Newscast - Africa

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi has demanded a ban on issuing and trading mining permits until the country’s mining registry has been audited, a measure aimed at combatting fraud within the sector.
Tshisekedi told ministers he wanted to end the squandering of mining assets by unnamed political actors and officials involved in the administration of the mining register, which records mining concessions.
Tshisekedi told ministers that the recommended clean-up will increase the contribution of the mining sector to the state’s budget and help, as a priority, the people benefit from the mineral wealth of our country.

The Ethiopian authorities have asked people who have equipment that could have a military application to register their ownership.
The country's Information Network Security Agency on Facebook said that it is known that Ethiopia is in a campaign for survival while referring to the year-long civil war with Tigrayan forces.
The Information Centre says among the items that should be registered are Binoculars, GPS devices, Satellite phones and internet equipment and Drones. It added that People have 15 days to inform the agency.

The Kenyan government plans to introduce a directive next month to prevent citizens who haven't been vaccinated against Covid from receiving government services.
Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe says unvaccinated people would be banned from public transport, local airlines and train services.
Kenyans will also require proof of vaccination in order to visit government institutions for education, immigration, tax and other services.
The directive will come into force on 21 December. Kenya has a target of vaccinating 10 million people by the end of December.
So far less than 10% of the population has been vaccinated.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he is encouraged by the deal to reverse the military takeover in Sudan.
It comes after the reinstatement of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday, following last month's coup when he was put under house arrest.
Mr Blinken has called on the authorities not to use excessive force against peaceful protesters.
He tweeted that the authorities should now conclude the return to a civilian-led transition.

A threat by the United States to impose an arms embargo on Nigeria has been faulted.
Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya, told officers and men of the Nigerian armed forces and other security agencies engaged in the battle against insurgents to deal decisively with them in order to restore peace to the troubled areas.
A recent research paper prepared for the European Peace Facility stated that terrorist groups, Boko Haram and the Islamic State for West African Province had launched 500 attacks on military bases and formations of the Multi-national Joint Task Force between 2015 and 2020
The US Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, had threatened that his country could apply the Leahy Laws against Nigeria if the allegations of rights violations were found to be credible.

The Centre for Democracy and Development has backed the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for the Victims of #EndSARS protest.
Director of the CDD, Idayat Hassan, demanded full implementation of the report led by Justice Doris Okuwobi, warning against attempts to discredit the document.
The CDD says the necessity for a White Paper Report should not override the objective of addressing key social justice issues that the report sought to address, stating that the Lagos State Governor should know that this is a defining moment for his leadership.

The Lagos State Government has gifted N1 million and a furnished two-bedroom apartment to the family of late Jumoke Oyeleke killed during the Yoruba Nation rally in Lagos on July 3.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the government has been following the matter and that the first in the line of intervention was to relocate the family from its former abode to a decent apartment.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in ameliorating their suffering as much as possible felt if it is not possible to bring back the dead but can at least ameliorate the suffering of the family of the deceased.

A chieftain of the People's Democratic Party, Senator Shehu Sani says Nigerian politicians fear western sanctions more than the local laws.
He says the Nigerian political class fear foreign sanctions more than the laws of the land because they believe that as long as they belong to the circle of power, they can do anything and get away with it.
He added that they have had cases of people engaging in all sorts of violence during elections and they go scout free.

Canada is sending the military to help evacuate and support communities hit by catastrophic flooding, with the death toll expected to rise after record rainfall on the Pacific coast triggering a state of emergency.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the heavy rains caused historical and terrible flooding that has disrupted the lives and taken the lives of people across BC.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan declared a state of emergency and imposed a travel ban, telling reporters catastrophic rains, winds and flooding have devastated entire communities of our province.

A bipartisan coalition of United States state attorneys general says it has opened a probe into Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, for promoting its subsidiary Instagram to children despite potential harms.
The attorneys general are investigating whether the company violated consumer protection laws and put young people at risk.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says Meta, has failed to protect young people on its platforms and instead chose to ignore or, in some cases, double down on known manipulations that pose a real threat to physical and mental health – exploiting children in the interest of profit.