This study presents a lightweight, domain-informed AI model for predicting indoor temperatures in naturally ventilated schools and homes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The model extends the Temp-AI-Estimator framework, trained on Tanzanian school data, and evaluated on Nigerian schools and Gambian homes. It achieves robust cross-country performance using only minimal accessible inputs, with mean absolute errors of 1.45°C for Nigerian schools and 0.65°C for Gambian homes. These findings highlight AI's potential for thermal comfort management in resource-constrained environments.

The Gambian team's robot, a cube-shaped device about the size of a large microwave, is designed to separate balls that represent water particles and balls that represent water contaminants and deliver them to different places. Fatoumata Ceesay of team Gambia displays her country's flag at the First Global Challenge. Fatoumata Ceesay of team Gambia displays her country's flag at the First Global Challenge. Gassama hopes she and Ceesay will inspire other Gambian girls to become interested in technology -- and look for solutions to some of Gambia's problems such as getting access to clean water for everyone.

When Afghan 10th-grader Fatemeh Qaderian learned that her girls' robotics team had been denied visas to attend an international competition in Washington -- despite applying twice -- the 14-year-old said she "lost hope." "We worked hard and spent a lot of time," said Qaderian, who flew back and forth with her teammates from their hometown in western Afghanistan to apply at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. "I called my parents and told them what happened, and they were upset, too." Those emotions morphed into elation as Qaderian and her teammates boarded a plane at Kabul International Airport on Friday morning en route to next week's competition, having been granted visas thanks to last-minute intervention by the Trump administration. "It's impossible to express how excited I am," Qaderian said.

Five young inventors from Gambia are the latest students to be denied visas to enter the US for a prestigious international robotics contest in Washington. The teens found the rejection'very disheartening,' their coach, Mucktarr Darboe, said on Tuesday. Darboe, who is also a director in the largely Muslim West African nation's ministry of higher education, said the students were not given a reason for the visa denials in April, and he called the decision'disappointing and unfair.' The US Embassy in Banjul, Gambia's capital, could not immediately be reached for comment. Mucktarr Darboe is pictured with members of Gambia's student team that was denied visas to travel to Washington for a robotics contest Gambia has been through dramatic change in recent months, ousting via elections a longtime dictator, Yahya Jammeh, whose administration was accused of human rights abuses.

HERAT, AFGHANISTAN/DAKAR – Two Afghan girls refused visas to the United States for a robot-building competition said on Tuesday they were mystified by the decision, as the contest's organizers said teams from Iran and Sudan as well as a de facto Syrian team had gained visas. The unusual story of the Afghan all-girl team of robotics students emerged as the United States grapples with the legality of President Donald Trump's order to temporarily ban travel from six Muslim-majority countries. Afghanistan itself is not on the list and Team Afghanistan's robot, unlike its creators, has been allowed entry to the United States. Asked by Reuters on Tuesday why the girls were banned, a U.S. State Department spokesperson cited regulations prohibiting the agency from discussing individual visa cases. So the six team members will watch the ball-sorting machine compete in Washington D.C. via video link during the July 16-18 event from their hometown of Herat, in western Afghanistan, according to the FIRST Global contest organizers.

A school robotics team made up of five students from The Gambia has joined Afghanistan's all-girl robotics team in having their one-week visas rejected by the U.S. in order to attend the First Global Challenge robotics competition in Washington D.C. The five Gambian students on the robotics team will have their robot shipped from the West African country to the First Global Challenge competition in the U.S., which takes place from July 16-18. But the teens will not be able to attend the prestigious international event themselves, Al-Jazeera reports. Despite saying they worked "rigorous shifts" of seven hours during Ramadan to complete the robot, they will instead have to settle for presenting it via Skype. Director of The Gambia's ministry of higher education, research, science and technology, Moktar Darboe, told Al Jazeera that the students are "very disappointed" they won't be able to attend the competition.

Five teenage pupils from The Gambia who built a robot for a prestigious international competition in the United States will not be able to accompany their invention to the event after being denied a visa. The Gambian pupils become the second team of students to be refused entry to attend the FIRST Global robotics event in Washington, DC on July 16-18. On Saturday, it was reported that an all-girls team from Afghanistan were also denied a visa to travel to the US to showcase their creation at the same competition. We're not giving up, despite the challenges we face, we still continue to work hard. Moktar Darboe, director of The Gambia's ministry of higher education, research, science and technology, told Al Jazeera that the team, made up of high school pupils aged 17-18, were "very disappointed".