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A new study assesses sectoral and subsectoral water demand across Africa for 2010 and 2020, covering municipal use, irrigation, livestock, manufacturing, electricity production and mining. The researchers measure water withdrawal rather than water consumption, and compute most sectors at a 5 arc-minute grid resolution, with municipal and industrial demand calculated at a finer 2.5 arc-minute resolution.
A new analysis published in Nature maps water demand across Africa and finds that in many countries, poor measurement and reporting of water use is as significant a problem as physical scarcity. Commentator Xu Wang, writing in Nature's News and Views section, notes that national water accounting is often incomplete, meaning usage in some countries is effectively invisible in global water budgets.
Interpol coordinated law enforcement from 21 countries and private cybersecurity firms including Team Cymru, Kaspersky, Group-IB, and Fortinet in Operation Serengeti III, running from June 29 to August 31. The effort led to 1,462 arrests, the dismantling of 10,909 malicious networks, and recovery of over $105 million in illicit funds, while identifying nearly 66,000 victims with estimated losses exceeding $385 million. Notable actions included fraud ring takedowns in Uganda, illegal crypto-mining seizures in Angola, and a phishing arrest in Nigeria tied to 2.1 million harvested email addresses.
Two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps generals publicly described undersea fiber-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz as potential targets in future conflict. General Hossein Mohebbi said seven major cables carrying global internet and commercial data pass beneath the strait, while General Yadollah Javani indicated Iran could strike the cables if its infrastructure is attacked.
Large-scale fighting erupted on September 23 in northern Ethiopia between the TPLF and Amhara Fano militias against federal government troops and allied Tigrayan forces, according to the International Crisis Group. The clashes came five months after the TPLF regained control of Tigray, undermining the 2022 peace agreement that had ended the prior war, and followed an intensified drone campaign by Addis Ababa against TPLF forces.
South Africa's air traffic control systems were targeted in a cyberattack in which a ransomware toolkit was installed on at least one operational network. The country's aviation authorities are now seeking outside assistance to respond to the breach.
Sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf, including ADIA, PIF, Mubadala, QIA and ADQ, are directing a growing share of their capital into Africa, targeting energy, logistics, critical minerals and digital infrastructure. Countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Zambia, the DRC, Kenya, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa are being assessed individually based on their distinct economic strengths. An IMF working paper from September 2025 found that GCC outbound investment correlates positively with non-hydrocarbon GDP growth in the Gulf itself.
Climate scientists tracking 14 forecasting models report that central Pacific sea surface temperatures are running about 2.9°C above the 30-year average, more than 1°C hotter than at the same point in the record 1997 and 2015 El Niño events. Models now give a greater than 90% probability that this year's El Niño will exceed every event recorded since the 1870s, raising fears of severe drought, flooding, wildfires and coral bleaching worldwide.
Engineering students from Eindhoven University of Technology have built the Stella Juva, a solar-powered electric ambulance designed after consultations with African health NGOs to serve remote Kenyan communities. The vehicle carries an ultrasound scanner, X-ray equipment, a defibrillator and a refrigerator for vaccines, functioning as a mobile clinic rather than just transport, and is now undergoing real-world trials in select Kenyan communities.
Five men accused of leading a Black Axe cybercrime cell—Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Osariemen Clement, Collins Otughwor, and Musa Mudashiru—have been extradited from South Africa to the US to face wire fraud and money laundering charges. Prosecutors say the group ran romance scams and advance-fee schemes targeting American victims from Cape Town between 2011 and 2021, using fake identities, dating sites, and VoIP numbers, and blackmailing victims with threats to leak intimate photos when they resisted paying.
Fast Company named winners of its 2026 Innovation by Design Awards for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, recognizing products, packaging, and built projects focused on waste reduction and resource reuse. The top honor went to Yoto Mini, a screen-free audio player developed by Yoto and Heirloom, praised for giving children access to stories, music, and podcasts without phones or AI.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution urging governments, schools and tech firms to adopt equal-area map projections like Equal Earth instead of the Mercator projection, which distorts continents' relative sizes. The measure passed 164-1, with only the United States opposed and six countries abstaining; it does not ban Mercator maps but recommends alternatives where accurate size comparisons matter.