Newscast - Africa

President Muhammadu Buhari urged world leaders and global health institutions to follow a regime of enabling access to the COVID-19 vaccines, admonishing that sidelining countries in terms of reach will undermine the entire effort for safety.
President Buhari says export restrictions that encourage needless hoarding of vaccines need to be lifted while welcoming the pledges by industrialized countries to share vaccines.
The President says the pledges should be fulfilled in a timely manner, appreciating some countries, like France, that have donated vaccines to developing countries.

The Pakistani government and the armed group Pakistan Taliban have agreed to a one-month ceasefire.
Government spokesman Fawad Chaudhry says the Taliban government in Afghanistan helped facilitate the ceasefire between the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the banned outfit.
Chaudhry says the government of Pakistan and banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have agreed on a complete ceasefire.
State broadcaster Pakistan Television reports that the minister said the focus of the talks was on state sovereignty, national security, peace, social and economic stability in the areas concerned.

The United States Supreme Court has heard arguments in a case involving three Muslim men from California who accused the FBI of illegally conducting surveillance on them following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The country’s top court has been asked to decide whether to allow the men’s lawsuit to move forward amid opposition from the FBI, which has claimed it cannot be sued for religious discrimination because doing so could reveal state secrets.
Muslim Americans across the US have accused the FBI of systematically violating their constitutional rights by spying on them after 9/11, but there have been few opportunities to challenge the FBI’s conduct in court because it has been primarily conducted in secret.

A United States appeals court has ruled that the WhatsApp messaging service can move forward with a lawsuit against NSO Group, asserting that the immunity from civil litigation in US courts enjoyed by foreign governments does not extend to the private Israeli surveillance company.
WhatsApp is suing NSO Group over the alleged targeting of its servers in California with malware to gain unauthorised access to approximately 1,400 mobile devices in violation of US state and federal law.
A three-judge panel on the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision to allow WhatsApp’s lawsuit to proceed, stressing that NSO Group does not qualify for sovereign immunity even if its clients are foreign government agencies.

Rappers Travis Scott and Drake have been sued for having incited mayhem after eight people were killed and dozens injured in a crash during a Texas concert.
Texas firm Thomas J. Henry Law tweeted a story published by the Daily Mail on the suit, confirming it had filed one of the first lawsuits in Travis Scott Astroworld Festival tragedy.
Around 50,000 people were in the audience at Houston’s NRG Park when the crowd started pushing toward the stage as Scott was performing, triggering chaotic scenes.
The suit, filed in Houston’s Harris County court, claims Scott had incited mayhem and chaos at prior events and that defendants knew or should have known of Scott’s prior conduct.

Australia says it will sell coal for decades into the future after spurning a pact to phase out the polluting fossil fuel to halt catastrophic climate change.
Australian Minister for Resources Keith Pitt told national broadcaster ABC that they are not closing coal mines and they are not closing coal-fired power stations.
Pitt says Australia had some of the world’s highest quality coal adding that demand for coal is expected to rise until 2030,
Pitt says some 300,000 Australians’ jobs were reliant on the coal sector. The Minerals Council of Australia itself says the coal industry directly employs 50,000 workers while supporting another 120,000 jobs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on member states to impose new sanctions against Belarus, which she blamed for an influx of migrants at the Polish border. 
She says the use of migrants for political purposes is unacceptable adding that the EU would also look at how to sanction third-country airlines that bring migrants to Belarus.
EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell warned that they will not hesitate to adopt sanctions if necessary against companies and countries that play into the hands of smugglers.
Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas will visit the main countries of origin and transit in the coming days to ensure that they act to prevent their own nationals from falling into the trap set by the Belarusian authorities.

Kenya's Nation newspaper reports that People who flaunt their wealth on social media are being closely watched by the taxman. Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner-General, Githii Mburu Posts says showing luxury cars, fancy homes and lavish parties are routinely monitored by Kenya Revenue Authority officers on the lookout for potential tax cheats.
The authorities say those found to have dodged their taxes risk being banned from travel, having the unpaid taxes reclaimed from their bank accounts, and being prosecuted.

Amnesty International has demanded compensation for the Benet people of Uganda who were evicted from their homes 13 years ago.
A report by the rights group has detailed violent evictions of this indigenous group from Mount Elgon.
The group is calling on the Ugandan government to recognise that the area was their ancestral land and ensure they get remedy and reparations.
The report details an account of evicted people whose houses were burnt and who have remained psychologically traumatised.
Amnesty says evictions must be the government's last resort and must be conducted with respect to human rights.

The US and the African Union have said they believe there is a small window of opportunity to resolve the conflict in Ethiopia.
Special envoy Jeffrey Feltman is presently in Addis Ababa to meet AU officials.
AU envoy Olusegun Obasanjo told a UN Security Council meeting that time was running out and that there would be dire humanitarian consequences if the conflict is not resolved soon.
The rebels are threatening to advance to the capital in Addis Ababa as the federal army calls on former military personnel to join in the fight.