Newscast - Africa

The United Kingdom has reviewed its travel protocols for travellers from Nigeria who have taken their complete jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines approved by authorities in the country.
The revised policy applies to those who have been fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca (including Covidshield), Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
The British High Commission in a statement says they must be able to prove that they have been fully vaccinated under a vaccination programme and have a valid proof of vaccination recognised by the British Government.
Acting British High Commissioner, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, described the changes to travel rules for fully-vaccinated Nigerians as a very welcome development.

President Muhammadu Buhari proposed a total budget of N16.39 trillion for the year 2022 to the National Assembly.
The President says the budget will focus on diversifying the economy, with robust MSME growth; investing in critical infrastructure; strengthening security and ensuring good governance; enabling a vibrant, educated and healthy populace; reducing poverty; and minimizing regional, economic and social disparities.
He also noted that the 2022 budget is the first time in Nigerian history where MDAs were clearly advised on gender-responsive budgeting.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, says the National Assembly is committed to passing the budget before the end of the year.

Johnson & Johnson says it had submitted data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization of a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 18 years and older.
J&J says its submission includes data from a late-stage study that found a booster of its vaccine given 56 days after the primary dose provided 94% protection against symptomatic COVID-19 in the United States and 100% protection against severe disease, at least 14 days after the booster shot.
The FDA has already authorized a booster dose of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech for 65-year olds and older, people at high risk of severe disease and others who are regularly exposed to the virus.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he hopes the diplomatic tension with Algeria will ease soon.
President Macron says he had cordial relations with his Algerian counterpart.
Algeria recalled its ambassador to Paris and closed its airspace to French military planes a day later after the French president made comments about the northern Africa country.
President Macron was quoted as saying the former French colony was ruled by a political-military system with an official history that was based not on truth, but on hatred of France.

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service announced what it described as a life-changing treatment for sickle cell disease.
A statement from the NHS says the new drug known as Crizanlizumab will be delivered by a transfusion drip and works by binding to a protein in the blood cells to prevent the restriction of blood and oxygen supply that lead to a sickle cell crisis.
The World Health Organisation is a major genetic disease where the normal round shape of red blood cells become like crescent moons, leading to blood clots which can cause extreme pain in the back, chest, hands and feet.

A jury in California ordered Tesla to pay a Black former employee $137 million in damages for turning a blind eye to racism the man encountered at the firm’s auto plant in Fremont, US media reported.
Diaz says African-American employees at the factory, where his son also worked, were regularly subjected to racist epithets and derogatory imagery.
The suit filed by Diaz, his son Demetric and a third former employee says the plaintiffs encountered a scene straight from the Jim Crow era.
The court filing says Tesla’s progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees.

A report published by Unesco shows that Filmmakers in at least 47 African countries say they face restrictions on what topics they are allowed to cover in their work,
The report says Subjects like LGBTQ rights, sex, religion, politics, conflict and ethnicity are often better avoided when not completely banned.
It says such limits have an impact on the quality of work film creators produce. The report also highlighted gender inequality in the film and audio-visual industries on the continent, with the largest disparity seen in central Africa where 98% of practitioners estimate that the percentage of women in the sector is less than 10%.
It also cited Nigeria as a country where the sector is dominated by female producers.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has condemned the deportation of Somalis from the self-declared republic of Somaliland.
The agency placed the number of people forced out of their homes at 1,000.
It says it had information that those deported had lived in the area for nearly 20 years.
The agency says it was concerned about the reports of additional forced displacements planned in the coming days.
Somaliland deported people from southern Somalia citing insecurity.

Kenya confirmed its bid to host the 2025 athletics world championships, which if accepted, would bring the event to Africa for the first time.
Athletics Kenya chief Jackson Tuwei told AFP that they formally confirmed the bid to host the global championships on Friday, October 1 which was the deadline set by World Athletics.
Kenyan sports minister Amina Mohammed first announced the country’s bid for the 2025 world championships in Doha in September 2019, after WA said the global event would be held on a rotational basis across continents.

The United Kingdom has omitted Nigeria from its list of countries with valid COVID-19 vaccine certificates.
Nigeria was missing from the list despite not being on the UK’s COVID-19 red list.
No other African country was on the list.
The UK, in a statement, says it was taking a phased approach to recognise vaccines administered by other countries and territories, building on the success of the pilot with the U.S. and Europe.