Newscast - Africa

Tanzania's President Samia Hassan held an emergency meeting of her cabinet on Sunday night over price hikes of fuel in the country.
The country's energy regulator, the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority, last week announced record-high fuel prices.
The president's office says the president directed those present to find an immediate solution to the rising fuel prices in the country.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers has slammed the National Boundary Commission as corrupt, advising President Muhammadu Buhari to pay more attention to the agency.
Wike says the Rivers government is awaiting the NBC’s demarcation of the oil wells in the Akiri and Mbede communities, which are in dispute.
Wike noted lamented that ex-Governor Emeka Ihedioha and incumbent Governor Hope Uzodimma rescinded the political arrangement of the 50-50 sharing formula of the proceeds from the disputed oil wells in Akiri and Mbede communities.

President Muhammadu Buhari is leading an eight-man Nigerian delegation to Abidjan, Coted’Ivoire, to attend a two-day United Nations organised a conference on the future of the land, regarding desertification, drought, degradation, and rights, restoration and implications for national and world economies.
The top items on the agenda of the conference are drought, land restoration, and related enablers such as land rights, gender equality and youth empowerment.
The convention aims to take action to ensure that land, the lifeline on the planet, continues to benefit present and future generations.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria have suspended their decision to withdraw its services across all airports in the country.
AON President, Abdulmunaf Sarina, announced the suspension on Sunday in a statement jointly signed by six members of the association.
The Ministry of Aviation had assured Nigerians that members of AON were reviewing their decision to withdraw services on Monday, May 9.
It confirmed that Ibom Air, Green Africa Airlines, Arik Air, Dana Air, and others said they would carry on with their normal flight schedules.

TikTok announced an ad revenue-sharing program with the social media platform’s most prominent creators, moving closer to a model already used by its competitors.
Under the new TikTok Pulse program, companies can place their ads next to user content in specific categories, including health, fashion, cooking, gaming and others and creators will get a cut.
The company says they will begin exploring our first advertising revenue share program with creators, public figures and media publishers.
TikTok says only accounts with at least 100,000 subscribers will be eligible for the first phase of the program.

One of the largest water distribution agencies in the United States is warning six million California residents to cut back their water usage this summer, or risk dire shortages.
Adel Hagekhalil, the district’s general manager, has asked residents to limit outdoor watering to one day a week so there will be enough water for drinking, cooking and flushing toilets months from now.
Hagekhalil says the district has imposed restrictions before, but not to this extent.

Energy giant Shell has reported its highest ever quarterly profits as oil and gas prices surge around the world.
Shell made $9.13bn in the first three months of the year, nearly triple its $3.2bn profit announced for the same period last year.
The firm however said pulling out of Russian oil and gas due to the Ukraine conflict had cost it $3.9bn.
Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden says the war in Ukraine had caused significant disruption to global energy markets.

Beijing’s envoy to Moscow that the Chinese and Russian central banks will discuss the use and promotion of their respective national payment systems in both countries.
Zhang Hanhui says regarding the promotion and use of the Mir and China UnionPay national payment systems in both countries, this question will be decided by the two sides’ central banks at consultations.
The ambassador says China would make use of a clearing bank for operations in yuan on Russian territory to ensure the sustainable development of national trade, which Russia expects to reach $200 billion by 2024.
He also said that China and Russia were not advocating for the rejection of U.S. dollar and euro settlements in bilateral trade.

Finance Minister Ukur Yatani says Kenya is still expected to issue a second Eurobond this fiscal year.
A document from his ministry said Kenya was likely not to issue the bond planned for 2021/22 (July-June) financial year due to surging yields in international markets.

Africa’s top public health body has urged all those buying COVID-19 vaccines for the continent to place orders with South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, saying the market was key to developing vaccine manufacturing on the continent.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says it was doing everything it could behind the scenes to prevent a situation where Aspen closes its facility due to a lack of orders.
A company executive says this was hailed as a game-changing moment for an under-vaccinated continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts, but Aspen’s COVID-19 vaccine plant now risks shutting down after receiving not a single order.