Newscast - Africa

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the Federal Government is planning a special flight operation to evacuate Nigerians from Ukraine amid the escalating crisis in the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced a military operation in Ukraine with explosions heard soon after across the country and its foreign minister warning a full-scale invasion was underway.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been reassured by the Nigerian Embassy in Ukraine of the safety of Nigerians in that country and measures being undertaken to keep them safe and facilitate the evacuation of those who wish to leave.

A special parliamentary committee has approved the outlines of controversial legislation that many observers believe will lead to tighter restrictions on online activity in Iran despite continuing public opposition.
The Protection Bill was introduced three years ago but legislators were forced to temporarily shelve the legislation last July amid a backlash, with business groups and internet users warning it would harm online freedoms.
Proponents of the bill stress its main goal is to regulate cyberspace by introducing necessary protections from harmful content and to support local businesses.

Colombian court decriminalised abortion procedures up to 24 weeks of gestation, paving the way for greater abortion access in the largely Catholic country.
The case came as a feminist green wave, referring to the bright green bandanas pro-choice advocates sport, sweeps across Latin America.
Other countries such as Ecuador also recently loosened laws to decriminalise abortion in situations of rape.
Advocates said it represented a major step forward for women’s rights across the region, especially as other Latin American countries consider similar cases.

The Taliban is creating a grand army for Afghanistan that will include officers and troops who served the old regime, says the official tasked with overseeing the military’s transformation.
Latifullah Hakimi, head of the Taliban’s Ranks Clearance Commission, says that they had repaired half the 81 helicopters and planes supposedly rendered unserviceable by the United States-led forces during last year’s chaotic withdrawal.
The Taliban has promised a general amnesty for everyone linked to the old regime, but nearly all senior government and military officials were among the more than 120,000 people who evacuated by air in the final days.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says his government has taken steps to halt the approval process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
Scholz says he had asked the economy ministry to withdraw the report on the security of supply with our federal networks agency calling this the first step to make sure the pipeline cannot be certified at this point.
He says without certification the Nord Stream 2 can’t operate adding that they have the situation that has evolved over the past few days.

EU’s economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni says Russia’s recognition of breakaway regions of Ukraine will strongly increase economic uncertainty for the EU.
Gentiloni told a Brussels conference that the violation of international law through Russian recognition of two separatist territories in Ukraine will strongly increase this uncertainty.
The European Union was expected to unveil limited and targeted economic punishment, both to keep its sanctions powder dry should Russia push further into Ukraine and because of the pain, it would feel too from sectoral sanctions.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will address the country's federal parliament on the conflict between government forces and Tigrayan rebels in the north.
Ethiopian federal forces have been fighting rebels loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front since November 2020.
The country is also embroiled in a border row with Sudan and a dispute with Egypt and Khartoum over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river.
Mr Abiy announced the start of electricity generation from the controversial dam, prompting angry reactions from Egypt and Sudan.

Nigeria’s former President and Chair of the Economic Community of West African States Council of the Wise, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, says the sub-region would not accept the five-year transition period proposed by the military government in Mali because it is too long.
Jonathan says military regimes had become an aberration in the sub-region and could no longer be tolerated.
Jonathan stressed that the proposal for a five-year transition period for the military regime by the Malian parliament was unacceptable because the time was not only too long but also untenable.

The federal government formally unveiled a strategy to enable the country to achieve its COVID-19 vaccination target.
The government says the country has so far taken delivery of 64,113,760 doses of COVID-19 vaccines since vaccination began and has administered 24.8 million doses.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire says as of the end of January 2022, the country had vaccinated 20 million of her eligible population.
He, therefore, solicited the assistance of development partners to redirect efforts towards establishing primary healthcare centres in rural areas.

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege says the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment will lay the report of the 1999 Constitution review before the Senate on Wednesday, February 23.
Federal lawmakers are also expected to vote on the amendments on March 1.
Sources within the presidency have said President Muhammadu Buhari will also likely sign the re-worked Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law on Wednesday.
President Buhari had withheld his assent to the bill in November last year, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political actors as part of the reasons for his decision.