Newscast - Africa

Iran’s foreign ministry has rejected reports of the country’s willingness to compromise its stance in ongoing indirect negotiations with the United States to restore its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told the emir that they have always said the negotiations must yield results, not waste time and the Americans know what they need to do regarding this.
Khatibzadeh says it is very clear from the context of the leader’s remarks that the ball is in the US court, which must make wise political decisions to fulfill its obligations

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have started to enforce a new order requiring all-female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on air.
The Information and Culture Ministry previously announced that the policy was final and non-negotiable.
Sonia Niazi, a TV anchor with Afghanistan’s TOLOnews says It is just an outside culture imposed on them and that can create a problem for them while presenting programmes.

The World Health Organization says it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not typically found.
The UN agency says it will provide further guidance and recommendations in the coming days for countries on how to mitigate the spread of monkeypox.
The agency says available information suggests that human-to-human transmission is occurring among people in close physical contact with cases who are symptomatic.

An audit into Covid spending in Malawi has found that around $4.7m cannot be accounted for from the $21m set aside to deal with the second phase of the pandemic.
President Lazarus Chakwera promised to crack down on the culprits and several officials were taken to court, though none of the cases has yet concluded.
Some non-governmental organisations say this second exposé shows that public systems for managing resources are broken, with no political will to hold people accountable.

Zimbabwe’s government wants to sell some of its ivory and rhino horn stockpile - estimated to be around $600m by the state-run Herald newspaper - to help fund its conservation efforts.
Environment Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu told the BBC that close to 65% of the world’s elephant population was in the country which had a huge impact on human habits.
He says that he did not want the issue to be politicised and that on two previous occasions that Cite had allowed ivory stockpile sales, the money had been ploughed back into protecting wildlife.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says his government will not intervene in the current economic situation amid a rising cost of living.
Mr Museveni says that government subsidies or the removal of import taxes would collapse the economy.
He says there would be a haemorrhage of dollars from the national reserves for the purchase of those expensive products.
Mr Museveni said Uganda will need to frugally use the imported items it can afford.
He advised citizens to substitute expensive wheat with locally available food such as millet, maize, green bananas and cassava.

The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority say that it was drafting six regulations on midstream and downstream operations to ensure clarity, including on the issue of appropriate gas pricing.
The Authority Chief Executive, NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, noted that the new regulations will further improve business processes and ease of doing business in the sector.
The NMDPRA also acknowledged the gradual growth of indigenous players in local exploration and production of petroleum products but said that more needed to be done.
Ahmed further pledged the authority’s commitment to making the business climate in the midstream and downstream conducive for local and foreign investment to thrive.

The Lagos State Government warned residents to be wary of unlicensed e-hailing operators.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Frederic Oladeinde, issued the warning saying the operators pose security threats to the safety of lives and property within the state.
He expressed the state government’s displeasure over the refusal of the App owners and partners to comply with the law guiding their operation in the wake of criminal activities.
Oladeinde urged residents to ensure that they patronise only the licensed operators as many of the unauthorised operators do not have a traceable operational base within the state in case of emergencies or safety concerns.

The Federal Government has appointed Mr Anamekwe Nwabuoku as the acting Accountant General of the Federation.
Nwabuoku’s appointment was conveyed in a letter dated May 20th, 2022 and signed by Aliyu Ahmed, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s former aide, Bashir Ahmad also confirmed Nwabuoku’s appointment via his Twitter handle.
Nwabuoku is expected to carry out his duties in strict compliance with extant rules and observe the highest sense of professionalism.

The ruling All Progressives Congress has postponed the screening of the 25 presidential aspirants slated for Monday, May 23rd.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Barr. Felix Morka, announced the postponement although no reason was given for the change in plan.
Morka added that a new date for the screening exercise will be communicated to the public shortly, without mentioning any specific time.