Newscast - Africa

Japan will open its doors back up to foreign tourists, after more than two years of closed borders due to the Covid pandemic.
Tourists will be able to visit the country without a visa, and will no longer need to go through a travel agency, from 11 October.
Taiwan will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals by mid-October, while Hong Kong says it would move from hotel quarantine to stay-at-home requirements from 26 September.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also announced a domestic travel incentive scheme that will give discounts on travel, theme park prices, sporting events, and concerts.
Japanese residents and citizens will be eligible for an 11,000 yen subsidy.

Boeing is to pay out $200m over charges that it misled investors about two fatal 737 Max crashes.
The US stock market regulator says the aviation giant and its former chief executive Dennis Muilenburg made false statements about safety issues.
SEC chairman Gary Gensler says in times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair, and truthful disclosures to the markets.
The SEC's statement says that both Boeing and Mr. Muilenburg did not admit or deny the regulator's findings.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has unveiled the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years, as he hailed a new era for the UK economy.
Income tax and the stamp duty on home purchases will be cut and planned rises in business taxes have been scrapped.
Mr. Kwarteng says a major change of direction was needed to kick start economic growth however Labour says it would not solve the cost-of-living crisis and was a plan to reward the already wealthy
He says high tax rates damage Britain's competitiveness reducing the incentive to work and for businesses to invest.

The Economic Community of West African States has decided to impose sanctions on individuals in the military government of Guinea in response to last year's coup in Conakry.
They agreed on gradual sanctions on a list of people linked to the Guinean junta who will be identified very soon.
Guinean leaders say they need three years to return the country to democracy and they are unhappy with Ecowas' demands for a faster transition.
The Guinean interim prime minister, Bernard Gomou, had earlier described the Ecowas chief and president of neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, as a puppet and an overexcited man who had forced his way in to lead the regional organisation.

South Africa has signed the first three agreements to increase its renewable energy supplies and reduce reliance on coal-fired power stations.
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe led the deal-signing event with independent producers to supply wind energy.
The country is enduring acute energy shortages, with its state energy provider, Eskom, suffering from a lack of investment amid allegations of corruption.
Coal is used to generate 80% of South African electricity but under the deal, energy output will increase by 10% through private investment in wind and solar projects.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says that more private sector participation in Nigeria’s transition to green energy is crucial as it would help the country achieve its objectives in the implementation of its Energy Transition Plan.
Prof. Osinbajo highlighted the Energy Transition Plan as a comprehensive, data-driven, and evidence-based plan, designed to deal with the twin crises of climate change and energy poverty.
Prof. Osinbajo stated that the Private sector must up its participation in the transition to a Green energy journey adding that this includes greater involvement in the crucial conversations about what an economically just transition to zero emissions should be.

President Muhammadu Buhari believes Nigeria can be a major international supply chain partner to global economies like the United States.
Buhari made the declaration while speaking to captains of industry, ambassadors, and foreign investors among others at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum which was held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The President announced tax-free incentives to encourage investment in Nigeria.
He told captains of industry, ambassadors, foreign investors, and others at the Forum that his administration had facilitated fiscal investment including three to five years of tax holidays for enterprises in pioneer industries, tax-free operations, and no restrictions on expatriate quotas in Nigeria’s free trade zones.

Emirates Airlines and United Airlines have announced a commercial agreement that will enhance each other's network and give their customers easier access to many new destinations within the United States and around the world.
Emirates’ passengers flying into Chicago, San Francisco, and Houston will be able to easily connect to United flights to and from nearly 200 cities across the Americas on a single ticket. Starting November,
Emirates and United announced their agreement at Dulles International Airport, hosted by United CEO, Scott Kirby, and Emirates President, Sir Tim Clark, featuring United and Emirates Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and flight crews from each carrier.

The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, says Nigeria needs help in tackling its debt burden.
He says financing was critical to solving Nigeria’s development challenges.
He says financing is critical because the debt to GDP ratio of Africa has increased to 70 percent several countries are the risk of high debt distress due to unstable, unsustainable debt levels.
He further stressed that Nigeria and other African countries needed debt relief.

The World Bank Group has warned Nigeria as well as other developing economies that simultaneous rate hikes in response to increasing inflationary pressure may trigger a global recession and a string of financial crises.
The Washington-based bank says the currently expected trajectory of interest-rate increases and other policy actions might not be sufficient to bring global inflation back down to levels seen before the pandemic.
The report shows that unless supply disruptions and labor-market pressures subsided, those interest-rate increases could leave the global core inflation rate at about 5 percent in 2023—nearly double the five-year average before the pandemic.