Newscast - Africa

The South African government says it is distancing itself from a decision by the Miss South Africa pageant organisers to participate in the annual Miss Universe contest, due to be held next month in Israel.
The decision came after growing calls for the reigning Miss South Africa, Lalela Mswane, to boycott the pageant that is scheduled to take place in Eilat on December 12.
The arts and culture ministry says it has proven difficult to persuade the Miss SA pageant organisers to reconsider their decision to partake in the Miss Universe event,
The government, therefore, withdraws its support following the organisers’ intransigence and disregard of advice.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says that he fears that Ethiopia could implode if the civil war continues.
He told journalists in Washington DC that out and out conflict could lead to the implosion of Ethiopia and spill over into other countries in the region, and that would be disastrous for the Ethiopian people".
He says the other path was a ceasefire and negations - adding that the US was backing the African Union mediator, ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr Blinken is expected to leave for Kenya on Monday, where he will be discussing the situation in Ethiopia. He will also be going to Nigeria on his first official trip to Africa as Secretary of State.

The African Union's special envoy to Ethiopia, Olusegun Obasanjo, has warned that dialogue cannot deliver peace to Ethiopia while the war continues to intensify.
Mr Obasanjo says he remained hopeful about possible talks but that all sides needed to stop fighting and find some common ground.
The Tigrayans say there can be no dialogue until the federal authorities allow aid into Tigray, where tens of thousands are on the brink of famine.
The government says the Tigrayans must recognise its legitimacy and withdraw from the regions of Amhara and Afar.

The World Health Organisation says that more than 19 million persons are currently living with diabetes with the number expected to grow to 47 million by 2025.
The global health organisation has asked governments in Africa to invest more funds in the prevention and management of diabetes in order to arrest its destructive impact on people’s lives.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti urged governments to also invest in making essential products such as insulin, blood glucometers and test strips available to all communities.

The federal government has faulted the allegation by a US-based Global Advocates for Terrorism Eradication accusing it as a sponsor of terrorism, describing the allegation as a disgusting distraction designed to weaken the ongoing massive onslaught against terrorism and banditry.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued a scathing rebuttal against the non-profit organisation, yesterday.
Mohammed said Gate missed the point by accusing the federal government that was tackling the twin evil of terrorism and banditry with an uncommon determination of sponsoring terrorism.
He accused GATE of relying on the words of a thoroughly-discredited, fake-news-peddling former Nigerian Navy intelligence officer in parroting its absurd allegation.
He said the action by the organisation had exposed the hollowness of its allegation.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has denied any involvement in the controversial siege on the home of a Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Odili.
The minister reiterated that he never gave any order for the siege to be carried out.
He also made further clarifications about a suspect – Lawrence Ajodo, who said he had worked previously with the AGF.
He says the suspect is not under the pay record of the ministry and even if he was, he would not carry out operations that are outside the scope of the ministry.

The Nigerian Guild of Editors has received $226, 889 from the United States of America through its embassy in Nigeria.
The NGE’s President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the professional body of editors, said the capacity building would include training programmes for editors and other senior journalists on Press Freedom/Democracy, as well as Town Hall meetings on media regulation framework.
The body of all Nigerian editors expressed the belief that a responsive and professional media would have the spin-off effect of keeping the government on their toes, holding government accountable to the citizens, securing the confidence and support of the citizens and the international community and advancing the democratic growth and consolidation.

The country’s military authorities declared that the armed forces remained loyal to the constitution and President Muhammadu Buhari and had no plans to overthrow his administration.
The military says it did not require that caution because the loyalty of the officers and men to the constitution and the president was never in doubt.
The killing of the Commander, 28 Task Force Brigade, Chibok, Brigadier-General Dzarma Zirkushi, and three soldiers in an ambush in Uba-Askira, Borno State, weekend, also triggered an aggressive response by the military, as troops battled and battered the terrorists, killing 37 of them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the European Union it needs to start talks with Belarus if it hopes to resolve a crisis over hundreds of migrants trapped on the border with Poland.
Poland is refusing to allow the migrants to cross, accusing Minsk of luring them to Belarus to send across the border in revenge for sanctions.
The EU has so far refused any direct contact with Belarus’s strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, who warned that any new sanctions would be met with a response, including potentially cutting off natural gas transit to Europe.
Merkel had called Putin to ask him to use his influence on Lukashenko to end the crisis.

UN chief Antonio Guterres says Climate promises from nations at COP26 ring hollow while they continue to invest in oil, gas and coal.
Representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered in Glasgow for painstaking talks aimed at keeping the world within the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
Guterres says the announcements in Glasgow are encouraging but they are far from enough urging negotiators to pick up the pace.