Newscast - Africa

European Union leaders granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova in a strong show of support against Russia’s invasion, as the United States said it was sending Kyiv more high-precision rocket systems.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the EU decision on his country and Moldova as a unique and historic moment, although the two former Soviet republics face a long path before joining the bloc and its benefits of free movement and a common market.
French President Emmanuel Macron says that the decision by EU leaders sent a very strong signal to Russia that Europeans support the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.

The French government says it aims to have its natural gas reserves at full capacity by autumn as European countries brace for supply cuts from major supplier Russia with the Ukraine war dragging on.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne says they are ensuring the complete filling of our storage capacities, aiming to be close to 100 per cent by early autumn.
She added that France will also build a new floating terminal to receive more gas supplies by ship.

Chinese President Xi Jinping says the world should oppose unilateral sanctions and efforts by some countries to maintain their political and military power – a veiled shot at the United States and its allies over opposition to the war in Ukraine.
Xi says nations need to reject the Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation, oppose unilateral sanctions and abuse of sanctions, and reject the small circles built around hegemonism by forming one big family belonging to a community with a shared future for humanity.

The United States Senate has approved a bipartisan package of modest gun safety measures as the country’s Supreme Court broadly expanded gun rights by ruling that Americans have a constitutional right to carry handguns in public for self-defence.
The Senate bill, approved in a 65-33 vote, is the first significant gun control legislation to pass in three decades, in a country with the highest gun ownership per capita in the world and the highest number of mass shootings annually among wealthy nations.
Some 15 Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting for the bill.

The leaders of the Group of Seven nations have pledged to raise $600bn in private and public funds over five years to finance infrastructure in developing countries and counter China’s older, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road project.
US President Joe Biden says developing countries often lack the essential infrastructure to help navigate global shocks, like a pandemic, so they feel the impacts more acutely and they have a harder time recovering.
He says the United States would mobilise $200bn in grants, federal funds and private investment over five years to support projects in low- and middle-income countries that help tackle climate change as well as improve global health, gender equity and digital infrastructure.

A powerful trade union in Tunisia has rejected conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a loan to help tackle the country's economic crisis.
The head of the UGTT - Noureddine Taboubi - says the union supported reforms, but not what he called the painful options demanded by the IMF.
An IMF official says the organisation was ready to start formal talks on a financial bailout.

Tigrayan forces in northern Ethiopia have called on the European Union to put pressure on the government in Addis Ababa to ensure the resumption of basic services in the embattled region.
The statement from Tigrayan forces comes after the recent visit to Tigray by the EU’s commissioner for crisis management and humanitarian aid, Janez Lenarčič.
He called for the urgent scaling up of humanitarian assistance and the restoration of basic services.
Tigrayan forces say they appreciated the EU’s position that aid was not reducible to the number of trucks reaching Tigray on any given day.

President Muhammadu Buhari reacted to recent incidents of attacks on churches in Ondo and Kaduna States and vowed never to let anyone put the nation under unnecessary religious stress.
The president, however, laid the blame on the doorsteps of evil doers, saying wicked people were behind the dastardly acts.
He called on all Nigerians – Christian and Muslim – to unite in prayer against the coward perpetrators of the evil acts.
The president observed seeing the crowd of Nigerians voluntarily rushing to donate blood after the attack, thronging the local hospitals, even in the midst of mourning.

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the private sector to plough back profits in order to boost job creation in the country.
The president says the private sector remained key to addressing the challenges of unemployment in the country.
Buhari pointed out that the theme for the summit was particularly apt given the challenges faced by the country in terms of job creation and empowerment, especially for the surging youth population.
He says the quest for national development and growth remained a national issue that needs utmost attention and input from all relevant stakeholders.

Zamfara State Governor, Mohammed Matawalle, has resorted to self-help, directing residents of the state, particularly farmers, to acquire guns to defend themselves against marauding terrorists/bandits.
Matawalle ordered the Commissioner of Police in the state to issue licences to residents willing and fit to bear arms, to protect themselves against the armed criminals.
The governor approved the immediate closure of all markets and some filling stations, and banned the use of motorcycles in Mada, Wonaka and Ruwan Bore districts as well as Yandoto emirate in Gusau and Tsafe local government areas of the state, respectively.