Newscast - Africa

Ethiopian Airlines has disclosed that it negotiated for a 15-year tax moratorium and other incentives from the Federal Government during the botched national carrier project, the Nigeria Air deal.
The airline stated this in its defence as the second defendant in the case in the suit filed by the Airline Operators of Nigeria at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Ethiopian Airlines declared its bid for the purchase of shares in the national carrier, like other Nigerian shareholders.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame says his country will no longer offer refuge to people fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Decades of instability in the east of the country have forced scores of refugees across the border into Rwanda.
He says the rest of the world had completely missed the point when it came to eastern DR Congo.
Rwanda is being accused of backing the M23 rebel group - which the country has always denied.
The rebel group has captured swathes of territory in recent months, sending tens of thousands of refugees across the border into Rwanda.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to convene a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council to discuss a new variant detected in the country this week.
The new Covid sub-variant, known as XBB.1.5, has also been recorded in the US and UK.
It is an offshoot of the globally-dominant Omicron Covid variant and is highly transmissible.
President Ramaphosa says they are agile enough to want to have that meeting tomorrow, and thereafter there will be information that will be shared with the rest of the country.

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission has warned that the general election could be canceled if nothing is done to tackle insecurity in the country.
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu says the commission was ensuring that election personnel, materials, and process have the highest level of protection especially "given the current insecurity challenges in various parts of the country.
He says if it was not dealt with decisively, the insecurity could ultimately culminate in the cancellation or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of elections results and precipitate a constitutional crisis".
He called for the strengthening of security outfits to ensure the polls are held successfully across the country.
Five south-eastern states and four north-western states, Lagos, Kano, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, and Borno states were named as areas likely to witness election-related chaos.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is selling Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at a loss because of its mandate from the Federal Government as regards PMS subsidy.
Sylva insisted that subsidy had been a burden, but stressed that it was a mandate on NNPC which had made the oil firm to continue selling PMS at a loss.
He says the management of the supply situation under this subsidy regime is not easy

The cash withdrawal limits set by the Central Bank of Nigeria become effective January 9, 2023 amid concerns over the slow spread and quality of three newly redesigned naira notes.
The CBN says the new policy was sequel to the launch of the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 23, 2022.
The directive created controversy and outrage from millions of Nigerians and members of the National Assembly who disapprove of the policy.
Many PoS operators had said the policy would strangulate their activities and rob them of employment while politicians said it was targeted at opposition parties ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Israel’s new far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has instructed police to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces, calling the Palestinian national symbol an act of terrorism.
Israeli law does not outlaw Palestinian flags but police and soldiers have the right to remove them in cases where they deem there is a threat to public order.
Sunday’s directive from Ben-Gvir, who heads the ultranationalist Jewish Power party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government appears to signal a hardline and uncompromising attitude towards Palestinian expressions of identity and free speech and pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The display of the Palestinian flag in Israel has, in practice, long been clamped down on by Israeli authorities, with Palestinians regarding such moves as an attempt to suppress Palestinian identity.
Netanyahu says the presence of the Palestinian flag at the Tel Aviv protest was “wild incitement”.

Sweden’s prime minister says Sweden is confident that Turkey will approve its application to join the NATO military alliance, but it will not meet all the conditions that Ankara has set for its support.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says Turkey both confirms that we have done what we said we would do, but they also say that they want things that we cannot or do not want to give them.
Finland and Sweden signed a three-way agreement with Turkey in 2022 aimed at overcoming Ankara’s objections to their membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The billionaire founder of Ant Group, Jack Ma, is to give up control of the Chinese fintech giant after a regulatory crackdown.
Ant Group says that after the change no-one would have overall control.
The formerly flamboyant Mr Ma has seldom been seen in public since criticising China's financial sector in 2020.
Mr Ma, who founded e-commerce giant Alibaba, directly and indirectly controls more than 50% of Ant Group however, after the changes in governance structure, he will control just over 6%, according to an Ant Group statement.

The President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah, has issued two Executive Orders affecting critical national issues germane to the security and wellbeing of citizens.
The President issued Executive Order #113 suspending the import tariff on rice and Executive Order #114 establishing the West African Police Information System.
Executive Order #113 is in consideration of the expiration of Executive Order #105 and the government's commitment to ensuring that the prices of certain basic commodities on the market are affordable and do not impose an unnecessary burden on the citizens.
President Weah says based on the findings of the assessment, the government has seen the need to curb the continuous increase in the price of rice, in order to make it affordable to the public for purchase.