Newscast - Africa

Iran has responded with defiance to a critical report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, signalling a difficult path ahead as world powers continue to try to restore the country’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says in two confidential reports cited by Western media outlets, that Iran has continued to increase production of high-enriched uranium while failing to resume full cooperation with nuclear inspectors.
It also said the watchdog is deeply concerned about the longstanding issue of the presence of nuclear materials at several undeclared locations, something it says Iran has yet to adequately explain.

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to penalise abortion, a major victory for women’s health and reproductive rights that comes amid a green wave of abortion decriminalisation in Latin America.
The Mexican court’s decision follows moves to decriminalise abortion at the state level, although most of the country still has tough laws in place against women terminating their pregnancy early.
The court unanimously annulled several provisions of a law from Coahuila that had made abortion a criminal act, and its decision will immediately only affect the northern border state.

The Taliban has appointed Mohammad Hasan Akhund as head of Afghanistan’s new caretaker government, weeks after it took control of the country in a rapid offensive.
The list of cabinet members announced by chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday was dominated by members of the group’s old guard, with no women included.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, will be the deputy leader while Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani Network, has been named as interior minister.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, has been named as defence minister. Hedayatullah Badri will be the acting minister of finance, while Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taliban negotiator in Doha, was named foreign minister.

President Joe Biden flew to storm-ravaged New York and New Jersey, just days after inspecting the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.
Biden argues that extreme weather across the United States this summer is a harbinger of worse to come.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters aboard Air Force One that Biden believes the latest devastation shows the average costs of extreme weather are getting bigger and no one is immune from climate change.

West Africa’s economic bloc ECOWAS will hold a virtual summit on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in Guinea, where troops have arrested President Alpha Conde and declared a political transition.
The Economic Community of West African States condemned the coup and demanded Conde’s unconditional release.
The communications director for the ECOWAS Commission, Sandra Oulate, says the group will hold a virtual extraordinary summit of member states to discuss Guinea.
A statement to journalists on an ECOWAS social media account said the meeting would be at 2 pm on Wednesday.

The UN mission in South Sudan has urged the unity government to urgently resolve a fresh conflict in the Tambura area of Western Equatoria state.
The UN's peacekeeping mission, Unmiss, says this has endangered the lives of civilians and created the risk of further displacement.
Unmiss head Nicholas Haysom says It is also vital that political leaders at the national and local levels take urgent action to resolve tensions and bring communities together to avoid further loss of life, homes, and livelihoods.
Mr Haysom says insecurity had forced more than 40,000 people to flee their homes.
He added that the situation had continued to increase the demand for humanitarian aid at a time when resources were already stretched.

The government in Zimbabwe is asking its employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or resign. It says the move is aimed at reducing the risk of spreading the virus.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi says that employees who think they have a right to choose whether or not they can be vaccinated have it all wrong,
The government previously introduced a new regulation for churches and restaurants to only allow people with a vaccination card inside their premises.
No country in Africa has introduced legislation to make a Covid vaccine mandatory for the population.

Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have expressed their willingness to improve on their bilateral relationship and collaboration in international politics.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama says both countries have a relationship that dates over a century.
He says both countries are allies at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and are currently looking for ways of moving from total dependency on oil into other sectors.
He said both countries are willing to improve the framework they already have for cooperation in the area of Joint Commission, explaining that one took place over six years ago and both countries would be having another one before the end of this year.

The federal government put the total number of eligible Nigerians that have so far received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at 3,600,858.
The government has explained the reason Nigerians who have been fully vaccinated are still required to isolate upon arrival in the United Kingdom is that the country was yet to meet criteria such as the percentage of population immunised and incidence rates of COVID-19 infection.
The Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, says that as a mark of diplomatic reciprocity, Nigeria also requires fully vaccinated UK citizens to isolate for seven days.
He says Nigeria alongside countries such as France and the Netherlands were listed as amber countries by the UK government based on criteria such as the number of population immunised and incidence rates of COVID-19 infection.

Governor Samuel Ortom says One hundred security operatives have so far lost their lives in the course of enforcing the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranching Establishment Law of 2017.
He further stated that the perceived failure of the Federal Government to come down hard on foreign Fulani herdsmen bearing weapons poses security threats to the lives and safety of security forces and Nigerians in general.
He says herdsmen have given unnecessary stress and risks to the security agencies in Nigeria.
He says the affected victims include personnel of the army, police, Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.