🎬Starlink competitor

April 07, 2025

Good morning. Almost two years ago, a 26-year-old British man who goes by the nickname the “Hardest Geezer” began jogging from the southernmost point of Africa to become the first person to run the entire length of the continent.

Exactly a year ago, he did it. Russ Cook (his real name) reached the northernmost point of Africa, in Tunisia, cheered on by the fans he picked up while posting about his 9,941-mile journey on social media. In 352 days, Cook ran the equivalent of 376 marathons and only went missing in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo once.

He’ll also have the most epic response to a future job interviewer who asks about the gap in his resume.

— Geraldine Ndzomo, Obafemi Ayomide.

Currency exchange rates as of market close yesterday. Here’s what these numbers mean.

The US has pulled the ‘trump card’ on South Sudan

Alexandra Koch/Getty Images

US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has heightened the policy sweepstakes by placing a visa ban on South Sudanese passport holders this Saturday, much to the relief of other onlooker countries that got slammed with only trade tariffs last week.

According to him, the decision is effective immediately due to the failure of the transitional government in South Sudan to accept its repatriated citizens in a ‘timely manner.’ South Sudanese who have valid US visas will also have their visas revoked, and there’ll be no new visas issued to South Sudan nationals in the meantime.

New dispensation

Rubio’s (and indeed the Trump administration’s) approach to this is a major vibe shift from how good South Sudan had it during the Biden era. Biden had granted South Sudanese nationals “temporary protected status” (TPS), with the designation set to expire on 3 May 2025.

TPS shields people against deportation and is granted to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters, or other “extraordinary” conditions, and was supposed to provide a safe haven for South Sudanese fleeing the warring conditions back home.

Whether intentional or not, the reality is that South Sudan may not be ready to receive its repatriated citizens just yet. Fears that another civil war may break out have gotten concrete over the past month;

  • First Vice-President Riek Machar, who led the revolt during the previous civil war, was placed under house arrest by President Salva Kiir this past week.

  • President Kiir has accused Machar of breaching their peace deal and trying to stir up a new rebellion.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged global leaders to prevent South Sudan from falling “over the abyss” into another civil war.

Some deja vu here. In January, Trump threatened Colombian officials with visa revokes and export tariffs after two planes carrying Colombian deportees were turned back. In February, Trump also ended a deportation shield for Venezuelans seeking asylum in the US.

But this time…Rubio remarked that the ban was subject to review if the South Sudanese government was willing to cooperate. -OA.

Amazon is playing catch-up with Starlink

Tom’s Guide

The tech giant that once only sold books announced that the first batch of its constellation of internet satellites will lift off on April 9 on an Atlas V rocket, provided the weather cooperates. The initiative, dubbed Project Kuiper, will pit Amazon against SpaceX’s Starlink in seeking to provide the world with broadband internet from low Earth orbit. Project Kuiper will eventually boast 3,200 satellites, covering much of the globe. Starlink currently has over 7,000 satellites in orbit, with plans for as many as 42,000.

“When you chew whole peanuts you are making peanut butter in your mouth.”

Around the continent

WIRED

  • South Africa has no plans to retaliate Trump’s tariffs imposed last week. Instead, they will seek to negotiate exemptions and quota agreements.

  • Lesotho has formed a delegation that’ll try to negotiate an exemption to US tariffs on its jeans.

  • Spotify’s royalty payments to artists from Nigeria and South Africa steamrolled to about $59 million last year.

  • DR Congo and M23 rebels held private talks on a ceasefire for the first time last week in Qatar. The talks are expected to continue this week in Doha.

Reply

or to participate.