Newscast - Africa

The government of South Sudan is urging the military and differing parties in neighbouring Sudan to quickly return to dialogue amid a coup.
A press release issued by South Sudan’s foreign affairs ministry says President Salva Kiir affirms his unwavering solidarity with the people of Sudan.
The ministry in a press release says it remains steadfast in supporting the aspirations and stance of the Sudanese people and will avail all its diplomatic channels to support Sudan.

Agusto & Co, has predicted an influx of new entrants into the small and medium scale enterprises segment of the Nigerian economy.
It also estimated that Nigeria recorded a volume of $12 billion transactions on online purchases in 2020, and projected that online transactions might hit the $75 billion mark by 2025.
The report stated that the growing surge in e-retailing would continue to see an upward trend and would be buoyed by the uptick in digital payments that have been growing on the back of the spread of information technology with internet penetration increasing to 46.6 per cent in 2020 from 23.7 per cent in 2015.

The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba asked workers across the country to take the COVID-19 vaccine for a chance to stay alive.
Wabba appealed to workers to take advantage of vaccination provisions made by the Federal Government, in order to reduce hospitalisations and fatalities among workers.
He says while health issues need to be approached with great caution, it would be foolhardy to undermine the protective powers of vaccines against the virus.

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s new digital currency, eNaira, will increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $29 billion over the next 10 years.
The President says the launch of eNaira makes Nigeria the first country in Africa and one of the first few countries globally to introduce a digital currency.
The new payment system is expected to drive financial inclusion, serve as a backbone for electronic payment in Nigeria and also enable the movement of more people from the informal to the formal sector, hence scaling up the tax base of the country.

U.S. tech giant Google has paid Russia more than 32 million roubles in fines for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal.
Russia said it seek to fine the U.S. tech giant a percentage of its annual Russian turnover later this month for repeatedly failing to delete banned content on its search engine and YouTube, in Moscow’s strongest move yet to rein in foreign tech firms.
Marco Pancini, YouTube director for interacting with state authorities in EMEA, says that Google had paid all enforced fines on time. These stood at 32.5 million roubles for this year.
Communications regulator Roskomnadzor says it has the technical capability to slow down the speed of YouTube, Interfax reported, but that administrative measures are currently sufficient.

Cambodian lawmakers approved an amendment to the kingdom’s constitution barring political leaders from holding dual citizenship, a move seen as targeting the country’s most prominent opposition figure.
Strongman leader Hun Sen had requested the Ministry of Justice to look into the amendment, saying in an October 6 post the change was needed in order to show loyalty to the nation and avoid foreign interference.
The amendment says all candidates appointed as the prime minister, presidents of the National Assembly, Senate and the Constitutional Council must hold only Cambodian citizenship.

A senior United States diplomat has urged North Korea to end its concerning and counterproductive missile tests and resume negotiations.
Sung Kim, the top US official on North Korea affairs, called on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to cease these provocations and other destabilising activities, and instead, engage in dialogue.

Saudi Arabia announced it aims to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060, joining more than 100 countries in a global effort to try and curb man-made climate change.
The announcement made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was timed to make a splash before the start of the global COP26 climate conference being held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Energy exports form the backbone of Saudi Arabia’s economy, despite efforts to diversify revenue as the world increasingly looks to transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.
The country is forecast to make $150bn in revenue this year alone from oil.

The Republic of China’s government had fled to the island of Taiwan with millions of refugees as the communists took power but continued to hold the seat of China at the UN and was a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power.
Officials in Taipei had the support of the US thanks to fears in the West that communism might sweep through Asia.
The ROC had promised to return by the 1970s, but by then it was clear to many UN members its government no longer represented the hundreds of millions of people living across the Taiwan Strait in the now-communist controlled People’s Republic of China.

Pope Francis urged governments to stop returning migrants to countries like Libya where they are sent to detention centres rife with abuse, and prioritise saving lives of those crossing the Mediterranean.
His message comes as Italy sees an increase in migrant arrivals from Libya, and the debate within a divided EU shifts to migrants entering the bloc’s eastern borders with Belarus.
Francis expressed his closeness to the thousands of migrants, refugees and also others in need of protection in Libya.