Africa Continental Brief | Development, Business, Security and Human Rights: 14, August 2025

Sudan: Famine and Cholera Deepen Humanitarian Catastrophe One year after famine was first declared in Sudan, the United Nations warns the crisis has deteriorated “catastrophically.” At least 17 regions are now at risk, with North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, on the brink of starvation, according to U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. The famine, initially confirmed in […]

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President Trump Proposes Follow-Up Meeting with Zelensky and Putin After Alaska Summit

Washington, D.C., August 13, 2025 — Former U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his intention to convene a second meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after the upcoming Alaska summit, contingent on the outcome of initial talks. The remarks were made during a speech at the Kennedy Center and […]

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Battling the heat: Europe takes action to protect health in a warming world

The environmental impact of climate change – shifting weather patterns or vanishing biodiversity – is widely recognised. But do we truly understand the toll rising temperatures are taking on human health? Members of the Climate-Health Cluster, an EU-funded network of European researchers, do not think so. Their mission is to measure these health risks and […]

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AI still isn’t making a serious impact on university education – here’s why

Artificial intelligence (AI) promised to revolutionise the field of education. But how, and how much, is it actually being used by students and teachers today? Our recent article sought to answer this question by analysing AI’s integration into universities from two perspectives: scientific (how it is actually being used) and social (perceptions of its use). […]

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California Couple Sentenced for Unlawful Multimillion-Dollar Trafficking Scheme Across U.S.-Mexico Border | Office of Public Affairs

Otilio Rodriguez Toledo and Alicia Aispuro Hernandez, husband and wife from Thermal, California, were sentenced today for conspiring to smuggle and distribute Mexican pesticides and veterinary drugs that are not approved for use in the United States. Toledo was sentenced to five months in prison followed by 24 months of supervised release. Hernandez was sentenced […]

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Family of American Detained in Russia Hopes President Trump/ Putin Summit Will Address Prisoner Release and Exchange

Washington, D.C., August 13, 2025 — As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this Friday in Alaska for high-stakes talks on the war in Ukraine, the family of David Barnes — an American citizen serving the longest prison sentence of any U.S. national currently detained in Russia — is pleading […]

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Visa Restrictions on African, Cuban, and Grenadan Government Officials Involved in the Cuban Regime’s Coercive Forced Labor Export Scheme

Today, the Department of State took steps to impose visa restrictions on African, Cuban, and Grenadan government officials, and their family members, for their complicity in the Cuban regime’s medical mission scheme in which medical professionals are ‘rented’ by other countries at high prices and most of the revenue is kept by the Cuban authorities. […]

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‘Only hunger and bombs’ for besieged civilians in Sudan’s El Fasher

At least 57 civilians were killed in the attack, which included the Abu Shouk displacement camp on the outskirts of the city, and UN human rights office, OHCHR, is also following up on allegations of summary executions there.   “It is with dismay that we yet again witness an unimaginable horror inflicted upon civilians in […]

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🧠 AI Startup Perplexity Makes $34.5 Billion Bid for Google Chrome Amid Antitrust Pressure

San Francisco, August 12, 2025 — In a bold move that has stunned the tech industry, artificial intelligence startup Perplexity has made a formal $34.5 billion all-cash offer to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The unsolicited bid arrives as Google faces mounting legal pressure from the U.S. […]

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