Newscast - Africa

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa says that rolling power cuts being experienced in the country will not end anytime soon but things are changing, albeit slowly. 
He says they are making progress in the implementation of the additional actions announced in July, even though the effects may not be immediately felt.
Coal is used to generate 80% of South African electricity but a new deal signed last week will increase the country's renewable energy output by 10% through private investment in wind and solar projects.

The Federal government approved N29.083bn for projects in the Ministry of Works and Housing and Mines and Steel Development.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed says N27.23bn and N1.85bn were approved to rehabilitate the 30km Idoani-Otuo Road and construct a 27km retaining wall for the Ebonyi Salt Lakes, respectively.
He explained that the 27km retaining wall would contain the loss of raw salt from the salt lakes in Ebonyi State, saving at least $88m spent yearly on salt importation.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, says it would be funded directly by the Presidency adding that the project would not only save the country millions of dollars in foreign exchange but also bridge the local salt demand gap.

The Federal Government commenced a probe of the exploration and production activities of international and local oil companies as part of measures to address the massive oil theft in Nigeria.
It announced this through its Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, stressing that it would do everything within its authority to challenge the narrative and halt further degeneration by ensuring transparency in hydrocarbon accounting.
He noted that this was to ascertain the level of compliance with the terms and conditions in their oil firms’ operational contracts, as well as the challenges impeding expected deliveries
The NUPRC stated that during the engagements, the companies would be required to present their reserve status, life index, current reserves replacement ratio, and reserves growth strategy.

Google has announced six new features and developments in the search to help people gather and explore information in new ways.
The Head, Communication, West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, says that the new features leveraging machine learning would help people gather information in new ways.
He highlighted the six new features as multi-search near me, translation in the blink of an eye, Google for iOS updates, even faster ways to find what you are looking for, and new ways to explore information.
He noted that Google introduced multi search, a major milestone, to help people search for information earlier this year.

Nigeria’s Presidential candidates have signed a peace accord in Abuja, the nation’s political capital as campaigns officially commence for the 2023 general elections,
The Chairman of the National Peace Committee and former military head of state, Abdusalami Abubakar, appealed to the 18 political parties, their presidential candidates, and spokespersons to commit to issues-based campaigns, as fake news and misinformation are already creating a toxic environment that is capable of threatening the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections.
Some members of the National Peace Committee at the program include Bishop Hassan Kukah, John Onayeikan, John Momoh, Aliko Dangote, as well as Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, amongst others.

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda has risen to 31. One more death has also been recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to six.
One of the six medical workers who tested positive for the virus is now in critical condition, according to information from the country’s health ministry.
Uganda's president has defied calls by medical workers to put the Ebola-hit central region under quarantine to prevent the virus from spreading to the rest of the country.
He says no such measures were needed because Ebola is not airborne, and said a laboratory would be set up in the virus epicenter to speed up patient testing.
The World Health Organization believes that Uganda's Ebola outbreak may have been detected late, given that the first person who had it showed symptoms back in August yet the outbreak wasn’t declared until late September.

Africa's biggest mobile phone company has been told off for misleading customers who purchase one-day data bundles.
Currently MTN's one-day data bundles don't expire after 24 hours, instead, they expire at midnight on the day that you bought them - regardless of how late in the day that may have been.
This set-up has been branded as ambiguous and therefore misleading by South Africa's Advertising Regulatory Bureau, which has this week ordered MTN to withdraw adverts for the product.

The United Nations through its Food and Agriculture Organisation has described rice production by smallholder farmers in Nigeria as a fantastic job.
It stated that though there was still a lot that should be done in the agriculture sector in Nigeria, the country had made considerable progress in rice production.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja.
Haile-Gabriel and the FAO Deputy Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Shukri Ahmed, are in Nigeria on a high-level mission to strengthen solidarity and amplify the voice of humanitarian actors in advocating support to stem food insecurity across the country.

Hundreds of Ugandan students are demonstrating against the European Union parliament after it opposed an oil pipeline project with neighboring Tanzania. 
EU lawmakers earlier passed a resolution warning of human rights abuses and the social and environmental risk posed by the project.
The students are marching in the capital, Kampala, to deliver a petition to the EU mission.
The demo appears state-sanctioned and the students are walking with police escort.
Once complete, the pipeline will stretch 1,443km from Lake Albert in western Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean.

Apple says it has started making it's iPhone 14 in India as it diversifies its supply chains away from China.
The company makes most of its phones in China but has shifted some production outside the country as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing.
Apple says the new iPhone 14 line-up introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities.
They are excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India, Taiwan-based Foxconn, which manufactures the majority of Apple's phones, has had an operation in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu since 2017, where it makes older versions of the handsets.