🔅 Unesco's Virtual Museum Fights Stolen Artefacts, Africa Needs 15 Million More Teachers
Plus, How Somalia Fought Piracy & Kenya Hit by Record Cyber-Attacks,
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Markets:
🟢 Nigerian SE: 67,101.57 (+0.97%)
🟢 Johannesburg SE: 71,657.25 (+0.12%)
🔴 Ghana SE: 3,139.99 (-0.10%)
🟢 Nairobi SE: 93.60 (+0.12%)
🔴 US S&P 500: 4,303.66 (-0.11%)
🔴 Shanghai Composite: 3,096.92 (-0.44%)
Oil Prices Spike Due to Middle East Conflict | As tensions continue to rise between Israel and Gaza, oil prices are also on the rise. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped by $2.25 a barrel to $86.83, while US prices also saw an increase. While Israel and Palestinian territories may not be major oil producers, the Middle East as a whole accounts for almost a third of global supply.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Brief & Bright: Africa's Top Five
Unesco Takes On Stolen Cultural Artefacts With A Virtual Museum
Unesco, the United Nations’ culture body, is taking on the issue of stolen cultural artefacts with a new virtual museum. It’s like a regular museum, but instead of expanding its collection, this one hopes to shrink it as it recovers missing items and removes them from its list. With the help of Interpol, which currently has a database of over 52,000 stolen cultural objects, this virtual museum will feature 3D images of the artefacts along with stories and testimonies from their communities. The project's phenomenal architect, Francis Kéré (the first African to win the prestigious Pritzker prize for architecture), will design a virtual "ramp" that allows users to eventually access different regions, countries, and cultures. It’s a complex job, but the most time-consuming task? Creating scaleable 3D images of the artefacts, for which there is often only a tiny black-and-white photo.
Kenya's Cyber-Attacks: Record-Breaking Numbers
In the last year, Kenya has been hit with 860 million cyber-attacks. 860 million! If you’re thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot of cyber-attacks,” you’re not alone. The country’s communications regulator is also concerned about the “frequency, sophistication and scale” of these attacks, which have been targeting critical information infrastructure. In 2017, Kenya only experienced 7.7 million cyber-attacks—so this is definitely a concerning trend. The country is now the third most targeted in Africa by cyber criminals, following in the footsteps of Nigeria and South Africa.
Africa Needs 15 Million More Teachers: Are You Up For the Challenge?
Unesco says Africa needs 15 million more teachers if it wants to educate all of its children. No biggie, right? The continent accounts for a third of the world's teacher shortage; the gap has only been reduced by 2 million since 2016. This contrasts with other regions like Asia, where the deficit of teachers has been halved in the same period. In parts of Africa, insecurity has led to the closure of schools, but globally, teachers face the same high levels of stress, lack of supplies, and low salaries -- all disincentives. The UN's sustainable development goal is to ensure primary and secondary education for all by 2030.
Pirates, Begone! How the World Put an End to Somali Piracy
Pirates used to roam the seas off of Somalia, hijacking ships and costing the world economy an incredible $18 billion a year. But in 2012, the number of attacks dropped from 212 to just 10. Only two ships were hijacked in between 2013 and 2023. How did this happen? It was a combination of factors: naval operations and patrols by the world’s most capable navies, costly self-protection measures by the ships themselves, a legal system implemented to prosecute pirates, and building regional capacity to imprison them. It was a team effort, and it worked. But don’t expect this success story to be replicated elsewhere easily. The Somali case was unique because many actors shared a common interest in stopping the pirates. In other regions, conflicting interests may prevent such a united front. For instance, local states in the Gulf of Guinea are apparently less cooperative in tackling piracy than the Somali government was.
Kenya's Big Plans for Big Water
Kenya is thirsty for some major water infrastructure, and they’ve got a consortium led by GBM Minerals Engineering Consultants Ltd. to help them out. They’re talking about building a massive water reservoir, the High Grand Falls dam, that can hold 5.6 billion cubic meters of water. That’s enough to irrigate 400,000 acres and generate 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity. And all for the low, low cost of $2.88 billion. Sure, it’s the country’s most significant project since that controversial 5 billion railway they got from China, but President Ruto is dreaming big. The dam will be built on the Tana River and is expected to start construction by the end of 2025. Kenya’s government hopes to ease the strain on its finances by tapping into private capital to build 100 dams.
Food for Thought
“Don’t try to make someone hate the person he loves. For he will go on loving but he will hate you.”
— Senegalese Proverb.