Newscast - Africa

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma was placed on medical parole just two months into his term.
The Department of Correctional Services in a statement says that Zuma’s medical parole took effect on Sunday and he will serve the rest of the 15-month prison sentence outside the jail.
The statement says Zuma will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires.
It added that the decision was motivated by a medical report the department received.

Western diplomats in South Sudan have said the government should respect freedom of expression, including the right to peaceful protest.
Their joint statement follows the arrest of a number of activists in the wake of a call by a group calling itself People’s Coalition for Civil Action, which is allegedly planning an anti-government protest on Sunday.
The diplomats said freedom of expression was needed in parliament and in society at large, adding that freedom of assembly must also be protected.
They pointed out that these were universal rights enshrined in South Sudan's transitional constitution.

Soldiers who seized power in Guinea have ordered government ministers and national figures to attend a meeting later on Monday.
The special force's officers warned that anybody who failed to appear would be regarded as a rebel.
They said regional governors have been replaced by military commanders, and the ousted president, Alpha Condé, was safe but in detention.
An indefinite nationwide curfew is in force.
The head of Special Forces, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, said his soldiers had seized power because they want to end rampant corruption and mismanagement.

Zamfara Government has shut down internet and mobile phone services in the state as security forces fight to contain armed gangs who have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for ransom.
The shutdown comes just days after gunmen abducted more than 70 schoolchildren in the town of Kaya-Maradun.
The authorities believe it will help security forces track down gunmen behind the rising violence in the region.
The kidnappers are believed to coordinate their activities and negotiate ransom payments for the release of their victims through mobile phones.

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited and a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council, Mr. Bismarck Rewane has stated that Nigeria has maintained the infamous position as the poverty capital of the world, with 93.9 people in Africa’s most populous country currently living below the poverty line
Rewane stated that seven million Nigerians fell into extreme poverty in 2020.
The report had then stated that the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increases by six people every minute.
Rewane pointed out in the latest report that the Petroleum Industry Act, which is in the process of being implemented, would have minimal impact on new investments in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Mr Folorunsho Coker has stressed the need for stakeholders in the tourism industry to collaborate in order to drive the growth of the sector.
Coker says the time had come for actors in the tourism and hospitality industry to stop competing with one another and embrace collaboration to move the industry forward.
He says stakeholders should collaborate rather than compete adding that the sector was the worst hit since the advent of the coronavirus.
He says the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique opportunity for advancement by accelerating the deployment of disruptive technologies to make work and living easier.

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending says with the release of N232 million to Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited and TOAJ Nigeria Limited, it had so far disbursed over N128 billion for agriculture and agribusiness activities in the country since it was established about 10 years ago.
Managing Director of NIRSAL Plc, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, says the huge investment translates to the creation of jobs, driving the growth of rural economies, and positively impacting Nigerian lives.
Abdulhameed says the N232 million for Gbagolo Integrated Farms Limited and TOAJ Nigeria Limited, for investment in poultry production and cocoa export value chains in Cross River State, were sourced from Union Bank and Sterling Bank Plc.

The Nigerian Government has condemned what it describes as an apparent coup d’état in the Republic of Guinea.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Esther Sunsuwa says the takeover of power by the military is in clear violation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.
It says the Government of Nigeria strongly condemns and rejects any unconstitutional change of government and therefore calls on those behind this coup to restore constitutional order without delay and protect all lives and property.
Incumbent President Alpha Conde who has been in office since December 2010, was said to have been arrested by the soldiers.

The federal government has expressed its readiness to withdraw the suit it instituted at the National Industrial Court against the striking Resident Doctors if the doctors return to their duty post.
It also insisted on implementing the ‘no work, no pay policy against the striking doctors, saying it is a global practice which is also captured in Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act under the International Labour Organisation.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige says the 12-point demands of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have been met.
He, however, noted that the government would not be arm-twisted by the striking doctors not to follow the global standard.

The Supreme Court of the United States has refused to block a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
The judges voted early on Thursday to deny an emergency appeal from abortion providers and others that sought to block enforcement of the law.
The law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually about six weeks and before most women know they are pregnant.
The Supreme Court said its ruling does not make any conclusions on the constitutionality of the Texas law and allows legal challenges to the legislation to move forward.