Newscast - Africa

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, expressed interest in how the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, planned to address the country’s seemingly overwhelming security, economic, and development challenges if elected into office next year.
She says Atiku sought to increase collaboration between the governments of Nigeria and the United Kingdom in searching for solutions to issues that affect both countries.
The high commissioner stated that the meeting with the former vice president was part of an ongoing engagement by the UK government to enhance democracy and ensure credible elections in Nigeria next year.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has again extended the ongoing strike by four weeks.
President of the union, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke says the decision was to give the government enough time to resolve all outstanding issues with the lecturers.
The ASUU President says the extension is with immediate effect on August 1 while noting that the body had earlier conveyed an emergency National Executive Committee meeting of the association at the University of Abuja.

The Independent National Electoral Commission says over eight million young Nigerians completed the recently concluded Continuous Voter Registration exercise.
The INEC says there were 10,487,972 fresh registrants, while 12,298,944 persons completed their registrations.
INEC has however warned Nigerians not to fall victims to fake websites advertising voter registration.

Elon Musk has filed claims against Twitter as he fights the tech firm’s lawsuit demanding he is held to his $44bn purchase deal.
The Chancery Court in the state of Delaware says Musk mounted a legal defense against Twitter’s claim that he is contractually bound to complete the deal he inked in April.
Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen St J McCormick has ordered a five-day trial to begin on October 17, instead of two weeks in February next year as the billionaire requested.

The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, says he is outraged after at least two people were killed when peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo opened fire at a border crossing.
Mr. Guterres called for accountability after the incident, which happened as the soldiers forced their way across the border from Uganda into eastern DR Congo.
The head of the UN peacekeeping mission, Monusco, says arrests had been made and an investigation had been opened.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says Zimbabwe’s economy is now forecast to grow 4.6% this year, down from an earlier forecast of 5.5%.
Ncube says the lower forecast was because of the global economic environment and the country’s own circumstances including a poor agricultural season.
He says the country would target a budget deficit of below 3% of the gross domestic product in 2023 adding next year the government was targeting 5% growth.

Kenyan authorities have called on Facebook to do more to rid the platform of hate speech ahead of the August 9 general election.
Rights group Global Witness says the social media company approved hate speech advertisements promoting ethnic violence.
Facebook admitted to having missed some hate speech messages because of mistakes by the people and machines the platform relies on.
Facebook says they have Swahili speakers and technology to help remove harmful content and have invested in people and technology to help ensure safe and secure elections in Kenya.

President Felix Tshisekedi says the licensing rights for 30 oil and gas blocks in the Democratic Republic of Congo have gone up for auction, opening parts of the world's second-biggest rainforest to drilling that could release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
He says the process showed a desire to benefit from the country's resources.
The Congolese government says it needs to access revenues to improve living standards in one of the world's poorest countries.

The UN has urged Poland to end double standards in the way it treats migrants.
It says Warsaw welcomes Ukrainians but routinely locks up people from the Middle East or Africa who enter the country illegally from Belarus.
The special rapporteur for migrants’ rights, Felipe Gonzalez, says migrants and asylum seekers entering Poland illegally were often locked in foreign centers without the right to leave while their asylum application was processed.
Mr. Gonzalez says children and other vulnerable individuals should not be locked up merely due to their migration status.

The US says it shares concerns that Tunisia’s new constitution could weaken democracy and erode respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It comes after the approval of a new Tunisian constitution that gives sweeping powers to the president in the 25 July referendum marked by low voter participation.
The referendum, which delivered a yes vote of 94.6% with a turnout of 30.5% - was boycotted by opposition parties.
The US State Department has urged an inclusive and transparent process in the future that would involve Tunisians who did not participate or opposed the referendum.