Newscast - Africa

Two satellites built by Zimbabwean and Ugandan engineers respectively have been launched into space.
Zimbabwe’s satellite, named ZimSat-1 was designed and assembled by three of the country’s scientists who were supported and trained in Japan.
Uganda’s satellite, the PearlAfricaSat-1 was also built by three of its own country’s aerospace engineers with the ambition that Uganda will set up its own command station to manage the satellite within the country.
Once in orbit, both satellites will collect images of the countries from space to help support research into weather forecasting, as well as monitoring border security and disaster prevention.

There is evidence of significant division between countries at the UN climate conference in Egypt about the future role of natural gas.
Several African countries want to exploit the resource at a time when Europe is struggling to find supplies.
The former US vice-president Al Gore told the conference the dash for gas was a bridge to nowhere.
The International Energy Agency says new gas fields are not compatible with global aims to achieve net zero emissions by the middle of this century.
For the first time, the summit is debating whether richer nations should provide financial support to help developing countries combat the effects of climate change.

The UK has downgraded a warning to its citizens against travel to the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The US had gone further to order the evacuation of its diplomatic staff members.
The travel warnings prompted a strong response from the Nigerian authorities who described the alerts as unnecessary and irresponsible.
The UK High Commission in Nigeria says the travel advisory to British citizens for Abuja has been changed from Amber to Green.
It says the UK government no longer advises against all but essential travel to the city but that some risks remain
It added that the travel warning against all travel to seven other states in Nigeria remains unchanged.

The Federal Government’s expenditure in the first six months of 2022 exceeded revenue by N6.23tn.
The Federal Government recorded N3.2tn and N2.74tn fiscal deficit in the first and second quarters of 2022.
It however exceeded the Federal Government’s fiscal deficit budget of N1.6tn for the period under review.
A breakdown revealed that recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure, and transfers accounted for 81.0 percent, 13.3 percent, and 5.7 percent of total expenditure, respectively.
It noted that the fiscal operations of the Federal Government in the second quarter of 2022 remained aligned with the extant fiscal frameworks, which sought to achieve macroeconomic stability, improve revenue generation, and create fiscal space to boost infrastructural development, among other objectives.

The Pan Niger Delta Forum has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to cancel the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
The group made the call in an open letter addressed to the President and signed by its leader Edwin Clark and other executives.
The group argued that If the programme is cancelled chaos could descend on the Niger Delta.
PANDEF says Buhari should halt the unilateral delisting of beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the immediate reinstatement of youths purportedly delisted.”

The Federal Government says train services on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line will resume this November.
The Minister Of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo says adequate security has been put in place to ensure the safety of passengers but did not give any specific date for the resumption.
Sambo says the ministry has learned enough lessons from the attack in March that led to the suspension of train service on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
The minister also noted that a system has been put in place that will ensure prompt monitoring of movements on the rail tracks.

The House of Representatives is making arrangements for an N170 billion fund for the Academic Staff Union of Universities in the 2023 budget.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the move will provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers.
He says the efforts were ongoing to find lasting solutions to all the issues raised by ASUU. He stated that the budget included an additional N300 billion revitalization fund to improve the infrastructure and operations of the federal universities.
The Speaker explained that President Muhammadu is interested in looking into the latest issues and concerns raised by the varsity teachers.
He says the decision is based on the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.

A United States court in Los Angeles, California, sentenced international fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi to over 135 months over 11 years in federal prison.
The US District Judge Otis D. Wright II ordered the 40-year-old convict to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
The judge says Hushpuppi conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars through online scams and flaunted his luxurious, crime-funded lifestyle on social media.
Hushpuppi has remained in US federal custody since his expulsion from the UAE.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada says Abbas bragged on social media about his lavish lifestyle; a lifestyle funded by his involvement in transnational fraud and money laundering conspiracies targeting victims around the world.

The world climate change summit in Egypt is to hear from heads of state and government looking to galvanize global action to tackle climate change.
Richer nations are to outline their programs for reducing carbon emissions.
Poorer countries have welcomed the prospect of a debate on setting up a compensation fund, with the issue included on the agenda for the first time since the United Nations adopted its climate convention.
The UN's new climate change chief, Simon Stiell, says there was still time to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees since the start of the industrial era - the target adopted at earlier summits

Elon Musk says he will remove Twitter accounts that impersonate others amid a backlash over the billionaire’s decision to offer the platform’s blue check mark to all users for a monthly fee.
Musk says that any accounts engaging in impersonation would be permanently suspended after some high-profile accounts changed their name to Elon Musk to protest the Tesla CEO’s shake-up of the platform’s verification standards.
Musk tweeted that widespread verification would democratise journalism and give voice to the public.