TECH NEWS

Vancouver, Canada | AFP | A senior Huawei executive whose arrest in Vancouver led to a breakdown in Canada-China relations headed to court on Monday to fight extradition to the United States. Meng Wanzhou, the company’s chief financial officer and eldest daughter of its founder Ren Zhengfei, is wanted by …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Uganda Police together with Uganda Communications Commission have apprehended eight people suspected to be engaged in SIM boxing electronic fraud.  SIM boxing is a practice in telecommunications whereby a person or group of people set-up a device that can take up several SIM …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday challenged US opponents of Britain’s potential decision to let China’s Huawei telecoms giant develop its 5G network to come up with a better choice. Johnson’s comments came one day after a US delegation arrived in London for a …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Africa’s largest telecom firm, MTN, has agreed to sell its towers businesses in Uganda and Ghana as Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator refocuses on high-growth markets on the continent and in the Middle East. Clashes with regulators in Nigeria, Uganda and elsewhere have crimped …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | A Japanese billionaire has launched an online wanted ad for a girlfriend who will fly around the Moon with him on a SpaceX rocket. Yusaku Maezawa, who recently announced his break-up with a Japanese actress, is accepting applications from “single women aged 20 or over” who …

Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Civil Aviation Authority-CAA has disqualified 60 airport taxis from operating at Entebbe International Airport on account of being old.  The affected taxis, manufactured majorly before 2003, were discontinued between September 2019 and January 7th 2020. This is line with an agreement between taxi operators, Uganda …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday said the country’s debt-laden power utility Eskom would not be privatised and pledged to restore it to full capacity. Rolling blackouts were implemented several times last year to prevent the grid collapsing and resumed last weekend despite …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia and Egypt failed to resolve a long-running dispute over a massive dam being built on the Blue Nile River during the latest round of talks this week. Officials said Thursday that some progress had been made, though they remained at odds over major sticking …

Washington, United States | AFP |  US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had “suspicions” about the crash of a Ukrainian airliner outside Tehran as US media reported it had been mistakenly shot down by Iran. Unnamed officials told American media that Iranian air defense systems likely accidentally shot down …

Las Vegas, United States | AFP |  Avatars touted as “artificial humans” created a buzz Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show even as debate swirled on what exactly the digital entities were. Star Labs, a startup funded by Samsung, showed the painstakingly detailed AI-powered, two-dimensional digital creations to a large crowd, …