilities across Africa have entered a new era of digital grid management, with artificial intelligence, smart metering and real-time operational visibility emerging as critical tools for managing electricity networks, according to a panel discussion at the Enlit Africa conference in Cape Town. Participants outlined how data-driven technologies are reshaping grid operations, improving...

South Africa

University of Pretoria’s Vukosi Marivate Awarded National Order for Contributions to AI

Today at 12:33 PM, via iAfrica

University of Pretoria academic Vukosi Marivate has been awarded one of South Africa’s highest national honours for his contributions to artificial intelligence, as the country recognized its most influential thinkers, artists and innovators at the 2026 National Orders this week. National Orders are the highest awards the country, through the president, bestows on citizens and […]

World

As floods get worse, Britain tries a new solution: beavers

Today at 11:00 AM, via NPR

About 400 years ago, beavers were hunted to extinction across Britain. Now they’re being reintroduced as little climate warriors, as communities harness their dam-building skills to mitigate flooding.

Education

Liberia: School Fees Push Children Out, Suffocate Parents

Today at 12:12 PM, via AllAfrica

[Liberian Observer] A new report by Human Rights Watch has cast a harsh spotlight on the country’s struggling education system, warning that mandatory registration fees in public schools are systematically excluding children from classrooms and financially suffocating parents who are struggling to keep their kids in school.

Education

Struggling with the nine times table? I have a failsafe method | Adrian Chiles

Today at 12:00 PM, via The Guardian

Apparently, nines are the hardest to grasp for primary school children. If only they’d learned how to cheat like me

Maths was never my thing. I quite enjoyed it at O-level, to the extent that I chose to do it at A-level. As early as the first week of the A-level course, however, it became abundantly clear that the subject was quite beyond me. I simply couldn’t make head or tail of what the...

Science/Tech

South Africa Is Spending Billions On Skills. So Why Can’t Companies Hire?

Today at 12:34 PM, via Tech Financials

As South Africa prepares to mark Youth Month in June against the backdrop of persistently high youth unemployment, questions are growing around whether corporate skills development spending is delivering meaningful economic returns — for employers or for young people entering the workforce. The numbers make the problem stark. Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey […]