Internet connections in parts of Africa and East Asia were noticeably slower on Tuesday, probably due to a major breakdown “consistent with a disruption to international transits”, a monitoring service has said.
Somalia, Djibouti, Tanzania, Madagascar and Pakistan were among the affected countries.
“Ongoing disruption to internet connectivity in multiple countries, with high impact to Africa, Asia and Oceania; the incident is being attributed to outages affecting the AAE1 [Asia-Africa-Europe 1] and SMW5 [South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 5] submarine cable networks,” Netblocks wrote on Twitter.
The AAE1 undersea cable is one of four major systems that connect 19 countries on the three continents.
It stretches for more than 23,000 kilometres, according to a report by the Submarine Telecoms Forum, a publication that specialises in underwater cables.
About 380 undersea cables form the backbone of the internet but experts have long issued warnings that they are vulnerable to major breakdowns, which, in the past, have involved ship anchors, collapsing undersea rock formations and tectonic activity.
Pakistan's Telecommunications authority said two cuts to the AAE-1 and the SMW5 cables near Egypt had been repaired. Another cut to the Imewe cable near Italy is still being repaired.
It said all internet services in Pakistan had returned to normal.
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Scorline
Iraq 1-0 UAE
Iraq Hussein 28’
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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