China has unveiled new powers to censor Hong Kong’s internet and access user data using its feared national security law but US tech giants have put up some resistance citing rights concerns.

The online censorship plans were contained in a 116-page government document released on Monday night that also revealed expanded powers for police, allowing warrantless raids and surveillance for some national security investigations.

Late Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke out against Orwellian moves to censor activists, schools and libraries since the law was enacted.

Pompeo said Hong Kong flourished because it allowed free thinking and free speech, under an independent rule of law.

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Samsung Electronics forecast a 23-percent rise in second-quarter operating profit Tuesday, with strong demand for memory chips and displays overcoming the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on smartphone sales.

The world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker in an earnings estimate said that it expected operating profit to be 8.1 trillion won ($6.8 billion) for April-June, up from 6.6 trillion won in the same period last year.

The prediction was far ahead of analyst forecasts of a single-digit decline.

Market observer Counterpoint, Park Jin-suk said the earnings surprise seems to have stemmed from Samsung’s memory chip sector observer Counterpoint, pointing to increased demand for memory chips for PCs and a continuing rise in DRAM chip prices.

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TikTok has said it will quit Hong Kong after China imposed a new security law on the city.

A spokesman told the BBC that due to the recent events, they have decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong.

According to the Reuters news agency, the company's exit from the city will come "within days.

Facebook and Twitter said this week they were pausing co-operation with Hong Kong police over user information.

The short-form video app was launched by China-based ByteDance for users outside mainland China as part of a strategy to grow its global audience.

The tech company operates a similar short video sharing app in China called Douyin.

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South Africa’s rand weakened in early trade on Tuesday as worries over surges in coronavirus infections reactivated investor concerns about the economic impact Of the pandemic.

At 0700 GMT, the rand was 0.43% weaker at 17.0875 per dollar from an overnight close of 17.00 in New York as sentiment again swung from optimism to nervousness with investors continuing to assess the COVID-19 impact.

Analysts at Nedbank in a note said despite the recent easing of local lockdown measures, the current levels of activity in markets have yet to suggest any recovery.

He added that the rand is currently trading in the middle of the short-term technical range, and the objective on the downside remains around the 16.7000 level.

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Data on Thursday showed that the South African central bank reduced its government bond purchases to 5 billion rand ($292.64 million) in June, half the monthly average, bringing its bond holdings to 35.9 billion rand.

The Reserve Bank began a series of emergency liquidity measures in late March to ease the stress on banks and capital markets caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Among them were extra repo auctions and 275 basis points worth of lending rate cuts.

The bank’s June statement of assets and liabilities showed its accommodation to commercial banks via repurchase, or repo agreements, had fallen to 60 billion rand in June from 73.5 billion in the previous month.

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The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST), has closed down its head office at Dzorwulu after 46 employees tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.

The office will be closed from Monday, July 6, 2020 to Monday, July 13, 2020.

A statement issued by the Corporate Communications Department of BOST said the cases were detected after a mass testing of staff was conducted at the head office.

Bost however assures the general public that the arrangement will not negatively impact its operations as all staff of BOST at the head office have been asked to work from home in the interim following the development.

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Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Edward Boateng, has stated that various opportunities are available in China for Ghanaian Exporters to take advantage of in Asia’s largest Market.

China in particular, which is a major destination from where Ghana imports a lot of its goods, has also been hit hard, although a reduction in imports from that country is taking a huge toll on Ghanaian businesses.

Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Edward Boateng, told Citi Business News there are also opportunities in China that Ghanaian importers can tap into by producing enough to meet the demands.

He says cocoa products and cash crops such as cashew and soy beans are in high demand by most Chinese. Trade volumes between Ghana and China reached 7.3 billion dollars in 2018.

Mr. Boateng believes this could be improved further if Ghanaian businesses diversify their exports to the Asian country.

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The Ministry of Aviation has dismissed reports that it has concluded processes to cede the management of Kotoka International Airport to a foreign company.

According to the Ministry, no such plan has been mooted by the government of Ghana.

In a statement to clarify the issue, the sector Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, urged the public to disregard such claims.

He however explained that Government is engaging stakeholders including the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), to consider a projected Strategic Partnership Arrangement between GACL and TAV-SUMMA Consortium to improve service delivery and expansion of infrastructure at the KIA.

He further noted that the processes for the start of engagement has not begun.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria injected $11.5bn foreign exchange into the economy in the first three months of 2020.

Latest figures from the CBN on the supply of forex showed that $2.96bn, $3.39bn and $4.7bn were injected into the market in January, February and March respectively.

The investors’ and exporters’, small and medium enterprises and invisible segments got a total of $7,23bn; the Bureau De Change segment got $3.6bn, while the interbank and WDAS/RDAS got the rest.

According to the data, a total of $14.72bn was injected into the market in 2018 while $28.55bn was injected in 2019.

The CBN said it had resumed the provision of over $100m per week for school fees and the SMEs to adequately meet eligible demands from customers.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria debited N122bn ($338m) from banks’ excess cash with the apex bank before weakening the currency at a retail auction on Friday in a move to unify its multiple exchange rates.

Reuters reported on Monday that Nigeria’s multiple foreign-exchange rates were imposed to manage dollar demand after oil prices crashed.

The bank had earlier hinted of its plans to unify the multiple exchange rates, to generate more local currency from its dollar inflows and further achieve naira stability.

The central bank, Nigeria’s main forex supplier, asked lenders to bid for dollars at N380 to the dollar on Friday, five per cent above its official rate.

Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said he would not unify rates close to the black-market rate.

The currency had come under pressure in recent months after the coronavirus pandemic and a fall in price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, and as foreign investors exited, leaving the country with large financing gap.

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