Cybersecurity Partnerships: Viettel America teams up with Dragon9 Partners to deliver cybersecurity products and services to US customers, aiming to scale specialist support across multiple countries. Energy & Power Access: Sahara Power Enterprise Group begins work on a 12MW gas-fired independent power plant in Lagos’ industrial belt, targeting more reliable electricity by Q1 2027. AI in Enterprise: Microsoft and HUMAIN sign a long-term deal to embed Arabic-first ALLAM language models into Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure Foundry, starting with Saudi Arabia before expanding across the Middle East and Africa. AI & Call Centres: A new report argues AI is making South African call centres more expensive due to rising infrastructure and compute demands, not just software costs. Youth & Governance: The African Union launches a continental youth capacity-building programme on shared values instruments, focusing on democratic governance, rights, peace and civic participation. Health Policy: Nigeria rolls out a 2026–2030 alcohol policy to curb harmful consumption’s health and economic fallout. Regional Business & Investment: MeTL’s Mo Dewji explores Botswana’s investment drive under its economic transformation programme, including renewable energy and financial services. Energy Transition Roadmap: ISA unveils Solarising Africa strategy and Africa50 DRE Fund initiatives to scale solar deployment and support solarised agriculture, e-mobility and utility-scale projects. Opposition Politics (Nigeria): ADC attacks Nigeria’s $1bn social protection programme as election-driven and questions funding, monitoring and impact.