Newscast - Africa

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who's in South Africa for a three-nation African tour is holding talks with his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor.
Mr Blinken is expected to announce a new strategy for Africa to boost American influence on the continent amid concerns that Washington is losing out to both China and Russia.
Ms Pandor has accused the US of trying to punish African countries for refusing to join Western calls to condemn Moscow.

Ethiopia has accused a team of Western diplomats of appeasing Tigrayan forces during a recent trip to Mekelle, the capital of the embattled northern region.
The prime minister’s security adviser and a member of a negotiating team set up by Addis Ababa Redwan Hussien, however, says that the diplomats failed to press unequivocal commitment for peace talks during their travel.
The envoys called for the resumption of basic services in Tigray, including banking, electricity and telecommunications.
Mr Redwan says the government’s position is that enabling conditions should be created and the talks should begin ahead of restoration efforts.

Nigeria has secured a $1.5 billion loan from the US-EXIM Bank to boost solar power infrastructure in 10 different locations in the country.
Chief Executive Officer of SUN Africa LLC, USA, Adam Cortese, explained that the loan was a government-to-government facility at a concessional rate of over 20 years.
He says the Niger Delta Power Holding Company will own the assets, which he said would not only generate low-cost electricity but also enable the company to pay back the loan.
President Buhari declared that the rapid integration of solar power into the country’s energy mix would lead to an increase in electricity access to underserved and unserved communities.

The Plateau Government revoked the licenses of all nursery, primary, and secondary schools in the state.
Commissioner of Education, Elizabeth Wampum, says the decision was taken after it was discovered that 5,000 private schools were operating without a license.
The commissioner noted that about 90 per cent of the schools do not adhere to government policies and mandates.

The Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Abubakar, says in spite of the protracted security challenge in the country, food production has not dropped.
Abubakar acknowledged that the insurgency, inhibiting farmers from accessing their farms, particularly in the North-West, North-East, and North-Central, is a concern for the Federal Government.
He, however, maintained that food production continues at an appreciable level for most parts of the country.
The minister further revealed that 3.6 million direct and indirect jobs have been created through $1.1 billion in externally-funded agriculture projects and are being implemented by the present administration.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed asked Google to block terrorist organisations from YouTube.
The Minister says Google must look into how to tackle the use of private and unlisted YouTube channels and YouTube live streams by proscribed groups and terrorist organizations.
Mohammed noted that Google is a platform of choice for IPOB, a proscribed terrorist group, and implored the tech giant to deny IPOB the use of its platform for its acts of violence and destabilization.
He says Nigerians are among the most vibrant social media users in the world, with over 100 million Internet users in the country, and internet platforms.

The Bank of England has warned that the UK will fall into recession this year as it raised interest rates from 1.25% to 1.75% in a bid to curb soaring prices.
It expects the economy to shrink in the final three months of this year and keep shrinking until the end of 2023.
It blamed the downturn largely on rising gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, warning a typical energy bill will hit £3,500 in October.
It expects this sharp rise in energy bills to drive inflation, the rate at which prices grow, to 13%.

The Senegalese opposition has called for the official publication of the results of Sunday's parliamentary to be postponed.
The electoral commission is due to make a formal announcement but the leader of the opposition coalition alliance, Déthié Fall, says a postponement would give it time to identify irregularities.
Both the opposition alliance and the governing coalition of President Macky Sall claimed victory on the basis of partial results.

Western diplomats in South Sudan say they will not attend a meeting convened by President Salva Kiir to discuss a roadmap to implement the country's peace agreement.
South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry sent invitations to all diplomatic missions, and regional and international non-governmental organisations accredited to South Sudan to attend the Thursday event that will be presided by the president.
However, the heads of missions of the US, the UK and Norway - known as the Troika for South Sudan - wrote to President Kiir expressing regret that they would not attend.
The diplomats say they had previously written to the president to express their profound concern that the consultations must include civil societies.

The  Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority says that it was carrying out economic and financial audits of eight of the domestic airlines operating in the country.
It says this had become necessary in order to determine the health conditions of all domestic airlines operating in Nigeria.
The Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, says that the regulatory body was already carrying out intensive financial and economic audits on at least three other indigenous airlines, while the remaining five would be done in batches.
The remaining eight scheduled airlines include Air Peace, Arik Air, Max Air, Green Africa, United Nigeria, Overland, Azman Air and Ibom Air.