TECH NEWS

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Streaming giant Netflix announced on Monday that it will launch the platform’s first original series made in Africa in 2019, adding that it planned further investment in productions on the continent. “#QueenSono — Africa’s first Netflix original! A thrilling story about a kickass female …

Casablanca, Morocco | THE INDEPENDENT | Two Ugandan start-ups Ugabus and Sukuma Dance Fitness will get a $175,000 boost from a $1million prize at the 4th edition of the African Entrepreneurship Award Program. The BMCE Bank of Africa Group announced 13 winners at the awards ceremony held on Monday, December 10, 2018 …

Washington, United States | AFP | In the ongoing hunt for more effective weapons against malaria, international researchers said Thursday they are exploring a pathway that has until now been little studied — killing parasites in the liver, before the illness emerges. “It’s very difficult to work on the liver …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook said Friday it would add $9 billion to its stock buyback program, which could scoop up shares pummeled over the past few months by privacy scandals and a slump on Wall Street. In a regulatory filing, the leading social network said it …

Beijing, China | AFP | China launched a rover early Saturday morning destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower. The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — …

Rome, Italy | AFP | Italy’s competition authority has fined Facebook 10 million euros ($11.3 million) for selling users’ data without informing them and “aggressively” discouraging users from trying to limit how the company shares their data. Facebook “misleadingly gets people to sign up… without informing them in an immediate …

Montreal, Canada | AFP | Canada on Thursday defended its arrest of an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei on a US extradition request after markets wobbled on fears of fresh friction between Washington and Beijing. With China demanding the release of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, Canadian Prime …

Montreal, Canada | AFP |  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that politics played no part in the arrest of a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei, who was detained on a US extradition request. “I can assure everyone that we are a country (with) an independent judiciary,” …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | UK mobile phone operator O2 and Japan’s SoftBank said Thursday that tens of millions of their customers were unable to use data due to a glitch with sofware made by Sweden’s Ericsson. The outage wreaked havoc across Britain, with millions of drivers unable to …

Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Beijing on Wednesday protested the arrest in Canada of Chinese national Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of global telecommunications giant Huawei, and urged her immediate release as she faces extradition to the United States. “At the request of the US side, the Canadian side …