Mbabane — Eswatini joined a handful of countries to officially roll out new HIV prevention drug lenacapavir on Wednesday, announcing that 2,000 Swazis had received the jab since December.
The US, where the drug was formulated, and seven other African countries with high HIV prevalence rates have introduced it so far.
“People have been very receptive,” said Sindy Matse, programme manager for the Eswatini National AIDS Programme, adding that stock was almost depleted by the initial uptake.
US-based Gilead Sciences’ drug lenacapavir is a subcutaneous injection administered twice a year. It aims to overcome problems associated with daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis pills (PrEP), such as forgetting to take them and failing to acquire sufficient pills to keep taking them consistently.
Cuba says power restored in west and east
Havana — Power was restored in the western and eastern central regions of Cuba on Tuesday as some power plants reconnected to the grid, Cuba’s grid operator UNE reported on social media.
Cuba’s national electric grid had collapsed on Monday, leaving about 10-million people without power thanks to a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the island’s already obsolete generation system.
UNE said that the Diez de Octubre and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes power stations were back online, adding that the western and eastern central systems had been reconnected to the island’s grid. Reuters
Germany plans to double data centre capacity by 2030
Berlin — Germany plans to encourage investments in data centres to at least double domestic capacity and to boost AI data processing at least fourfold by 2030, the government said on Tuesday.
In a bid to catch up with the US and China, digital minister Karsten Wildberger proposed a range of measures, including dedicating land for development, that ministers are due to approve on Wednesday.
Under the scheme, municipal business taxes will go to the town or city that attracts the new centres, no longer to where the company is headquartered. Reuters
US taps Venezuela for fertiliser amid Iran war
Washington — The Trump administration is seeking other sources of fertiliser amid the ongoing Iran war’s shipping constraints, including from Venezuela and possibly Morocco, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Tuesday.
“We’ve ... established licences for Venezuela to produce more fertiliser. We’ve had discussions with Morocco,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box programme, adding the plan is “an insurance policy against disruption” for US farmers.
“I’m not saying that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can minimise it,” Hassett said. Reuters
US to pay TotalEnergies $1b over wind farms leases
New York — US officials are drafting agreements to pay French oil group TotalEnergies about $1bn in settlements as a result of the cancellation of leases for its wind farms in federal waters off New York State and North Carolina, the New York Times reported.
Under the terms of the proposed settlements, the US Interior Department will cancel the leases in federal waters for two projects, known as Attentive Energy and Carolina Long Bay, the newspaper said, citing documents. Reuters
Ghana reports GDP growth of 5.8% for 2025
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