President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday departed Abuja for Glasgow in Scotland where he will be attending the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The President is scheduled to deliver his national statement at the High-Level Segment for Heads of State and Government at the conference on Tuesday, November 2.
President Buhari’s address is expected to highlight Nigeria’s key priorities and action to tackle climate change as well as progress on the country’s transition to a low carbon economy, consistent with achieving the Paris Climate Agreement.

Appzone Group, sub-Saharan Africa’s leading fintech software company has announced the launch of Zone, the continent’s first blockchain platform for payment processing that facilitates local and Intra-African payments in fiat and digital currencies.
CEO of Appzone Switch, Uche Elendu says Zone Switch represents the cashless and borderless future of payments in Africa adding that the platform will eliminate the systemic risk associated with centralized payment systems while delivering the uptime and throughput required in a truly cashless society.’
He says the team at Appzone Switch are looking to evolve the platform’s digital token for settlement into a stable Pan-African digital currency that is fully compliant, approved by Central Banks, and backed by a basket of fiat currencies in Africa.

US drugmaker Merck has announced a deal that could see generic versions of its experimental oral COVID-19 treatment for people infected with the disease widely distributed in poorer countries.
The global Medicines Patent Pool which is backed by the United Nations, says it had signed a voluntary licensing agreement with Merck to facilitate affordable worldwide access for its antiviral medicine molnupiravir.
Merck and MPP in a statement saying this is the first transparent, public health-driven voluntary license for a COVID-19 medical technology.

The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to pay 1 million euros a day over the country’s longstanding dispute with the bloc over judicial independence.
The ruling by the Court of Justice came after the EU’s executive commission asked for financial penalties to ensure compliance with a ruling from July.
Poland has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Brussels over judicial reforms it says undermine the independence of courts.
The row heated up in July when the Court of Justice ordered the country to suspend the controversial disciplinary chamber of its top court.
The court says the penalty was necessary in order to avoid serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the European Union and to the values on which that Union is founded, in particular, that of the rule of law.

China says that Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations, a day after the United States voiced support for the island’s meaningful participation at the organisation.
The back-and-forth comes days after Taiwanese officials spoke with US officials about Taiwan’s desire to have a role at the UN.
Taiwan had held the Chinese seat at the organisation until October 25, 1971, when it was voted out as representative of the country in favour of the People’s Republic of China, which won the civil war in 1949 and forced the republican government to flee to the island.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company’s name is being changed to “Meta” to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.
The new handle comes as the social media giant tries to fend off one of its worst crises yet and pivot to its ambitions for the metaverse virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will keep their names under the rebranding.
Zuckerberg says they have learned a lot from struggling with social issues and living under closed platforms, and now it is time to take everything that they have learned and help build the next chapter.

The chairperson of the Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association has apologised over his comments calling for local consumption of Nile perch to be banned.
Sujal Goswami reportedly made the remarks to MPs last week, arguing that such a ban would protect the species from illegal fishing and preserve it for export, according to local media.
Mr Goswami said he meant the Nile perch needs to be protected and the industry be well regulated by stopping illegal activities.

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi is being sued in London by a firm at the centre of a $2-billion loan scandal that plunged his nation into a financial crisis.
Abu Dhabi-based shipbuilder Privinvest, owned by French-Lebanese billionaire Iskandar Safa, signed contracts with Mozambican state companies to supply tuna fishing and maritime security vessels.
The government took out secret loans in 2013 and 2014 to finance the deal however much of the money disappeared in kickbacks and bribes, and the country later defaulted on repayments.
Privinvest confirms that on 19 October 2021, President Nyusi was served in Mozambique with Privinvest’s litigation claims in the High Court in London against him.

The African Union plans to buy up to 110 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc.
Moderna is prepared to deliver the first 15 million doses to Africa later this year as part of an agreement facilitated by the White House.
An additional 35 million doses will be delivered in the first quarter of 2022 and up to 60 million doses in the second quarter.
The company is also working on plans to allow it to fill doses of its Covid-19 vaccine in Africa as early as 2023, in parallel to building an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa.
Stéphane Bancel, the chief executive of Moderna says they believe the vaccine can play an important role in addressing the needs of low-income countries given its combination of efficacy against Covid-19, strong durability in the real-world evidence, and superior storage and handling conditions.

Sudan will reopen Khartoum airport to all inbound and outbound flights.
The head of civil aviation authority, Gen Ibrahim Adlan, told news agencies that the airport will resume operations.
The country suspended flights a day after the military seized power and declared a state of emergency.
Most cabinet ministers in the transitional government were also reported to have been detained, although Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has been released.