NSA Says It Can’t Search Its Own Emails…



Justin Elliott writes in an article published on ProPublica: The NSA is a “supercomputing powerhouse” with machines so powerful their speed is measured in thousands of trillions of operations per second. The agency turns its giant machine brains to the task of sifting through unimaginably large troves of data its surveillance programs capture. ... More

7 Things You Need to Know About South Sudan’s Government Crisis

On July 23, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir  issued a decree  dismissing his longtime vice president, Dr. Riek Machar, along with all the ministers and deputy ministers in his cabinet. In a statement read on national television late Tuesday evening, Kiir also suspended Pagan Amum, the Secretary-General of South Sudan’s ruling political party, ... More

Darfur in 2013 Sounds Awfully Familiar

Asiya Tahir, 20, had her 4-month-old baby, Mariam, on her back in April when three armed men in Sudanese military uniforms seized her and her sister at a well in Darfur.  The soldiers beat Asiya and then — according to both sisters who were interviewed separately — pulled Mariam off her back and laughingly checked to see if she was a boy or a girl. ... More

Tackle tax evasion to fuel Africa’s development

Put an end to the secret, murky and exploitative deals that have robbed Africans of the gains of their natural resource wealth. As G20 finance ministers meet in Moscow, Kofi Annan urges their governments to seize the current opportunity to stop illicit tax practices. Source: The Elders More

Teenager plans ‘hacker school’ to help Africa build next Google



Martha Chumo, a 19-year-old self-taught programmer, was supposed to be in New York right now, honing her coding skills and mastering cutting-edge technologies in the company of fellow software enthusiasts. Instead, she’s thousands of miles away, in her hometown of Nairobi, Kenya. A few months ago, Chumo was accepted into the summer intake of Hacker ... More

da-eYe for freedom of expression in Tunisia



Freedom of Expression is not a crime, and da-eYe knows very well about it. Since he first appeared on the walls in La Défense / Paris in the mid-80s (if you need an introduction, here it is), the one-eyed little guy with his witty humor and waggish manners is observing everything and calls out on everyone with no respect for freedom of expression. This ... More

L’assassinat de Chokri Belaïd ravive les tensions en Tunisie



Chokri Belaïd, l’une des figures de l’opposition de gauche en Tunisie et symbole de la classe populaire, a été tué de plusieurs balles le 6 février dernier, le premier assassinat politique post-révolution. Avocat défenseur des droits de l’Homme, emprisonné sous les régimes de Ben Ali et Bourguiba, il était secrétaire général ... More

Contemporary Art, Ben Ali and religion collide in Tunisia

As Tunisia is (slowly but surely) getting back on its feet, two events happened last week. They may not seem to have any connection but they do. It first started with the exhibition ‘Printemps des Arts‘ at the Abdelya Palace in Tunis curated by Tunisian artist Meriem Bouderbala (I mentioned her in my post -in French- about an exhibition last ... More