Newscast - Africa

Elon Musk says Tesla's new factories in Germany and the US are losing billions of dollars due to battery shortages and supply disruptions in China.
The multi-billionaire also called the plants in Berlin and Austin, Texas gigantic money furnaces.
Mr Musk says both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. It's really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire.
He says the plants are losing billions of dollars right now and there's a ton of expense and hardly any output.

Surging inflation led interest payments on government debt to hit the highest amount for May on record.
Interest payments paid by the government for last month hit £7.6bn, up £3.1bn from a year earlier.
Government borrowing fell in May from a year earlier but still remained higher than pre-Covid levels.
The Office for National Statistics says borrowing was £14bn, down £4bn from a year earlier however the figure was still the third-highest May borrowing since monthly records began in 1993 and were also £3.7bn more than the Office for Budget Responsibility had to forecast.
The recent high levels of debt interest payments are largely a result of higher inflation.

The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that Russia may stop supplying gas to Europe this winter.
Fatih Birol says he believes a complete shutdown is not the most likely scenario but that Europe needs to work on contingency plans just in case.
Russian officials deny it's deliberate and has blamed technical issues.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, Europe imported about 40% of its natural gas from Russia but that figure has now fallen to about 20%.
Mr Birol says he believes that recent Russian reductions in gas supply are strategic.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accused critics of his government's policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda of having a condescending attitude towards the African country.
He made the comments before embarking on Rwanda's capital, Kigali, where he is due to attend a meeting of the Commonwealth's heads of government.
Mr Johnson says his trip was an opportunity to see the country with which the UK has an important economic and migration partnership.
He acknowledged he would be arriving ahead of many of the people his government planned to send there; the first such flight was halted last week by the European Court of Human Rights.

Tanzania’s ruling party CCM says it is ready for reforms on the country's constitution after years of fending off pressure from opposition parties and rights defenders.
A previous attempt to change the constitution failed in 2014 after a draft document proposed to reduce presidential powers and establish an independent electoral body.
CCM spokesperson Shaka Hamdu Shaka says the party's top body was insisting on a need to have a new constitution.
He says the party was supporting President Samia Suluhu's reconciliation efforts.

One of Somalia’s main rivers, the Shabelle, is running dry and affecting people who depend on it for their livelihoods amid a continued drought.
The state-owned Somali National TV says the river had dried up and could exacerbate the country's drought and further increase food insecurity.
The Shabelle River flows into southern Somalia from the highlands of neighbouring Ethiopia.
It is the second biggest river in Somalia and is a significant water source for residents in the south and central regions.
Agricultural activities in the country have been affected by a fourth failed rainy season.

The World Bank says that Nigerian states will likely lose N18.8bn in oil and gas revenues in 2022, as worsening revenue collection at the federation level increases budgetary pressures for the states.
The Washington-based bank says the declining revenue from the federation level had put many states in a precarious fiscal position.
The bank warned that many states would be unable to meet up with their expenditures, adding that there was an increase in debt servicing expenditures of States.
The bank further says that the expected higher VAT collection or improvements in independently generated revenues would not compensate for the lower transfers from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee in 2022.

The Central Bank of Nigeria says that 1779 farmers in Ogun State have benefitted from agricultural loans in 2021.
The CBN, Abeokuta Branch Controller, Wahab Oseni, says the disbursement was part of the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund established by Decree No. 20 of 1977 to guarantee credit facilities extended to farmers by banks.
He says the loan was targeted at increasing access to funds in the agricultural sector, adding that beneficiaries would get back 50 per cent of the interest if they met with terms of the loan.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria warned members of the association not to dispense petrol, above the approved N165/litre pump price.
The factional National President, IPMAN, Chinedu Okoronkwo, admitted that members of the association had called for a hike in petrol price, but noted that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had released enough petrol.
Okoronkwo revealed that IPMAN and its partner had engaged the services of Benham Group to recover money owed them for the supply of petroleum products.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate return of Nigeria to international basketball competitions.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Ismaila Abubakar, says the approval was granted following a letter of appeal dated June 17, 2022, which was signed by Musa Kida, leader of the Nigeria Basketball Federation board, and addressed to the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare.
Abubakar says despite the approval, the stakeholders were warned to ensure that the country’s laws are not subjugated to any other law.