Africa Business News

The Venezuelan government has hit out against Facebook after the social media giant put a freeze on the page of President Nicolas Maduro over COVID-19 misinformation.The country’s information ministry accused Facebook of going after content geared toward combatting the pandemic.Maduro without any medical evidence has touted Carvativir, an oral solution derived from thyme, as a miracle substance that he says can fight the novel coronavirus.The ministry says they are witnessing digital totalitarianism exercised by supranational companies who want to impose their law on the countries of the world.It described Carvativir as a retroviral of national production and engineering.

Hundreds of Cubans joined a protest caravan on Sunday along the seaside road in the capital, Havana, to demand an end to the longstanding United States trade embargo against the country.The caravan was one of several actions held this weekend in more than 50 cities around the world aiming to put pressure on US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo and reverse other harsh economic measures imposed by his predecessor, Donald Trump.The Cuban government supported the demonstration, with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla telling reporters the blockade has been harmful, illegal, immoral, criminal and that it must be lifted.Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel also tweeted that the feelings of rejection at the #blockade that tries to suffocate the people, hundreds of citizens from the capital, threw themselves on the boardwalk in an enthusiastic caravan.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York state lawmakers formally agreed in late-night talks on a deal to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and over.A statement from Cuomo’s office says the change could net an additional $350 million in annual tax revenues and create tens of thousands of jobs.The draft law would allow adults 21 and over to purchase cannabis and grow plants for personal consumption at home, with a plan to divert some funds to drug treatment and education.Cuomo in the statement says Legalizing adult-use cannabis isn’t just about creating a new market that will provide jobs and benefit the economy.He says it is also about justice for long-marginalized communities and ensuring those who’ve been unfairly penalized in the past will now get a chance to benefit.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has banned all inland travel in and out of five counties, including the capital Nairobi, to stop a surge of Covid-19 cases.He says No road, rail or air transport will be allowed until further notice, Mr Kenyatta said. He declared Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Machakos and Nakuru counties to be "disease-infested zones."All in-person meetings in the counties have been banned. International travel will continue on the condition that all passengers present negative Covid-19 certificates.The president has also increased curfew hours to now begin at 20:00 until 04:00 in the five counties and revoked all special passes that allowed people to travel during the restricted hours.

France's foreign minister has accused Russia of using its Sputnik coronavirus vaccine as an instrument of aggressive diplomacy.Jean-Yves Le Drian contrasted the fanfare around a recent Russian delivery of a consignment of Sputnik V to Tunisia with that given to the much larger delivery through the UN-backed global Covax initiative.He made a similar contrast with a delivery of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in Senegal with Covax consignments.The AFP news agency quotes the minister telling France's Info Radio that Russia had announced with a lot of media attention" that it would deliver 30,000 vaccine doses to Tunisia.The manufacturers of Sputnik V have not yet applied for market authorisation for the vaccine in the European Union, although EU regulators have begun a rolling review of test data.

Zambia's government has announced it will acquire Covid-19 vaccines from the UN's Covax facility.Chief government spokesperson Dora Siliya says 3.6 million Zambians aged 18 and above will be targeted in the first vaccination campaign.Ms Siliya says healthcare workers, police officers, security forces, teachers, traditional leaders, clergy and immigration officers are among groups that will be prioritised.Traders, including bus and truck drivers involved in cross-border business, and those with chronic illnesses are also on the list.She says the cabinet decided that the administering of any vaccines to be injected to the people in Zambia will be done on a voluntary basis.

The Sudanese government has signed a declaration of principles that calls for freedom of religion and cultural identity in a democratic state.The agreement also seeks to separate religion and the state.The signed document states that no religion shall be imposed on anyone and the state shall not adopt any official religion.The agreement was signed with the SPLM-North, a predominantly Christian rebel group that operates in the Nuba Mountains.He had introduced sharia law in 1983, but the SPLM-North insists Sudan must be a secular state.The signing on Sunday is viewed as a crucial step in efforts by the power-sharing government to end decades of conflict with a wide range of rebel factions.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, says Nigerians must stop dwelling solely on the negatives if the country is to forge ahead in the progressive path. He argued that there are silver linings in the sky, stressing that it is typical of Nigeria that when the break in the clouds come, no one talks about them.Adesina’s comments come on the heels of some assertions made by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, following a recent report that tagged Nigeria as the nation with the highest unemployment rate in the world.Adesina maintained that all nations in the world experience negatives and if that becomes a focus then there will be more to talk about.He, however, declared that there are positives in Nigeria, adding that Nigerians must look out for the positives and encourage themselves.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar says the Nigerian government lacks the capacity to address issues facing the country, calling on stakeholders and elder statesmen to help in rescuing the West African nation which he noted is on the precipice. Atiku’s statement was in reaction to a recent report that tagged Nigeria as the nation with the highest unemployment rate in the world.He says all stakeholders and elder statesmen have to speak up on time, while there is still a Nigeria to save.He says the government obviously lacks the capacity to address the current challenges, and they must help them, not because of the government, but because of the people.

The Presidency says that it has never promised to make one naira equivalent to one dollar. Mr Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, says the claims suggesting that President Muhammadu Buhari made such a promise, are false.Mr Adesina while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics says It does not exist, it is fake and apocryphal.Adesina says the minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has debunked the claim severally and challenged anyone with clips and publications to make them available.